Is it too Late?
Lake Mehalic
Environmental Economics-240, Dr. Jo Burgess Barbier
12/4/18
Word count: 1,268
Abstract:
This research paper aimed to look at the growing problem of overpopulation. It explored the environmental and economic problems that are a result of overpopulation. The environmental problems include; over-farming, deforestation, eutrophication, water scarcity, and global warming. The economic downside to overpopulation is a negative environmental valuation, and a cost-benefit-analysis proving that the costs of overpopulation far outweigh the benefits of it. The underlying causes to overpopulation are poverty, little access to contraceptives, higher mortality rates and high birth rates. We also sought to find policy options that could combat this growing problem. Those include; reproductive rights, emphasis and development on family planning, subsidizing women and couples that do not procreate, and higher funding and research put into sustainability.
Keywords: overpopulation; economics; reproductive rights.
Introduction (107 words)
The purpose of this research paper is to examine the growing problem of overpopulation. More specifically to look at the economic and environmental impacts that overpopulation has on the planet and society. Lastly, to examine the underlying causes of overpopulation and policy changes that can help combat the adverse effects of overpopulation. Our planet is a place of finite resources that the population is increasingly using up. The rapid reproduction rate is straining our limited amount of land, food, and water that people need to survive. Overpopulation wont only effect our environment, but studies show that our economy will also take a large hit in several ways.
Environmental problem (166 words)
When the planet reaches its carrying capacity, then our environment will begin to crumble in various ways. Our agricultural systems will begin to suffer from over-farming in order to try and feed the mass amounts of people. In order to increase their yield, farmers will need to use more pesticides and chemical fertilization mechanism. Because we only have so much pliable land to use to grow food, we will need more. This will cause more deforestation. Along with the increased need for farming, there will be an increase of agricultural run-off, which in turn will cause eutrophication. Eutrophication is the presence of excessive nutrients in bodies of water, killing many aquatic animals. We may also run out of our finite amount of fresh water available on this earth. Only 2.5% of water is safe, fresh water that we may consume safely. Lastly, overpopulation will increase global warming. A growing population means the use of more fossil fuels that in turn increase climate change because of emissions (Leblanc 2018).
Economic implications of environmental problem (150 words)
When examining the problem of overpopulation from an economic standpoint, it is important to put an environmental valuation on the negative effects brought forth by overpopulation. Environmental valuation looks at “how to estimate the impacts of changes in the environment on the welfare, or utility, of individuals.” (Burgess 2018). If the environmental changes leave an individual worse than before, we would like to measure the amount of welfare lost due to this issue (Burgess 2018). When analysing the planet’s growing population with the cost benefit analysis, it is observed that the cost of global warming, over-farming, deforestation, water scarcity, and eutrophication (caused by the overpopulation of the planet) far exceeds the benefits of overpopulation, seeing as though there are no benefits. This means we should not go ahead with the overpopulation of our planet. Instead, there is a need for policies to be put in place to combat this issue.
Underlying causes of Environmental Problem (301 words)
Some of the underlying causes to overpopulation include; poverty, inability to get a hold of contraceptives, reduced mortality rates, and high birth rates (2016). Poverty is considered the leading cause of overpopulation because impoverished areas do not have access to educational resources, and when you mix that with high death rates and high birth rates in these areas, large population booms can be observed. The second underlying cause is inability to receive contraceptives. One statistic shows that only about 43% of women in impoverished countries use a contraceptive, leading to higher birth rates according to the World Health Organization. Because of our improvement in medical technology, more sanitary living conditions, and eradication of many awful diseases, we have elongated our life cycle. With less people dying and more people being born, we are expanding at an exponential rate (2016).
Market failures that occur in places where overpopulation is present included; over-farming, over use of emissions and global warming, less access to higher education, and low GDP per capita. Over-farming effects the economy negatively by causing a shortage in food that could lead to famine. Over-farming also effects the environment by causing deforestation in order to have more area to farm. It can also cause run-off’s that end up in our bodies of water and cause large dead-zones like the one seen in the Gulf of New Mexico (Leblanc 2018). It’s a simple over demand and lack of supply situation. When the population increases, there is more children attending school. This will cause for higher numbers of children in classrooms and less of teacher’s ability to keep up, lessening the educational experience (Besure 2010). Lastly, when there are too many people in a country, the country’s economic capacity will have a low GDP per capita due to low human resources and low human productivity (Pohnpei 2010).
Management and Policy Responses (428 words)
Why is overpopulation happening? According to the academic article TOO MANY PEOPLE we are “in the midst of a population explosion.” This means the planet is reproducing at an extremely fast rate. The researchers behind TOO MANY PEOPLE examined a city in Kenya known as Kibera. According to the study the world average for children per household is 2.3, but here it is 4.5. The reason for this epidemic? Women not being given full reproductive rights, and not having access to contraceptives and safe medical practices. Gioietta Kuo, author of the academic article MegaCrisis? Overpopulation is the Problem states, “It is obvious that more people require more food, more water, more housing, more employment, more education, more medicine, and even more fresh air. Delegates to the 1994 Conference on Population and Development'" held in Cairo recognized reproductive health and family planning as fundamental human rights and pledged to invest between $17 billion/year and $22 billion/year to reach the goal of universal family planning by 2015. Yet we are now approaching 2015 and much of that investment has not been forthcoming. As a consequence, many in the developing nations still do not have access to family planning, and poverty remains the major cause.”
Because there hasn’t been enough emphasis put on family planning and reproduction rights in developing countries, and all over the world for that matter, low-income community families are having many kids thus increasing poverty rates and unemployment. This is not good for our economy. What can be done to successfully eliminate this problem? In addition to more money and development being put into women reproduction rights and family planning, governments should subsidize women and couples who don’t have kids to encourage a decrease in our population size.
Another option we can look at is putting more money and more research into sustainability. According to Rick Leblanc, “Clearly, initiatives to switch to clean energy sources such as solar, improve agricultural practices, better manage water resources and fully embrace the principles of the circular economy will help us mitigate the impact of population growth. At the other end of the spectrum, policies that encourage family planning, education, gender equity and other measures to help slow population growth will help reduce pressure on the planet.”
If we were to increase women’s reproductive rights, allow for access to family planning, subsidies women and couples who decide to not have children, and move towards a more sustainable way of living through renewable energy and better ways to farm and manage water, we can help save our environment and economy through policy.
Conclusion (116 words)
Overpopulation seems to sit in the back of people’s mind and not concern them at all, but it should. We may end up killing ourselves and our planet due to our inability to get a handle on our reproduction rate. There is a need for sustainability in many aspects of our lives. We need more sustainable farming options, sustainable energy, and an improvement in water scarcity. There are many policy options we can use to combat this issue such as better women reproduction rights, access to contraceptives, subsidies on women and couples that don’t reproduce, and more money and research put into sustainability. There needs to be an application of all before it is to late.
Works Cited
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