Overpopulation of the World and the Problems It Creates
The world is faced with growing conservation problems daily, most of which are caused by an increasing population. In order to deal with the problems of overpopulation, the world needs to consider minimizing consumption, lowering waste byproducts, and keeping a hand on land management. Consumption is the act of using resources at an uncontrolled rate. It is mainly the result of overpopulation. The population of the world is growing by approximately 212,970 people per day and is said to reach nine billion people by 2040 (World Population).
As the population increases at this rapid rate, the demand for food, water, and shelter will also rise just as quickly. Since the demand for goods like electricity and fuels also increase, we should consider using a more conservational method to create these items by using more abundant and replaceable resources. Water is the most abundant resources on the planet. Instead of using petroleum based fuels to run cars, we should use water. Scientists have already developed hydrogen powered vehicles such as cars, busses, scooters, and tractors (NREL).
Another alternative for fueling cars are crops like corn that produce ethanol. Electricity is going to one of the most demanded items as the population grows. In some places, fuels are being used to create energy. Instead, abundant resources like sunlight, wind, and water should be used to generate all the electricity that is consumed. But, even with these methods of producing a “cleaner” energy supply, the general population will have to contribute to the conservation of the energy.
Some simple things that people can do is :lower thermostats, use energy efficient bulbs, use drip irrigation to water flowers and fruits, use solar energy to dry clothes, and create a compost to dispose of that waste instead of throwing it away. As the population is growing, the amount of waste that is produced from the consumption will increase at a much more rapid pace. Each person per day produces about 4. 4 pounds of waste. The majority of this waste is thrown away in the trashcan, which is set at the curb to be picked up by a diesel truck polluting the air and using energy, only to end up in a andfill. With the increase in needs of food and other items, more and more trash will result. Recycling is the best way to fix this problem and keep 95% of trash out of landfills. It is projected that Americans will throw away over 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars 1 million tons of aluminum cans and foil more than1 million tons of aluminum cans and foil, over 4 and a half million tons of paper and nearly 10 million tons of newspaper (Center).
Almost all of this material could be recycled, saving millions of trees and over 100% combined energy that is used to make new products. Businesses can also play their part in recycling things such as cooking oil that could be used as fuel in a vehicle. If we do not engage in actions to clean up the present landfills and prevent future ones, we could possibly be looking at problems such as contaminated water and soil. Land management goes along side of both consumption and waste.
As the population increases, more space will be needed for houses, hospitals, schools and businesses. As a result, we must make room by methods such as destroying forest and filling in lakes, rivers, and streams. To us we may only see trees and dirty, microorganism infested water, but these two ecosystem house millions of species of animals and plants that are vital to our survival on Earth. Research states that the earth was once covered by 5. 8 million to 6. 2 million square miles of forest. Today only 2. million to 3 million square miles of forest still remains (Nielsen). By destroying these bionetworks, plants and animals become endangered and maybe even extinct. As a result, this causes entire ecosystems to collapse. Without plants, animals die and without plants and animals, the human species can no longer eat or breathe, therefore, becoming extinct itself. Humans can take control of this growing problem by considering options like apartment buildings or larger skyscrapers to things like online schools and e-shopping.
Without a doubt, the population of the world is going to continue to grow, but that does not mean that the problems dealing with consumption, waste, and land management has to also. If we could use nature made goods like sunlight, water, and wind, we could reduce the amount of energy consumed, decrease the amount of waste produced, and decrease the amount of land destroyed that is needed to serve the population.
Works Cited
- Environmental Problems that were Worse than we Thought. 3 Feb 2008. 23 Feb 2010 . Alexander, Kathleen.
- Tree Benefits. 23 Feb 2010 . Bureau, U. S. Census. “Global Population Growth. ” 2002. 23 Feb 2010 . Center, University of Colorado Environmental. CU Environmental Center. 2008. 23 Feb 2010 .
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL – Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research. 29 Sept 2009. 24 Feb 2010. Nielsen, Ron. The Little Green Handbook: Seven Trends Shaping the Future of Our Planet. New York: Picador, 2006.
- Today’s Top Global Environment Issues. 23 Feb 2010 . World Population Prospects-The 2008 Revision Population Database. 2008. 24 Feb 2010
