Environmental Solution And Environmental Effects Of The Human Population

The Earth should “expect there to have been no more than about one mammal extinction within the last 400 years, yet 69 have been documented” (Calow.Blackwell). This is a harsh statistic for the human population to face. If humans do not confront this statistic they may soon face the impact of these extinctions in almost all aspects of their lives. Currently, with over seven billion people, the world grows more and more crowded every day. As a result, Earth struggles to minimize all of the waste, pollution, and environmental destruction that this quantity of people produce. The high population of earth causes food shortages, heavy pollution and overcrowding. All of these detrimental effects can be linked to one source: the human population.

It requires things like clean water to drink, water for crops, and land for agriculture. All of these things are invariably linked together. More people in the world means more land for agriculture, and more agriculture means more water will go towards growing these plants. However, this means less room for people to expand into, and less water for them to drink. Across the planet, “agricultural production consumes more fresh water than any other human activity” (Pimentel). The difficulty with this is that as the population rises more water is required to grow crops to feed people. This would be okay, except for the fact that humans also need water to live. Presently, across the globe “A major threat to maintaining future water supplies is the continuing over-draft of surface and ground water resources” (Pimentel). Without freshwater the world will not be able to survive. And as if that was not the end of it, “The pressure for agricultural land accounts for 60 to 80% of the world 's deforestation” (Pimentel). This means there are less trees to extract CO2 from the environment. The effects of population on the environment and human society are like dominoes, more people means more food, more food means more land is required, and with more land, more water is needed to help grow the crops. The steady increase in human population keeps the world spiraling into decay. The fewer people there are, however, the less food, water, and land is required to support