Category: Overpopulation

Introduction

The primary cause of the multifaceted problems facing the world today is overpopulation. These problems include; climate changes, pollution, poverty and food scarcity among others (Collodi and M’Cormack 1). The world population is projected to increase drastically by the year 2050 with continents such as Asia and Africa being the most overpopulated. In comparison to the population in 2000 (6.1 billion), the population in 2050 is predicted to rise by 47 percent (United Nations 4). The high population will strain the already inadequate resources.

Therefore, there is a likelihood that there will be rigorous exploitation of the available resources. The high population present in the world today has also had negative impact on employment and educational opportunities (Valentine 121). These effects are likely to be more aggravated in the poor countries. Moreover, access to safe and clean drinking water will also be a challenge due to the high population growth. The aim of this research is to describe the effects of overpopulation on land, air, and food supply.

Impact of overpopulation on land

In the past years, agricultural practices have demonstrated remarkable ability to keep up with the changes in the population. This has been through the expansion of agricultural land and increase in labor. However, there is uncertainty in the future of the lands used for agriculture if the world becomes overpopulated. There is the likelihood that the productive capability of agricultural lands may be exhausted in the future (Donohoe 577-578). The birth rates in developing nations have been projected to be on the rise and more people continue to build houses on land meant for agricultural practices.

This threatens the future food security situation as there may not be enough food to sustain the increase in population. It has also led to a decrease in crop diversity and the susceptibility of these crops to diseases. Another impact of overpopulation on land is water scarcity. The United Nations projects a tripled consumption of water since the 1950’s due to the high population. As a result, more than one billion individuals lack safe water for drinking (United Nations 4).

Poor countries are also characterized by lack of adequate resources to enhance the provision of water. In the event that the population in these settings continues to increase, many people will be predisposed to water-borne illnesses (Negative Population Growth 1). Overpopulation results in deforestation for the purposes of house construction and agriculture (Donohoe 577).

This subjects the land to erosion and leads to climate changes. In addition, the changes in climate are likely to affect the yield from these lands and hence result in food scarcity. Deforestation also subjects the land to floods and threatens the survival of wildlife. This is likely to have negative consequences on the economy in countries that depend on tourism as the main source of foreign income.

Effects of overpopulation on air

Pollution is the major cause of overpopulation on air. Over the past years, the global population has been increasing and this has been coupled with the overuse of natural gases and coal. This has also had devastating effects on the air and the environment in general. Moreover, the rising population has been followed by the increase in the number of industries and automobiles. Accumulation of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has resulted in climatic changes throughout the world (Collodi and M’Cormack 2).

The greenhouse gases include sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide. Depending on the level of industrialization in the different countries, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions have been different. The United States is accountable for over 23 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions (Donohoe 576).

Other factors that determine the levels of pollution in the air include the presence or absence of environmental regulations and the structure of the economy. There are also health risks linked with air pollution such as cancer and hospital admissions for cardiac and vascular diseases. Moreover, the high levels of air pollutions have been associated with high infant mortality rate.

Overpopulation and food security

Overpopulation has been reported to have devastating effects on the global food security (Collodi and M’Cormack 3). As a result of the rise in population in the past decades there has been a high demand for food. Therefore, the amount of food produced on a global scale has increased and this has been sustained by practices such as irrigation and the creation of new lands for farming. Majority of the new lands have been created through deforestation. The amount of food produced by 2050 will be 25 percent less and unable to sustain the global population (Collodi and M’Cormack 3).

Other factors that will be coupled by the population growth include land degradation, water scarcity, and climate changes. Moreover, the rise in the number of agricultural activities has led to loss of fresh water meant for human consumption. Based on the threats facing the global arable land today, agricultural activities will not be sufficient to cater for the overpopulation. Continents such as Asia and Africa are currently experiencing the effects of overpopulation (Population Action International 2).

These continents are characterized by hunger and famine. The diminished food security has been associated with climatic changes and the lack of alternative ways of producing food. Furthermore, overpopulation is likely to shift food consumption toward animal products that are more expensive. Majority of the poor nations may not have adequate resources to shift to animal production and this may result in more famine nad hunger.

Furthermore, these countries have been reported to have the highest fertility rates. An example of the regions currently characterized by food insecurity include Sub-Saharan Africa. The population in this region is predicted to be double of what it is today by the year 2050. Unless the current food shortages are dealt with, many people will end up dying due hunger and famine.

Conclusion

The global population has been on the increase in the past several decades. As a result, there have been negative effects on the land, air and food supply as identified in this paper. Overpopulation has negative effect on land due to overuse of agricultural land and deforestation. More land meant for farming is likely to be converted to urban housing to accommodate the population.

Moreover, the high population has a negative impact on air as evidenced by the global climatic changes.. Additionally, the global food security is under threat due to the increase in population (Population Action International 2). These findings indicate that overpopulation has negative impacts on all the aforementioned factors.

Governments should focus on developing ways of sustaining the rise in population to avoid the devastating effects associated with the same. Stakeholders in the different nations should focus on introducing mechanisms to educate the citizens on the effects of high population growth (United Nations 5). Moreover, the introduction of laws and policies that focus on reducing the birth rates in developing countries would ensure that the populations are controlled early enough. Lastly, more research is required to develop ways to improve the food security situation in Africa and Asia.

Works Cited

Collodi, Jason and Freida, M’Cormack 2009, Population Growth, Environment and Food Security: What Does the Future Hold?. PDF file.

