Overpopulation :: Papers

Overpopulation The twentieth century has drawn to a close and civilization faces the dilemma of supporting an overpopulated world. Throughout time, mankind has lived as though there were no consequences for his actions. But now, as people of the future, we see what is happening to the world we live in. Despite our knowledge, these straightforward problems are still being ignored. Our actions in the past have dictated the present, and our actions now will determine our future, and generations to come. We caused the overpopulation problems we are now facing; so we must also be the ones to solve the problems. The link between population growth and environmental impact seems obvious. More people, consume more resources, damage more of the earth, and generate more waste. In the book Earth Odyssey, by Mark Hertzgaard, he quoted Paul Ehrlich’s statement, â€Å"The United States is the most overp opulated country in the world† (197). Today’s children are likely to see a tripling of the global population within their lifetimes unless, solutions emerge decreasing population growth. Hertzgaard points out â€Å"the world’s population will stabilize at much less than eight billion people, and an eventual total of ten or twelve billion is quite possible† (220). We must take action to save our planet. One crisis the earth and its inhabitants fear today is lack of resources due to the increasing number of people. Justifications for our path of destruction are; destroy trees for more farmland; excessive consumption of food sources by over harvesting and overgrazing causing barren wastelands; continued use of fossil fuels and chemicals needed for transportation, creation of electricity, and heating our homes; and more people means more homes will be built again forests and natural habitats of animals.