Ryan Krumins

Mrs. Turner

English 4th period

25 February 2013

Overpopulation How serious of a threat is overpopulation? I believe that overpopulation is one of, if not the biggest threat to the world today. According to the U.N, if the birth rate remains the same, the population will rise to 244 billion by 2150 and 134 trillion by 2300. Many scientists have determined that the earth will not be able sufficiently hold the entire population at this unbelievable birth rate. Sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson determines the amount of people Earth can hold is decided by the amount of Earth’s available resources. The effects of this problem have already started to cause problems such as famine, disease, environmental degradation and resource depletion. The result of all of these effects is leading to one major problem, Violence. Violence is the biggest and ultimate result to the effects caused by Overpopulation. Overpopulation has led to increased and war and violence all around the world. The main way to overcome this problem is to understand the causes of the problem and mitigate the effects it has on our lives. Ultimately, Overpopulation is quietly becoming a problem that we all will eventually have to face. The main way to figure out how to solve the problem of overpopulation is to figure out exactly how it is happening. The first and most important cause of overpopulation is the rise in birth rate. Due to the increased living standards, Bartlett states, “Humans wants to multiply, humans have the motivation to multiply themselves, leading to famine and mass deaths.” (Bartlett 63). Another reason for the major rise in the birth rate is the major advances in medicine. The different fertility treatments such as drugs, and surgery has helped increase chances of fertilization. Another cause of the rise in the birth rate, relates to family planning. All children and families need to have an understanding of how many babies a woman should have. Families constantly feel a social pressure or a need to have kids just because most couples have children. Most of these problems occur with the uneducated people who marry at a very young age and feel responsible and obligated enough to take care of a child. The Second cause of overpopulation, is the decline in the death rate. The advance in medicine has destroyed the effects of many diseases such as smallpox, polio, measles, and diphtheria. According to Ben Todd, “medicine has changed the average life span from 47 to 80.” As much as we want people living longer healthier lives, that may not be the case going forward if the advances in medicine keep improving. Medicine has grown so much, that according to U.S Global Health Policy, the mortality rate for infants in the United States for 1000 babies is 5.5. A third cause for overpopulation is the huge improvement in the public health. Public health has caused a major increase in the people being able to access food, water and shelter. The improvement of the conditions of the shelters has extended the lives of so many people that have no homes. In overpopulated countries, such as Uganda, the cultural influences have the biggest effect on the raise in the birth rate. According to the CIA, Uganda produces 45 births per 1000 people. The reasons for all these births in this country is the cultural influence’s such as marrying by the age of 15 is particularly ideal. Other influences include cultures where males are more ideal than females, causing some families to have 10-15 babies before coming across a male. In order to provide a solution to this cause, these countries need to realize the extremely harsh effects