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Population growth and the environment
How population growth is affecting poverty
Population growth and the environment
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Globally, the growth rate per person of the human population has been declining since its increase in 1962 and 1963 which was at 2.20%. In 2009, the estimated annual growth rate was 1.1%. As of now the population of the world is at about 7,211,021,348 humans, which has gone up 4 billion people since the 60’s. Most of this growth is coming from the countries in high poverty. Rise in human population can cause problems such as pollution and congestion; these might be resolved or worsened by technological and economic changes. Over the last 100 years we have seen a fast increase in population due to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity. The major fear is that high population numbers are putting a burden on natural resources, food supplies, and more. Human growth population has major pros and cons to the world we live in. Population growth is the increase in the number of people who inhabit a territory or state with the equation of (B-D)+(I-E) where (B) is births, (D) is deaths, (I) is immigration rate, and (E) is emigration rate. Population growth has a biological an environmental effect on our planet Earth. While on the other hand population growth can affect the economy in a good way. Much the population growth comes from countries with high poverty rates. Many people suggests that this is because Poor people often want more children because children represent wealth, provide labor and can help out when the parents get old. Another major reason for high child births in high poverty countries is lack of safe protection during sex. Much of our population is living much longer than before due too new advances in medicine and technology. This is causing humans to live much longer than previous popul... ... middle of paper ... ...es are on the precipice of extinction due to over cultivating and loss of habitat. One of the major problems we are causing is over-harvesting. We are harvesting oil, gas, and the forests at a high rate. The bad thing is that all these things are non renewable resources and that impact the environment and biodiversity. So how can we help all these problems that we face as a world? One way could be conducting a family planning system to make it where women can only bear 1 to 2 kids. Individually we as humans can reduce our resources such as less driving and using fewer goods that aren’t a total need. Lastly we can better our education system and increase the graduation rate across the U.S. and other developed countries. Studies have shown that the higher the graduation rate the lower the fertility rate. All of these things can help us cope with overpopulation.
The best answer lies in starting a colony on another planet: Mars. According to the article, “Scientists More Worried Than Public About World’s Growing Population” it says, “Asked whether or not the growing world population will be a major problem...82% of U.S.-based members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said the same.” This “same” was that the population is growing dangerously, and that there will not be enough resources for future generations. Without the colonization of mars, the problem of overpopulation will become a reality very quickly. On the other hand, some may say that limiting how many children a family can have will solve this problem.
Population growth is the change in population over a period of time. It happens due to a number of factors such as standard of living, cultural factors, and government policies. When the standard of living become better such as the improvement of social conditions ( shelter, sanitation, clean water , health care and etc) death rate and birth rate reduce as more people become inclined to have fewer children. As standard of living increases, there will be more immigrants thus an increase in population. Government policies which encourage people to have lesser or more children also has a significant effect on birth rate too.
In the modern era that we live in many of the problems that have previously troubled civilization have been addressed through large leaps in technology, health care innovations as well as the general progression of science throughout the years. The accelerated growth in technological innovation in combination with economic growth has resulted in large population increases around the world. Although, in certain regions of the world population growth has been seen as a sign of prosperity and progress for other regions the world population growth has represented a serious concern resulting in pollution, temperature rises as well as loss of key natural resources. One of the key examples of the negative effects of population growth can be seen in
The human population growth rate is an alarming issue that brings with it irreversible consequences, that will likely effect the way of life for future generations to come. With the serious incline in population statistics comes catastrophic processes such as global warming and deforestation that have major ‘knock on’ ramifications. It’s issues such as these that need to be considered when we think about the growth of the human population, and we must take into account why these issues are occurring. We must also explore the options available to us that may assist in limiting the problems, or eliminating them all together, to provide a better place, not only for us in existence now, but also those who will walk this earth in the future decades and centuries to come.
When you have people in developing countries who have far too many children than they should and don’t have the means to take care of them you get overpopulation, when you get overpopulation you get less job opportunities, and when that happens you people who can’t take care of themselves or their children. Two factors have been shown that correlate with overpopulation, which is poverty and education. When you have higher education in a community you will tend to have a decrease in birth rates because when people get education especially in women you will have a decline in birth rates because when they get their education they usually want to get a good job. poverty and overpopulation in the United States. Poor living conditions and over population can cause many forms of disease and unclean living conditions, and with poor living conditions you get the spread of airborne diseases such as tuberculosis and respiratory infections such as pneumonia.
