Environmental Impacts from over Population
Introduction
The population of human beings on this planet has been gaining exponentially, since the dawn of Man. A basic feature of an exponential increase is that the numbers increase faster and faster as the population doubles and redoubles, with each doubling occurring in the same amount of time (Wright, 2008), As the population continues to multiply, so do the impacts upon our environment and surrounding ecosystems. As human populations increase, the demands for food, supplies, and housing also increase. With these increased demands, there is now a greater strain upon our resources more than ever before. The question then becomes, what are the impacts upon our environment by our population situation, and is there anything that can be done to deal with the problems from this dilemma?
Population Impacts As civilization has continued to grow and develop, so has the impact upon our environment by our exploding population. As mankind began to “modernize”, the Earth began to feel impacts by the choices made from its inhabitants. Beginning with the agricultural revolution, humankind became able to manipulate his environment (Sharp, 2000). During the agricultural revolution, man was able to plant and grow food. As societies were still nomadic in their nature, mankind would use the resources of the Earth to their fullest extent, and then move on to the next area. This started with slash and burn techniques, and for the first time, CO2 levels were modified (Sharp, 2000) As the population of the planet continued to surge, the next great impact upon the environment would be the industrial revolution of the 1800’s. With the boom of the industrial revolution across the world, the demand for natural resources and the impacts upon the environment would soar. More people and natural resources were needed to sustain the new industrial system and the needs of growing societies (Sharp, 2000). The impacts of the industrial revolution were great and vast. For
The population of human beings on this planet has been gaining exponentially, since the dawn of Man. A basic feature of an exponential increase is that the numbers increase faster and faster as the population doubles and redoubles, with each doubling occurring in the same amount of time (Wright, 2008), As the population continues to multiply, so do the impacts upon our environment and surrounding ecosystems. As human populations increase, the demands for food, supplies, and housing also increase. With these increased demands, there is now a greater strain upon our resources more than ever before. The question then becomes, what are the impacts upon our environment by our population situation, and is there anything that can be done to deal with the problems from this dilemma?
Population Impacts As civilization has continued to grow and develop, so has the impact upon our environment by our exploding population. As mankind began to “modernize”, the Earth began to feel impacts by the choices made from its inhabitants. Beginning with the agricultural revolution, humankind became able to manipulate his environment (Sharp, 2000). During the agricultural revolution, man was able to plant and grow food. As societies were still nomadic in their nature, mankind would use the resources of the Earth to their fullest extent, and then move on to the next area. This started with slash and burn techniques, and for the first time, CO2 levels were modified (Sharp, 2000) As the population of the planet continued to surge, the next great impact upon the environment would be the industrial revolution of the 1800’s. With the boom of the industrial revolution across the world, the demand for natural resources and the impacts upon the environment would soar. More people and natural resources were needed to sustain the new industrial system and the needs of growing societies (Sharp, 2000). The impacts of the industrial revolution were great and vast. For
Cited: Rand (2000). Population and Environment A Complex Relationship. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5045/index1.html Sharp, Z. (2000, November 13). Human Population – impact on environment. Retrieved from: http://epswww.unm.edu/facstaff/zsharp/103/lecture%2019,%20human%20 population.htm Wright, R. (2008). Environmental Science Tenth Edition. Page 82 Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall