Home  Society
| Overpopulation | October 22, 2009, 1:43 pm | visits: 18 | wordcount: 527
|
By Charles Salmon
Overpopulation is defined as the condition in which the number of organism exceeds the capacity of the habitat. It can be used in reference to human beings and the earth. Earth's resources are limited. And most of the naturally occurring earth resources are non-renewable. We cannot create more mineral nor can we create natural gas. Overpopulation may be directly related to size and density of population but it is defined keeping in mind the population and the resources available to the population.
But the population of world is increasing day by day. Countries like India and China have already crossed the one billion mark. Resources are being shared by more number of people. This is leading to alarming rate of resource depletion. Overpopulation is leading to urban sprawling which in turns leads to the depletion of forest area. Flora and Fauna are directly affected by this. Hundreds of species are on brink of extinction which will lead to further decrease of forest area. Forest is the only source of oxygen. Decrease of forest and increase of population is not the right way to go in any sense.
Fresh water is vital for human beings. Rivers and in land lakes are the only source of fresh water. But these limited sources are being used by more and more people as population is increasing. This in turns leads to water pollution. Sewage treatment is still in project phase in most of the developing countries. Human waste and other by products are direct cause of water pollution. As the population is increasing the demand of the world is also increasing. This can be held responsible for rapid industrialization. Industrialization is a good thing but companies fail to meet the mark when it comes to waste treatment. This further increases water pollution.
Increased population leads to more transportation and more communication. Vehicles and other means of communication cause air pollution. Industries also have big ecological footprint which does not mean good for human race in the long term.
Another problem of overpopulation is food. More and more land is being deforested for agricultural land. Artificial fertilizers are being used to produce more food. Artificial fertilizers have their own pros and cons. And since we discussing the cons it will be fit to say that artificial fertilizers cause soil pollution leading to death of hundreds of microbes and worms. This may sound trivial now but it the long run our soils are losing vital qualities like being self fertile. Food and water being the basic necessity will always be a problem if the population is not maintained at an optimum level.
One can go on and on about the problems and environmental issues associated with overpopulation. Let us also throw some light over the solution. First step is being responsible. We are the world and if the world or the earth is lost we have nothing. Better education can lead to change of attitude of the masses which will lead to birth control and better treatment of waste material. We can start using renewable energy source and can recycle in a better way.
If all these steps are not taken soon extra-terrestrial settlement will be the only option.
Learn about more current environmental issues that we need to face up to.
Source:www.isnare.com | |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Related articles... | |
|
|
|
|
Set this page as your
home page
Add this page to your favorites:
|
|
|
