The Human Population Explosion on a Finite World - Research Paper Example

The Human Population Explosion on a Finite World Introduction John Malthus, a popular scientist, lived during the industrial revolution era. During this era, human and animal labor was being taken over by technology that was faster, stronger and one that worked without wearing out. Productivity automatically increased and in his mind, this meant a sub sequential increase in human population (Elwell, 2003). Industrial revolution had created a perfect avenue for the human population to multiply, and nothing could stop this effect. Consequently, resources soon would begin diminish due to overconsumption by this huge population. This would lead to a decrease in human population. What he referred to as “the beginning of the end” in his quote "the population has great power in the earth to produce for man’s food. Population, if not controlled, goes up in a geometrical ratio. Food increases in an arithmetical ratio." (Malthus, 2007). Malthus was close to getting right the facts about population. However, this statement had errors in it, and there were things that he overlooked. He did not consider that affluence brought about by industrialization would indeed slow down birth rates. Industrial revolution would bring about other developments such formal education which in turn bring in turn developments and discoveries we have today such as birth control methods. Until recently, population growth was slow and manageable. But with the advent of industrial revolution, a drastic rise in the population has been witnessed. This high rate of increase is what we call population explosion (Steck, 2014). Demographers can better explain this population explosion. The explosion in human population is a reflection of increased births over deaths. And the death rate is not about to change in the near future. Overpopulation has come with its negative effects. These effects are of a major concern now, and if not checked, humanity may be headed for doom in the near future as many of these effects are life threatening. Some of these effects are; Resources Scarcity Overpopulation comes with its severe effects. One of these effects is scarcity of resources. There is a limited amount and supply of water, space for shelter and food on earth. Currently, the earth is falling short of all these resources due to overpopulation. The planet can no longer provide enough for the growing number of its inhabitants. More so, these growing population’s activities such as, deforestation are contributing to the scarcity of these resources. In that, without trees, there will definitely be a shortage of rainfall, global warming will increase leading to a rapid melt of the ice caps which produce a good percentage of water for the planet. This automatically translates into shortage of water for this growing population. Pollution An increase in population will automatically bring about environmental degradation due to various factors. First, an increase in population automatically transforms to an increase in use of oil, coal, gas, an increase in vehicles which emit exhaust fumes and a rise in carbon dioxide which does not get used up due to a decrease in vegetation. There has been an increase in industrial activities as industries too have to produce enough to meet the needs of these rising population. An increase in industrial activities translates to an increase in waste products yet most industries do not have a proper way of waste disposal as most of their waste gets disposed directed to rivers or burnt causing harm to the environment. This pollution leads to destruction of the ozone layer that brings about global warming (Arrhenius, 1996). Global warming in return causes, melting of the ice caps leading to shortage of water and a rise in sea levels. Climate patterns too have drastically changed due to these effects. The drying up of lake beds and dust replacing these beds has resulted to the air we breathe being filled with dust particles. This dust not only causes pollution to the environment, but also poses a health risk to the world’s population since these kind of dusty environment creates a good avenue for the thrive of diseases such as asthma and other chest related complications. Food Shortage Every human being is entitled to adequate supply of food as it is among the most basic needs for human beings. However, the worlds increasing population is making this complicated. Land that would have been otherwise used for cultivation is now being used as settlements by this increasing population. Degradation of the environment and its consequences such as negative changes in climate patterns has resulted into scarcity of rain thus causing drought, floods that destroy harvest and cultivation areas, leading to a major food crisis all over the world (Hengeveld, 2012). Food prices have skyrocketed in these recent years, yet the salaries and wages of the populations remain low. Affording food has become a major challenge to many people today. The world’s population today stands at 6.9 billion. The worlds storage of raw material is about to get exhausted, and water reserves are disappearing. With the world population speculated to reach 9.1 billion a 34%increase by 2050, there is needed to come up with strategic measures to provide enough food for this growing population. To feed this population, food production must increase by 70%. Cereal production annually needs to increase by approximately 900 million tonnes. Meat production should equally increase by 400 million tonnes to sustain such a population. High-yielding agriculture technologies should also be adapted by nations all over the world to ensure enough is produced in the limited production space available. Water Shortage Shortage of fresh water is among the biggest concerns that come with overpopulation. Water covers 72% of the earth, 97% of this water is however salty water unfits for human consumption. Less than 1% of the worlds freshwater are accessible to the population. Ice caps that are a major source of fresh water in the world hold up to 70% of this fresh water. But as we speak, the rate at which these caps are melting at is quite alarming (Dasgupta, 2009). An example of places experiencing this is Bolivia, where the glaciers that provide water for a vast number of people are disappearing, and it will not be long before they totally disappeared. The Himalayan ice caps being among the largest ice caps supplies water for at least 1.3 billion people. The flow of water