FREE ESSAY ON THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE... WILL WE SURVIVE?

THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE... WILL WE SURVIVE?

There are too many people... will we survive?
Do you feel that we have the right to enjoy natural beauty? The right to decent,
uncrowned shelter? The right to eat healthy food and drink pure water? To breathe clean
air and avoid pesticide poisoning? Most people would say everyone has a right to all of
these things, but in some areas of the world these rights are not being met. 
Overpopulation is becoming a bigger concern as the growth rate continues to skyrocket.
Overpopulation is sometimes misunderstood or mistaken with other issues. Overpopulation
does not deal with crowding, but in fact, density is irrelevant to questions of. What is
relevant is carrying capacity. Carrying capacity refers to how much an area can hold
having all things at equilibrium, including all plants and animals. An area is
overpopulated when its long-term carrying capacity is being degraded by its current
occupants. Some people say the earth is not overpopulated since the United States can
produce more food and products than are used. That is true in the U.S. Now if you look at
it worldwide the products we have are often from other countries. These other countries
are often not as well off. These other countries are either in severe poverty or their
cities are becoming overcrowded. Although the U.S. is not in trouble at this time, when
you look at the whole world you may see a different picture. Eventually the rest of the
world will also have an effect on us. 
The impact we have on the environment has to do with three factors. The first is the
number of people. The more people there are the more resources are used. If too many
resources begin to be used they will run out before they get a chance to be replaced.
Leaving all plant and animal life with nothing and everything will eventually die off.
The rainforests are a good example of this. The second is the amount of resources
consumed by the average person. If people become wasteful and don't conserve resources
now, the resources that were wasted will not be able to be used in the future. The United
States is one of the most wasteful countries there is; I know this because of how much
unnecessary stuff I use and throw away. We are more wasteful than necessary. Recycling
has helped quite a bit, but the problem has not yet been fixed. The third is the
environmental damage caused in the manufacturing of the goods consumed. Manufacturing
grows as people demand more manufactured goods. If too much manufacturing takes place
many plants and animals begin to suffer. It may not have an impact on us for a while, but
after many years pass, the availability of food, water, and shelter will begin to
decrease. 
Overpopulation does not only affect the environment, but also in turn hurts humans. By
overpopulating the world it can lead wide spread poverty. As more and more people are on
this planet the resources become more and more exhausted. As the human race continues to
grow, other plant life and animal life begin to disappear. And the fact is we can't live
without the other plant life and animal life. By keeping the population of the world at
reasonable numbers; pollution levels, diseases, and resources will be able to be
maintained at reasonable levels.
All governments can make an effort to help this along by, first of all educating people
world wide what problems are caused by overpopulation. Educating the public is a major
step toward controlling population. By educating the public they can then make better
decisions on how to go about having and raising children and can set there own
limitations. To educate the public the U.S. government can get the support of other
organizations and set up places worldwide to help slow the growth rate by educating
people.
Most of all, the people of the world, including you, are the ones who have to sit back
and think about the consequences of overpopulating our world and realize that something
has to be done. If the government and the people work together at this issue, we could
reach a state of equilibrium. Where the birth and death rate are equal. If this happens
disease will be less likely and other issues like pollution will be more easily
controlled. With the governments and your help overpopulation could become a problem of
the past and the human race can continue on along with all of the other plant and animal
life around us.