Are there harmful effects of overpopulation?

Answer 1

The Earth has a circumference of 24,000 miles. Impressive, isn't it? But take this - there are around 6.8 billion people living on it with approximately, a million and a half beings added every week! Does this planet seem a bit small for us? Hominids have been around for only 5 to 6 million years. But, in this time we have grown at such a rate that it seems doubtful, if this 4.5 billion year old planet, with all its resources, will be able to sustain us for long. Fast depletion of Natural Resources is just one of the overpopulation effects. In our relentless effort to quench our never ending needs, we have destroyed the habitat of so many flora and fauna that this planet had nurtured to near perfection, through billions of years of evolution. Probably, it's time we took Thomas Malthus' theory of population more seriously, and took steps to fight the ill effects of overpopulation.

Causes

The tremendous development in the field of medicine has ensured that we are no longer prey to the many diseases that would have wreaked havoc earlier. With scientific and technological advancements, the standard of living has improved remarkably. This is corroborated with the spurt in population, that took place with the Industrial Revolution. All this has led to an increase in Birth Rate, drop in Death Rate and an increase in the average life span of human beings.

Effects

Depleting Natural Resources

Technological advancements have not only transformed human life but also the face of this planet. Cars, trains, aircraft..., all have helped us save time which has added immensely to the efficiency of human beings. However, the numerous factories and industries, that manufacture goods without which, living a day would be unthinkable, need a regular supply of energy. For years, we have fallen back on fossil fuels, but so rampant has been the growth of industries that, we have practically dug up all the known deposits of coal, oil and natural gas. The state of affairs is so grim, that we have raged ghastly wars against other nations for want of energy.

Extinction of Species

To accommodate more people, we need more land. For setting up more industries and factories, we again need land. To build power plants, we require land. Our needs do not seem to end, but the land, definitely, is limited. But, so desperate is our requirement for space that we have been recklessly cutting down trees and clearing large areas of forests. With this we have been, and still are, wiping out hundreds of species, each day. These species are important for maintaining the delicate balance of nature on which existence of every life form on this planet depends, including ours! Other than land, we witnessed how indiscriminate hunting of animals for food and business has pushed some of the magnificent animal species like, the cheetah, the blue whale and the tiger and many more, to the brink of extinction. As per the reports of 2009, there were almost 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, out of which, almost, 17,000 faced the threat of extinction.

Environmental Effect

Other than guzzling down tons of fuel everyday, the thousands of industries, factories and vehicles that have become our lifeline, are continuously spewing out toxic gases. Besides, the harmful effects on our health, one of the gravest consequences of these gases is global warming. With the average temperature of the planet increasing at a steady rate, the levels of seas and oceans are also rising at an alarming rate. These elevated levels of water threaten to submerge low lying areas in the world. And, would you want to know which cities are located in these areas?London and New York! Yes, it is being speculated that the melting ice sheets of Greenland and the crumbling glaciers of Antarctica will submerge these cities by the end of the century. Coastal Alaska has been frequently hit by storms and floods due to climate change. As a result, villagers living in these areas have been relocated a couple of times already! Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of Maldives was heard appealing to other nations, when he said this to the United Nations, in 1992 "I stand before you as a representative of an endangered people. We are told that as a result of global warming and sea-level rise, my country, the Maldives, may sometime during the next century, disappear from the face of the Earth."

Effect on the Economy

As the population grows, it pushes the GDP per capita of a nation down. While the government tries to meet the needs of its people, with increase in population, the demand for resources keeps growing. With not enough food to take care of its men, such countries can't even think of producing surplus to export and with this starts the vicious cycle of relying on foreign debt.

This was just the tip of the iceberg! With more people and less resources, there is unemployment, that leads to poverty and increased crime rate. Shrinking habitat is giving rise to increased conflict between man and animals. As the borders between forests and human settlements gets blurred by the day, human beings are being exposed to viruses that are carried by wild animals who have the immunity that we lack. This is precipitating in newer and more virulent strains of microorganisms causing serious diseases in human beings.

Overpopulation problems are myriad, but the solution is just one. We need to stem the rampant growth of human population or devise ways to prevent the harmful overpopulation effects. As per present knowledge, there isn't any other planet that can support complex life forms such as us. The question is, if we destroy Earth, do we have any other place for survival?