Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Dailly assignment: The Effects of Overpopulation

Topic: The Effects of Overpopulation

The perfection of the medical science over many years has improved human life expectation. Every year, the world population increases gradually. According to a scientist whose name is Thomas Malthus said that from 200 years ago until today, the world population is estimated at about one billion. Every year, over seventy-five millions people are added. As a consequence of this overpopulation, there is not enough fresh water to drink, not enough trees to build houses, and rivers have become polluted.
The growth of the world's population today instead of being a medical success and human satisfaction , has also become a serious problem. Today, especially in poor countries like Africa, getting drinking water has become a challenge about which governments are really concerned. In Cameroon, especially in rural areas, people don't have access to potable water, so they must walk for long distance to carry water from the wells. Most of them suffer from diarrhea and other kinds of diseases caused by bad water. Growing crops is so difficult in those areas since there is not enough water available. For most farmers, only the raining season is the period to practice agriculture. Today, having drinking water is a critical problem that face many countries.
Not only drinking water is a serious problem, but also over the years, in order to build houses, cook food, and heat houses, people have cut too many trees and do not replant some. Consequently, today there is a lacking of useful trees to make wood. In each continent in order to make furniture, constructing roofs, and houses, people need appropriate wood. since deserts are advancing at high rate, and trees are not more being replanted, the demand is high. The supply is low and wood is becoming very expensive. The growth of the world's population is a really big challenge for the world's population.
It has been discovered that today, river pollution is a consequence of the overpopulation. In many countries, the increase of the population has affected people not only in the lack of drinking water, but water pollution is another consequence. In poor countries, people throw their waste , trash, and dirty water into the rivers. Some industries do not respect hygienic rules and all of their industrial waste are thrown into rivers. Many farmers also contribute to river pollution because their cattle waste is swept by rain water into rivers. River pollution is a direct consequence of overpopulation.
Today, we have discovered that Thomas Malthus's worry was a reality. The consequences of overpopulation, which are the lacking of potable water, insufficient wood for industry and housing use, and water pollution are the real challenge problems on which scientists and governments are trying to figure out . Expecting that sooner or later, those experts will find an appropriate solution to those problems, overpopulation will still being a serious problem for human being.
Written by David Lateu

2 comments:

  1. We have overshot the carrying capacity of the planet. By drawing down ecological capital, instead living off the returns of that capital, short term growth can be accomplished at the cost of reducing future carrying capacity, with generally disastrous results.

    http://www.selfdestructivebastards.com/2009/11/carrying-capacity.html

    However, that doesn't necessarily mean we need population reduction. If we dramatically scale back our overconsumption, resource use, carbon emissions, and pollution, we could theoretically raise the carrying capacity. On the other hand, a reduction in population would likely make all of that a lot easier.

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  2. Overpopulation can also lead to poverty that causes people to rely much on their bill cover insurance to get by.

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