Overpopulation :: essays research papers

Overpopulation The twentieth century has drawn to a close and humanity faces the problem of being able to support its population without inducing catastrophic and irreversible destruction on Earth’s life-support systems. Throughout time, humankind has been living as though there are no consequences to its actions. But now, as people of the future, we see what is happening to the world that we live in. Despite all we know, these easily seen problems are still being ignored. Our actions in the past determine the present, and our actions now determine the future. In other words, we caused the overpopulation problems we are facing today, so we must also be the ones to solve them. Every day we share the Earth with 250,000 more people than the day before according to Zero Population Growth, a national non-profit organization working to slow population growth and achieve a sustainable balance of people, resources, and the environment. ZPG is the reason I have become an advocate and t hey have supplied most of my statistical information. Today’s children are likely to see a tripling of the global population within their lifetimes. These children our are next generation of parents, voters, consumers, and leaders. The choices they make are critical to stabilizing the population and protecting the environment. Educating the youth of the future will help them to understand the problems the earth faces and how they can help by influencing and being the political leaders who can adopt responsible population policies. One problem the earth and its inhabitants face today is our lack of resources due to of the increasing number of people. Tropical forests cover only 7 percent of the earth’s surface, but it holds over half of all plant and animal species in the world. The rate of destruction of these resources is now so far in excess of their renewable rates that they have effectively been turned into useless land. Although 3/4 of the earth is covered by wate r, less than one percent is readily available for human use. As the world population increases, this incredibly small amount of water will be the only supply for all humans, plants, and other animals on earth. Once this percent of water lessens even more, the agriculture will suffer, and people will have less food and so on. This cycle will continue until we consume all our natural resources. Humanity today is on a collision course due to our value system.