The social impact of population growth

The social impact of population growth

Introduction

7.5 billion is the approximated number of the global human population. What does this number mean? Well, it means that the worldwide population growth is escalating at a frightening pace. According to, %++%, the global human population is increasing by about 1.1 percent per year. The issue of overpopulation, which results from high population growth has been talked of multiple times throughout history as a global concern. Thomas Malthus was the first scholars to assess the population growth against the ability to feed more people. In his assertions, Malthus argued that in the absence of significant continuous innovation, it would reach a time where the global population would exceed the ability of humanity to feed itself. However, the more humanity improves the ability to feed itself; the more people are born. Population growth has many social impacts. Of the many social implications of population growth, emission of greenhouse gases seem to take the largest share making it a concern for most developing countries and in particular country.

Greenhouse Gases

The unsustainable human population growth is the most significant single threat to the biodiversity of the country currently and in decades to come due to the continued build-up of human-generated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to %**7-, greenhouse gases are gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect ( the exchange of incoming and outgoing radiation that warms the earth’s surface and the troposphere) by taking up infrared radiation. The most known greenhouse gases are carbon (iv) oxide and methane. Other greenhouse gases include nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons. When these gases are released in to the atmosphere, they are trapped by the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, where all weather occurs. Here, these gases form a layer that prevents infrared radiation from the sun rays to escape through the atmosphere. The layer thus prevents the Sun’s energy to be reflected in space and end up absorbing and re-radiating the Sun’s energy. The absorbed energy by the layer of the greenhouse gases warms the atmosphere and then the earth’s surface. This process makes the earth’s temperature to rise a phenomenon referred to as global warming.

In the country, increased human activities such as cutting down of trees, industrialization, farming and the burning of fossil fuels to improve the living standards of people are the most substantial source greenhouse gases. Coal-burning power plants, the transportation sector, and deforestation are by far the biggest polluters. These human activities raise the level of carbon (IV) in the atmosphere to about percent that traps the Sun’s infrared radiation causing the earth’s average to rise thus creating the greenhouse effect.  It has been observed that ocean levels, especially in the Arctic Ocean, have increased by 22 centimeters. Glaciers have shrunk therefore endangering flora and fauna inhabiting these places with snow. It has raised a concern of convincing the poor residents living in the neighborhoods of these forests to safeguard and protect.

Challenges Posed by Emission of Greenhouse Gases

Greenhouse gases are the significant variation in the atmospheric conditions over a certain period of 30-35 years. This, in turn, causes global warming due to the nature of worlds atmospheric temperature. This has effects on both human beings and the surrounding environment. It causes prolonged droughts which cause the soils to lose water and hence cannot support the growth of crops. As famine strikes, the human population cannot be able to sustain itself.  Also, wildlife is affected as they wholly depend on water, droughts even clear forests which are their habitat. Drought as a result of global warming causes water sources such as rivers to dry human population who depend on fishing as their source of income to suffer.

Additionally, the emission of greenhouse gases and global warming in general increases the moisture content; therefore, the atmosphere tends to hold more water. This is because global warming increases the rate of evaporation and therefore there is a chance of heavy rainfall which will result in floods. This will affect both human beings and animals as it will lead to both death and displacement. It also raises the sea level due to strong winds like hurricanes which is a threat to the surrounding local community mostly in the coastal areas.

Lastly, greenhouse gases emissions and global warming caused heat waves which affect human beings. This is due to the revolution of the sun around its orbit exposes some parts of the world to radiant heat. This causes heat stroke as the bodies of human beings is unable to cool more effectively. Also, livestock products lower their yields, for example, low milk production in dairy cattle.

In a nutshell,  emission of greenhouse gases has had a catastrophic effect on the country since the beginning of the industrial revolution. It has led to the extinction of some species, acidification of the oceans. Emission of greenhouse gases and in particular carbon (IV) to be controlled. If it is not taken care of, the earth will face the extinction of both animals and plants that are important to humankind. Global warming has increased the acidification of the ocean making the water not fit for living organisms.

Controlling Growth of Human Population

The rapid growth in the world’s human population, coupled with unprecedented challenges it brings to the environment has prompted many stakeholders to think of practical ways of how the growth of the human population can be controlled. Many ways have to be suggested, but the most effective is education and policy change.

Creating awareness through education will in a more significant way to help to control the growth of the human population. According to %+%89, birth rates will decline naturally when people are given proper education on sexuality and reproductive. Increased levels of illiteracy cause people to be ignorant of how to control the rates at which they give birth. This is an issue mostly with the population in developing and the underdeveloped countries. The moment people become fully educated, they will understand the harms that come with population growth. They will, therefore, think of ways to control birth rates at an individual and family level. An educated population will understand the benefits of a small family. Government and all the concerned stakeholders thus to ensure that the citizens can access quality education. Awareness programs that aim to inform and sensitive people informing people about the dangers of high population growth need to be affected.

Providing health, educational or financial incentives can also be effective in controlling the growth of human population. Governments should also ensure that contraception tools are made affordable and easy to access. This will reduce the cases of unwanted pregnancies and births. Funding on research aimed at developing effective, cheap birth control techniques should be increased at the national level. Public hospitals should be made to fund birth control measures for poor people.

Conclusion

Population growth is an issue that has drawn a lot of debate globally. It is true that the impacts of human population growth are far-reaching. However, of the many social implications of population growth, emission of greenhouse gases seem to take the largest share making it a concern for most developing countries and in particular country. Increased growth of the human population leads to increased emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon (IV) which turn causes global warming. Global warming, in turn, results in droughts, floods, and heat waves which affect not only the vegetation but animals which human beings depend on for survival. Although the growth of the human population is a global issue, it can be controlled to save humanity from such a catastrophe. Creating awareness through education seems like the best way through which the growth of the human population can be managed effectively.

References

Gurran, N., Norman, B., & Hamin, E. (2016). Population Growth and Change in Non-Metropolitan Coastal Australia. Parallel Patterns of Shrinking Cities and Urban Growth: Spatial Planning for Sustainable Development of City Regions and Rural Areas, 165.

Harvey, LD Danny. Global warming. Routledge, 2016.

DARwin, R. (2017). The impact of global warming on agriculture: a Ricardian analysis: comment. Climate Change, 125.

Anderson, T. R., Hawkins, E., & Jones, P. D. (2016). CO2, the greenhouse effect and global warming: from the pioneering work of Arrhenius and Callendar to today’s Earth System Models. Endeavor, 40(3), 178-187.

Lashof, D. A., & Ahuja, D. R. (1990). Relative contributions of greenhouse gas emissions to global warming. Nature, 344(6266), 529.

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