Donohoe, Martin. “Causes and health consequences of environmental degradation and social injustice.” Social Science & Medicine 56.13 (2003): 573–587.Science Direct.

Negative Population Growth, 2013, Effects of Overpopulation: Water and Air Pollution. PDF file.

Population Action International, 2011, Why Population Matters to Food Security. PDF file.

United Nations, 2004, World Population to 2300. PDF file.

Valentine, Scott Victor. “Disarming the population bomb.” International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 17.2 (2010): 120-132. ResearchGate.

Species Population Analysis

A higher birth rate than the death rate of a species will lead to an increase in the population size of the species. Secondly, immigration into a given habitat at a faster rate than the emigration will also result to an increase in the population of the area.

Immigration is the movement of new species into the habitat from another habitat and this may be influenced by the presence of food and other resources in the new habitat that are unavailable from where the species are emigrating. Another factor that leads to the increase of the population is a reduction in the mortality rate.

When the mortality rate reduces for a particular population, the number of newly born surviving to grow into adulthood rises thus increases the population size (Zavaleta, Hobbs, & Mooney, 2001). Lastly, the total fertility rate of the population influences the rate of change in the population size.

The fertility rate of a given species will depend on the life history characteristics of the species such as the number of reproductive periods in the lifetime of the species and the number of offspring produced at each reproductive period (Berg & Hager, 2009).

In the nutria case, the high fertility rate and life history characteristic of the animal affect its population. The nutria reach the reproductive age when they are six months old and a mature female is capable of forty births in three years. Another factor affecting their population is the lack of a predator, which leads to a low infant mortality and death rate of the adult population. The absence of a predator causes the replacement rate of the nutria population to be much higher than its depletion rate (Messing & Wright, 2006).

When the land is depleted of the nutria’s food source, the population of the nutria will rapidly decline because of starvation. The nutria has a high daily food demand of about a quarter of their body mass. It would be difficult for the population to find a replacement food source within the same habitat that can sustain their population (Messing & Wright, 2006). Therefore, the nutria population will decrease significantly or wipe out entirely.

Environmental Challenges and Benefits of Urbanization

The term “Urbanization” refers to the transformation of a rural area into an urban area. An area that previously had the characteristics of a rural area gradually transforms into an urban area as its population increases and the dominant economic and social activities of the area change.

Contrasting urban areas and rural areas adequately offer the description of urbanization. While rural area populations work in occupations that directly extract natural resources such as fishing, logging and farming, their urban counterparts, as a result of industrial specialization, engage in occupations that relate to the transformation of the already harvested natural resources or the provision of services not directly related to the harvest of natural resources (Berg & Hager, 2009).

Cities represent urban areas that have fully passed the transition from being rural area and have the characteristic of diversity in race, ethnicity, religion and the social economic status of residents.

Challenges of Urbanization

As areas transform into urban areas they become more populated because they attract immigrants looking for better economic opportunities. The growth in population and the subsequent development of facilities to support the large population creates environmental problems in the urban areas.

One direct environmental impact is the encroachment of forests, wetlands, agricultural land and wildlife habitats. This encroachment changes the primary use of the given land and disrupts the environmental balance, which has consequences on the life of the urban residents and that of the biodiversity around them.

Encroachment into agricultural land leads to an immediate decrease in the food supply capacity of the adjacent rural area that supplies food to the urban area. Therefore, urban residents have to look further for food supplies and seek ways to make the dwindling agricultural land to produce more food per unit land size.

Another challenge of urbanization is the increased commuting distance necessitated by the large urban area. As cities grow geographically, residents have to commute longer distances to their work places, schools, hospitals and to access other social amenities or meet other people.

The increase in the commuting distance comes with an increase in the reliance on motorized transport with comes at a cost to the environment. Vehicles use fuels and emit airborne gases as their byproducts. The larger the number of vehicles used in a city, the greater the emission of the airborne gases to the atmosphere.

These airborne gases are pollutants to the environment because they affect the supply of clean gases such as oxygen beneficial to human and animal life. Vehicles also emit smoke that pollutes the environment by making visibility difficult. Moreover, the sound of vehicles especially in traffic jams as drivers hoot is disturbing to the listeners and is a form of noise pollution.

Another environmental challenge of urbanization is pollution of water. A characteristic of urban areas is the paving of roads, paths and parking lots. In addition, buildings cover any open grounds such that rain and wastewater has to be channeled over the surface through drainage systems into outlets or treatment facilities before it leaves the cities to join the natural river system.

The problem of artificial overflow of water is that it lacks the ability to sift toxic materials from the water before it joins the waterways. As water overflows on roads and other paved surfaces and roofs, it collects a lot of toxic materials that are later transferred into water ways and are consumed by aquatic life, animals and humans who are using the water.

When the rate of population increase in urban areas is much higher than the development of economic opportunities to sustain the population an imbalance arises. Additionally, developments of systems that adequately control the social character of the population have to match the population growth to prevent the social imbalance that arises.

Unprecedented growth of the urban population results to a strain on resources that can support such a high population, otherwise referred to as the carrying capacities of the urban area. An ideal population growth should be at a rate that matches the development of the necessary social amenities and economic capacities such as employment opportunities to support the growing population. Population problems blamed on urbanization lay squarely on the insufficiencies of the urban area to support its large population.

Urbanization becomes undesirable when it results to urban problems of matching facilities and the population that it supports. These challenges occur as sewage treatment, pollution, congestion, inadequate supply of clean water, limited availability of medical facilities, and few transport systems to match population growth among other challenges.

