Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, our basic needs to survive include natural resources such as materials, water, energy and fertile land. But rapid growth of population on earth consume too much of these resources that resulted into serious damage. Among the damages that we have done to our mother earth includes changing of climate, shrinkage of fresh water reserves, fish stocks and forests as well as destroys of fertile land and extinction of species.
Many of these problems that might harm mankind’s survival on earth are results of mankind’s own actions such as increasing consumption of energy, water and raw materials, increasing production of waste and emissions and increasing usage of land. If we want to continue to survive on this planet, we should make a change to our lifestyles, by finding a sustainable way to continue living our lives without hurting the earth so that our natural resource base and fragile eco-system will be protected.
John (2012) stated that, “a child in the developed world consumes 30-50 times as much water as in the developing world; CO2 production, a proxy of energy use, can also be 50 times higher." (John, 2012) Therefore, consumption of natural resources of people in rich countries is more than those in the poor countries. People in rich countries treat natural resources as commodities. To them, fresh water, forests, fish, minerals and fossil fuels are resources that they own and control. Thus, they are using natural resources at a rate that will drain the planet in near future and making our planet inhospitable to everyone, the poorest people are especially affected by the over-consumption of natural resources because over-consumption causes poverty.
Another factor that causes poverty is overpopulation. Overpopulation means the situation of having large numbers of people sharing too few resources and too little space. As resources can only support a certain number of people, a high population density (the ratio of people to land area) pressures the sacred resources in the country. When population increases, there will be an increase in need for food, clothes and place to live. One of the statistical data done by UNICEF (2005) showed, “1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million have no access to health services.” (UNICEF, 2005) When there is a shortage of these basic needs, poverty happens.
One of the main causes of poverty is a lack of money. There are some families that do have at least one person employed in the household but the money earned is not enough to provide for the family. Tough decisions such as paying rent buying groceries become a daily challenge for struggling households. Those living in households headed by people with no high school degree are the most likely to enter poverty. Limited options in the job market make it hard for those without degrees the ability to find jobs that will pay above minimum wage. Many Americans earn less than the nation’s median income which hinders most Americans from living a life free of hunger. Children who grow up in poverty suffer more persistent, frequent, and severe health problems than do children who grow up under better financial circumstances. Children of poverty are at an extreme disadvantage and cycle ends up repeating itself until the pattern is somehow
While humans are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental issues that are occurring in the world, most human systems are still unsustainable. Being sustainable in a society means that humans treat Earth like it has a limited supply of resources that need to be carefully managed in order to prevent damage to the world around us (Chiras, D. D., 2016). So, being unsustainable is the opposite; when humans treat the world like they are dominant over it, as well as believing that the Earth has an unlimited supply of resources that should be consumed by humans. Human beliefs and practices influence unsustainability, which can, and often do, correspond with the root cause of the problem.
Before we can explain the causes of poverty, one must first define what poverty is. If you were to ask someone for their definition of poverty, you would get several different definitions. There has been much conflict in the United States over defining poverty, but according to Diana DiNitto (2007), poverty can be defined in six different ways. Poverty as deprivation, inequality, lack of human capital, culture, exploitation, and structure are the six different ways. When a family or individual does not have the adequate amount of income to meet all of their basic needs, they are described as being deprived. Poverty as deprivation explains that a family or individual is deprived when they are living below the standard of...
Some of the reason of the high prevalence of poverty in the country can be attributed to a myriad of factors some of which include indiscipline, corruption and the lack of political will by the nation. However some causes from the social point of view are the inability of the government to issue policies that will tend to reduce poverty and tackle underdevelopment.
As humans, people have their own free will and mind to make their own decisions. What several people are ignorant in is the fact that the usage of an abundant of necessities is depleting at quicker speeds as the population grows over the years. Due to this fact, the earth and the people living on it has been and will be suffering from the widespread consumption of the natural resources that are crucial for everyday life. As the population increases, the consumption does not decrease and people’s unawareness to the world is destroying the planet they call home. Furthermore, the future becomes grim as society continues to act without changing their ways and living up their name as a “super predator” for themselves. Without the balance necessary for the planet, this is one punishment that humans are now facing in the present and future without worrying that the earth deserves fair treatment. As the population increases, humans are facing an exponential growth relating to the consumption rate as the earth deteriorates from the unsustainable lifestyle of
There are no simple explanations on what the causes of poverty are. The stereotypic explanation persists that the poor cause their own poverty. One of the problems is the unemployment. Firms these days are constantly searching for well educated, experienced, skilled and intelligent employees. The high unemployment rate is because of the lack of education given to poor people. When given the chance, most of the people living under poverty will do the best they can to earn enough money to support their families. Poverty is also due to high housing costs. These days, the price of houses are getting higher and higher and soon most people won’t be able to afford a place to live in, let alone food to eat or water to drink.
