Unsustainable Population - Research Paper Example

? Unsustainable Population Long term and short term effects of population growth in the United s Introduction The United s population is growing at an alarming rate since the start of the twentieth century. The population of the US has grown from 75 million in 1900 to 313 million in 2012. This has taken place amidst the fact that there were low rates of immigration in the United States from 1925 to 1965. In the recent past, the US has witnessed a rapid population growth due to the high rates of immigration. People have moved to the U.S. to search for a better life because most people envision the US to be a better place than their countries. The rapid population growth in the U.S. has ultimately led to unsustainable levels of population (National Audubon Society, 2013). With the increase in population, the carrying capacity has reached unsustainable levels and is likely to cause immense negative consequences in the United States. This paper will discuss the negative long term and short term effects of unsustainable population growth in the United States. The negative short and long term impacts of an unsustainable population (in the US) The unsustainable level of population has both short term and long term negative effects. With the increase in population, the diminishing carrying capacity of the United States will affect the country, in the long term and short term. One short term effect of unsustainable population is that it will lead to poor economic growth. High population growth will hinder the economic growth of the United States. This is because the available resources are not likely to sustain the population. The government will have to deal with challenges regarding equal distribution of resources in the entire country. The rate of economic growth has to be high in order to sustain the population and ensure that all people have access to basic services. However, this will be in the short term since in the long run the government will come up with measures to ensure that the available resources are equally distributed throughout the country (National Audubon Society, 2013). Another negative impact of high population growth in the short term is that the U.S. government will be faced by the challenge of providing amenities. High population may exceed the number of facilities, which the government has set aside for the provision of basic amenities. High population also means that the number of facilities have to be increased. The burden to increase the facilities lies on the government. The provision of some services such as healthcare, education, as well as sanitation services largely depends on the population. When the population is high, it becomes challenging to provide quality services to all people. Consequently, the quality of services provided may be poor because the human resources needed to provide such services may not match the needs of the entire population. This may hinder people’s access to some crucial services such as healthcare. Education may also be compromised since the teacher to student ration will be lower. As a result, the quality of U.S. education may become poor before the government rectifies the situation by employing more teachers. There will also be a shortage of some amenities such as water due to high population growth. This emanates from the fact that water sources can be depleted by high population. Scarcity of water will also emanate from the destruction of water sources due to human activity (Robertson, 2012). The other negative short term impact of high population growth is that the unsustainable population may lead to rural-urban migration. This is also precipitated by the aspect of urbanisation, which motivates people to move to urban centres in search of jobs. As a result, the population of the rural areas will decrease while the urban population will undergo a dramatic increase. The overall impact is that there will be insecurity in urban centres due to the high population of unemployed youths. High population also leads to high rates of unemployment throughout the country. High population also has the effect of causing budget deficits and high levels of poverty in the country (Massey & Taylor, 2004). In the short term, high growth of population and unsustainable population will lead to the unpredictability of the consumption, as well as the production rates. For example, high population is likely to affect the production and consumption of energy. There is a high likelihood that energy sources in the United States will become unpredictable in terms of usage. The federal government will be forced to adjust the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in order to meet the energy demands of the population. Moreover, the government is unable to make projections with regard to how resources should be allocated to meet the needs of the entire population. The high population growth may not be in line with the low rates of production (Hoff, 2012). Apart from the short term impacts, there are also some long term effects of high population growth. The long term effects refer to those impacts, which the country feels in the long run when there is an increase in population. One of the long term effects of high population growth is that it curtails sustainable development and leads to unsustainable development. An increase in the United States population means that the development will not cater for future generations (Massey & Taylor, 2004). This is because an unsustainable population will diminish the resources for future generations. Sustainable development caters for future generations; this can be done by ensuring that resources are not depleted, but rather used sustainably for the sake of future generations. However, this is not the case when the population is unsustainable because the demand for resources becomes high, which means that there will be overuse of resources (National Audubon Society, 2013). The other impact of high population is that it contributes to global warming. The long term environmental effects of high population growth can be far reaching in the United States. Global warming results from the destruction of environmental resources such as forests; they may be cleared for human settlement. This negatively affects the environment since forests can be regarded as crucial water catchment areas. As a result, the production of food in the United States will decrease because there will be little rainfall and water bodies such as rivers and streams will dry. Agriculture is a crucial component of every economy, and in order for agriculture to succeed, there should be adequate water to carry out irrigation. Lack of enough water means that the population will not sustain itself; this is because there will be no adequate food to feed the growing population (National Audubon Society, 2013). The increase in population will also cause a decline in the ecosystems. This emanates from the fact that unsustainable population is related to high demand for