Benefits of Urbanization

Cities and other urban areas have more job opportunities than rural areas and can therefore support large number of people seeking opportunities for social and economic development. The concentration of diverse occupations and cultures in urban areas makes them the center for economic, education and cultural development.

Residents of urban areas have a faster and easier access to the available opportunities for interaction and personal growth that would otherwise require travelling long distance for the rural area resident. Urban areas also make it easy for authorities to conduct their administration duties.

In most cultures of the world, women, the disabled and the minority have limited access to economic opportunities; however, in urban areas the same marginalized people get employment in a variety of industries (Berg & Hager, 2009). In the following section we discuss two winning projects and how they overcame the challenges of urbanization discussed earlier.

Community-Based Projects

The Bronx Center Project – “Don’t Move, Improve” USA

This is a collaboration of the communities around the South Bronx area, which aims to revitalize 300 deteriorated blocks. In the revitalization plan, the project intended to create job opportunities for the community and avail job-training programs that would expand the economic opportunities for South Bronx workers, entrepreneurs and investors.

In coming up with the project, its managers realized that the urban area had been neglected and offered very little social and economic support to its residents making most of them to emigrate to look for better opportunities (UNESCO, n.d. b).

Project on Sites and Services for Low-Income Family Groups Argentina

This project aims to address the challenges of providing a good quality residence to urban residents lacking the necessary economic ability to obtain their own land for development of houses. The project identified that despite the availability of land, the poor could not afford the high selling prices.

After the realization that speculators were responsible for the high price of land, the project acquired land that was later subdivided and allocated to poor residents who would afterwards pay for the land in installments without having to suffer the rising cost arising out of the speculation.

In addition, to ensure that the quality of life within the new residents was desirable, the project included the development of physical infrastructure for the low-income residents. The project included the development of roads, drainage facilities, light pillars and street lighting.

The project also addressed the supply of key services like electricity and clean water. To make the project sustainable, the development of the low-income site used the concept of a land bank where land is set aside for future allocation to low-income earners who would otherwise be unable to afford the speculative prices (UNESCO, n.d. a).

Overcoming Project Challenges

The Bronx Center Project – “Don’t Move, Improve” USA

In the Bronx center project, the managers focused on the redevelopment of dilapidated and abandoned buildings and using them as economic centers or administrative centers.

For example, an old courthouse was rehabilitated and designated as a community labor exchange building for residents seeking all types of employment. Throughout the implementation period of the project, the project managers engaged the community through different participating avenues so that the final development plans and designs benefited all community members.

Limited economic opportunities of the area led to an inadequate supply of affordable housing as residents earned low incomes. As a remedy, the project included the identification and addressing of the constraints that affect the low-income earners quest for housing.

This included provision of grant and loans for purchase of houses. The project also included the development of a new senior citizen’s residency. Finally the project, addressed the supply of social amenities be redesigning open spaces and streets in addition to development of transport facilities (UNESCO, n.d. b).

Project on Sites and Services for Low-Income Family Groups Argentina

The project was able to provide a land bank for the low-income earners to shield them from the high land prices caused by speculation. It also made the land more affordable to low income earners by giving them an opportunity to pay in monthly installments in addition to letting them construct semi-permanent houses as they seek funds to develop their planned houses.

To make the project sustainable, beneficiaries were allowed to construct houses using their own resources so that there would be no dependencies associated with the success of the project.

To ensure the new residency remained desirable in providing a good quality of living, the project put in place measures limiting the number of houses that can be constructed on a single piece of land; and provided social services like roads, electricity and clean water to the site (UNESCO, n.d. a).

References

Berg, L. R., & Hager, M. C. (2009). Visualizing environmental science (2nd ed.). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Messing, R. H., & Wright, M. G. (2006). Biological control of invasive species: solution or pollution. Frontier Ecological Environment, 4(3), 132-140.

UNESCO. (n.d. a). Project on sites and services for low-income family groups Argentina. Retrieved from Most Clearing House Best Practices: https://en.unesco.org/

UNESCO. (n.d. b). The Bronx Center Project – “Don’t Move, Improve” USA. Retrieved from Most Clearing House Best Practices: https://en.unesco.org/

Zavaleta, E., Hobbs, R. J., & Mooney, H. A. (2001). Viewing invasive species removal in a whole-ecosystem context. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 16(8), 454-459.

Introduction

Overpopulation may be described as a situation where a habitat holds a larger number of organisms than it should. The human population has been increasing at extreme rates in last few decades with an estimated three births every day (Connor 2006). Overpopulation has continued affecting the environment negatively over these years. Many human activities are not environment friendly and overpopulation does not make the situation any better.

Major impacts on the environment resulting from overpopulation

One of the major ways in which overpopulations affects the environment is through water pollution. As many people move to urban areas to seek employment, the amount of sewage waste tends to increase. Such wastes are carelessly disposed off such that they finally find their way into water bodies in their untreated condition.

Some of the main contributors of water pollution are industries and open mines whose waste water contains chemical substances and other materials such as heavy metals which cannot be purified. Overexploitation in oceans through overfishing causes imbalance in the ecosystem of the coastal areas and results to lower populations of fish and other aquatic organisms (Stancheva 2003).

Eventually, all these wastes and sediments find their way into the ocean and since the ocean is important in regulating climate, the overall climate is affected which may lead to economical problems. In addition, the ocean helps to prevent global warming through absorption of some percentage of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by human activities. Destruction of the ocean through overexploitation, therefore, limits this function.

