Let's face it: studies show that mankind exercises regularly his freedom to procreate. This is evidenced by the continual population increase of the world. In just 40 years, from 1959 to 1999, the population doubled - going from 3 to 6 billion people! And according to Sachs, the United Nations Population Division has predicted that the world population will reach 9.2 billion by 2050. With the plant already this crowded, will the population increase create problems? Science says yes.
More people means more consumers. More consumers produces more carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. This results in air and water pollution as well as contributing to global warming. Environmental issues will exponentially increase with the influx of the population. The negative impact on the environment affects endangered animals. In an already crowded planet, we have limited resources. It cannot sustain so many people. Sachs suggests 8 billion people should be the target range in order to live successfully with our natural resources.
Although population control is widely accepted as one of the best solutions to most of our environmental crises, it is not often discussed. Establishing forced birth control methods or disincentives is a controversial subject. We certainly do not want to follow China's example of limiting families to one child, encourage abortions, or take away the freedom of our people. However, if the population continues to rise at this rate, all mankind will be in serious trouble. I think that educating people in developing countries where the fertility rate is highest would be extraordinarily beneficial. Also, providing birth control resources to everyone can help. There are less children per family in the average American household than in the families of the poorest countries of the world - perhaps this is because of our education and the availability of contraceptives.
More people, however, would mean higher incomes due to increased economic activity. However, this will not be beneficial if we are killing our planet in the process. Too many negative side effects will occur with the substantial increase of population.
You can check out articles about this topic on my delicious site - http://www.delicious.com/Chrissy.Lairson
A good summary of the issues involved in population growth. In some cases it's due to lack of options for contraception, in others it's a response to poverty - children are seen as a family's economic future.
ReplyDelete