Environmental Apocalypse The environment is in a terrible condition and although an environmental apocalypse is not imminent we are definitely headed down that road. Some of the reasons for our Earth’s trouble are overpopulation, consumerism, and overconsumption. The earth’s population is ever increasing; it is only a matter of time before there are not enough resources to support life on the planet and the population begins to die off due to lack of food, water, and other resources. With our current population increase rates the population will double within the next century. “Indeed, the world population did double in thirty-seven years from 1950 to 1987.
The lack of economic justice and water shortages are just merely two examples out of them all. Danielle Knight stated that “The true source of world hunger is not scarcity but policy; not inevitability but politics, the real culprits are economies that fail to offer everyone opportunities, and societies that place economic efficiency over compassion.” The author is trying to say that, basically, world hunger is mainly caused by us humans. The world is providing more than enough food for each and every one of us on earth according to the report - 'World Hunger: Twelve Myths'. The problem is that there are so many people living in the third world countries who do not have the money to pay for readily available food. Even if their country has excess food, they still go hungry because of poverty.
Growth is not always something to be welcome for the vast majority of economically growing countries and can have devestating effects. The problems we see today is endless. From the smallest microcosm to the entire earth, economic growth and waste is slowly destroying everything around us. As members of an industrialised society the effects are all too apparent. And in general, the destroying of the landscape and the pollution of air and water decrease our ability to enjoy the "real" amenities of life, thus questioning the accepted opinion that materialism brings more to our daily lives than for example, the life of someone in a pristine and enjoyable natural environment.
This triggers an ongoing dispute between those who support advances in biotechnology versus those who do not. Modern industrial agriculture demonstrates a lack of concern for the wellbeing of the livestock, the consumers, and the environment, which is why factory farming practices must be banned. From a humanitarian perspective, there is a massive downfall to factory farming. Simply its motive is a reason enough—the industry strives to maximize output while minimizing costs, while acting oblivious to the animals’ livelihood, viewing them solely as commodities. The USDA accounts that ninety-seven percent of the ten billion animals tortured and killed each year are farm animals.
People are easily convinced if they are told that this is a problem simply because not every country’s climate can support the crops that it’s people need to survive. Yes, this is part of the problem, but only a minuscule factor in the big picture. The real problem at hand? Our global economy is so unbalanced that the wealthy people have more money than they could ever need- essentially robbing the working class and below of their wealth and money that they need to purchase essential items to live. This unequal distribution of wealth is becoming a major problem in just about every country across the world.
Not to mention that it puts a severe strain on our atmosphere. It also poses a serious health risks to those organisms that are operating survivors of the environmental battering. Since we as humans are the only organisms capable of recognizing these threats to our world, we are also the only ones who can put a stop to it. Pollution is and always will be a factor, our mission is not to eradicate it but rather to reduce the contributing factors and educate the population of their self-destructive habits. Negligence towards the earth's wellbeing is far from a new subject.
The regulation of population density represents an immense importance in modern society. Without proper limits at which population can grow, humans will cross difficulties that go along the lines of lack of food, water or space, spread of disease, and environmental distress. Soylent Green shows a world where overpopulation leads to severe examples of these difficulties and nations should cap population. The solution to overpopulation as presented in Soylent Green revolves around cannibalism to resolve population increases and lack of food. Overpopulation can catalyze other global environmental dilemmas, which underlines it as a major flaw in the processes of the world.
That’s a substantial number considering that that number is more than twice of the population in the 1900s. As our numbers continue to increase the amount of resources needed for survival are decreased because the resources get used faster than they can be replaced. Joseph R. Simonetta states, “We are depleting our natural resources: our forests, fisheries, range lands, croplands, and plant and animal species. We are destroying the biological diversity on which evolution thrives (this is being called the sixth great wave of extinction in the history of life on earth, different from the others in that it is caused not by external events, but by us)” (Seven words that can change our world, 6). Deforestation is one of the big problems we face.” During the 1990's, the average area of tropical forest cleared each year was equivalent to half the area of England” (Environmental Impacts from Unsustainable Population Growth, 2).
Human population growth is the leading factor we have in place to sustain a more perfect ecosystem for future generations. Over development has led to extinction, habitat loss and climate change that scars the Earth and will never be recovered again. According to the Center for Biological and Diversity we are adding 227,000 more people on top of the 7 billion everyday which is causing species to disappear 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate of natural selection. It is time we get over our greed, religious biases and having more children equal’s more money mentality. The Earth and its ecosystem should be protected by every individual to keep it as pristine as the day they were born to pass off on future generations to inherit.
Waste production continues to increase world-wide in both absolute and per capita terms (Bell, 1997). Deforestation has cost the world an average of 12 million hectares of natural forest per year since 1980 (Bell, 1997). Current forms of energy production and use - which are based primarily on fossil fuels - contaminate air, water, and soil and contribute to global warming. The global ecosystems on which our future depends thus continue to deteriorate, alarmingly. Furthermore, despite expanding corporate and individual wealth, social inequality within and between nations continues to widen.