7/23/2019 Position Paper Example

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/position-paper-example 1/4

Population Growth

With the world population at a level that has never been seen, many wonder if we will

cause lasting damage to the earth. Resource depletion, species extinction, and rising poverty are

commonly attributed as effects of this population growth. However, while these three negative

consequences may be directly related to population, this population growth is not necessarily the

root cause of these problems. n fact, in many cases, an increase in population may actually

help. !here are many other problems in our current society that should be addressed first,

though, if the primary goal is to slow these issues.

"s population continues to increase, and currently stands at over # billion people, one

would question as to whether or not the resources of the earth will be able to continually refresh

itself. $urrently, the population is at about %.& times the sustainable level '(ou)a*. !his means

that we would need one and a half earths to sustain what we currently consume as a species

without ever running out of recourses. While some may say that overpopulation is the main

cause of cause of this problem, there is another, larger factor+ overconsumption. !he nited

(tates is by far the worst offender of this overconsumption, by using significantly more recourses

 per person than any other part of the world. While the nited (tates only ma-es up

approximately five percent of the worlds population, we ma-e up /0 percent of the total energy

usage 'World Population*. $ompared to the Philippines, the average person in the nited (tates

uses ## times as much energy per person. !his number is slightly misleading, because a much

higher portion of the Philippines lives in poverty, and small1scale farmers and fisherman ma-e

up a decent portion of their population. While getting everyone in the nited (tates to only use

%2##th of their total energy usage would not be plausible, by comparing the total usage to a

country that is more similar to the nited (tates, li-e Germany, a much more realistic goal can

7/23/2019 Position Paper Example

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/position-paper-example 2/4

!homas /

 be seen. !he average "merican uses about %.3 times as much energy as their fellow German

counterparts. f every "merican lived a more modest lifestyle li-e the Germans, then the world

would see a drop in consumption of almost ten percent4 !his would be an incredibly huge drop

overall, and would come from 5ust a tiny part of the total population. (o while a higher

 population does mean a higher energy consumption, overconsumption is the first problem that

should be addressed when trying to fix the worlds resource depletion.

(pecies extinction is another topic that is up for debate. While population growth is a

large factor, do not believe it to be the root cause of this crisis. !he increase of human

consumption has led to deforestation, pollution, and many other factors that cause species to

 become extinct. !o show this, you can loo- at the population growth compared to the number of

species that go extinct each year. While the exact number of species that go extinct may be

un-nown, estimates can still be used to compare. Population growth is not a new thing, while

species extinction is. 6nce the worldwide population hit % billion people in %708, it too- a little

 bit over %00 years for it to double to two billion. n this time, while the number of extinctions

did see a slight rise, it is nothing compared to the huge amount of extinctions that occur now. n

around %330, for example, the number of populations that went extinct each year was close to

/&,000. !oday, that number is about to close in on &0,000 '9elly*. When loo-ing at the total

 population, one can see that it only went up from &.: to # billion, which is only about %.:/ times

as much. How come the number of extinctions have doubled when the world population is still

years away from doubling; "nd how come the number of extinctions did not rise as

significantly when the population doubled in the %7001%300s; !his is because population is not

the root cause of this increase. t is the way that we currently live our lives that is causing most

of the resource extinctions. f the population growth was directly related to how species

7/23/2019 Position Paper Example

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/position-paper-example 3/4

!homas :

extinction, the world would have seen a much bigger hit in the %700s when this rapid growth

 began.

Worldwide, poverty levels are dropping, while the population continues to increase. "

significant portion of the worldwide population growth comes from developing countries, li-e

"frica. n this developing world, huge amounts of people live in poverty. n %330, 8: percent

lived at or below <%./& per day in these developing areas. However, by /0%% this number

dropped all the way to %# percent 'World =an-*, despite the worldwide population increasing by

almost / billion people. (o, while the population of these regions has increased, the overall

 poverty levels have seen a massive decrease4 "lthough poverty is still a massive problem, the

dropped rates in poverty have been seen worldwide 'Ruthrauff*. >rom a cornucopian view,

 population increase actually could help to decrease poverty rates overall. !his means that each

new person born provides one more person to potentially come up with a solution that could save

thousands of people. =y this idea, population should -eep increasing if we want the poverty

levels to continue to plummet. (o, unli-e resource depletion and species extinction, population

growth may not have any negative effect on the poverty in the world, but my actually help to

decrease poverty.

(o while population growth may be correlated with recourse depletion, species extinction

and rising poverty, it is not the root cause. !he main issue that should be first addressed when

trying to slow resource depletion and species extinction is the overconsumption, especially that

in the nited (tates. !he poverty levels, however, have actually been shown to decrease with the

increase of population. (o while population is directly related to these three problems, and

causes a large factor, it is not the primary cause.

7/23/2019 Position Paper Example

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/position-paper-example 4/4

!homas 8

Wor-s $ited

9elly, ?onald !. @Human Population Growth "nd Axtinction.@ Human Population Growth and

 Extinction. $enter for =iological ?iversity, /8 >eb. /0%&. Web. 0: Bar. /0%&.

Chttp+22www.biologicaldiversity.org2programs2populationDandDsustainability2

extinction2E.

Population, World. @Population and Anergy $onsumption.@ Population and Energy

Consumption. World Population =alance, /0%8. Web. /& >eb. /0%&.

Chttp+22www.worldpopulationbalance.org2populationDenergyE.

Ruthrauff, "lex. @Hunger and Population Growth.@ Hunger and Population Growth: Correcting

a Common Misunderstanding . "ction "gainst Hunger, /# 6ct. /0%%. Web. 0: Bar. /0%&.

Chttp+22www.actionagainsthunger.org2blog2hunger1and1population1growth1correcting1

common1misunderstandingE.

(ou)a, Bi-e ?. @Humans $onsuming Bore Resources than Aarth $an (ustain+ Report.@

Www.canada.com. Postmedia Fews, 8 6ct. /0%0. Web. 0: Bar. /0%&.

Chttp+22www.canada.com2technology2HumansconsumingmoreresourcesthanAarth

sustainreport2::#&02story.htmlE.

World =an-. @Poverty.@ Overview. !he World =an-, # 6ct. /0%8. Web. 0/ Bar. /0%&.

Chttp+22www.worldban-.org2en2topic2poverty2overviewE.