Overpopulation: The Underlying Cause of Most Environmental Issues Katie Caputo Essay

There atomic issue forth 18 so some environmental materialisations that argon change the entire globe today. People actually some(prenominal) speak of environmental issues as if they ask no control everywhere fashioning them better or worse, however, environmentalists tang that numerous if not exclusively of the environmental problems that we ar facing be either caused or exacerbated by nation growth (West, 2009). That representation that mess themselves atomic number 18 the very adepts causing harm to the environment. What we do or assumet do near the issue of all over tribe go forth determine the very pctage of the environment in the succeeding(a). This presents the command for respectable decision qualification.Global environmental problems are honorable problems (Brown, 2009). Each and every mortal has a honourable and ethical certificate of indebtedness toward the environment, the problem is that volume often omit that function, especially when it presents another(prenominal)(prenominal) ethical predicaments. de restrictionate Ethics To begin, I would like to pay off ethics. A definition shitn from the bailiwick Academy of Engineering offers ethics is concern with what is right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair, responsible or irresponsible, obligatory or permissible, praiseworthy or blameworthy (2006).So what does ethics throw a steering to do with over state and other environmental issues? If we nourish a go at it that overpopulation is the direct cause of m whatsoever of the environmental issues that are put oning the entire globe, ethically, it is our right as adult males to come up with a solution to the problem. Population harvest-home Over-population is the term that refers to a condition by which the population density enlarges to a limit that provokes the environmental deterioration, a remarkable blood line in the quality of career or a population collapse (Biology console Organization, 2003).In some 1963, the world(prenominal) enjoin of human population growth peaked, yet the number of people living on Earth has grown by much than devil-thirds since then, topping out at over 6. 6 sensation cardinal million million million today (West, 2009). every year, much(prenominal) than 81 million people add to the world-wide population. Every 10 historic period al just some one cardinal inhabitants are added to the worlds population (BCO, 2006). By the year 2050, the human population is evaluate to exceed nine billion (West, 2009). What affect does this bewilder on the environment? shew of Over-population Global WarmingGlobal calefacient is considered to be one of the top environmental issues today. Scientists mother determined that it is mostly human activities that are contri anding to global warming by adding excessive mensurations of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. greenhouse gases, much(prenominal) as carbon dioxide, collect in the atmosphe re and trap stir up that would normally exit into outer space. some(prenominal) greenhouse gases occur naturally and are needed to create the greenhouse rig that withholds the Earth warm enough to stay life, but it is human use of dodo fuels that cause the excess greenhouse gases.By driving cars, using electricity from coal- harryd ability plants, or heating our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere (West, 2009). De timbreation Deforestation is another environmental issue and is a implying(a) source of greenhouse gases because fewer trees mean less carbon dioxide conversion to oxygen. The most authorised direct causes of deforestation imply logging, the conversion of forested lands for agriculture and cattle-raising, urbanization, tap and oil exploitation, acid rain and fire ( humanness Rain Forest Movement, 1998).Deforestation and forest degradation occurs both in Yankee and Southern countries and its underlying causes also cast in both, although with varying degrees of responsibility. Industrialized countries open not barely cut bug out or degraded their own forests in the past some(prenominal) are relieve doing so today. This occurs either through large-scale clear-cutting (as in some(prenominal) areas of Canada, the US or Australia) or through the thinning and and then degradation of forests, reducing them to a few commercially valuable species at the expense of biodiversity (such as in Sweden, France or Finland) (World rain forest Movement, 1998).The root of the problem is onerous to keep up with the demand of the ever-growing population. Biodiversity Biodiversity is defined by the chapiter Biodiversity Council as the full orbital cavity of life in all its forms (2003). Biodiversity spillage is largely a result of deforestation. The intercontinental rate of extinction of plant and animal species is estimated to be 10,000 times as quick as it was in prehistor ic times, with more than 27,000 species becoming extinct every year.An representative of the loss of biodiversity due to overpopulation is seen in the subject of Washington. Washington is one of the most biologically diverse states in the union. This is due to the states diverse topography, its expo surely to peaceable Ocean currents and weather patterns, and its location on the migratory path of many wildlife species. Washington, in fact, contains most of the major ecosystem types entrap in the western United States, including two found nowhere else in the world the prodigious rainforest and channeled scablands. However, since statehood in 1889, Washington has broken an estimated 70 percent of its estuarine wetlands, 50 percent of its riparian habitat, 90 percent of its old-growth forest, and 70 percent of its native shrub-steppe and dried-out grasslands (Washington Biodiversity Council, 2003). As the smallest and second most densely populated of the rapidly growing westbo und states, Washingtons population in 2008 was 6. 5 million according to the U. S. nosecount Bureau, and is expected to add over 21 percent by the year 2020 (2009).This puts Washington in great danger of losing much of its diversity of plant and animal life within the next few decades. Although scientists are not fully aware of all the consequences of the continual loss of biodiversity, they do hold up that a diversity of healthy, functioning ecosystems is congenital to the environment. Water Shortages As we in pissing-rich countries take our daily showers, pissing the lawn or laze about in the pool, its open to for evolve that fresh water is a life-or-death issue in many parts of the world.Of a population of more or less 6. 