Poverty are the roots of many factors that are involved. It includes lacking jobs for workers, terrible health conditions, unable to access to schools and training facilities, or even having a corrupt government. Poverty affects millions of people worldwide, including families and individuals, it exists in wealthy and poor countries, and affects citizens directly or indirectly. Wars, droughts etc, causes a great impression on the human population and can bring a negative impact to the person's income and their ability to provide for their families. Research tells us that jobs may not always solve the problem of poverty. It is said that one fifth of the people living in
“Causes of child and family poverty are numerous, complex and intertwined (Albanese, P. 2010). Poverty is when children do not have enough of the basic needs that everyone should have, the basic needs are; food, shelter and water. They should also have the ability to go to school and have an education.
Poverty has many causes, and some primary factors are: overpopulation, unequal distribution of resources in the world economy, inability to meet high standards of living and costs of living, inadequate education and employment opportunities, environmental degradation, certain economic, demographic trends, and welfare incentives (www.traveldocs.com/economy). According to National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, other factors contributing to poverty include: work, age, health, education and location. Specifically, if one being unemployed or in a low-paid job, he/she is more likely become to be poor. The older people and children whose parents are poor are on a greater risk of pov...
The Earth has been under stress ever since humans came into existence. Back in the days, pressure was not as extreme as now especially since we are moving into the development stage. Development includes changing the method, quantity and regions for fishing, practicing deforestation for urban development, agriculture, coastal development or others types of activity. Humans try to change the environment in order to fit their routine, wants and lifestyle. No matter how diminutive the development is, it alters the environment. Modification to our natural environment, does not only affects the flora and fauna surrounding the area, but also our pristine watershed systems which every single component on Earth highly depend on it for survival. As Terry Swearingen states, “We are living on the planet as if we have another one to go to”. It is time to put a halt, wake up and change to a more sustainable livelihood with the aid of science diplomacy and environmentalism.
In general, poverty is widely spread all over the world but there are areas where due to certain factors, it is more common than in others. There are a lot of factors that can cause poverty one of these examples are, natural disasters. There are many types of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, etc. Over ninety percent of deaths rate are caused by natural disasters which take place in poor countries because in poor countries they do not have abilities to prevent the disaster and the houses are made of poor quantity materials. Compared to richer countries, poor courtiers find it more difficult to recover because they are already poor and the natural disasters may only make it worse. After the natural disasters, the environment of counties will be likely to be polluted therefore it is more susceptible to catch a disease because there is less clean
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.
In general, poverty is widely spread all over the world but there are areas where due to certain factors, it is more common than in others. There are a lot of factors that can cause poverty one of the examples is, natural disasters. There are many types of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, volcanoes,
There is no doubt that human activity is having a significant impact on our environment. These environmental impacts include depleting our natural resources, air and water pollution, climate change, destruction of habitats, and loss of biodiversity. Because of these growing concerns, we need to learn how to live sustainably. Living sustainably will allow us to conserve our limited resources more wisely so they will be available for future generations (Withgott & Brennan, 2011, Chapter 1).
To begin, there are two main types of poverty in the world, non-income and income poverty (ZPRP). Non Income Poverty is when people may have money, but only a little to keep themselves alive (ZPRP). They don’t have the money to afford physical services and social events such as schooling, work, medicines, health care, sanitation, and transportation (ZPRP). The best way to condense the cause of non-income poverty is to make sure that individuals have access to inexpensive and exceptional social services, that they feel safe when in their homes and that they have family and friends to protect them when needed (ZPRP). Income poverty is when people are living on less than 1 dollar a day, which is far from the normal amount a family can survive on (ZPRP). They tend to not have fresh food and water, medicine, live in poor houses, sometimes no houses, and have dirty and ragged clothes (ZPRP). Just as there are many types of poverty, there are many effects to it to.