Besides polluting the water, there is also the problem of overconsumption which limits the supply of this precious commodity. Lack of adequate water also affects the environment since water is essential in maintaining a balanced ecosystem through its use by plants and animals (Vinelli 2003).

Degradation of soil is another major impact of overpopulation. As the population increases, so does the demand for food production to cater for the growing population. This then leads to exploitation of lands that are not suitable for cultivation such as hilly areas and hilly lands whose cultivation leads to erosion and consequent loss of nutrients.

This need for more land for cultivation leads to certain agricultural practices that are not environment friendly such as slash-and-burn cultivation which lead to deforestation. Similarly, overpopulation calls for higher energy production. This leads to exploitation of wood for fuel production and hence resulting to deforestation.

Other primary causes of deforestation are construction of roads and residential houses to cater for the increasing population. The general impact of all the effects mentioned above is the decrease in biodiversity (Fears 2009). As the natural habitats are destroyed, many wildlife species have been displaced and many died due to changes in the environment resulting from pressure due to human overexploitation of the environment.

Conclusion

All of these issues indicate that the natural resources that humans ignore and misuse are of great importance to them. Some of these impacts on the environment resulting from human overexploitation of natural resources may be permanent or last for long periods of time (Nahle 2003).

If these trends continue, the environmental conditions will intensify since it is no doubt that the human population will continue increasing in the recent past. Sustainable approaches should, therefore, be taken to conserve the natural resources in order to counteract these adverse impacts

Works Cited

Connor, S. “Overpopulation ‘is main threat to planet’”. 2006. Web.

Fears, N. “The effect of overpopulation on the environment and our sustainability”. 2009. Web.

Nahle, N. “Current effects of overpopulation”. 2003. Web.

Stancheva, T. “Effects of overpopulation on the environment”, 2003.Web.

Vinelli, G. “Environmental effects of population”. 2003. Web.

Abstract

The report is about to prepare a comparative study of How overpopulation affects our Economy. The population is a mandatory part of the Economic activities. For sound economic growth, it is necessary to keep the population at an optimum level. Population more than an optimum level is called overpopulation. Overpopulation causes an increase in consumption, increasing consumption causes a decrease in saving, and decreasing savings results in decreased investment. Reduced investment results reduced employment opportunity and create unemployment. As a result whole GDP goes down. Thus, the economy always demands and optimum population.

Introduction

The world population has increased dramatically in recent years. According to the United Nations, it reached one billion at the start of the nineteenth century. By 1950, there were over 2.5 billion people on the planet. Since then the total has been doubled, to 5.6 billion this year. Long-term projection suggests that the number will carry on growing until after 2200 when the population will stabilize at around 11.6 billion – more than twice as many as there are now.

Despite the rapid growth of the world population, not all countries have experienced rapid growth of population. In particular, it is the world’s poorer countries, which have experienced the greatest growth of population.

Methodology

For evaluating the comparative study several topics have been choosing. These are: population dynamics and the demographic concept, reasons for the increase in the size of the population, effects of overpopulation in the economy, food production per capita index, lower national income, increasing burden on working population, the balance of payments difficulties, overpopulation illustration of Malthus and growth of population in united states has been presented to evaluate the effects on overpopulation. This report would enquire the relation between population and economic growth. This has been done with a review of existing theoretical presentation and imperial analysis. The focus has been drawn on fertility, consumption, and investment.

Population Dynamics and the Demographic Concepts

The developed countries such as the United States are very strict about birth control resulting in lower birth rates. Besides, later ages of marriage and the desire of many women to look forward to their careers, etc. lead to steady growth in the birth rates. An increase in the birth rate occurred mainly in third world countries, due to a decrease in infant mortality rate. This has been made possible due to medical improvements, the availability of more hospitals, etc. Lack of family planning and health education in communities resulted in higher birth rates. Besides, if the number of women of childbearing age is more in an economy, there is the likelihood that there will be a higher birth rate. However, initiatives of government could make it possible to control birth rates.

In the United States, the death rate has continued to decline throughout the twentieth century. The decline in the death rate has been a major contributory factor in the increase in the population. Factors that have tended to decrease the death rate in the US and other developed countries include improvements in the standard of living, improved working conditions, development of welfare state and improved medical techniques, better public health, and sanitation, better-educated population, and so on.

Rapid traditional immigration has taken place mainly in the USA, Canada, and Australia. There has been a new trend of immigration as people from India, Pakistan, African countries, and West Indies, come to these countries. An increase in net immigration has a great impact on the overpopulating USA and other developed countries. However, the US government is taking measures to restrict immigration.

Effects of Overpopulation in the Economy

Where a country has chronically overpopulated an increase in population may mean severe hardship poverty, malnutrition, and high death rates. An increase in the death rate will put a great strain on a country’s social, health, and educational facilities. Lack of pure water supply will result in rapid transmission of diseases. There may be overcrowding in houses, shortages of doctors, shortages of medicine, shortages of schools and teachers, and food shortages.

Food Production per Capita Index

Due to overpopulation, the per capita index of food production seriously hamper and brings a negative effect on the national economy. US government is much more aware in this regard.

African countries like Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo as well as some of the South Asian countries are already suffering from these problems. According to United Nations, more and more people are going to starve in poorer nations.

Lower National Income

The optimum population is the level of the population where national income per head of the population is maximized. This means that the population is at its best size and is achieving a level of national income (or output) that is at its best given to that level of population. GDP per head is the most frequent indicator used to calculate the economic growth and living standards in different countries. If a country is overpopulated, it means that there are too many people with few resources to provide a level of national income, which maximizes national income per head. If the increase in the population exceeds its optimum size then there will be too many people in the country. National income per head will be lower than it should be because there are not enough resources available.

