World Overpopulation problem

Overpopulation:

Congratulations! A baby boy is born, now a girl; now a boy, a girl and this seems to be endless as 4 to 5 babies are born in this World every second. And if it continues with the same pace, the resources on our Planet may end one day, in near future. Which may be nearer, as birth rate is also accelerating exponentially. Have you ever thought about where these people are going to go with Earth having only 29% land?

Does Earth have enough capacity to bear this gigantic explosion of individuals being born every day? Some may suggest that it’s a natural cycle and things will be managed. In olden times, Wars, Pandemics, non-safety culture used to consume life at a higher rate, as there were a thousand ways to die in the west and everywhere.

Nevertheless, life expectancy has also increased globally. Approximately by 20 years, since 1960. While, that is a great news for individuals and families; it also means that we now consume more resources, and produce waste even faster. It is just like being in a space station with limited oxygen and resources; with people starting to come in from nowhere. Scary! Isn’t it? Let the Experts at SocialTomatoes.com share some ignored information about this massive blast of global overpopulation.

World Population Growth:

As per a recent update by the UN in April 2021, the world population stands at 7.9 billion. And it is increasing by nearly 80 million people annually. There is no way to stop it. World Population is expected to be 8.6 billion by 2030, then 9.8 billion by 2050, and 11.2 billion by 2100. The scenario of 2100 is hard to imagine.

Reasons for Overpopulation:

Experts say that Poverty is considered to be the major and leading cause of rapid increase in population. Lack of educational resources lead to less awareness. Hence, a massive growth in population. This one cause also leads to unlimited diverse effects on nature. It’s pitiable that most humans do not even consider overpopulation as a problem.

Effects of Overpopulation on Environment:

Have you ever thought of detrimental effects of overpopulation on the environment?

Let us discuss some now.

1. Overpopulation growth causes air pollution. World Health Organization reports that air pollution causes premature death of about 4.2 million people worldwide. Of these, 91% of the population belongs to poor and populous countries.
2. It increases the amount of waste which can grow globally upto 70 percent by 2050 as urbanization and overpopulation. 
3. Population growth leads to deforestation. Human intervention causes deforestation of 120,000 square kilometers of land annually. Hence, less oxygen.
4. The overpopulation creates pressure on resources that depletes them quickly.

Have you ever looked into facts before? Probably not. Because, no one reveal factual things to you the way experts at socialtomatoes.com do.

Limited Resources:

Today, we are consuming resources 1.7 times faster than they are being generated. It means that we essentially need 1.7 piles of earth to support our mass consumption and waste production. Which is not possible. It has triggered many scientists to find another planet for our race to survive; as the global environment is under severe pressure due to overpopulation. The process of industrial activities has increasingly depleted resources, increased environmental pollution, and the ultimate consequence is the degradation of community’s quality of life. 

It’s high time to alter the way of thinking and perception of the world on population growth. For this, we have to first know how to prevent this human-induced harm? How to satisfy current needs without compromising the facilities of future generations? How to keep resources and the environment clean for the next generation? Let’s know where the problem starts from?

Root of Overpopulation:

Developing countries are the hub of this current overpopulation. These countries account for about 80% of the population and 95% of the world’s growing population. More cities have over 1 million people migrating there due to rural migration and urbanization. According to the World Bank, the world has over 270 cities per 1 million people and 50 cities over 5 million people. Therefore, if the rapid growth in population continues, the future supplies may not be able to meet this increased demand. Due to their rarity, many strategic resources cannot be used to easily increase production. Hence, in the next 100 years, these resources may rapidly outpace supply.

In the longer run, this will lead to three interconnected consequences of the overpopulation:

1. Growth in global poverty.
2. Natural resources essential to human survival will exhaust.
3. More and more urbanization making cities more populous and rural areas less inhabited.

This is something we need to debate and act on. It is time for us to choose one of two possibilities: A large population or the prosperity and security of mankind? The decision is ours.

How to control Population?

You must be thinking that what we can do to decrease the stress of overpopulation on the environment? It can be done in following way:

1. Thoroughly implement the National Population Policy.
2. Educating masses, raising awareness & knowledge about Environment, and entrusting responsibility of environmental protection on the Community.
3. Adjust the migration process, ensure a reasonable population and labor distribution in urban and rural areas.
4. We need to take a position for education and health care in Africa and Asia; not just on humanitarian grounds, but also, because it’ll encourage the spread of birth control.
5. Also, we need to encourage and support women’s empowerment, not just via education but also through services for reproductive health. This has triple desirable results for demographics and will cause more and simpler contraception, which in itself features a positive effect on the survival of children, which in turn again facilitates birth control.
6. We need to change our resources consumption pattern and deal with the structural overconsumption by the world’s richest countries.
7. Moreover, we all also have to understand that abortion is not birth control as unsafe abortions are responsible for an estimated 100-200,000 deaths among women in developing countries each year and accounts for 25-50% of all maternal deaths globally.
8. Lastly, to change the attitude and perception of people about family planning, there is a need to involve religious leaders in communicating information on the importance of birth spacing.

What you can do!

Apart from this what role can you play at your level?

It is us, who can and should play a part in safeguarding the future of our generations and planet. We have simplified it due to ease of remembering into following:

1. Consume less and waste less, buy fewer goods, aim for carbon-neutral travel and recycle waste.
2. Switch to clean energy and other innovative technologies.

Have you ever taken part in any planet-saving strategy? How was your experience? Tell us in the comments section below to encourage the rest of the world!