from its caps fills seven large rivers in Asia: Mekong (South East Asia), Indus (Pakistan), yellow (China), Yangtze (China), Brahmaputra (Bangladesh) and Irrawaddy (Burma). These rivers are a source of fresh water for the populations around these rivers and many others. Himalayan ice caps release water throughout the year and especially during the hot dry seasons. With 1/3 of the current worlds population living in "water-stressed" nations, there is need to conserve the teeniest bit of fresh water. Disease Outbreak Most infectious disease are caused by overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate supply of clean water, air pollution, reduction in basic health care services as well as poor health care services, poorly planned developments and misuses of antibiotics. With the current trend in population increase, we are bond to get caught up in all these factors with some of these factors already here with us. Common communicable diseases such as cholera, common colds, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and measles will be hard to evade as well as manage. An increase in population has brought about ecologically disruptive developments, which in turn have brought about increased cases of pollution such as, water pollution as well as a decline in the earth’s production of fresh water due to the melting of ice caps and air pollution. Controlling disease outbreaks in an overpopulated ecosystem is always difficult especially due to congestion that makes it easy for these diseases to spread through the population (Novick & Morrow, 2007). It equally becomes very easy for these infectious diseases to move from one person to the other as people are constantly in contact with each other due to limited space. AIDS is another pandemic that has been accelerated by overpopulation. The fact that people are constantly in touch with each other due to limited space automatically means that controlling these populations’ activities and engagements might be tricky as well. Healthcare has a great role in checking disease so that diseases do not act as a death check. If people take caution of their actions in relation to the environment, disease outbreaks will be an issue of less concern in the world today. Effective public health measures can also contribute greatly to the fight against these infectious diseases outbreaks. With this continuous population growth, health authorities are providing more resources to systems will protect people. Medical Researchers are researching on ways to identify viruses faster in order to develop vaccines early in the process. Scientists are also trying to understand the interactions between humans and the ecosystem so as to identify emerging disease hotspots and get the next emerging virus before it gets to humans. All of these are done in a bid to have the new creative solutions that prevent epidemics. However, this population pressure can be controlled. The (UNPD) United Nations population Division predicts that: around 31st October, the human population will hit 7 billion. By 2050, the world’s population will be at 9 billion and by the time we hit the 22nd century, the human population will be 2100. The same organization however goes ahead and shows us that, families are getting smaller. Empirical data since 1950 from 230 nations shows that the fertility has declined in majority of the populations. The fertility rate is going down to the “replacement level”. If it indeed reaches this point by the end of the century, then the population will stabilize from 9 to 10 billion. That will be the furthest we can get. Not any further. Conclusion John Malthus to some extent was not wrong in stating that industrial revolution would bring about an increase in human population to a point where the finite world could not hold it then drastically go down due to food shortage. What Malthus Didnt Predict however is the fact that industrial revolution would come with its other developments such as health discovery such as birth control that would help control population explosion. Overpopulation has no doubt caused more harm than good to the world. The deterioration of our environment today is as a result of pollution caused by the increasing number in our population. The rise in human population has resulted to a consequent increase in human activities which in turn lead to pollution of the environment, especially industrial activities. Disease outbreaks have become very rampant in the world today due to factors we are experiencing in our world today such poor sanitation, shortage of fresh water and crowded settlements which we can directly attribute to overpopulation. There is need to control this increase so as to save human beings from these and more effects that come with overpopulation. References Arrhenius, S. 1996. On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature on the ground. London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and journal of Science 1896: 237-276. Clemens, C. J., & Goshen College. (1984). Overpopulation: Problems and solutions. Dasgupta, S. (2009). Understanding the global environment. New Delhi [u.a.: Pearson Education. Elwell, Frank W., 2003, "Malthuss Population Principle Explained," Retrieved August 31, 2013, [use actual date] http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Essay/Malthus1.htm  Hengeveld, R. (2012). Wasted world: How our consumption challenges the planet. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153596 Malthus, T. R. (2007). An essay on the principle of population, as it affects the future imporvement of society, with remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers. Clark, N.J: Lawbook Exchange. Mikanatha, N. M. (2007). Infectious disease surveillance. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Novick, L. F., Morrow, C. B., & Mays, G. P. (2007). Public health administration: Principles for population-based management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett. Ross, D. N., Planned Parenthood Association of Northeast Texas., Population Crisis Committee., & Conference Board. (1976). The Challenge of overpopulation and food shortages: Summary of a colloquium held in cooperation with Planned Parenthood Association of Northeast Texas and the Population Crisis Committee. New York: Conference Board. Steck, T. (2014). Human population explosion. Retrieved from Vajpeyi, D. K. (2012). Water resource conflicts and international security: A global perspective. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Read More