Over population what to do?
It took the first billion people from the dawn of humanity until 1830 to populate the world; the next billion people will only take 13 years (yes, I said 13 years!). The world population and its growth are a complex and dynamic issue. Unless there is a worldwide effort and global policies to slow the ever growing population, there will be tremendous and over-reaching consequences to the environment and humanity itself.
To fully understand the population issue, you must understand the complex social and economic reasons for a lot of big families. India is a perfect example of a developing country with a growing population. By 2050, the Indian population will surpass China's. There are many reasons for this the need for a boy is deeply entrenched in not only there culture, but their economics. In India there is no social security; thus, people need boys to ensure their safety in old age. Also the need for a dowry is present with girls and not boys. However it's not all about the need for boys, and economic safety in India there is a lack of availability to contraceptives. Thus, the population growth is not as simple as telling people not to have as many children, but its deeply entrenched in people’s culture. One country that has seen and identified this problem and chose to act is China. China's One Child Policy was put into place in 2001; this policy was highly controversial in America. "This policy will not only force abortions, sterilizations, and un-countable crimes against woman and un-born children. But, is un-ethical because it takes away people’s rights to make their own decision about how many children they chose to have" (Smith). This policy is a step forward in recognizing and acting on the ever growing population crisis facing America and globally.
Global food crisis, pollution, poor water and sanitation, deforestation, bio-diversity, and global climate change are all exaggerated and growing due to the world population growth. "To protect our fragile existence on planet earth, ecosystems, and the organisms(human included) that inhabit plant earth we must stabilize the human population" (Emmett). Scientist agree that if we don't dramatically do something to curve our population in the next 100 years we will be in a dooms day and be will be fighting for our very survival. Slowing the population growth will also improve living standards and will buy time to protect our limited natural resources.
Some people believe that human inutility will make up for the growing population. This is unrealistic because human’s can only push the limits of science so far. We are already at our maximum efficiency will the genetic engineering and pesticides on our crops, and there is a limited amount of land that is sustainable for farming. In the United States alone over 2/3 of farming land is lost due to degradation (Woods).
What can we do about population growth? The United Nations outlines three things that need to be done to curve the population and its growth: Strengthen family planning programs to provide women with the knowledge and means to regulate their own fertility. Next, emphasize “human development,” in particular education, gender equality and child health. Last, encourage delays in child barring. The United Nations is currently implementing programs with these goals in mind. Our own country is also trying to accomplish this.
What is the future for population? There are a glass half full response and a glass half empty. Many scientist believe that it’s too little too late on the population growth issue and by 2300 humans will reach maximum capacity and we will experience a massive decline in population. Other scientists say the population will stable off at 12 billion people and humans will find ways to sustain the large population. There is no looking glass in the future, but scientists agree that one thing is for sure, if humans don’t take control of the population and do it with in the next 30 years, we will do irrevocable damage to our fragile environment and humanity.
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