Texas Population Growth: Blessing and Curse
Texas is in population and square kilometers the second largest state in the USA. There are nearly 28 million people of the United States. It is in the southern part of USA, on the east side of Louisiana, and on the north side of Arkansas and on the north side of Oklahoma. Texas also has Houston, the fourth biggest city in the US (Coale and Edgar 12). It is called the Lone Star, since before entering the union of nations that make the larger USA it used to be an independent country. Texas has been experiencing enormous population growth in the recent years. It is said that such growth has an impact on its economy and sharing of its resources. This impact can be negative or positive. This essay would look at how the population growth in the southern state of Texas has affected it. Population growth rate is known as the rate at which the number of people in a given region increases and expressed as a fraction of the initial number. According to the USA bureau of census, the population of Texas grew by 430,000 between July 2015 and July 2016. This is higher than any other state in the US (Weber 1580). The question is whether the resources in Texas are enough to sustain its massive population growth. So far there are resources such as big land, oil among others. So far it is the leading producer of oil, liquid gas, natural gas salt, and helium as well as sulfur. It boasts of many economic resources that the population can depend on. Its growth mostly is from immigrants who are moving to the States from foreign countries and the bordering states.
How population growth will change Texas
Some opportunities and challenges come with population growth. It can be a source of labor to work in the firms of the state to improve its economic performance, but at times the resources are tool stretched to support additional population.
The growth in Texas is projected to change it in the future. First, Hispanic is the ones leading in this growth in Texas. This would mean that its economic activities, as well as political ones, will be run by the Hispanic population (Schultz and James 293). They will have a say in most of the affairs of this state. Historically, Texas in its earliest days was majorly made up of Hispanic people. This trend is coming back slowly and would define its political future.
Consequently, more population would mean there are more tax payers and thus contribute funds to the public growth in Texas. The growth would come with a benefit; there would be increased economic activities, trade and other things that would earn the state government money for investment. There would be a need also to construct roads and also expand other infrastructures (Schultz and James 295). This means that population growth in Texas would bring in more development in infrastructure and other areas.
However, the population growth would also pose several challenges to the state of Texas. It is projected that Texas will not have enough water supplies to take care of its population shortly if the rates of its growth continue. Also, there are limited resources that will barely serve everyone if the growth is not controlled. Roadways would need expansion. This comes with a cost that would have been used to fund other development projects. Housing, classrooms would also not be enough (Schultz and James 296). The rate of the population growth in this state requires that more plans should be in place to expand every public utility and resources.
With resources becoming stretched, the population of Texas would suffer. There will be poor sanitation because the current one will not be able to cater to the needs of a larger population. With its minerals and huge tracts of land, Texas is a land of farmers and miners. The jobs that are found in this state include animal and plant scientist, mining and geological engineers, transport inspectors among others (Coale and Edgar 12). Even though there are several jobs in Texas and a lot of economic activities, they can only support its growth to some limit. The population growth is estimated to be more than the resources they have by the year 2050. This would make most people jobless and thus would see a rise in crime rates.
Another effect of population growth in Texas is environmental and general ecological conservation. With the increase in population, housing will become a major problem. This would force the state government to allocate some other land to construct cheap houses to take care of its massive population. Such abrupt plans always affect the environment as the pollution rate would be high. The shanty houses would come up, and they usually have an environmental challenge (Coale and Edgar 12). There will be little space to plant trees because these areas will be needed to construct houses, schools, religion centers and roads as well as other public utilities.
Regarding the political landscape, the population growth in Texas will change it for a long time. It is said that the Hispanic population will be more than any other group in Texas. This means that they will form a voting block to influence the political outcome of this state. The governors, state senators, among others, will be decided by the Hispanic majority (Weber 1580). It will be either them or the person they will throw their support behind. Currently, the white Americans are still enjoying majority support in Texas, but this will change.
In summary, population growth in Texas is both a blessing and a curse to it. It is a blessing in that there will be more economic activities and thus more money regarding tax to the government. This amount can be used to fund various development projects in the state. However, it is a curse because of the challenges it will come with. The problem of housing to that of water supply will adversely affect its population. To add to this, the resources will be overstretched to the point that it will not support the population. This will bring joblessness, homelessness, and an increase in the rate of crime in Texas. Furthermore, the environment will be at risk of destruction as more space would be needed not only to accommodate the growing number but also in constructing the needed infrastructure and other public utilities that would be required to support the growth.
Work Cited
Coale, Ansley Johnson, and Edgar M. Hoover. Population growth and economic development. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Weber, Jeremy G. "The effects of a natural gas boom on employment and income in Colorado, Texas, and Wyoming." Energy Economics 34.5 (2012): 1580-1588.
Schultz, Jessica, and James R. Elliott. "Natural disasters and local demographic change in the United States." Population and Environment 34.3 (2013): 293-312.
