Selection 36

The Population Explosion: Why We Should Care and What we Should Do About It.

Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich

This article discusses the earths population boom, the problems it has caused, and what could be done to try and stop the environmental damage. We all know some problems associated with population growth like starvation and over crowding but it is rarely linked with environmental problems. Most societies use of energy causes environmental damage, some countries cause less than others but with an increasing population the rate of damage will increase. Developed countries use way more energy than developing countries and I think that most people take having instant power for granted. They are not concerned about their countries growing population and energy consumption and what it means for future generations.

What we need to do is move to an optimal sustainable population size (about one third of our current population experts say). Energy expert Holdren thinks that we must also rapidly increase developing countries technology to become more efficient and developed nations must immediately reduce their consumption of both energy and resources. I think that this is a good idea but it would take a while for people to get used to not driving everywhere and I think some people just won't adapt. Some people claim that we are not running out of resources and that our technology is efficient enough. But we are creating un-fixable damage to our ecosystem and its biological components and we do not have enough resources and energy to support the increasing amount of people on earth.

In order to save the planet the most important thing we must do is control the birth rate. Some societies have had success by adopting cultural norms for family sizes, having good health care, education, and reducing poverty. Population control is helped when there is governmental and political support. I know that abortion is a controversial issue but it has been increasingly accepted over the past years. I don't agree with having a limit on family sizes because I think that some people want large families and that if you can support a large family then you should be able to have one. This doesn't go along with my support on reducing population growth but I think that we must try and reduce the amount of un-planned births by using the solutions I said earlier.

Together we must reduce the population through controlled birth strategies, reduce energy use, and resource consumption. Recent efficient technologies must be adopted and environmental damaging technologies must be stopped. And most importantly we must try and do these things and not just say we will.