Increasing Burden on Working Population

People over the age of 65 are part of the dependent population. If the increase in population is mainly on dependent age groups, the burden overworking population will be increased. This means that they will rely on the working population to produce goods and services they require and to pay taxes to finance old people’s homes and old-age pensions. Thus an aging population puts an increased burden on the working population. Of course, the working population could be increased by lowering the school leaving age and by raising the age of retirement to above 65 years.⁵ However, both these developments are extremely unlikely for social and political reasons (for example, unemployment would be increased). The table below shows the percentage of working and dependent age groups in the US from 1901 to 2000:

Immobility of Labor

An increase in population on dependent age groups will create immobility of labor. As people become older, they become less geographically and occupationally mobile. This may have a bad effect on the economy, as the new expanding industries will find it difficult to recruit suitable workers whereas the declining industries will make people unemployed who then do not move to another job or another area. Besides, increasing growth of population than that of the industries may result in both unemployment and underemployment. In 2000, the population of the United States was 282 million, out of which 81 million people were under the age of 17, and 35 million people were of age 65 and above 65. So, there were about 116 million dependents out of 282 million, assuming that the rest 166 million were working population. Now, United States is facing severe shortages and immobility of the labor force.

Balance Of Payments Difficulties

An increase in population will have an enormous increase in the rate of consumption, resulting in more investment and fewer savings. A country may have a balance of payments difficulties because it may have to import more food and raw materials to satisfy the needs of its increasing population and industries than that of the exports. If the productivity of the economy is low due to the aging population, immobility of labor, and so on, then the visible import value may exceed the visible export value.

Overpopulation illustration of Malthus

One of the earliest writers on population was Reverend Thomas Malthus. In his Essay on Population, which was published in 1798, Malthus suggested a theory of population growth. Malthus’ theory was that the growth of population was limited by the means of subsistence. In other words, he believed that population growth was limited by the ability of the population to provide food, clothing, shelter, and so on for itself. He was concerned mainly with population growth in the UK and argued that population growth had a tendency to outstrip the growth of the means of subsistence. He expected that the production of food and the other means of subsistence would not keep pace with the growth of the population. In these circumstances, an increase in population would reduce the amount of food and shelter available per head. Continued population growth would therefore lead to poorer diets and event starvation for some people. The Spread of disease, famine, and death provided what Malthus called positive checks on the population growth. He believed that the existence of these positive checks would ultimately limit the growth of an economy’s population.

Cleary Malthus’ predictions have not proved to be correct for the developed world. The main reason for this is that the means of subsistence have in fact increased faster than population growth. In particular, Malthus believed that food production would not keep pace with population growth because as the population increased, land which was less and less fertile would be drawn into use and would yield a smaller and smaller increase in the output of food. In other words, Malthus felt that the law of diminishing returns would apply to the use of extra acres of agricultural land. In fact, in the developed countries there has been widespread and increasing use of fertilizers and pesticides,.and the adoption of highly mechanized means of production. Both these trends have raised the output per acre of agricultural land so much; so that the increase in the output of agricultural land has exceeded the needs of the increase in population.

However, the same is not true in the case of many of the world’s developing countries. Here, population growth has sometimes been at such a rate that Malthus’ predictions have unfortunately come true. Famine occurred in areas such as Ethiopia and Sudan. The relatively high death rates that characterize many developing countries are often due to the effects of poor diet. The lack of food and unbalanced nature of the diet in turn stems from the population growing faster than the means of subsistence.

Growth of Population in the United States

During 1994, nearly 2.0 million people were added to the total population of the United States. This was due to a decline. It is projected that at least 1.0 million people from these were immigrants. It is estimated that if the population continues to grow in such a way in the United States, it is going to reach 570,954,000 by 2100.

Due to the decline in death rates, the US economy may suffer from the curse of the aging population. Difficulties like the increasing burden on the working population and immobility of labor are going to decrease the productivity of industries. Thus, the US government may have to import more than that of the exports, resulting in a balance of payments difficulties. However, the government is taking measures to slow down the rate of immigration, which may have a positive impact on the economy.

Conclusion

The rapid growth of population causes Overpopulation. Overpopulation has a negative effect on economic growth in consideration to food production per capita index, lower national income, consumption and investment conflict, and increasing burden on working population and balance of payments difficulties. Thus for economic policymakers, it is most important to keep the population at an optimum level.

Bibliography

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US Census Bureau (2000), Population Dynamics in the United States, Sustainability Review: Issue 25, pp. 67-89.

Anderson, A. (2000), Economics, 3rd edition, Causeway Press, ISBN 190279619, pp. 111-152.

Maunder, P. et al (2007), Economics Explained, 6^th ed., Collins, ISBN 0003277585, pp. 98-134.

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Introduction

Overpopulation refers to stretching in terms of size and capacity due to limited resources and space. Overpopulation occurs as a result of high population densities. High population densities occur when the ratio of people to the size of land is not equal. High population densities are as a result of high birth rates which lead to pressure on available resources (Newman 2008).

Existing resources can only satisfy sufficiently a certain number of people and once the population explodes, social issues arise. These include poor sanitation, poor housing and increased poverty. Overpopulation is a major challenge in developing countries where people have continuously exceeded the normal size. This has led to pressure on space and land.

