98 / 164
98
The Dangers
of Over-
population
In just 33 years, the population hit 3 billion people, until now it has
just taken 12 years to jump from 6 billion people to the 7 billion we
have today. With this kind of exponential growth though, realistically,
there has to be a limit. If we simply keep going as we are, there will
be a point where the planet can no longer support us. Human
civilisation is approaching collapse.
Firstly, we are continually consuming more than our earth can
provide. In less than 50 years we are expected to have more than 9
billion people on the earth. This means that there will be an
increased demand for diminishing resources such as coal, oil, wood.
Agricultural demand, which is already stretched thin, is estimated to
double. Even now, we are facing difficulties in sourcing enough
drinking water for the population. How do we expect billions more
people to be able to live on this planet without energy? How are we
going to survive without water?
Following on from this notion of limited resources is the impact
that our spreading race has on the environment. Clearly, as the
population grows, our environmental impact is going to grow as well.
Ozone depletion, consumption of ocean resources, carbon dioxide
concentration, all of these and more have been rising at terrifying
rates. And all of these can be linked back to overpopulation. If you
want the oceans to replenish their fish, you need fewer people eating
fish. If you want to produce less carbon emissions, you need fewer
people producing them.
We all know that our ‘first-world problems’ are pathetic in
comparison to many serious problems that people face, especially
those in impoverished countries. Here in Australia, many of us shrug
off the differences and problems that other countries face, because
they don’t affect us, right? But what we fail to realise is that our
ignorance is the problem.
Underdeveloped countries have the highest growth rates,
statistically doubling their population in between 20 to 35 years.
Think about that for a minute. Just to maintain that level of
inadequacy, the food available must be doubled. The amount of
power available has to be doubled. The number of trained doctors,
nurses, teachers and administrators must be doubled. This would be
difficult enough in a developed country, with access to plentiful
resources. How would this be possible in a country with none of
11