Population Growth

2 Pages 431 Words

Population Growth
Do you live in a city full of people that seem to be
increasing in number every day? Or maybe you live in a rural
area that more and more people are moving to. If you do you
have personally experienced the effects of population
growth. Population growth effects the availability of
resources, climate, and the disease rate around the world
and in your very own community.
Population growth and the environment are closely
related, but the links between them are complex and varied.
As the population grows and demands increase, the search for
water, food, and energy resources becomes more difficult. As
a result of population growth, water use has grown six-fold.
Worldwide, 54% of annually available fresh water is being
used, 2/3 of it for agricultural purposes. In the year 2000,
508 million people lived in 31 water-stressed or
water-scarce countries. Also, in many countries , population
growth has raced ahead of food production in recent years.
Between 1985 and 1995, food production lagged behind
population growth in 64 of 105 developing countries studied
with Africa faring the worst.
In the twentieth century, human population quadrupled
,from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion. And carbon dioxide
emissions, which trap heat in the atmosphere, grew twelve
fold, from 534 million metric tons in 1900 to 6.59 billion
metric tons in 1997. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) has predicted the effects of this will be a
5.8 degrees Celsius warming of the atmosphere over the
coming century. Climate change has a serious impact
including increased storms, flooding, soil erosion,
accelerated extinction of plants and animals, shifting
agricultural zones, and a threat to public health due to
increased water stress and tropical disease. These
conditions increase environmental refugees and international
economic migration.
Another effect of population growth is an increase of
deforestation. In th...