Solutions to Overpopulation

Land is a fixed resource therefore innovative ways need to be devised to use it. Several options are available to tackle overpopulation including economic, technical and social options like conservation, recycling, population controls through government legislation, educating people, and use of new technologies offered by art, engineering and architecture. Countries may implement measures to reduce birth rates or offer options to control putting up of buildings (Brym & Lie 2007, Newman 2008).

It is important to understand the root cause of overpopulation, which is scarce space. This means that if space is used efficiently, the problem of overpopulation can be greatly reduced. One angle is applying innovation in how buildings are designed and erected to utilize little space. Several architectural designs and drawings have been advanced by different experts in design and building of houses (Fawcett 2003).

Independent research

My independent research covered hexagonal housing units often referred to as vertical cities.

Emergence of vertical cities

Based on my independent research, development of housing and commercial units ‘horizontally’ tends to use up more space. As a result, developments by a Malaysian architect, Tay Wee, propose the design of ‘vertical cities’ which are made up of hexagonal housing units that offer a solution to the problem of overpopulation mostly experienced in Asian cities where population has exceeded the space available (Bernick, K 2010).

This development supports the idea that as population continues to burst; more units can be added to the facility or structure to accommodate the ever increasing population. It is termed as a “plug-in development” which borrows heavily from Le Corbusie’s theory, a French architect, who made advanced developments in architectural styles and emphasized the idea that “a house is a machine for living”( Bernick, K 2010).

In this proposed model, the city authorities own the building. They build it upon consideration of aspects like costs, accessibility, durability, ability to withstand tension, materials for construction and usability. Upon the erection of the original structure, more hexagonal units can be “plugged in” to the initial structure to accommodate new and upcoming families who want to settle down into homes (Bernick, K 2010).

When putting up the initial structure, arrangements should be made to accommodate recreational needs and facilities hence these areas maybe left as open spaces. The fascinating thing with this design is the ease of dismantling which implies that it promotes mobility hence it can be moved to another upcoming area in the event of pressures of population or growth of new cities which present better options for settlement of population.

The design of the building assumes that the structure will have a longer and sustainable life as compared to the degrading city and surroundings. This can be particularly applied in developing countries where better building solutions like ‘vertical cities’ have not been employed as this considers the fact that land is a scarce resource (Bernick, K 2010).

Aspects of design

Aspects of design refer to the elements that are considered to promote symmetry in the successful implementation of different architectural styles. These aspects revolve around shape, material, cost, accessibility, usability, effectiveness and durability. Design involves conceiving in the mind sketches and plans to be executed or constructed (Downton 2003). Based on the idea of vertical cities, aspects of design are equally taken into consideration and are discussed below.

Usability

In this particular case, usability is one of the core aspects. Usability refers to the ease of use and re-use in terms of ability to replicate the concept and make improvements to it. The idea behind hexagonal units is to “plug in” new housing units to the existing structure. This implies that the initial structure can be modified vertically depending how well the initial concrete slab was designed to withstand tension in terms of pressure and weight.

Usability is brought about by the ability to continuously add more units without exerting pressure on horizontal space due to the fact that vertical space is being used (Gudnason & Scherer 2012). Usability is equally brought about in the sense that this model can be replicated in towns experiencing similar overpopulation problems and used to curb the social issue. This idea is supported by the fact that the structure is flexible and can easily be dismantled hence it is very mobile.

Accessibility

The second aspect of design is accessibility. It refers to the degree in which a product, which in this case is a building, is readily available to as many individuals as possible. Accessibility in this design can be looked at from an angle of mobility in the sense that in the event of development of new cities, the structure can be moved to new found areas. People are not restricted to their initial areas of settlement.

Cost

Cost refers to the monetary or non-monetary investment that is used in development of something (Levitt & Bernstein 2010). This design saves costs in terms of time due to the option of plugging in” of hexagonal units. One does not have to undergo the problem of setting up initial structures.

This style significantly reduces financial cost. This is in terms of acquiring of new space or land to put up more units. The style makes use of vertical space to accommodate new or upcoming units. The initial cost of setting up the concrete slab might be costly hence care must be taken to ensure that durability and strength of the structure is not compromised as a result of concentrating on cost-cutting measures.

Conclusion

The overpopulation problem poses a major strain to many resources which include land and social amenities. Several options are available to tackle the ever increasing problem of population pressure. Architecture has presented several styles in design that if employed can greatly manage the overpopulation problems as indicated above.

Different advancements have been laid out that can be used in countries experiencing this social issue to ease congestion and over reliance on land as a fixed resource. It is important to appreciate the fact that architecture and engineering could provide several options that can be employed by countries experiencing overpopulation problems.

References

Bernick, K (2010), Plug your hexagonal house into this vertical city. Web.

Gudnason, G & Scherer, R. J (2012), E-Work and E-Business in Architecture, Engineering and Construction. CRC Press,United Kingdom.

Brym, R.J & Lie, J (2007), Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. Cengage Learning Inc, USA.

Downton, P(2003), Design Research. RMIT, Australia.

Fawcett, P (2003), Architecture Design Notebook. Elsevier Science, USA.

Levitt, D & Bernstein, L (2010), The Housing Design Handbook: A guide to Good Practice. Routlege, USA.

Newman, D (2008), Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life. Pine Forge Press, USA.

Introduction

The inherent problem with the concept of overpopulation is the fact that the finite resources available on Earth cannot hope to support the potentially infinite expansion of humanity.

The Earth itself is a closed off ecosystem with no resources entering into it, as such its surface can only support a certain population of species, both human and animal alike, before the ecosystem inevitably collapses in on itself as a result of a severe strain on the planet’s natural and ecological resources.

