“Overconsumption and overpopulation underlie every environmental problem we face today.” by Jacques Yves Cousteau. This quote means to tell me that overpopulation is really killing our environment, and overconsumption is the second problem.
While overpopulation grows and so does our economy, we are running short on resources such as food and water because we are over-consuming, with rapid growth rates and more use of land, and overpopulation is exceeding our limit capacity, and can soon face starvation.
“Overpopulation can really threaten our environment with a lack of biocentric worldview, rapidly grow of birth rate, and more use of land. The more we use the land we are taking away the habitat of animals and other species.” According to scholar, Thomas Malthus published an article in 1798 titled An Essay on the Principle of Population focused on the shortage of food, diseases, and other factors contributing to a decrease in human population, we are exceeding the capacity of our earth. Soon we will hit ten billion people and we are going to face major starvation. Many factors that cause overpopulation are unplanned pregnancies, lack of sexual education, no contraceptive methods available to poor countries, and poverty can curb our population. About a forty-percent of the population is in poverty, these people lack education and jobs. People living in poor places have fewer children, but the higher the deaths are in a place the higher numbers of births are. (Cascadia, Overpopulation threatens the environment) (Haugen, Musser, What problems might be attributed to population growth?)
Our top three countries with the highest population are China, India, and the United States. According to the author of this website, China’s overpopulation became a serious issue back in 1980 they came up with the one-child policy. In 2015, the policy ended, and the population went up 0.46%. China’s population will start soon falling and India will be the first country with the highest population. “Fifty years ago, Bangladesh, China, and India chose to ignore their rapid population growth and now are struggling with their economy.” This policy was used to limit population, families that were expecting twins or triplets were exempt. The one-child policy did have its pros and cons helping China and its economy, as well as education advantages to girls in families of one. (Regoli, 17 China one child policy pros and cons)
“Overpopulation is becoming a serious problem, about one million children are homeless, millions of homeless people looking for jobs”. Overpopulation can lead to more demand for housing, but homelessness does not contribute to this issue. Lack of resources such as gasoline, water, food, and education and disease outbreaks can change the population. Disease outbreaks such as the Black Plague, Cholera, and the Spanish flu killed millions of people. Coronavirus is the new pandemic affecting millions of citizens globally. Many people believe this virus was made to control the population in China since it originated there. Scholar Thomas Malthus did argue in his article that outbreaks of diseases would decrease our overpopulation. Other factors such as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can harm our food and, the lack of food for those who live in poverty and starve to death. (Wooldridge, Overpopulation is a serious problem) (Malthus, Overpopulation is a serious problem)
There are solutions to reduce overpopulation and ways we can benefit from it. Sex education needs to be considered more important and taught in schools. Kids and teenagers should know about safe sex and have access to condoms. Talking about sex can be uncomfortable but parents should encourage their kids to use contraception if they’re going to do it. Birth control and condoms can be expensive to buy or sometimes they’re not easy to find. One thing teenagers are most afraid of are seeing buying condoms or having their parents find out. Author Friedman believes that parents “need to arm them with information to ensure they’re making the right decisions.” and in most cases buy condoms for them. Teaching all kids of all ages about sex and contraception methods, can ensure less birth rates in the future and therefore reduce the population. (Friedman, 5 realistic overpopulation solutions we need to implement)
China is the number one country known for its highest population in the world. In the late 70s and early 80s, China started the one-child policy that was once thought would help the population slow down and help the economy. Although it did have benefits such as more jobs available to people, more girls going to school, families receiving more help and benefits from their government such as a free house, better education for students, and free water. This policy had a negative impact on Chinese couples. More families preferred boys over girls because men are known to support the family. “Major adoption costs increased because more girls were put up for adoption due to being abandoned by their families.” (Regoli, 17 China one child policy pros and cons.)
Author Jane Friedman states in her article that “unplanned pregnancies occur all over the world because men and women do not have access to contraceptive methods.” In some parts of the world birth control can be hard or expensive to get. When both women and men do not know anything about sex or have access to contraception, unplanned pregnancies occur. It is important that men and women learn about sex and they have access to birth control or condoms, they never use them because they can be expensive. Developed countries should make birth control and condoms available and for a smaller price or free. It's an even bigger problem when teenagers are afraid to ask for these things and they end up doing it. (Friedman, 5 Realistic Overpopulation Solutions We Need to Implement)
In conclusion, the world’s population is increasing by millions each year and we are running short on clean water and food. Gasoline is also starting to decline, and “millions of people pump gas to their cars.” Joni Baird, co-director of the Pro-Choice League, “argues that we should find ways to curb our population because there are a lot of rapid birth rates every year.” Overpopulation can also affect our economy, environment, and our agriculture, the constant use of chemical fertilizers can harm our food. (Haugen and Musser, How should population growth be addressed?)
Right now, we are still at seven billion people, with the current situation of the new pandemic, Coronavirus, we might have a decrease in population. Overall the pollution in our world has decreased, clear skies and water have been seen and animals roaming. Our economy will definitely face a major recession for a while and millions of people will be seeking employment. This will affect us deeply but if we come together then we can work this out and go back to normal soon.
A final thought to all of this is that we really have to take care of our earth and teach kids at a younger age about sex. We live in a time where we have the internet and kids and teenagers can look up information about sexual reproduction. Parents and teachers should not feel uncomfortable talking about this and instead, create a safe environment and educate them with accurate information. The sooner they learn about this the fewer unplanned pregnancies we’ll have in the future. Education opens doors to anyone who is very well informed and shapes a better future for any person.
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Essay on Overpopulation Solutions.
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