Is Overpopulation a Legitimate Threat to Humanity and Planet?

Posted by Bree Boone on July 15th, 2019

The size of the global community is growing fast and the problem of possible overpopulation in the near future is being widely discussed and mentioned in good process essay topics. Overpopulation is a situation when there are too many people in comparison with the amount of resources available. Some researchers argue that overpopulation is a real threat, and it can cause many problems for nations in the future. However, all those issues are not as dramatic as they appear, and there are several methods of avoiding them.

The term overpopulation implies that there are too many people in relation to the planet’s resources, a concept that has fallen out of favor. In modern world, people have enough resources. However, scientists predict that in the near future, overpopulation will cause the scarcity of natural and manufactured goods. Such statement was made in different studies, for example, by Paul Ehrlich who called this situation a population bomb. As the number of people is growing fast, the problem of overpopulation is rather real and will have to be addressed in the future. It is expected that global population will soon reach the number of 10 billion. The negative impact of human activities on the environment can already be evidenced . Climate changes, resulting from high emissions of carbon dioxide, lead to ice caps melting, increase in global average temperature, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Importantly, population growth rate is not equal all over the world. It scores the highest rate in the developing countries. Also, people in different regions do not cause the same harm to nature or use the same amount of natural resources. For instance, Americans represent 4% of the global population, but they produce about 17% of dangerous emissions of carbon dioxide. Therefore, overpopulation issues should be carefully considered, and methods of solving them should vary for different countries.

Overpopulation issues seem difficult to address, but the ways to resolve them have been already developed. Paul Ehrlich’s population bomb appeared to be not so dramatic because of the higher productivity of agriculture, due to which people have enough food. Additionally, if fossil fuels became scarce, alternative energy sources could be found to satisfy the needs of growing population. Moreover, green energy should be used more to avoid environmental issues. Regions that are expected to have the highest population growth rate like Asia should develop more environmentally friendly and efficient production. It will provide more resources for growing population. High growth rate of population can be avoided due to special educational programs for girls and women that will persuade them to have smaller but healthier and more educated families.

In conclusion, the threat of overpopulation to modern world is real, but there are methods of avoiding problems in the future. Overpopulation means lack of resources for all people, and this issue can be solved by implementation of advanced technologies. People can avoid overpopulation by using alternative energy sources, efficient production, and educational programs aimed to persuade women to have fewer children.