The Misery of Globalization: Overpopulation and Global Economy - Essay Example

The thesis for this paper is that for all the economic benefits of globalization, the growing number of industries are causing air and water pollution and affecting the health of people in countries around the world, a situation that must be addressed. When the term "overpopulation" is used, most people think it means too many people, overcrowding in urban areas, but according to environmentalists Paul and Anne Ehrlich, density is not the standard of overpopulation. It is the numbers of people in an area, relative to its resources and the capacity of the environment to sustain human activities, that is, the area's carrying capacity.

An area is overpopulated if natural resources are being depleted around the world, which might lead to a scarcity of goods in a specific area so that the future population of the area will be without sufficient resources. The growth of industries in third-world countries is increasing their economy but at the same time increasing the possibility of air and water pollution leading to health problems. China is experiencing an increase in pulmonary disease and asthma due to air pollution (Watts), and the water pollutant issue in India is having an effect on global economy as noted in the Coca-Cola case (Russell) and in water table research data (Water, Water Everywhere).

The major consequences of overpopulation due to globalization can be attributed to shortage of water and natural resources. This paper will address the concept of overpopulation, which is more than just too many people, and then cover health issues and effect of contaminated water and pollution on global economic issues. In conclusion, suggested solutions will be presented.Urbanization and Ecology China has had a spectacular increase in its economic development, but, as a consequence, has shown a dramatic rise in prevalence of asthma cases, especially among urban children (Watts).

It is apparent that the rise in asthma is directly related to increased urban development in China. With farmlands turned into factories and increased numbers of cars on the roads, air pollution has increased greatly, setting up a situation that will soon create overpopulation as defined by the area's carrying capacity. The soils and forests of Africa are rapidly being depleted, which implies its carrying capacity will be lower in the future, leading to overpopulation. This also is the case in the United States with loss of soil and water resources contributing to destruction of global environmental systems (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 1990).

The increase in communication brought about by millions of people using the Internet has necessitated constant improvement of business and information technologies. In 1994, Paul Ehrlich warned that the "amount of resources each person consumes, and the damage done by the technologies used to supply them, need to be taken as much into account as the size of the population" (para. 2). With instant communication throughout the world, global concerns become paramount. The wealthy nations of the world are more concerned about increasing profit than about improving the ecology of the world.

Emerging nations look for a higher living standard at the expense of natural resources, a situation