In the past century, our global population has grown more quickly than ever before in history. With improvements in technology, healthcare, education and development, human lives have been made easier, allowing us to live longer in general and support ourselves comfortably. As a result, there were fewer deaths, causing the population to explode over the 20th century. Should we be concerned about our current and future global population?
Many people believe that the large numbers we see todayare the cause of environmental destruction, and if our global population continues to grow at the rate it's going, there will be an environmental crisis that will greatly affect humans as a whole. A large population needs a certain amount of support and resources in order to thrive. In developed countries, many humans depend on certain services and industries to continue living the way they are now. Developed countries tend to consume more than others as they have higher access to new technology. This can pose threats to our ecosystems as large industries emit gases and waste during the process of production and transportation. Environmentalists believe that deforestation, the emission of greenhouse gases and global warming are directly linked of affected by our large global population. However, this may not be directly linked to population. Many argue that single developed countries with smaller populations are more to blame for pollution from consumption than certain less developped countries that have massive populations. America makes up 4% of the global population, but "for many resources is the world's largest consumer in absolute terms." -Population and Natural Resources, AAAS. See Link.
The map below displays countries' global consumption rates. Countries coloured in red consume the most, and as the colour gets lighter, the consumption rates are smaller. We can see that the United States has one of the highest rates of consumption, while countries with very large populations such as India have much lower rates of consumption.
Pollution due to great amounts of consumption may or may not be directly linked to global population issues, however, there is a definite solution to overpopulation.
This comes in the form of contraception. Many women in developed countries have easy access to contraceptives, while some women in less developed countries are not as educated on contraceptive use, and may face moral, religious or cultural barriers regarding contraceptives. Lack of information or access to contraceptives and family planning means that many women are having large families. Social norms are also a factor in family size. In our country, it is normal to have a small amount of children, about 2-5, while in many African countries, family sizes are considerably larger.
Overpopulation is a definite cause of global warming, according to leaders at the Copenhagen Summit.
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