With 6,300 deaths an hour and 15,000 births an hour for 24 hours a day, the earth’s population is rapidly increasing. There has not been much recent attention around this subject, but with such a rapid increase in numbers, if a blind eye is turned problems can occur. The population as a whole could be beneficial or ultimately one of the world’s greatest disasters. There are many factors that play a part in population growth and sustainability. The exponential evolution of the human species is one of the main drivers of the population explosion. There are many examples of the effect this boom has on the Earth and its environment. There are a number of possible solutions that can be identified to assist with a strategy to strike a harmonious balance between human population and the earth’s scarce resources. Increasing population results in increasing use of scarce resources that could eventually run out. This ultimately could be the factor that ends life on earth as we know it.
To begin, a clear understanding is necessary on the primary causes of population growth. Since the Earth’s population has reached the one billion milestone in 1800, it has multiplied at staggering amounts compared to the growth rate prior 1800. “The human population is increasing at approximately 9,600 people an hour” (Roger Martin, guardian.co.uk).
The Essay on Earth Day and Human Evolution: The Humbling of Humans
The celebration of Earth Day marks a stage in the development of human global awareness and thus an important step, however small or tentative, in sustained human evolution. Earth Day is all about us, as a specie, trying to reconnect with the environment that has allowed us to evolve and continues to provides us with the spatial and material context within which we continuously learn and thus ...
Every country is growing, developing and adding more people to their population. Compounding this issue, more than half of the population lives in cities and urban areas (Celia Dagger, UN).
The trend is towards the urbanization of families into city settings in order to gain and sustain a lifestyle with access to life-sustaining necessities and resources. As the Earth’s population continues to boom especially in these urban areas, it is recognized that very little planning has occurred for the consequences of urbanization. This population intensification has created a substantial drain of life-sustaining resources especially in populated areas.
It is nearly impossible to predict what exactly will happen with a population growing at the current rate. Projections have been made, but only time will tell if these predictions will become true. Within one country, Zambia the population is projected to increase 941% by the end of this century. Zambia’s fertility rate is 6.2 children per female and 64% of its current population is living below the poverty line (Georgina Smith, guardian.co.uk).
The fertility rate is owed to lack of family planning, formal education and economic opportunities especially for women of these societies. Globally poor women with a lack of resources generally have up to eight children while the women who are “wealthier” have four or less (Georgina Smith, guardian.co.uk).
Evidence exists to state that without educating the population, it will be impossible to effectively manage the population growth. Countries are now starting to see what can happen with the population growing at such a large rate. With the growth, development and sophistication of all lifestyles throughout the world, it is clear to see the cause of population growth. The world is a place where humans tend to strive towards a greater lifestyle then previous generations. Without strategic planning this exponential growth will become unsustainable.
Secondly, the principle of cause and effect reveals itself. No matter what happens on Earth, the effects will either soon follow or be in the far future. Population environmentalists are seemingly undecided about the root causes of this situation. “The human population has been expanding, exploring, migrating, conquering, utilizing, evolving, civilizing, industrializing and now, destroying the land we live on, the air we breathe and everything that we need to survive” (Ahup Shah, globalissues.org).
The Term Paper on World Population Growth Rate India China
... in China's population growth rate have however taken place well before the one child policy went into effect in 1979. ... at the claim that population growth causes resource depletion. "Concern about the impact of rapid population growth on resource exhaustion has often been ... out their lives. However low he birth rate the population in America still increases at a fairly high growth rate every year ...
Every single person needs a certain amount of resources to survive and sustain life. A larger population base consumes larger amounts thereby generating greater stress on the Earth’s seemingly finite resources. One day the Earth’s population will start to run out of life-sustaining resources, ultimately causing dramatic situations such as war and starvation. Could this effect play a role in ending life on earth?
Another scientist, Juliette Jowit explains how even with slowing the population boom and its growth, it will not result in less resources being used. “Across time and geography, countries that have reduced birth rates have got richer and so more consumptive: rising incomes, better health and education give men and women the confidence that more of their children will survive into adulthood and help support their families; and as birthrates fall governments can spend more on each person’s health, education and jobs, feeding a vicious cycle of economic development and slowing population growth” (Juliette Jowit, guardian.co.uk).
