Different Questions about Population - Essay Example

Name Instructor’s Name Course Name Date An Essay Based on Different Questions about Population Planet Earth inhabits millions of species, but only one species has dominated the planet; human beings. Each of the human population should have a mandatory access to basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter.In the recent past, the world`s human population has been undergoing a dynamic change. The world is currently inhabiting 7.2 billion human beings and keeps increasing daily. Statistics shows that the human population on the earth keeps increasing by more than two people every second (Attenborough). China is the most populated country currently with approximately 1.3 billion human beings. Statistics in the recent years have shown that the world population keeps rising at high speeds, and the rate is thought to be dangerous if not controlled. Since the year 2000 to date, the world population has increased by a record 1 billion human beings. Survival of human population and other species solely depend on the availability of food to feed everyone (Farrell, 23). However, the available food and the technology to produce it do not always meet the demand of the population. As a result of this deficit, a section of the world`s population have ended up in food crisis scenarios and malnourishment. Approximately one billion humans have insufficient access to food and approximately eleven million children mostly those under ten years of age die from lack of food and related diseases (Miniwatts Marketing Group). It is clear from the video (Attenborough), the United Nations records from the New York headquarters has projected the world`s population to approximately nine billion by mid-century. The figures are said to be staggering and without proper measures to control the dynamic growth, it could reach lethal levels. Water is also a fundamental need for human existence. Water was majorly used for purposes such as drinking, bathing, cooking, washing and used in manufacturing processes in industries. Water is also a major contribution to energy, especially the hydro-based power generation (Farrell, 32). The amount used for domestic purposes are much more than the existing water resources. The ever increasing population creates more demand for water. Thus, the existing resources are facing the danger of depletion while most have already have undergone pollution. As a result of human intervention, the water used end up containing harmful constituents including sewage and other chemicals that pose harm to humans (Gilbert, 12).Water quality and quantity. Food production requires energy, and most of the energy comes from fuels. Oil is a raw material for fuels. Petroleum comes from oil which is existing natural resources in some countries. Continents such as Africa and Asian countries are rich in oil resources (Gilbert, 51). Oils as a source of fuel are essential for modern and mechanized agricultural production systems. Such fuels power the machinery such as tractors, irrigation systems and enhance mechanized transportation of products. Oil has also been used indirectly in the manufacture of fertilizers that is a major component in agriculture and general food production.The NobelPrize honoree Norman Borlaug helped saved millions of lives through the introduction of Green Revolution. Norman developed high yielding disease resistant crops and taught Indian and Mexican farmers how to get the most out of them with modern farming methods. The astonishing five-fold increase in yields that they achieved allowed many countries to be self-sufficient in food and the year1970, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Prize for alleviating hunger in the world (Attenborough). Modern food production and transportation and transportation have become more dependent on oil. However, the world`s existing oil reserves are dwindling. Planet earth according to geographical facts has a fixed surface area. Thus with the rising population, the existing land will soon be filled up. From Attenborough’s video, How many people can live on earth, the earth will soon be filled up with human population and the land to do agricultural production will be rare. Therefore, it is this ecological danger that faces the humanity. The food supplies will be few and human survival will be harder than before. With the existing lands being rapidly put into both industrial and human settlement, the global agriculture will soon hit a natural limit. Densely populated countries like China, India and Saudi Arabia have adopted other means of ensuring an adequate supply of agricultural products to feed its population. Some of the richest countries have been reported to have acquired large tracts of land from some of the poorest countries. Such deals are often controversial and shrouded in secrecy.China, for example, must have at least a hundred and twenty million hectares of fertile land in order to carry out enough agricultural activities to meets its population demands. However, approximately a third of China`s land is productive, the rest of the land has been classified as unproductive due to its bareness. According to local media reports, Chinese investors are negotiating deals throughout Africa as well as Mexico and Brazil. Saudi Arabians have their farmlands in Sudan, and several British investment firms are reported to be raising capital to buy farm lands in Angola Malawi and Ukraine. All these are efforts by rich countries to curb the food insecurity menace by buying arable land overseas (Attenborough) The primary reason for increased population growth is majorly attributed to cultural practices, level of education and even the human’s lifestyle (Attenborough). The introduction of education and intensified campaign on need to control population growth is likely to improve the level of production and economy is most likely to rise. Most developing countries in the world likemost of the African countries have poor birth control, and population growth is rampant. Some of the social organizations and communities such as some churches have strongly opposed the move to control childbirth as a way of controlling population. Such challenges have always hindered the global efforts of population growth control. Poverty and low economic development have been proved to contribute to excessive population growth; that gives the reason poor countries have a lot of population. Despite the fact that humanity has always engineered solutions to most of its problems, the population growth control has never found a solution. The reproductive question has never found a solution, and that is why the population will keep growing. Human beings have had control over everything in their lives except their reproduction systems. The diverse cultural, religious and social beliefs amongst the various races and tribes in the world has always made it hard for human beings address the issue of population growth amicably. The biggest problem facing the world is the insufficient supply of water (Attenborough). Approximately on fifth of the world`s population are faced with the problem of water scarcity. Statistics also reveal that over five hundred billion people are approaching the same situation in the near future. Statistics shows that approximately twobillion people of the world`s population face inability to lay out infrastructure that can supply water to its inhabitants.Desalination got adopted as an effective tool for water management. It has been used one of the remedies to water shortage although it has not been widely perfected. Most developed countries have adopted desalination due to their ability to meet its expense. According to Attenborough, there is a constant increase in population within ever decrease in supply of resource. Human beings differ from animals due to their ability to study, plan ahead and make rational decisions.Human population in the future depends on our decisions. The number of children a family should have is our moral responsibility, and the control of the population growth is in our hands. The continued damage to our ecosystems will later on cause great damage on ourselves. Human beings, therefore, ought to change the way we live and use our resources. Works Cited Attenborough, David. How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? England: BBC, 2000. Internet resource. Top of Form Farrell, Courtney. World Population. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub, 2012. Print. Bottom of Form Top of Form Gilbert, Geoffrey. World Population: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2001. Internet resource. 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