Human Overpopulation Essay

Great Essays
Register to read the introduction… The more people there are on Earth, the greater amount of deforestation, use of natural resources, and air pollution is going to occur. When people think of deforestation, most think of people cutting down the rainforest, and although the answer is true, it is not the only place where deforestation is taking place. Constantly using land to yield goods and services alters the structure and function of the land’s ecosystems (Vitousek, Mooney, Lubonenco, and Melillo). “Forests that grew over centuries and soils that took millions of years to develop are now being used up in a single human lifetime” (Keyfitz). It is tragic that this statement is true. Every day people are using forests and natural resources until the resources are in danger of extinction. “…Modern society has failed to take into account the full significance of the changes it has made in the circumstances of life on earth” (Caldwell). Yet, there is not only deforestation happening, but there is also the extensive use of natural resources. Impacted by population on the environment, soil loss, desertification, loss of biodiversity, declining oil reserves, and inaccessible minerals are evidence of resource depletion (Ehrlich and Holdren). The more people there are, the more demand there is for products such as wood, gas, oil, and so on. Along with the process of making or using many of these products, byproducts are made and pollute the …show more content…
"Determinants of human population growth."Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 357.1425 (2002): 1197-1210. <http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/357/1425/
1197.full.pdf>.
Nahle, Nasif. "Overpopulation." Biology Cabinet. Biology Cabinet, 21 Oct 2006. Web. 30 Nov 2013. <http://www.biocab.org/overpopulation.html>.
"U.S. and World Population Clock." United States Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce, 29 Nov 2013. Web. 29 Nov 2013. <http://www.census.gov/popclock/>.
Vitousek, Peter M., Harold A. Mooney, Jane Lubchenco, and Jerry M. Melillo. "Human domination of Earth's ecosystems." Science277.5325 (1997): 494-499. <http:// www.lue.ethz.ch/education/Fowi/Ingbio/lubchenco_II.pdf>. Vörösmarty, Charles J., Pamela Green, Joseph Salisbury, and Richard B. Lammers. "Global water resources: vulnerability from climate change and population growth." science 289.5477 (2000): 284. <http://www.spar.msstate.edu/class/EPP-2008/Chapter%201/
Reading%20material/Chapter%201%20-%20Water/Global%20Water%20Resources-Vulnerability%20from%20climate%20change%20and%20population%20growth.%20Science_2000.pdf>.
"10 medical advances in the last 10 years." CNN Health. CNN, 5 Jun 2013. Web. 30 Nov 2013.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Fred Pearce’s essay, “TV as Birth Control”, he argues that the installation of television sets in developing countries has a severe effect to the fertility rate of those countries. Pearce makes a valid argument stating that women are having less children just by simply watching a television program, such as a soap opera. Pearce provides examples of several countries that have fewer educational opportunities than the Unites States does, and he specifically uses those examples to show the readers why watching television is helpful to that problem. The author makes a compelling testimony and is greatly persuasive with the use of statistics as well as the evidence from researchers.…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However this topic was very controversial at the time and on our current time. Paul Ehrlich (1932-Present) – He was a known scholar who took the field of biology. One of his major works was that of the book titled “The Population Bomb” written in 1968. This book had in impact similarly to the works of Hardin, in that it addresses the problem of the extreme rates of the growth of the human population and the problems that arises from it.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Erin Allbritton BIO103 3/2/17 Professor Van Breukelen Chapter 5-Ecosystems and Living Organisms 1. How do biologists define evolution? Biologists define evolution as the cumulative genetic changes that occur in a population of organisms over time. 2. What are Darwin’s four premises of evolution by natural selection?…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Artic region is the area around the North Pole, described as an ocean surrounded by land. Snow and ice covered the far North, and the more southern parts are covered by boreal forest and in between lies the tundra. [1] The Artic is home to a large number of plants and animals and people that survive some of the most extreme conditions on the planet. [2] Climate change, pollution and the ongoing resource exploitation has placed increasing stress on the fragile populations and ecosystems. [3]…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This involves death outnumbering the births. It’s interesting that the Anti-Malthusians believe that our future holds too few children and population…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An essential key to life is reproduction. Though out the last couple of years, the world population has expanded in great amounts. There are many factors which are allowing approximately 7.3 billion people to survive on one earth. Some believe that in the upcoming years, we are inviting trouble for ourselves. Our world population is expanding every day and the earth is unable to keep up with all our every day activities.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many believe that consumption does not increase with overpopulation, however, as the population gets bigger more products are needed to be produced, to keep up with high demands; thus causing high amounts of waste. Ellis and Pearce both agree that there is no such thing as a capacity limit in our world. Pearce argued that as population decreases, consumption than goes up and he stated “women only started having fewer children when they got educated and the economy got rich.” (Pg1) A huge portion of the world’s pollution issues comes from buying resources that are short lived and then later disposed of. He, mentioned that “the worlds richest half billion people…are responsible for half of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions” (Pearce, Pg2) from purchasing high amounts of material items.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    TPP7123 Assignment