This means that even with a slowed population growth rate, humans will still consume resources at a far greater rate that is currently seen and even predicted. This will ultimately lead to an uncontrollable rate of consumption of resources. The amount of resources consumed can be identified as a major effect due to population and its growth. The signs are evident. The effects of population growth are readily becoming visible. How can we act upon what is happening?
This question is rather difficult to answer. First, there are not many solutions that are being debated today or agreed amongst nations. Strategies that can help with the effects of population and population growth demand a global strategic plan. Anup Shah brought up some good questions; “How much of our planet facing stress is due to large populations, and how much is based on other factors, such as how we choose to live, how we produce, consume and waste our resources?” (Ahup Shah, globalissues.org).
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The debate between positive and negative sides of population growth is ongoing. Population growth enlarges labour force and, therefore, increases economic growth. A large population also provides a large domestic market for the economy. Moreover, population growth encourages competition, which induces technological advancements and innovations. Nevertheless, a large population growth is not only ...
Human population is growing and developing at such a large rate that it is hard to predict and try to plan and manage the effects. A very concrete example of this is what has gone on with cars. This invention has become a major cause of the depletion of the non-renewable resource of oil. Also, automobiles play a big part in how much CO2 is being emitted into the atmosphere. It has taken almost 70 years to realize what effect this invention is having on the planet Earth and its environment. The push for alternate fuels to use in all cars is only a part of the solution, in an attempt to fix the effects of this invention; solely developed for the benefit of the human population.
Also, preparing for the future and teaching the youth about sustainability, causes and effects, solutions and planning to address these variables will have predictable effects. Mukuk Chanda, a mother of ten in Zambia, personifies the problem: “I have no education. I have tried to tell my children about family planning, but it’s too difficult to teach them” (Georgina Smith, guardian.co.uk).
With great certainty, there are many other families like Mukuk’s that are ill-prepared physically and socially with the appropriate knowledge to adequately prepare their families. Formal education along with monetary resources to access aid are very scarce in countries like this, so governments cannot help in providing education, healthcare, or resources such as clean water unlike a Western society. This solution will take a larger commitment from leaders around the whole world in order to function more effectively. These solutions will help off-set the effects of the population rate of growth. Small steps in a strategic cohesive plan can start to shift the momentum we currently are experiencing with the population boom. Doing something is better than nothing.
With the population of the world at seven billion and growing by the hour, it is evident that negative effects are dramatic, serious and may be irreversible. The exponential evolution of the human species along with poor planning can be considered the main cause, the root issue of population growth. The effects vary and scientists continue to debate about the numerous variables associated with population growth. With greater numbers, humans require greater amounts of life-sustaining resources. There is one statement that we can all agree upon; The more we are, the less there is for each and fewer people typically mean better lives and more resources to share (Roger Martin, guardian.co.uk) Arguably, countries typically do not like to cut consumption rates, as human nature would rather keep an over-consuming lifestyle rather than adapting. Without combatting this problem, solutions to be able to feed the whole world population of all essential resources will become more difficult than already today. Humans need to teach young adolescents how to prepare and plan for the future. One day the children of today will have to engage, lead and make decisions on their own. Our growth could ultimately lead to our demise. The desire to grow as a population, as a species, could ultimately be a key factor in destroying all human life on earth as we know it. To conclude, a thorough understanding of the causes and effects can lead to realistic solutions to manage the population growth in the confines of the Earth’s limited resources.
The Essay on Human Resource Management 36
People believe that technology enhancement can play a vital role in replacing people with machines, but these people are the one, to invade those machines. Human resource is an important area in an organization as it deals with different departments of the organization such as finance department etc. Without hr management none of the organization can achieve a repetitive position. In today’s ...
World Issue’s Essay
James Ptycia
Monday, May 28th 2012
Mr Sutton
