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Introduction
Overpopulation is among the most pressing environmental issues in modern-day society. The rapidly growing population may be attributed to the witnessed reduced mortality rate, thanks to advanced healthcare services, a situation that has resulted in the depletion of vital resources, specific factors of production. Nonetheless, some scholars such as Gore view the level of agricultural productivity and the advancement in technology as happening at a rate that can counter the impact of the growing population, implying that overpopulation is not a threat to the global environment (34).
However, from a Malthusian point of view, a close examination of the impact that a four-billion rise in the global population has had on the currently limited factors of production, including land, is enormous to warrant mitigation strategies from countries such as the U.S. (Gore 34; Hardin 171). As a result, in this debate, I support the motion that overpopulation poses a significant threat to the global environment and that measures such as the establishment of family planning policies and setting a limit on the number of children for families in particular countries can help to address the issue.
The Role of Human Activities
In support of the motion that the global population is too large and that the United States and other industrialized countries should support active measures to control population growth in the developing world, it is crucial to observe how excessive human activities have led to the race for resources, congestion in urban areas, unemployment, and the lack of housing. According to Gore, it is difficult to sustain such a population-based pressure that may be quantified as equivalent to introducing a new country the size of Mexico every year (34).
Those who uphold the Malthusian school of thought agree that an average of 3.3% increase in the global population is considerable relative to the number of resources available to address the unfolding food demands and greenhouse-gas effects (Hardin 174). For instance, the human footprint is evident in the depletion of the ozone layer through the burning of oil and wood. Over the past two decades, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased exponentially.
An increase in the number of people occupying a geographical area has the effect of augmenting carbon dioxide through increased respiration of animals and plants. Another factor promoting the greenhouse effect is the uncontrolled deforestation to accommodate the increased population through food production. According to Hardin, efforts to counter food production through strategies such as the “Green Revolution” have not been fruitful, owing to their counter effect on the available forest cover (180). It is also prudent to state that tropical rainforests, which earlier balanced the situation, have become a significant target for settlement to counter congestion associated with overpopulation, a situation that is threatening the global community.
Secondly, according to Princen et al., the alarming rise in the global population is a threat to human existence when analyzed from the perspective of consumerism and consumption (2). The rate of consumption of the available but scarce resources endangers the current and future generations. Borrowing from the opinion by Princen et al., if the development of sustainable schemes in countries such as North America ends up subjecting the future world to unfathomable global warming issues following excessive and unhealthy consumerism and consumption practices, it suffices to regard overpopulation as a threat to human existence. For instance, the burning of fossil fuels has become rampant, resulting in devastating impacts on the global climate.
In California, the U.S., forests are experiencing severe fires that destroy vegetation and surrounding settlements (Princen et al. 6). According to the authors, the failure of business people to recognize the contribution and cost of pollution from their activities or products is worrying (Princen et al. 6). Hurricanes, forest fires, flash floods, the massive melting of ice caps in the Arctic, the drowning of bears, and the extinction of animal species signal the level of the threat posed to future generations.
Another critical effect of overpopulation on the environment to support this motion is the shortage of water and other essential resources. As the population continues to explode, finite resources such as freshwater, frontier forest, fertile lands, coral reefs, and fossil fuels are depleted (Princen et al. 7).
As a result, the available resources are stretched to sustain a large number of the consumer population. For instance, in developed countries such as the U.S, consumption of the available rare resources may be more than ten times what is spent in emerging economies such as Kenya (2). Despite many emerging countries being smaller relative to America, the fact that the majority of them are dry, especially in Africa, reveals the extent to which vital resources such as water are being depleted through irrigation schemes, hence posing a substantial threat to human existence because the absence of such a commodity implies starvation, malnutrition, and consequently death.
The Necessary Measures
In the effort to solve the effect of overpopulation on the environment, the global community needs to engage in countermeasures that either halt rapid population growth or regulate the rate of birth, especially in developing countries. Firstly, according to Sinaga et al., society needs to be sensitized and trained about the need for incorporating effective family planning strategies (2).
Overpopulation in developing countries such as Ethiopia may be caused by early marriages, an increased rate of birth, and the lack of proper education on family planning methods (Sinaga et al. 3). Family planning involves the control of the number of children an individual can have under a given interval using either sterilization or contraception. If all countries in the world could devotedly adopt the plan, the world could significantly cut the current excessive population, hence reducing the prevailing pressure subjected to the available factors of production.
Another solution may involve the establishment of policies that discourage early marriages and the birth of more than two children in all families in countries that are already overpopulated such as China and the U.S. or developing ones, for instance, Kenya (Diamond). Such policies should also reveal to the global population the deadly impact that overpopulation has on the current and future generations.
According to Walker, sensitizing worldwide communities may involve a mention of issues such as political instability, poverty, migration, and clashes that are linked to overpopulation, including the role that they (communities) have in preventing such occurrences (981). Through such policies, the world may appreciate how a manageable population scheme with sufficient resources can be more productive compared to an overpopulated entity that fights for the available rare factors of production.
Conclusion
This motion confirms that indeed overpopulation directly leads to environmental degradation. For this reason, the global society should unite to fight this menace that has led to global warming, the scarcity of resources, and the degradation of the quality of life. To safeguard the environment, national and international institutions need to be prepared to handle overpopulation. For instance, active policies on population control, for instance, family planning, discouraging early marriages, and setting a limit on the number of children for families in specified economies can help to address the issue of overpopulation.
Works Cited
Diamond, Jared. “What’s Your Consumption Factor?” New York Times, 2008. Web.
Gore, Albert. “The Sole Remaining Superpower vs. the Population Bomb.” New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 2, 1999, pp. 34-35.
Hardin, Garrett. “Lifeboat Ethics: A Malthusian View.” Dialectics of Third. World Development, edited by Ingolf Vogeler and Anthony De Souza, Allanheld Osmun, 1980, pp. 171-85.
Princen, Thomas, et al., editors. Confronting Consumption. MIT Press, 2002.
Sinaga, Makeda, et al. “Effectiveness of the Population Health and Environment Approach in Improving Family Planning Outcomes in the Gurage, Zone South Ethiopia.” BMC Public Health, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, pp. 1-12.
Walker, Robert. “Population Growth and its Implications for Global Security.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 75, no. 4, 2016, pp. 980-1004.
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