resources, which a country produces. In the long term, the welfare of most species, human beings included, will be affected significantly since the development of species will be hindered by high population growth. Some of the U.S. ecosystems, which may be influenced by population growth, include freshwater, forest, agricultural, as well as coastal ecosystems. These ecosystems will be unable to produce the products the human population survives on. For example, it is likely that the production of sufficient and pure water, as well as biodiversity maintenance, will be significantly affected by high population growth. Experts may lack the adequate knowledge needed to address issues relating to the ecosystem. As a result, the devastating effects will continue to destroy the environment (Robertson, 2012). High population growth in the United States negatively affects the environment in the long term since it may increase human activity in the environment. As a result of limited land, human beings may opt to cultivate some areas that were previously uncultivated. Burning of forests, for example, may lead to temperature disruptions since it may increase harmful gases in the atmosphere. This has a permanent impact on the environment since it disrupts the weather patterns. Weather conditions become unpredictable for farmers, and this complicates farming in all parts of the United States (Robertson, 2012). Another long term impact unsustainable population growth is that it may lead to poverty. This is because high population contributes to poor quality of education, poor health services, and unemployment. Consequently, there is an increase in the number of people who cannot afford a decent living becomes high. As a result, poverty rates increase because the quality of life is affected by high population. Consequently, most people in the population may be forced to rely on the government for welfare. This creates a burden on the federal government as it has to fund almost all the needs of the population. Poverty may have a long term negative effect on the population since it may lead to low levels of economic growth (Hoff, 2012). Policies that can help reduce the U.S. population One of the most significant related to unsustainable population levels is the policy relating to family planning. Family planning is a crucial aspect of population control; therefore, the government should work towards ensuring that values of family planning are clearly set out in the United States. Family planning policy can help address the issue of population growth in a number of ways. First, with this policy in place, the number of births occurring in the United States will be regulated, and this will ensure that the population does not grow at an alarming rate (Hoff, 2012). Family planning policy can be enhanced in a number of ways. The first strategy that should be used to ensure that this policy succeeds includes an emphasis on contraceptives. The family planning policy should strive to ensure that all American citizens have access to contraceptives. All public health institutions should be equipped with contraceptives, which can be at every person’s reach. The government should also avail the necessary information regarding the use of contraceptives and the immense benefit they have on health. The widespread use of contraceptives can ensure that the U.S. population does not become unsustainable. This policy should be integrated to other health policies that the U.S. government has already put in place (Hoff, 2012). The other policy that can be employed to ensure that the population growth does not become unsustainable includes the immigration policy. The United States government ought to revise its immigration laws to ensure that the country does not experience a high influx of immigrants. The immigration policy should ensure that illegal immigration is addressed appropriately. This is because illegal immigrants have been a significant cause of high population growth in the United States. The immigration policy should be updated to ensure that the country succeeds in prohibiting illegal immigration. There should be a complex immigration policy, which aims at ensuring that entry into the United States is subjected to thorough checks by the immigration department. The immigration policy should set forth and clearly state the category of people who can be regarded as either illegal or legal migrants (Council on Foreign Relations, Bush, McLarty & Alden, 2009). There should be a clear distinction between permanent immigrants and temporary immigrants. The policy should set out a clear policy regarding the category of immigrants. Permanent residents should be given a permanent residential card and their lawful presence in the United States should be accompanied by the relevant documents. There should also be some limitation on the number of people who should be given U.S. citizenship. Immigration should also focus on putting restrictions on the citizenship. The government should ensure that there is a limited number of persons from foreign countries who get the citizenship of the U.S. This will help in reducing the U.S. population (Council on Foreign Relations, Bush, McLarty & Alden, 2009). Conclusion In conclusion, the US has witnessed a rapid population growth due to the high rates of immigration. High population growth will hinder the economic growth of the United States since the available resources are not likely to sustain the population. High population growth in the United States is likely to have negative long term effect on the environment since it may increase human activity in the environment. Education may also be compromised since the teacher to student ration will be lower. One of the most significant related to this issue is the policy relating to family planning. The other policy that can be employed to ensure that the population growth does not become unsustainable includes the immigration policy. The immigration policy should be updated to ensure that the country succeeds in prohibiting illegal immigration. The immigration policy should set forth and clearly state the category of people who can be regarded as either illegal or legal migrants. Discussion Question: What measures can be undertaken to bring long term solutions to the problem posed by unsustainable population? References Council on Foreign Relations., Bush, J., McLarty, T. F., & Alden, E. H. (2009). U.S. immigration policy. New York: Council on Foreign Relations. Hoff, D. S. (2012). The state and the stork: The population debate and policy making in US history. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Massey, D. S., & Taylor, J. E. (2004). International migration: Prospects and policies in a global market. Oxford: Oxford University Press. National Audubon Society (2013). U.S. Population Growth. http://policy.audubon.org/us-population-growth Robertson, T. (2012). The Malthusian moment: Global population growth and the birth of American environmentalism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Read More