It is based on this that when it comes to the threat of overpopulation as a challenge to management’s ethos of mass-production and mass-consumption, the problem lies in the fact that the ethos of companies at the present promote the overconsumption of resources instead of advocating for resource conservation and population controls.

Understanding Overpopulation

In her article explaining the repercussions of overpopulation Kuo (2012) explains that in 1965 the global population stood at a mere 3.3 billion people who collectively taxed the Earth’s resources to only 70 percent of its bio-capacity.

This means that only 7/10 of the land, water, and air the planet could regenerate or repair yearly to produce various life sustaining products was consumed as well as its ability to absorb greenhouse gas emissions (Kuo 2012, p. 23-32).

Unfortunately the rapid expansion of the global population following the period of the 1960s resulted in humanity consuming more resources than the planet could replenish resulting in the present day conditions wherein 6.8 billion people are consuming the equivalent of 1.4 Earth’s (Kuo 2012, p. 23-32).

Company Culture and the Isolation of Corporations from Society

One of the most interesting concepts that I have learned from the course so far is that of the GooglePlex which can be roughly described as a self-contained environment that acts as both a work place as well as an environment that helps to develop and foster creative ideas and concepts.

Examples of this can be seen in the “campus style” complexes that Apple Inc. and AOL (America Online) have built for their employees within Silicon Valley which act as isolated environments from the outside world with their own restaurants, meeting areas, sports facilities etc.

This trend in which an office spaces facilitate creativity and the development of new concepts can similarly be seen in the offices of Disney Pixar, Adidas (Shanghai) and Kellogg’s (Madrid) wherein they have large open spaces, comfortable offices and meeting areas, beautifully manufactured lawns and landscapes, aesthetically pleasing furniture as well as have a general feel of modernity, comfort and most important of all “space”.

As explained by Willets (2011), the current trend in office development for several of today’s Fortune 500 companies is to make the environment less like an office meant purely for work.

Instead, psychological concepts related to relaxing and pleasing colors, openness, and comfort are applied so as to create a specific type of mindset among employees in which they feel more open towards communication and collaboration with each other which theoretically would result in development of new ideas and concepts that they can apply in their work (Willets 2011, p. 6).

The effectiveness of this particular approach is described in the Fuyuno (2003) study which compared the work environment of call centers with that of several startup companies within Silicon Valley such as the Facebook “campus”.

It was noted that the use of artwork, aesthetically pleasing furniture and other types of visual, auditory and physical stimuli actually resulted in a greater predilection towards creativity and lessened the likelihood of employee burnout.

However, it was explained by Thrift that space can produce identity effects resulting in the internal culture of a company often being dictated by the space by which it surrounds itself. In the case of Pixar, Kellogg’s and Adidas, the space that is present within their individual layouts can be thought of as far removed from the realities of what exists outside of the office.

As seen in the case of the GooglePlex and its various iterations, there is a “divide” so to speak that occurs as a direct result of the space that is created in order to encourage particular thought processes among a company’s employees.

In the case of threat of overpopulation as a challenge to management’s ethos of mass-production and mass-consumption, employee space actually creates a certain level of “disconnection” between those inside and what occurs at the world at large.

The open environments, the artworks, and the pleasing aesthetics all work together to influence the internal corporate mindset in such a way that they do not regard such problems as being the direct responsibility of the company.

As explained by the article Inside the Googleplex (2007), a company’s ethos is developed as a direct result of the people that work in it, however, if the mindset of such individuals is product and results oriented instead of focusing more on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) it is likely that a company’s operations will promote rather discourage overpopulation and overconsumption.

The issue when it comes to over population and management ethos is that it requires companies to think ethically in that they should orient corporate practices towards more sustainable methods of operations which would help to convince the general population to follow as well.

Unfortunately, this is not occurring, (Kristensen & Eskildsen (2012) explains that consumer sentiment involving companies at the present is resulting an ever deepening chasm wherein the general public believes that major corporations simply do not care either about the public or the environment.

Such a perception does have a considerable degree of validity given the explanation given earlier regarding current office spaces and how they disconnect the current corporate mindset from implementing proper methods of CSR (Kristensen & Eskildsen 2012, p. 47-61).

Corporations, Overpopulation and the Environment

As Jessica (2012) states “technology intensive enterprises are constantly pushed towards performance initiatives that place an emphasis on doing things faster, better and with fewer resources”. In fact this push towards better competitive performance through effective and more efficient resource utilization and allocation is one of the current driving forces of many high-tech organizations.

It must be noted though that the production processes of certain forms of technological output (i.e. consumer electronics, computer components etc.) do have an impact on the local environment which should be taken into consideration by an organization that utilizes corporate social responsibility as one of the foundations of their managerial practices.

What must be understood is that the drive for faster, better and less resource intensive production processes that are currently being pushed by various companies actually results in many of them choosing to utilize method of production that have an adverse impact on the local environment. This is all a result of the ever increasing population within general markets which companies are attempting to better encompass.

Evidence of this can be seen in studies such as Prechel & Zheng (2012) state that have examined the water quality in several of China’s industrial zones such as in Tianjin show an almost toxic level consistency of water run offs spilling into nearby bodies of water from several of these industrial zones.

Furthermore the air quality in such areas has also been shown to consist of a variety of carbon and chemical based particulates that are the primary causes for the growing cases of lung disease and cancer within several of China’s expanding industrial cities.

It is mentioned by Prechel & Zheng (2012) that proper environmental management practices should be implemented by technology oriented enterprises due to the need to comply with ethical and moral standards of operation and the fact that an organization that engages in questionable environmental practices usually develops a negative public image.

