Population Growth

Population growth is the rise of individuals in a given populace. It is a major problem because the rate at which the population increases has developed complications over its sustainability, control, and resource allocation. This paper discusses the issue of populace growth, arguments of Julian Simon and Paul Ehrlich, and ideas of slowing it.

Population growth is a problem that has emerged over the years and led to overpopulation in such countries as Bangladesh, Zaire, and Brazil. The fact these countries have too many people living there has accompanied with it some problems including poverty, hunger, crowded slums, and ecological degradation. The rate at which population has grown in one of the aforementioned regions has created a menacing situation, which, if not corrected, will become worse day by day.

Statistics show that the world’s population has skyrocketed since the 1970s reaching to a phenomenal growth rate of 90 million people every year. The birth of children entails an increase in the number of individuals requiring food, cloth, and personal space. Simon is optimistic about the population growth. He argues that the increased number of global civilians will create more opportunities that are resourceful in the end. His proposal is that more populations result in more goods things for the world. He supports this by stating out that countries like Japan, Holland, and Hong Kong are one of the wealthiest nations, and only external factors such as incompetent governments can limit their productivity.

Simon’s optimism about population growth does not reflect current situation. Ehrlich, who is rather wary of the increased population, argues that overpopulation is a crisis on its own. Providing shelter for people is not only a problem. However, the quality of the allocated housing is compromised. People often end up homeless on the streets. The increased population has further resulted in the diminishing of food supplies and natural water reserves. The resultant consequent to this dilemma is poverty, drought, famine, and hunger. The world, in fact, struggles to feed its citizens due to their inadequacy to feed themselves. Overpopulation also leads to overuse and stressing on the limited resources. A larger population will require more facilities, more professions, and more resources to manage them all. The risk of having few resources and a large population depending on them is that it would lead to overcrowding and misery.

After thorough analyses of Simon and Ehrlich’s arguments, it is evident that Simon is the one seemingly to bring out the facts that are not only reasonable but also arguably correct. He also believes that the world population increase has a positive impact on the number of intellectuals, which seemingly was lacking previously. The greater the number of individuals in the particular society, the better capability for people to produce and sustain themselves. It is totally different from Ehrlich’s views whose arguments are based on commodities price. According to Simon, it is not the case as he defended his theory claiming that people would also produce more resources to counter decreasing assets, therefore, creating a never-ending equilibrium for prices and goods.

Solutions to Slow Population Growth

Poverty

Educating people, especially women, on the benefits of having smaller families would help counter growing rates of poverty. In turn, it would make it possible for them to concentrate on investing more in children improving their quality of life. More so, if females were to follow a certain career choice, they would opt to have smaller families.

Ecology

If people were to be made aware of the risks of overpopulation in the environment, they would take care of it more often. The environment can only withstand a given populace, and overcrowding would mean that the situation would strain to sustain them. Governments and policymakers should ensure that they pass laws controlling settlements to make sure that there is no overcrowding. Furthermore, citizens ought to be educated on means of properly disposing of waste materials, planting trees, and keeping the environment clean.

Hunger

Researchers argue that destruction of the ecosystem would be consequent to underproduction of food. Crops would fail resulting in famine, hunger, and drought. It is possible if an ecosystem is in bad shape arising from pressure building up from overpopulation. The best measure to counter this predicament is to properly manage the ecosystem by avoiding practices such as deforestation and pollution.

Conclusively, population growth is a critical matter that needs precision and care. For the world to continue sustaining growing rates of population, policymakers should be wary of the variants that cause its destruction. Practices such as deforestation, pollution, and overcrowding are some of the few that lead to ecosystem degradation. Humans can create means of self-sustenance without causing destruction to nature. Some of the ways to achieve the desired result is to use renewable sources of energy rather than the destructive fossil fuels. Additionally, humans should give preference to recyclable disposable materials for packaging rather than plastic ones. Finally, with the decrease of a certain commodity, researchers should embark on finding alternatives to these. Overall, policymakers should ensure that there is a fair distribution of resources including food, water, and shelter.