Population Growth

3 Pages 838 Words

“Carrying capacity- The maximum number of individuals that a given environment can support without detrimental effects.”


With a current population of about 6.2 billion people, the Earth is rapidly approaching its carrying capacity. Developing countries are already experiencing the consequences from a saturated planet. It is only a matter of time before we, the already developed countries, suffer the same fate. Our negligence towards the Third World population boom is a time-bomb waiting to happen. Where will these people go once there is no room left in their own countries? It’s simple physics, particles in an area of high concentration will move to an area of lower concentration. They will migrate to healthier, higher standard of living areas of the world bringing along disease, poverty, and ignorance. Our efforts to ease the situation are not substantial, our methods are ineffective, and our determination to help is fleeting. We must accept the fact that this is going to be a long battle carried out over many generations. We are simultaneously faced with the burden of educating growing numbers of children, creating more jobs, dealing with hunger, famine, war, and counteracting the detrimental effects of these growing populations such as deforestation, soil erosion, and contaminated water supplies. What we once thought as being “there” problem is rapidly becoming “our” problem.
Today’s graph of population growth is an exponential one. In 1807 the world’s population reached an unprecedented 1 billion. Less than two hundred years later it stands at 6 billion with no signs of slowing down. If fertility levels remain as they are, by the year 2050, the population will have reached 11.5 billion. That is a shocking number, but what is more unbelievable is that most if not all of the increase will be from developing countries. Fertility rates in the U.S. are at an all time low at an average of 1.9 birth...