A drastic increase in the human population over the centuries has led to a variety of different negative effects on our earth and soon enough, the earth will be incapable of supporting all of us
Hundreds of people in a crowded area. Image provided by Population Median Center
It goes without saying that environmental issues are one of the greatest threats we face here on Earth. As global warming continues to plague billions of people and natural disasters sweep through various nations, we all must come to terms with the fact that one common factor propagates a majority of these issues: overpopulation. With approximately 385,000 people being born each day (140 million people a year), the Earth is getting to the point where it will no longer be able to sustain human life.
The cause
Over the past few years, life expectancy around the world has been increasing steadily. Research shows that a combination of better healthcare, increased hygiene and improved diets in humans worldwide resulted in this upward trend. In many developed and developing countries, the changes caused by increasing healthcare have been staggering with the life expectancy in some countries almost doubling. Even underdeveloped countries are benefiting as help from more developed countries is helping their healthcare exponentially. The whole world is seemingly undergoing a life expectancy revolution with scientists saying that “No country in the world has a lower life expectancy than the countries with the highest life expectancy in 1800.” They even go as far as to say that “Since 1900 the global average life expectancy has more than doubled and is now above 70 years,” showing how drastic of a change we have undergone in the past century. With all this change occurring, most would think this to be a positive occurrence in our society, and while it is, it doesn't come without its drawbacks. In the past most people would have a large number of children, most would die and the rest would continue to live and support the family until their inevitable death (at around 30 years old). Nowadays, however, people are having fewer children (depending on the country's development) while also having their children live longer. Because these children are not dying young, they can reproduce for a longer period, creating offspring with a higher chance of survival. As this cycle continues the earth becomes more populated at a quicker rate and for a longer period. Even in underdeveloped countries where people tend to have more children with lower chances of survival, the life expectancy of these children is still much higher as opposed to previous generations. What this means in the long run is that the Earth's population is increasing at a rate never seen before and the effects of this change are drastic.
The effects
With the Earth's population just recently hitting 8 billion, many wonder what this will mean for our population. The answer is not definitive, but what we do know is that the future isn't particularly bright. The Earth's carrying capacity, according to scientists, is somewhere between 2 billion and 40 billion. The range is so varied because it all depends on human consumption. If all of the Earth used fewer non-renewable resources and lived more like people in less developed countries, then the Earth could sustain a lot more humans; however, if we all lived like the average American or European household, then we would meet the carrying capacity much quicker. Since the Earth is a mix between those who have a larger carbon footprint and those with a smaller carbon footprint, it can be hard to make a direct estimate. Even so, with the quick rate at which industrialization is spreading around the globe and the number of people we have on Earth, many predict it won't be long before we see the effects of overpopulation, and that perhaps, we already have.
How this alters our world today
If the environmental disasters occuring on our planet today could be seen as a set of dominoes all lined up in front of one another, overpopulation would be the force that causes all of these blocks to tumble. Overpopulation is without a doubt one of the main catalysts if not the main catalyst of climate change worldwide. Because there are so many people on earth, there are more mouths to feed and more heads to shelter. Thus, the laws of supply and demand ensue and thousands of trees are cut and millions of animals are killed to sustain mankind. With more people, more energy needs to be used and so coal and oil are dug up and burned through at an incredibly irresponsible rate. With large populations come large cities that pollute the air and litter the soil, furthering the destruction of the environment. Overpopulation is the mother of global warming, in that global warming owes its existence, in part, to overpopulation. The ecological impact of each human being is so severe that scientists say “a family having one fewer child could reduce emissions by 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent per year in developed countries.”Such a difference is drastic, and with the rate at which more and more people are born, it looks like CO2 emissions will only increase as the years go on.
Conclusion
Though the population has been increasing at an exponential rate, scientists predict that the Earth’s population will slow and top out somewhere around the 2080’s. Although this is good news, it doesn’t change the fact that a lot of damage has been done on earth already. If we wish to continue to sustain our planet and increase the Earth’s potential carrying capacity, we must all work to lower our carbon footprint so that we can preserve our planet.