Human Population and the Effects on the Environment

Human Population and the Impact on the Environment

The exponential growth of the human population at a rapid rate is of the four causes of environmental problems that plague the Earth’s natural resources. As a part of the causes of environmental problems, human population growth has a direct effect of the use of unsustainable resources, such as freshwater supply and forests, along with the growing rate of poverty in less-developed countries. Each year, the human population adds “more than 80 million people to the Earth’s population” that leads to a large consumption of “vast amounts of food, water, raw materials, and energy,” ultimately producing large amounts of waste and pollution (p.20). At the increasing rate of the human population growth, it is estimated that there will be “9.5 billion people by 2050” (United Nations), alarming scientists of what the planet’s carrying capacity and the impacts of human population and the depletion of freshwater and forests that leads to the increase in poverty and the use of nonrenewable resources. According to the World Health Organization, it “estimates that more than 3 billion people are malnourished,” establishing a record number of the human population not receiving the proper amount of food and the threat of a precursor to famine due to overpopulation (World Watch Institute). Another upsetting number regarding the impacts of overpopulation is the fact “more than 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty,” living on less than a dollar a day (Bremner, 2005). The fraction of the world population is either malnourished or living in extreme poverty does affect natural resources and the environment. In the Interdisciplinary Review, Bremner states “the impacts of degraded ecosystem services are being disproportionately borne by the poor,” which is a major impact into the contributing factors of poverty. Globally, not only is there increased number of poverty but there is also a direct impact and the threat of depletion of...