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    TPP7123 Assignment 2 Template Task 1: Essay question analysis (a) Essay Question: (Write question from Assignment 4 here. Highlight the task words. Underline the limit words) The course reading identifies no.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Because overpopulation is merely a theory, there is debate about whether it exists, where the…

    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The prominent philosopher Thomas Malthus addressed sustaining our resources in his essay, An Essay on the Principle of Population. Malthus proposed that human population would grow faster than our resources; our resources are limited and, therefore, we cannot sustain the population. Malthus himself writes, “to meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (552). Basically, Malthus is warning us that we need to find a way to control overpopulation, so we have enough resources for the future…

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Space exploration is a vital part to how the world is today. People believe that it is just a waste of money, but in truth it could save the entire human race in the future. Without space exploration, we will overpopulate the earth. The earth does not have enough space for the rate of people being born. Also with overpopulation, means that we will also use up all of our natural resources.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Have you ever thought about the number of people in the world around you? According to Webster’s Dictionary, world population means the whole number of people or inhabitants on the earth. The population of the world is ever growing. Every year our planet population increases by 80 million people on average, at this rate, in 2050, our world population will hit 11 billion(Current World Populations…). Our thriving world population is becoming a threat to society.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While the increasing world population stimulates an increase in demand for resources, human activities have been changing the makeup of the atmosphere, damaging the environment which provides those resources. Common practices such as burning fossil fuels and removing forests have released unprecedented amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, resulting in a worldwide increase in temperatures referred to as climate change. This increase in heat alters water cycles, effecting significant changes in the availability of fresh water. In addition, abnormal temperatures can disrupt the variety of plants and animals in ecosystems as well as weaken agricultural productivity. As a catalyst for climate change, overpopulation contributes to this increase…

    • 1722 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Areas that have been effected by overconsumption and the conflict this has on nature and society The natural world has fallen victim to the anthropocentric ideal of evolution as the natural world has been overconsumed by society in order for global development. Cronon (1995) states that natures worth is measured and judged by civilisation, claiming that society produces a dualistic world of humans and nature being placed at opposite ends of the spectrum. This ideal is ironic seeing as development cannot be achieved without nature, and nature cannot be sustained and conserved without the protection of society. Cronon (1995) displays the false truths of society as we live in an urbanized world although beliefs are held that our natural home…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    For several thousands of years, humans and other living species have coexisted together, but as the human population continues to dramatically increase, the need for an extraneous amount of resources does as well. Over the past two decades, the human impact on wildlife is easily seen worldwide. Forests have been diminishing at an alarming rate. Deforestation is becoming more of a problem each day. Due to deforestation, biodiversity is decreasing, habitats are being severely polluted, and inhabitants of the forest are being forced out of their comfort zone.…

    • 1292 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays