Today, the crisis that has posed the greatest concern on the planet earth is the overpopulation issue (Ehrlich, 2002). The threat of overpopulation and the constant rapid increase has greatly impacted and is still projected to severely impact the affairs of the various state nations, developed and developing, the poor and the rich alike. Human overpopulation is a condition in which the human population number that exists exceeds the Earth’s carrying capacity (the maximum number of people that can sustainably be supported in an environment). In countries like China and India, the overpopulation issue is quite evident. The impacts that have been witnessed in these countries like governance and distribution of resources are spreading to other countries across the world as well.
On November 17, 2016, the world population clock showed 7,465,023,315 as the total human population and there is a rapid growth. At the same time, around the globe, about 884 million people cannot access clean water that is safe for drinking, minimum dietary requirements cannot be adequately received by about one billion people, about another one billion is malnourished chronically, basic sanitation cannot be afforded by about 2.6 billion people, and the untouched remaining 25% of the earth belongs to arctic, desert, tropical or boreal zones. According to the United Nation (UN), the over 7 billion world population is anticipated to get to nine and a half billion by the year 2050 (Ehrlich, 2002). This is the number of people that will call Earth their home. With the constant and rapid number of lives being brought into the world every day, there is, therefore, no doubt that the planet Earth is becoming overpopulated and there is a great crisis looming ahead.
More resources are needed for the sustenance of the increased population. Clean water and air, food, shelter, and energy are needed. These natural resources are limited, and because calculating the Earth’s human carrying capacity may be difficult, a fair prediction considering the present human biological footprint on Earth cannot be made. With the explosion of human population, natural resources are negatively impacted. Arable land, forests, water, and energy (oil) continue to decrease.
Overpopulation is a great threat to biodiversity loss. With the constant increase in population, there is a direct increase in the demand for human basic needs like shelter. Natural environments are transformed and modified in order to meet these demands. Natural habitats are lost through cutting down the forests for Agricultural use and to create room for human settlement (York, 2009). These human activities pose a great challenge to many of the animal species like Elephants by making their survival difficult, hence extinction ("Human-driven climate change causes extinction of mammal species", 2016). Therefore, it is no doubt that the negative impacts caused by the actions of the increased human actions have significantly led to a very rapid loss of biodiversity.
A country’s population increase not only impact the natural resources, a significant burden is also placed on the county’s physical and social infrastructures (York, 2009). Going forward, because of the human population explosion, there is a need for matching up the supply of buildings bridges, roads, houses, transportation means, civic utilities, and the correlation services. A country’s governance style and the global at large would likely need to be changed. Governing rules will be changed in order to manage and regulate the ever-increasing population. This is indeed a sure prediction of a future that will be very stressful. The present and the future generation will, therefore, have a very different taste of the world than it was to our parents and the past generation.
Martin Luther King had this to say concerning the human overpopulation. “Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases, we do not understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and the resources we possess. What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education of the billions of its victims.” The gravitating impacts of overpopulation are being felt in every country across the globe. Down the ages, since the issue of overpopulation crisis was raised, there have been population control measures tried in various State Nations in order to find the overpopulation solutions. Examples of these have been family planning promotion, educational awareness on overpopulation, environment sustainability, consumption habits, and the invention of other means renewable energy (Scarlatos " Tomkiewicz, 2013). Behind population control measures has been to ensure that the future generation is handed over a better state of the world than we received it from our parents.
Overpopulation crisis is such an important global subject that needs the participation of every nation and the international support in order to find the solutions. In trying to seek the solutions, it is paramount to understand the various issues that relate to overpopulation. At the center of this paper is to address the relationship between climate change and population.
Climate Change
Presently, one of the greatest challenges that affects humanity is the climate change. Without the implementation of an urgent and concerted action, climate change will not only damage the fragile ecosystems, but it will impede development efforts, increase public health risks, and frustrate poverty alleviation programs ("Human Population Growth and Climate Change", 2018). The impacts of climate change in reference to environmental, economic and social costs of inaction will significantly exceed the cost taking immediate steps to address climate change.
In the last decade, carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations have risen from 278 ppm of the pre-industrial to 402 ppm in 2014. At the same time, the average global temperature increased by 0.84℃. With this rising temperature, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) articulates that the amount of extreme events frequency such as heavy rain and droughts will adversely affect human settlements, health, biodiversity, and industry. The IPCC also stipulates that higher temperatures will lead, to rise in sea level.
Disruption of the global climate will be the single largest threat to the Earth’s ecological biodiversity. This is due to the increased atmospheric human-generated greenhouse gases ("Human Population Growth and Climate Change", 2018). Across the globe, this is great concern that has compelled various state nations to come together and enact policies that aim to curb the crisis looming ahead. The problem of climate change is being addressed in order to reduce carbon dioxide footprint by less consumption and coming up with better technologies. Unfortunately, the rapid and overwhelming human population growth that is challenging to sustain overwhelms these made efforts. This has led to the conclusion that not only fewer footprints is needed, but fewer feet. For example, between the year 2000 and 2005, Portland, Oregon lowered its per-capita residential energy and car driving footprint by 5%. However, a population growth of 8% was realized during this period.
Climate researchers have warned that the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide must be reduced to 350 ppm in order for the global catastrophe to be avoided. The relationship between global warming and population growth study conducted in the year 2009 determined that just a one child’s “carbon legacy” can produce more greenhouse gas 20 times than a person driving a high-mileage car, recycling, and by use of energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs will save. In the United States, for every child born, there will be an addition of about 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide to an average parent’s carbon legacy. In discussing climate change, much focus has always been on an individual’s life or lifetime carbon dioxide emissions ("Human Population Growth and Climate Change", 2018). Yes, these are important and essential issues to be considered. But the added challenge is the continuous growth of human population and the increased consumption of global resources. Therefore, the consequences of the reproduction of today’s people is an amplification of the future growth which intern is a reflection on the climate change with massive impacts.
In the developed world, United States has the highest population and is still experiencing a significant population growth. The production of greenhouse gases by US 300 million inhabitants at a per capita rate seems to be more than double that of Europe. This is 10 times the developing nation’s average and five times the global average. What is driving the U.S’ greenhouse contribution is the disastrous combination of significant high population growth.
Causes of Climate Change
In a broad sense, changes in the climate and the environment is the aftermath of so many human activities and some natural occurrences. Changes in the climate system can either occur externally (extraterrestrial systems) or internally (from the atmosphere, ocean or land systems). An external change involves the sun’s output variation which externally varies the received solar radiation amount by the surface and the atmosphere of the Earth (Mathebula, 2014). The cause of the Earth’s internal climatic system may be varied through the concentration of changes of gases in the atmosphere, volcanic activities, and the changes in the surface and atmospheric albedo.
Human activities have significantly contributed to the changes in the Earth’s climate. This has been through the changes in the amount of the greenhouse gases and aerosols in the Earth’s atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The released gases accumulate in the atmosphere, and with time, the concentration increases. The end result is the alteration of the incoming solar radiation from the sun and the outgoing infrared radiation that is part of the earth’s energy balance. The changed atmospheric properties result in the warming or cooling climatic system. The human activities’ overall effect on the climate system has been a warming influence since the beginning of the industrial era.
With the progress of the rapid human population growth, natural resources (forests) are being depleted to provide room for settlement and for urbanization ("Human Population Growth and Climate Change", 2018). There is, therefore, no enough trees left for the aeration of the ecosystem leading to further accumulation of the greenhouse gases and the increased global warming effect. Human activities through the rapid increase in the population growth have a great threat to the Earth’s future existence.
Impacts of Climate Change
In the past, the global impacts of climate change that scientists had predicted have come to pass. Glaciers have shrunk, trees are flowering sooner, there is accelerated the rise in the sea levels, there are more heat waves and there is the loss of sea ice in the Arctic. Presently, there is as high confidence amongst scientists that global temperature will keep on rising in the coming decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which constitutes over 1,300 scientists from the across the globe articulate that global temperatures will from 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by 2030. However, according to the IPCC, the impacts of these effects will vary according to individual regions and their ability to mitigate and adapt to these changes. Scientists further articulate that because global warming is human-induced, this warming will naturally vary according to regions (Egero, 2003). They further articulate that the increase in global temperatures will continue to increase. Scientists further articulate that due to the rise in temperatures, global change has led to longer and more damaging wildfire seasons. Across the globe, wildfires are becoming more increasing and the wildfire seasons are becoming more longer in the western US and Europe. Scientists state that higher spring and summer temperatures result in forests that experience hotter and drier longer periods thereby setting prime conditions for wildfires.
Due to climate change, there have been more prevalent and destructive hurricanes. However, it is imperative to note that even though hurricanes are a natural part of the climate system, recent studies indicate that from the 1980s the destructive power and intensity of hurricanes have been increasingly growing. In addition, scientists also articulate that due to climate change, the frequency and intensity of heat waves have increasingly risen (Egero, 2003). Presently, hot weather is occurring more frequently than it did in the past century. Scientists also articulate that these frequent heat waves will increasingly keep becoming more revere as the intensity of global warming becomes more intense. However, due to the increase of heat waves, it has led to serious health risks that scientists are of the view that it leads to heat exhaustion, heat stroke in addition to the aggravation of pre-existing medical conditions.
Another climate change impact is heavier precipitation and flooding. Due to the increased rise in global temperatures, there is a higher level of rainfalls when there are heavy downpours thereby increasing the probability of their being heavy flooding (Birch, 2014). On the other hand, scientists articulate that due to global climate change, the rate of precipitation has increased tremendously. They are of the view that one percent of the storms experienced in the Northeast of the US, they drop an average of about 67 percent precipitation. On the other hand, one percent of the storms experienced in Asia, it drops about 31 percent of precipitation whereas, and one percent of the storms experienced in Great Plains it drops about 15 percent of precipitation. According to scientists, this present level of rainfall precipitation has tremendously increased over the last 50 years. Scientists further contend that climate change has led to severe droughts in some areas (Birch, 2014). They are of the view that climate change affects a constellation of factors that are linked to the drought that is likely to increase the veracity and risk of droughts in some regions. Due to the rise in temperatures, drought prevalence has greatly increased. They articulate that present climate models consistently illustrate that there is an increase of drought across the globe.
Climate change has a significant impact on the natural biodiversity. Climate change is caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases, for example, carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. This brings about the alteration of the ecosystem’s climatic patterns in which the various species have evolved and depended upon (Ehrlich, 2002). The traditional ranges of species are changed by the changes in the patterns of rainfall and temperature accustomed to by the different species. The various animal species are forced to either move out or look for a favorable environment or forced to adapt to the new climate ("Human-driven climate change causes extinction of mammal species", 2016). For the species that find it difficult to adapt and survive, nature eliminates them, hence the effect of the climatic change to the ecosystem’s biodiversity.
Subsequently, scientists further articulate that due to climate change, there has being a change in weather patterns across the globe. In the US, presently spring normally arrives about 10 days earlier in the northern hemisphere (Ehrlich, 2002). On the other hand, snow also melts earlier than it used to. The study also shows that reservoirs in the US fill too early than they used to thereby requiring flood control water to be released. At the same time, due to changes in the weather patterns vegetation and soils dry earlier than they used to, thereby setting the stage for longer drought periods and the risk of wildfires. Scientists further affirm that due to climate change, ice in the Polar Regions is melting at a higher rate especially in the Arctic. In addition, the world’s glaciers are also melting at a faster rate as compared to the past years. They further articulate that the rate of ice melting in the Polar Regions will continue to accelerate thereby leading to grave implications in reference to the future rise of the sea level. Scientists further articulate that due to the rise in global temperatures due to climate change it has posed a risk to coral reefs (Birch, 2014). Studies show that a change in water temperatures above the normal summer maxima, it causes irreversible harm to coral reefs.
Overpopulation and Climate Change Solutions
The most significant question to address overpopulation and climate change issues is how to come to grips with something that has grown above its limits. The argument of the population experts and environmental activists is that a key element in the implementation of measures is in the global governance (Scarlatos " Tomkiewicz, 2013). However, enforcement of laws and exertion of social pressures by the global network cannot be equal among nations. For the global population change to be realized, domestic institutional goals must, therefore, be set. This might, however, seem impossible since certain countries’ aim is carbon dioxide emission reduction while others have to utilize the natural resources in order to get the material gain. With the formation of treaties for the global community’s well-being, there is power for the enforcement of environmental laws that will effectively lead to population reduction.
Climate change due to overpopulation is a global issue that crosses borders. Domestic institutions have more power compared to the international ones in carbon dioxide emission reduction. A nation’s citizens generally accept the domestic institutions as law abiding (Birch, 2014). Reduction of carbon dioxide emission needs to be carried out across the over 200 world sovereign states. In the fulfillment of the global set goals, international institutions have a role to serve as guides and support provision.
The demand for basic necessities like food and water grows with the constant increase in population. In response to this, various projects have been implemented by the international agencies in order to deal with the climatic change consequences. The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) worked on the climate change adjusting projects. A range of projects have been sponsored by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for example, dramatic exploitation reduction of the Aquifers in India. Large areas of the highlands have been managed to be reforested by the Chinese government in order to avoid desertification. A new economy that is based on the clean sources of renewable energy, that preserves and conserves biodiversity, and that works with the natural systems for the provision of a sustainable number of people needs to be established by the global community.
The environment is loaded with a lot of impurities due to the much human population. The pollution of air and water has reached the peak and there is the danger of diseases being caused. Treaties have been signed by the various nations aimed at preserving the environmental pollution (Scarlatos " Tomkiewicz, 2013). Unfortunately, these treaties are only ratified by few nations. The ocean has for years been treated as a place for toxic and material waste discharge. This is a great threat to both human life and the aquatic life, and it is projected to worsen with the increased urbanization along the shores of the coastal regions.
Studies have shown that fertility rate is reduced when a woman is educated and empowered. There is a more likely and effective use of the birth control methods by educated women than the non-educated ones (Birch, 2014). This results in the low number of children being born. Western societies in the past had a high rate of fertility, but by the implementation of women-to-men equal law rights, late marriages and fewer children have been the result. Population control scientists believe that through education and job opportunities, women become self-confident and satisfied because they are financially secured.
Conclusion
The current over 7 billion world population which is again projected to reach nine and a half billion by the year 2050 is an alarming one. This is the number of people that will call Earth their home. With the constant and rapid number of lives being brought into the world every day, there is, therefore, no doubt that the planet Earth is becoming overpopulated and there is a great crisis looming ahead.
The threat of overpopulation and the constant rapid increase has greatly impacted and is still projected to severely impact the affairs of the various state nations, developed and developing, the poor and the rich alike. More resources are needed for the sustenance of the increased population (clean water and air, food, shelter, and energy). With the explosion of human population, the human natural resources are negatively impacted. Arable land, forests, water, and energy (oil) continue to decrease.
Scientists are not able to predict the future outlook of the planet Earth. However, in their argument, the devastating effect of the rapid growth of human population cannot be ignored. These scientists reason that the witnessed impacts of climate change, disease outbreaks, food shortages, resource inequality distribution, lack of family planning as a birth control measure are clear warning signs that should not be left addressed both nationally and internationally. In finding the solution to the overpopulation crisis facing the world today, and for the contribution of the global community’s well-being, each nation needs one another. Various international treaties have formulated certain population growth control measures and urged the over 200 sovereign states of the world for the implementation so as to have a sustainable development aimed at preserving and handing over a better world to the future generation. A real solution to the Earth’s overpopulation is seen to find the answer in the equal distribution of natural resources, sustainability maintenance, and future fertility rate implementation measures. If the war in the fight of overpopulation is surrendered, then, the evidence of the witnessed impacts of overpopulation across the globe and the continuous degradation may probably be a way through which the world will come to its end (Apocalypse).
References
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