High Population and Nations - Article Example

Name Course Tutor Date Population Introduction World demographic records reveal that the world population is one the rise. Over the last fifty decades, the population has multiplied faster than any other time in the human history. Right from 1800 to 2000, the world population grew from 1 billion people to about 7 billion people (Carington 8). It implies that the population growth rate is quite high; this is attributed to a number of factors which have decreased the death risks and increased the life expectancy and fertility of the population (Livi-Bacci 4). As the population grows, the environmental resources are put on pressure. The number of people tends to exceed the resources available to sustain this numbers (Carington 11). In an environment where there is a dense population, there will be always scarce food, water and energy. Places such as towns and cities where people are congested, pressure is exerted on these resources. There is high consumption of food, energy and water in such places (Livi-Bacci 4). The human demand of these resources has had many impacts to the life in the society. One of the impacts is that the prices of food tend to go high because the demand is high and the food resources are few. Thus, when prices go up, only rich individuals are able to afford decent food (Tyson 16). While the poor would suffer from hunger or cannot afford a balanced diet food that would be fit for their health. High population tends to exhaust the available energy resources such as wood, coal and oil. The scarcity of energy resources leads to overexploitation of the few available resources hence, pollution of the environment. The high demand of water also leads to environmental pollution when people go allover trying to find this scarce resource. Oil is another resource that is becoming scarce because of the over exploitation by man (Tyson 34). Oil provides energy which is used in mechanization, manufacture of fertilizers, and pesticide which are used to grow crops. Thus, when oil decreases, it indirectly reduces the production of food which is the basic need for human survival. Most of the fertilizers used in farms are processed from the byproducts of oil. Some other pesticides are also manufactured from oil byproducts therefore, oil is quite import in the process of farming (Carington 17) Farm tools and equipments depend much on oil for them to function. Some tools used in farms need oiling to reduce friction so that they can work efficiently, while others need oil such as petroleum and diesel for them to run (Livi-Bacci 12). Therefore, when the human population is becoming so large surpassing the oil resources, the situation leads to the low food production. It is actually hard to estimate the number of people the earth can sustain. However, social scientists argue that the earth can sustain as many people as possible depending on how the natural resources are managed. They say that when natural resources such as water, land, plants and animals are managed efficiently, the earth can support many billions of people. Records reveal that that about at the moment, the world population is around seven billion. Every day, 400000 people are born, at this rate it is estimated that in four decades time, the world population, would hit nine billion (Tyson 21). However, a large percentage of this population is living under misery because they cannot afford decent life which has enough food, clothing and housing. The situation seems to be growing worse since the human depletion of the environment stands at 21% high than the earth is recharging (Tyson 22). Therefore, as more people get born, they add pressure to the environment and the same time, the average life becomes harder. Most of the environmental problems have been caused by human beings. Places where there are high population densities are where high environmental depletion has been reported (Tyson 28). Therefore, there is a positive relationship between the population density and environmental pollution (Livi-Bacci 4). This is much evidenced in towns and cities where there are high population densities in small areas. Some of the common environmental problems in such places include contaminated water, tree cutting, soil erosion, air pollution and high disposals of non- decomposable materials such as plastics and metals (Tyson 54). Therefore, population densities vary directly proportion to the environmental pollution. Countries such as China and Saudi Arabia which have high population that has exceeded greatly the resources available have resorted to buying land in other nations so that they can engage in farming to produce food for their people. China is the most populous nation around the world with over one billion people (Han, R, & Linna 21). While Saudi Arabia has hostile environmental which cannot support arable farming; a large percentage of Saudi Arabia is covered by a desert. Therefore, growing of food crops is quite hard. It imports food or buy arable land in other countries to grow crops to sustain the population (Han, R, & Linna 21). These two countries buy arable land and exercises capital intensive farming where they invest a lot in terms of fertilizer, water and technology to produce a lot of food within a small land surfaces (Han, R, & Linna 21). At the moment we cannot say that the global agriculture has hit the natural limit. This is because most of the nations do not practice efficient farming. The available arable lands are mismanaged and underutilized. For this land to be utilized well, we have to employ intensive farming where high tech equipments and fertilizers are used. Most of the nations in the developing economies tend to depend on the small scale private farmers (Carington 13). In the modern days, there is a trend in the immigration of people. Most nations show that people are migrating from rural areas to urban areas. This is because they assume that urban areas have all the social amenities they need thus they prefer living in urban areas than rural s where there is underdevelopment (Tyson 62). Moreover, they go in urban areas to look for employment since most o the industries are located in urban regions. Reports from researchers reveal that the primary reason why the world population is increasing at an alarming rate is because most of the deadly diseases that were a threat to the human kind can now be cured and vaccinated against (Carington 8).The rise in world population increased significant starting from the industrial revolution because health sector improved where there many drugs were innovated and the production of food increased due to the new industries. It has been hard for people to discuss about population control because different societies have different beliefs and practices (Han, R, & Linna 19). Most of the developing nations tend to have high population than the developed nation. This is because of the ignorance. A large percentage of the population of the poor countries tends to have low level of education. Thus, they cannot understand why they should give birth to few children (Livi-Bacci 7). Moreover, most of the families stay together because they are not involved in busy careers that would separate them for some time. The husbands and wives are always together at home thus high chances of reproduction. In addition, due to ignorance, most women do not know how to use contraceptives in birth control (Tyson 37). Conclusion One method in which nations should use to erase the problem of water pollution is desalination. This is where polluted water is processed and purified for human consumption. When this is done in large scale, the ever increasing population would have enough water for consumption. The process of desalination should accompany with restrictions against water pollution by industries and waste disposal . Works Cited Carington, D. “The Gurdian: World population to hit 11billion in 2100with 70% chance of continuous rise.” (2014). Accessed 11 November 2014. Han, R, & Linna W. "Challenges and Opportunities Facing China's Urban Development in the New Era." (2013). China Perspectives 2013.2 15-27. Livi-Bacci, M. A concise history of world population. (2001). New York; John Wiley & Sons Publisghers. Tyson, T. “Population and development: The demographic transition.” (2010). London; Zed book publishers Read More