1 billion, more than 1 billion lack access to potable water. The World Health Organization theorises that at any time, up to half of humanity has one of the six main diseases such as diarrhea, schistosomiasis, or trachoma, or infestation with ascaris, guinea worm, or hookworm which are associated with scummy inebriation water and inadequate sanitation. more or less 5 million people give each year from poor drinking water, poor sanitation, or a drear home environment, often resulting from water deficit (University of Wisconsin, 2001).The water shortages are becoming more and more evident all over the world. For example Mexico City (home to 20 million people) is sinking because the city sucks out undercover water faster than the aquifer bottomland be refilled Florida indigences to refill its over wield aquifer with untreated surface water, despite federal regulations to the contrary Texas is moving toward private, for-profit water sales. The water leave alone be mined from aquifers that are disappearing fast. No word on what the private suppliers, including corporate raider T. Boone Pickens, ordain do once the aquifers run dry.Aquifers around the world are beingness over tapped for irrigated agriculture, which fills a bout 40 percent of the global larder The Bush Administration has reclusive a proposed tightening of the arsenic standardized for drinking water. Critics say the old rule, dating to 1942, could throw overboard thousands of cases of basecer and other diseases. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, whats been called the largest poisoning of a population in history has 35 to 77 million people drinking arsenic-laced water and last but not least, a showdown is looming over the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which originate in flop, then water both Syria and Iraq.If Turkey goes ahead with a series of dams, the downstream nations could starve. There are projections that three billion people, half of todays population, will be short of water in 2025 (University of Wisconsin, 2001). Some Recommended Solutions for Overpopulation Being that this issue is one of such great importance, we need to be proactive at finding some kind of solution. There absorb been many different ideas that afford been prese nted to try to exact the population under control however, gum olibanum far, most of the ideas have been just that- ideas, with no definite plan of action.Some of the proposed solutions, to account a few, have been making sure people around the world have access to family planning services empowering women in developing countries economically, socially, and legally in a manner that results in them having an equal say (with their husbands) in reproductive decisions modifying school curricula to implicate information on population levels and implications for the future reforming tax laws in a way that encourages couples to have no more than two children. They would yet be able to have as many kids as they want, but the tax code would no interminable subsidize more than two) (Jeantheau, 2005). The Need for respectable Decision-Making People tend to be very opposed to the thought of their freedom being imposed upon, especially when it deals with the hail of children that they ca n or cannot have. Many people will argue from a religious standpoint that God specifically says in the tidings to multiply and subdue the demesne. Some feel that the use of birth control is wrong and against sacred scripture principles. The problem is that people do not want to do anything else about the issues at hand either.For example If we were still living the way our ancestors did the amount of people living on the human beings would not be a problem. Unfortunately, we are polluting the earth with our technology and over consuming our resources. So the argument can also be presented to those against birth control for religious purposes, that the Bible also says that we should not be gluttonous. barely again humans tend to want what they want when they want it. Most only keep the Bible principles that suit them. In any case, as in many ethical problems we are faced with a moral quandary.A moral dilemma is best described as when two or more obligations are in conflict. Th e crucial features of a moral dilemma are these the component is required to do each of two (or more) actions the agent can do each of the actions but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions. The agent gum olibanum seems condemned to moral intermiture no calculate what she does, she will do something wrong (or fail to do something that she ought to do) (McConnell, 2006). When presented with a moral dilemma, we need to decide which obligation is most of import and give preference to the more important one.Unfortunately, when contemplating any solution for an issue such as overpopulation, we are going to be faced with moral dilemmas. Now we have to choose the lesser of two evils. Should we send birth control even though it violates our moral principles or continue to allow the population to grow to numbers that the earth cannot sustain? Should we object to abortion when a char does not want to have a child? Abortion may violate our own personal beliefs however, if it is what the woman wants for herself and it will surely decrease the number of people being added to our population, shouldnt we have that decision?Utilitarians view the best moral decision to be the one that brings about the maximum amount of pleasures and the least amount of suffering. They do not make decisions ground on their own self-centeredness, they insist that the joys and sorrows of others must(prenominal) be part of the calculation (when making any ethical decision) (Waller, 2008). So, from the utilitarian standpoint, trying to find an answer to slowing the population growth would not be an impingement or a violation of ones rights, it would be welcomed to lessen the amount of suffering that is caused by the issue of overpopulation.In the very near future, we will have no choice but to make some very important decisions as to what we will do about the issues that pestis the environment. Again, environmental problems are indeed ethical problems. The only way that thing s will get better in our environment is if we get the rate of growth of the human population under control. We can no time-consuming ignore the moral and ethical responsibility that we as humans have toward the environment, disregarding of the ethical dilemmas that we are presented with.