Hello, everyone! I am back again this week with another environmental civic issues post regarding the environment. In case you forgot or didn’t read it, last week, I wrote about radiation as pollution and how it harms the environment and those living in it. Many died in several different disasters such as Chernobyl and also polluted the environment for the next 20,000 years. This week, I will discuss the civic environmental issue of human overpopulation and carrying capacity.

What exactly is human overpopulation?

Human overpopulation is when the population of humans living in a certain area exceeds the carrying capacity (the maximum population size of a certain species that an environment can sustain). In the case of human, it is when the entire human population is more than the amount that the Earth can sustain. The Earth cannot provide the necessary nutritional diets such as proper food and water, and habitat. It can also be considered the “maximum load” of an environment.

So, if Earth has a certain carrying capacity, what is the number? Are we at it already?

In a UN report published in 2001, it was found that the estimated carrying capacity of Earth falls between 4 billion and 16 billion people with a median report of 10 billion. As of December 2017, there are 7.6 billion , with the number climbing up to an estimated 11.8 billion by 2100. Thus, based on estimates that I outlined above, we are most likely a little under or at carrying capacity right now and will most likely be over carrying capacity by the year 2100. Therefore, by the year 2100, it is highly likely that the Earth will not be able to sustain the population of humans living on Earth any longer.

If/When the Earth reaches its carrying capacity, what are the environmental issues associated with it?

There are several environmental issues associated with human overpopulation. For example, animals can suffer. If humans are using all of the food supply present on Earth, there will be none left for wildlife. Not only will humans die as a result of this but the animals will die as well, limiting the biodiversity of a certain area. Also, since animals are used for food, even more humans will die out due to more of a lack of food supply. Also, with more humans living, there will be more of a need for energy and goods. Thus, more pollution will ensue and there will be more of a demand for fracking, which I discussed in another post. With more pollution into the atmosphere and against the Earth, more climate change will ensue and there will, in hand, be a lower supply of drinking water due to contamination, etc. Lastly, with human overpopulation, the demand for jobs will most likely not exceed the supply of jobs, due to technology in the future resulting in tasks being completed in a more efficient manner. Clearly, there are many environmental issues associated with the vast overpopulation of the Earth.

How can us humans solve the issue of human overpopulation?

One of the most efficient and most effective ways to limit the amount of people living on Earth is by placing a quota on the number of children a couple can have. Although this law will disallow certain religions from fulfilling their duties, for example, orthodox Jews are told to have as many children as possible, the burden of having many malnourished children vastly outweighs the burden of having less children but all of them having the perfect amount of nutrition. If there were laws implemented throughout the world that only allowed for couples to have “replacement” with their children, meaning each couple can only have two children, then populations could be controlled better. China, the most populated country in the world, has had a law that states couples can only have one or two children in order to control the population. The rate has actually slowed down, as shown by the graph below:

One last and the only other way that the population could be regulated is if carrying capacity is reached. The amount of food supply present in the world will not match the proper amount to nourish the population. Thus, the population will fall and move under the carrying capacity due to equilibrium factors.

Clearly, human overpopulation is a prevalent issue in the world today. It must be solved soon or else the entire human population, particularly in Asia and Africa, are going to be in trouble. Countries such as the United States have their population under control; yet, countries such as India do not have their populations under control and are contributing to the overpopulation of the world and a possible shortage of food. If a child limit is not implemented soon in many countries throughout the world, great amounts of starvation and mass death will ensue. We must act soon to end the overpopulation of humans and a possible mass starvation.