Increasing population Essay Example for Free

Increasing population Essay Increasing population poses a greater threat to the future of our planet than consumption. Hinrichsen explains the effects of population to our environment. As the world population grows, the demand for natural resources also increases. Consumption poses a threat in the sense that it is needed to accommodate the worlds population. It is possible to reduce consumption the lesser population the world has, but while the population grows, more and more resources are needed, even at least to support the basic needs like food and shelter. Population has been growing faster than food supplies in 64 of 105 developing countries. Arable lands and forests are also exploited to meet the demand of increasing population. Fresh water sources cannot keep up its pace of renewing itself from a steadily increasing population. The seas are also overexploited to supply the demand of population. Futhermore, human activities also affect the environment through poor sanitation and pollution. The more people there are, the more contributors to threatening the future of our planet. 2) Based on your answer to question 1, please name two potential solutions to mitigate the impact this threat has on the planet (be specific). Hinrichsen suggested sollutions to the problem posed by the increasing world population. The most obvious one is to reduce population growth rate. â€Å"Slowing population growth would buy time to protect natural resources† (Hinrichsen, 2000). Family planning programs, aside from improving the welfare of families, will play a key role to stabilizing world population and the future would benefit from it. Energy conservation would also play a vital role to preserving our future, however little it may contribute. Increasing energy efficiency, like carbon efficiency in automobiles, would eventually reduce pollution. Hinrichsen also suggested that managing cities better and discouraging technologies that produce high levels of wastes would help save the future of the world. Bibliography Hinrichsen, Don and Bryant Robey. â€Å"Population and the environment: A global challenge. † Excerpts from a Johns Hopkins University report. October 2000. American Institute of Biological Sciences. 3 July 2008 http://www. actionbioscience. org/environment/hinrichsen_robey. html