Overpopulation: A condition where the total population of a particular region far exceeds the carrying capacity of that region.
Over the past few months my blog has been centered around changes in the environment and what causes these changes. I have discussed everything from rising water levels to how our pets effect the planet, now I'm going to conclude by talking about how the planets growing population is impacting the environment around us.
There is no doubt that one of the leading causes of climate change is distributing harmful greenhouse gasses into the air. We do this on a daily basis by driving cars and heating our homes (as well as many other things). Although many people have realized that their daily activities are harming the atmosphere and have begun to reduce their carbon footprint, it doesn't really help when there are constantly more feet being brought into the world! Every child born in the U.S. will add about 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the carbon legacy of the average parent. That's a lot when families now have and average of three children per household.
Earth is becoming overpopulated because of many reasons: a drop in death rates, a rise in birth rates, migration and a lack of education on this subject. Modern medicine and a higher standard of living are the main reasons for the drop in death rates and the rise in birth rates. Over the years we have been able to find ways to keep people alive longer (which is a good thing) by finding ways to treat many diseases. Medicine can not only prevent death, it can aid in conception as well. The migration of people from one area to another also effects the population growth as well; when certain areas become overpopulated, their resources are depleted faster. Many places are unaware of the quickly rising population because they are not educated about it. People in less developed areas are not taught about birth control and family planning so they continue to bring children into the world that they can't even take care of.
Overpopulation begins to take place when families have more than two children (their replacements). Having more people than the world can handle creates an environmental issue because there will soon be a scarcity of living space and resources that the human race needs in order to survive.
Resources:
1) Water. Right now only 3% of the water on Earth is available for drinking, and with a population increase of 1.2%, we will run out of this valuable resource very quickly!
2) Land mass. Our available land will also begin to disappear with more people being added to the world. More people means the will need more homes to raise their families. This not only means that we will have closer neighbors but it means a, increase in pollution, deforestation, and a loss of animal habitats.
We need to stabilize the amount of people that there are in this world; but how do we tell someone that they can't have more then two kids? Sure, we can educated them about the impact that it has on the planet but chances are that won't stop them. I think that all we can do is educate the upcoming generations about this problem through health and ecology classes but we shouldn't deny someone the right to have a third child. What do you guys think?
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campagins/overpopulation
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-of-overpopulation.html