While there are certain challenges to this approach such as an increase in the cost of operations, lower production capacity, and the need to implement more stringent methods in the company’s operational procedure the fact remains that compliance to these ethical standards results in a better corporate image which resounds better with consumer groups especially when taking into consideration the growing focus on environmentally sustainable practices of industrial production.

The “Myth” of Business Ethics at the Present

Based on the information that has been presented so far, it is the assumption of the researcher that the cause of the lack of concern of corporations regarding overpopulation is the continued belief that the people that run companies will continue to utilize ethical methods of conduct despite the pressure to perform that is placed on them by Wall Street and investors.

The first myth is the assumption of companies that they select and train ethical employees who will always do the right thing. A survey conducted by various prosecuted individuals serving time for white collar related crime all reveal that the source of unethical behavior is not whether a person is ethical or not in comparison to other employees but rather if the opportunity is there and there are no apparent means of control.

The fact of the matter is so long as the opportunity is present; it is likely that a company may implementing unethical practices in order to keep up with investor expectations on company performance.

The environments seen in the case of Kellogg’s, Adidas and Pixar show a current trend in the development of isolated “spaces” for employees which Nelson et al. (2012) explains creates a mindset which fails to take into consideration the possible ramifications of unethical actions to the general public given the lack of a connection between the employee and consumers.

In such cases where there is no opportunity and stringent means of control exist even apparently unethical employees have no choice but to conform to an ethical method of doing business. For example, an ethical employee is told to find a method of keeping costs down in order to help the company survive the recession, the employee helps the company lower costs by outsourcing the means of production to China.

Everything seems to follow an apparently ethical guideline however a closer examination of the situation reveals that the labor used in the outsourced factory complex is tasked to produce items 18 hours a day, under harsh conditions and minimum safety standards in order to cut down on the cost of production.

From an ethical viewpoint such a situation seems horrid yet it is a part of nearly everyday business operations for various retailers. Such a method of operation actually describes what is currently being done in Adidas wherein a large percentage of its manufacturing operations has been outsourced to Third World countries due to cheaper labor costs.

Unfortunately, as seen in the case example shown, this practice is often rife with clearly unethical actions yet is allowed to continue in the name of profit. This is evidence of the level of disconnection brought about by present day office environments.

While companies may train employees to do the right thing the fact remains that the company itself is still a business. When told to minimize costs in favor of survival one of the first principles to take a hit is the concept of ethicality wherein low cost production comes at the cost of an abused labor force.

The fact is proper business ethics is more of a framework that a person attempts to abide by rather than a belief in one’s own ability to stick to ethical practices. If one believes that they are following proper business ethics under the belief that they will do no wrong without the need for a proper ethical framework then it is very likely that such individuals will commit unethical practices in the near future.

Thus, despite the current problems involving overpopulation and how the present day operational framework of companies encourages mass production and mass consumption, it is still unlikely that true change in the name of saving the planet will be implemented.

The Necessity of Implementing Standards in Corporate Ethics

There is an old saying that states that “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”, in the case of corporations this takes on a more significant meaning due to the proliferation of various departments, operational sites and standards of doing business in particular areas.

Feehan & Becker (2011) explains that the different “spaces” created across corporations, as seen in the case of Adidas, Kellogg’s and Pixar, also manifests itself into different ethical environments. Not all departments actually know what other departments are doing and, as such, this leaves a great deal of ambiguity as to what sort of ethical practices particular departments are or are not engaging in.

As such, this presents the necessity of establishing a standard set of ethical practices and procedures across all departments due to the need to ensure that when represented by a particular department in a certain business venture their ethical practices don’t reflect badly on the rest of the company.

What must be understood is that when a particular operation, department or employee engages in a distinctly unethical practice this makes consumers think of the company as a whole as being unethical despite the action being isolated to that particular instance.

It is based on this particular example that there needs to be a certain code of ethics in order to ensure a generalized form of ethical accountability across all departments in order to create a system that helps to encourage better resource utilization and the discouragement of excessive consumption practices.

Reference List

Feehan, D, & Becker, C 2011, ‘Pedestrian streets, public spaces, and Business Improvement Districts’, Journal Of Town & City Management, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 280-286

Fuyuno, I 2003, ‘Creative Environments’, Far Eastern Economic Review, vol. 166, no. 34, p. 70

‘Inside the Googleplex’ 2007, Economist, vol. 384, no. 8544, p. 56

Jessica, R 2012, ‘The Googleplex is Swarming With Zombified Honeybees’, New York Observer, 21 August, Regional Business News, EBSCOhost.

Kristensen, K, & Eskildsen, J 2012, ‘The Relationship Between SERVQUAL, National Customer Satisfaction Indices, and Consumer Sentiment’, Quality Management Journal, vol.19, no. 2, pp. 47-61

Kuo, G 2012, ‘MegaCrisis? Overpopulation Is the Problem’, World Future Review (World Future Society), vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 23-32

Nelson, J, Poms, L, & Wolf, P 2012, ‘Developing Efficacy Beliefs for Ethics and Diversity Management’, Academy Of Management Learning & Education, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 49-68,

Prechel, H, & Zheng, L 2012, ‘Corporate Characteristics, Political Embeddedness and Environmental Pollution by Large U.S. Corporations’, Social Forces, vol. 90, no. 3, pp. 947-970

Willets, A 2011, ‘Office space: Returning to corporate culture’, Public Relations Tactics, vol. 18, no. 3, p. 6