Saturday, March 13, 2010

Overpopulation and the Environment

The human population of the world has a huge effect on the environment. Yet this topic tends to be pushed aside when it comes around. The topic of population control is a sensitive subject; but should we be paying more attention to the forever rising population of the world?

The people of China have a one-child policy so they do not become even more crowded. Is this tactic working, or is it a waste of time? China claims they have prevented 250 million births since 2000. This policy has forced a lot of abortions, but when a poll was taken in 2008 76% of China's people supported the policy.

I recently read an article on this subject and came across a statement by Professor Guillebaud.

"It is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about" Professor Guillebaud said. "Unless we reduce the human population humanely through family planning, nature will do it for us through violence, epidemics or starvation."

Besides more people means more garbage, pollution, causing rising temperatures, global warming, and less resources for the rest of us....right?

What do you think of this topic? Do you agree with this side of the story, or do you favor the side that states that overpopulation is no big problem? Please comment and express your feelings. I will be posting a counter-argument to this article within the next week so enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. I really have always said that nature likes things to be in balance. Whenever things get off-kilter (they way they are now), nature finds a way to start over. Let's hope we can do everything we can to reduce our impact even as we watch our population increase. Good article!

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  2. There is much scientific evidence that strongly suggests humanity has already surpassed the carrying capacity of Earth's ecosystem. This means that we cannot sustain the current levels of consumption because more natural resources are consumed than are produced. Overpopulation and consumption per person is a two-fold problem that cannot be sustained for long at current levels. Ecologically impossible. I completely and whole-heartedly agree with this article.

    Scott
    M.S. Environmental Science

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