Overpopulation: Conflict Theory

     In my opinion, overpopulation is due to competition and the scarcity of resources. Our human nature, always wants something more or better; most humans are never satisfied. The problem we have faced is there are too many people on our planet to live well. This is due to the gap differences in peoples incomes. Conflict theorist often discusses the differences of power between social classes. The top 1% holds way too much money and power over everyone else. Because of these people, the wealth is extremely unequal.  As we accumulate more and more people, there’s going to be more people living in poverty.  I am unsure of a quick solution to this problem because, the most wealthy have all the power and keep expanding on it. They have to money to invest , spend, and hire employees, so the average people are at the will of these powerful people.  Money is scarce to some extent for everyone. Those with millions are still trying to figure out how to make more and more money. And they can hire people at a very low wage because people are so desperate. The only solution to this problem is to slow down our growth rate and actually contract instead of expand our population. We could do this in the United States by setting a birthrate limit per household. 

Overpopulation Word Mashup

     Here is a word mash-up that I created. This mash-up represents all the problems that overpopulation has/will cause. This is my own personal list on the problems of overpopulation.

Overpopulation - Derek Gross. Created with Wordle.

Health- Our overall health will decrease due to all of the following factors. 

Pollution- The more people we have, the more pollution we emit. We are building more cars, planes, factories, essentially everything that emits pollution. 

Space- We will eventually run out of space for everything. According to that "How stuff works video", the world population is growing by 76 million per year! At that rate, there is no way our world will be able to supports the billions of people in such a short amount of time. We will eventually run out of room to bury people, resources, and expansion, 

Oceans- We are filling our oceans with trash and waste, because we are running out of room elsewhere. Thus inhibiting the oceans ability to replenish our air and provide us with a healthy breed of fish.

Fragmentation- Due to the increase in the number of people, we are reducing species population and diversity. Our cities are becoming larger and larger, causing species to divide and eventually become smaller.

Time- I included this word for two different reasons. The first reason is we are running out of time to fix this problem. Secondly, imagine the amount of time it will take to get from place to place as the population continues to increase. The more people we have the more complicated things become. 

Land- The amount of land we have is slowing but surely fading away. We are destroying the Amazon, along with virtually everywhere. With each building or good we build, the more we are destroying our planet. We are also on the verge of not having enough farmland to provide enough food.  

Disease- The more people we have the faster disease will spread. Being surrounded by more and more people increases our chances of getting sick. 

Water- The amount of water on this planet is stable; it does not increase or decrease. With that being said, the amount of actual freshwater we can drink is very low compared to the amount of water on this Earth. According to Fraser Cain, from Universe Today, only 2.5% of our water is drinkable!

Overcrowding- The more people we have, the more crowded everything will be. Cities will become more populated, and overcrowding will become a problem. Additionally, the amount of time spent commuting will greatly increase. Resulting in less efficient and productive lifestyle.

Dehydration- The amount of water in the world is only a certain amount. With overcrowding, access to fresh water will become harder and harder. 

Forest - We are cutting down the forest at an alarming rate. We're destroying rain forest, which could have a lot more to offer than we don't even know (such as medicines).

Ozone- The Ozone is being destroyed from the gases we are emitting in the air. 

Capacity- Our world has a capacity for how many people can sustain life on it. No one is really sure what that capacity may be because it is very difficult to measure. Some people use more than others, so the exact amount cannot be calculated. From research and articles I've read, my own opinion is about 10 billion people. We aren't very far away from this!

Starvation- We are not going to be able to produce enough food for everyone to survive on.

Resources- We will eventually not have enough resources for everyone to have easy access to. With some of these resources being vital for life.

Crime- With more people, there will be more competition and therefore crime. The more people you have, the more crime and everything else will increase.

Extinction- Because of our own worries, we are killing many species and animals to better ourselves. Additionally, we are leading towards extinction ourselves.

Poverty- The amount of poverty will increase because of the extra people in the world. Our world can only provide good living for a certain amount of people. With more people comes more unemployment in my opinion. So the amount of people in poverty will increase.

Money- The amount of money will continue to be spread unevenly. Resulting in more of the problem listed above.

Oil- The amount of oil our planet has is running out, and it is a requirement for a society to function.

Depletion- We are depleting many resources at an alarming rate. Depletion of these resources will lead to many problems on this list.

Food- We don't enough enough land to keep providing food for millions and billions of more people. 

Everything on this list is interconnected in some aspect. In my opinion, overpopulation is our own worst enemy, and will cause the downfall of humanity. 

http://www.umac.org/ocp/CarryingCapacity/info.html

The Story of Stuff: Reviewed

     Here is a section of a video titled "The Story of Stuff." This video describes how fast we are going through virtually everything. I believe there are two reasons for this, technology and overpopulation. We
simply have to many people in the world to please. Additionally, instead of fixing items we have, it has become cheaper to simply buy a whole new product. I believe our society is destroying itself at an alarming rate. We have way to much "stuff", too many people, selfishness, and unawareness in our society. This video explains how fast we are consuming and destroying our planet.

This video was originally from http://www.storyofstuff.org/. This website has a lot more information on what this organization has to offer.