There are a lot of potential problems that come with overpopulation. These problems range from natural to human created disasters. Some problems will be easier to solve than others, but the solutions are coming in the third and final post. So without further ado, let's get into the problems with overpopulation.
Let's be honest, people want stuff, and the more people that there are to want stuff, the more stuff is being exhausted. This brings us to problem number one, running out of resources. The problem with resources is sustainability. There is no doubt in my mind we could create a way to produce enough food, energy, and water to save humanity for a short period of time, but it will not be sustainable. Wind power and solar power at the current state can not supply about 10 billion people with power, nor can our current production of food feed 10 billion people, unless we all go vegetarian. Not only that, but all the raw materials we use to make everyday objects will deplete at some point. With more people using raw materials, the rate at which we run out of resources will be exponential.
Now, space does not count as a resource because there is enough of it. In fact, if all humans stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder, we could fit in LA. That is right, we can all fit in a single city if we REALLY wanted to. The problem with space is that we seem to want a lot of it, even though we don't need it. We are taking the space that other living things need and that is, to put things simply, bad. we share this planet with millions of other species, and we are losing between 200 to 2000 of those species each year. That is about .01% to .1% of the 2 million known species annually. Not only that, but we produce a lot of waste that needs to be put somewhere. We will eventually just destroy all the natural environment to create more space so we can pollute more, but without nature the pollution will destroy our planet even faster. Lastly, our existing space is polluted and filthy, and we don't like that, so we usually through our trash and pollution into the ocean, which ruins that environment.
This brings me to my last topic, the natural catastrophes. This includes famine, disease, and war. You may be thinking that war is not natural, but it is in my opinion. It is something that has always and will always occur throughout all of human history, it can not be prevented indefinitely, and with more people comes more casualties. Basically, with more people who can potentially get mad, the more violence will break out. This can eventually lead to war, but much bigger wars with more people and more devastating weapons. Famine can also lead to war, with different countries fighting over food supplies and farming grounds. Lastly is disease. Disease will basically be a Black Plague 2.0. It will be more people closely packed together, with drugs that over time have slowly lost effectiveness, and most of the population susceptible to diseases do to famine.
All in all, the problems caused by overpopulation will be devastating. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying don't have children, but I am saying we have to change. Here is the first solution, give Africa and India a steady supply of contraceptives, because most of the children in those areas are caused by a lack of proper protection. This will help the world's population growth tremendously because those are the two fastest growing areas in the world, and there is an easy solution.
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Next blog will talk about the solutions to overpopulation if we don't fix it before it is to late. Don't forget to like, rate, and subscribe, oh wait, this isn't YouTube. Anyway, stay green Earth, see you all next post.
P.S. That last part is my new catch phrase, if you have any thoughts post them in the comments, I would be happy to read them.
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