This problem of population growth leads to a number of solutions that could have significant implications on the quality of life. Taking no action and allowing population to grow unchecked could possibly risk the entire human species if food or clean water were to become unavailable worldwide. Aiming for zero population growth would in theory maintain the existing quality of life since a stable population would not increase their use of resources. However not all resources are renewable, so scarcities could still occur with a fixed population size. In an extreme case permanent resource depletion under zero population growth could have the same extinction effect that unchecked growth can lead to. Despite the escalating risk of unchecked population growth, technological advances necessitated by the increase in population will at least maintain the quality of life and could possibly improve conditions.
Human population growth was relatively slow for most of human history. Within the past 500 years, however, the advances made in the industrial, transportation, economic, medical, and agricultural revolutions have helped foster an exponential, "J-shaped" rise in human population (Southwick, Figure 15.1, p. 160). The statistics associated with this type of growth are particularly striking: "Human beings took more than 3 million years to reach a population of 1 billion people...The second billion came in only 130 years, the third billion in 30 years, the fourth billion in 15 years, the fifth billion in 12 years..." (Southwick, p. 159). As human population has grown, there has been simultaneous growth within the industrial sector. Both of these increases have greatly contributed to environmental problems, such as natural resource depletion, ecosystem destruction, and global climate change. Also linked with the increasing human population are many social problems, such as poverty and disease. These issues need to be addressed by policy makers in the near future in order to ensure the survival and sustainability of human life.
We as individuals do NOT understand the problems with overpopulation. We do not take the time or the effort to be educated enough; therefore we do not help in the prevention of future problems to keep our society as it is now.
One of the problems facing our world is population. It began about ten thousand years ago when the humans settled and began farming. The farming provides more food for the people thus making the population grow. Now we are about 6 billion in population and in a few years we will be around 10 to 11 billion. Therefore, our population will almost double in size. This means that we will need more food to support us. A study in 1986 by Peter Vitonesk, a Stanford biologist, showed that the humans are already consuming about 38.8 of what is possible for us to eat. Thus, if the population keeps increasing, the percentage will increase also, making us closer and closer to the biophysical limits. By studying the earth's capacity, Dr. Cornell, another biologist, believes that we are already crowded for this would. He believes that our world can only support two million people. Not only this, but population can cause complicated problems to the countries with very high population. These countries will need more schools to educate its people, they will need more hospitals and public health to take care of their people, and they will need more water and more soil for farming to feed all the people. In order to solve the population growth problem, the people should be educated. Once the people are educated they will be aware of the problems they ca...
An increase in human population can influence our economy. Some of the factors that are affected are unemployment, poverty and the restriction of economic expansion. When the population increases, the cost of health, education, and other areas of urban growth are affected. Unempl...
Individuals can play a role in helping with the fallouts as outlined in the previous paragraphs though. Whether this is volunteering to help clean up a dirtied beach littered with garbage or switching to a water efficient nozzle so less water is wasted when you shower, these are just a few examples of immediate solutions that can make a collective difference. It ultimately won’t help the issue of overpopulation but can help deter the consequences as in the end, the concern revolves around the ability to sustain our world as more bodies are introduced. Keeping in mind that as society grows, the world makes advancements that work as viable solutions that tackle these problems. There just needs to be a mindset of utilizing more efficient measures into our daily lives right now so that we can make a positive difference. Even if it does not solve the issue in the long run, it does influence those around us and pushes the world towards a common goal one step at a time. It was said by Brundtlan (WCED, 1987) that:
This leads to the lack of resources in many areas. When expanding, we create a lot of pollution in the air, water, and land. Pollution affects many human health. Overpopulation is doing more harm than any other environmental issue. Overpopulation also causes many of the other issues we are dealing with.
My stance is that we must include all possible solutions in controlling population such as family planning and governmental involvement. In addition, discover solutions to use renewable resources and impede on exhausting nonrenewable resources, as well as ways to tackle overconsumption to support our corrupting environment.
The reduction of the Earth's resources has been closely linked to the rise in human population. For many thousands of years people lived in relative harmony with their surroundings. Population sizes were small, and life-supporting tools were simple. Most of the energy needed for work was provided by the worker and animals. Since about 1650, however, the human population has increased dramatically. The problems of overcrowding multiply as an ever-increasing number of people are added to the world's population each year.
We strive and strive for medical advantages and ways to stay alive but we obviously do not put enough emphasis on over population prevention or birth control. The knowledge of how to prevent pregnancy in the third world countries and even the younger generations of people in our own country is one main reason why we are faced with this problem. Until we find a way to make our society understand the world does not expand with the population this problem will increase more and more.