The View on Overpopulation: Looking Deeper into the Hardinian Taboo

In the expository styled documentary entitled Don’t Panic: The Truth about Population by Hans Rolling, he presents and supports the argument that despite the world’s growing population and the many challenges associated with this, there is still the possibility of creating a bright future for the generations to come. The universal truth presented throughout the documentary is that education helps people to evolve. Education is necessary for the development of future generations. This is observed through the quote “In my mother’s day, they use to get married young they had no chance to study. But now we can have big dreams of becoming a doctor or an engineer”

In 1798 utilitarian Thomas Malthus published An Essay on the Principle of Population as an argument against an utopian society based on social and economic equality. Malthus believed that if the human population is left unchecked then the population would outgrow the resources necessary to maintain the population. Malthus’s argued that the population will continue to grow and the burden will unavoidably put on the poor population. However, the inequality of population would be a good thing in terms of controlling the population.

Garrett Hardin, talks about population control, which is a big situation in many cases. He asks many questions, if it is morally right to change the way, society works. He talks about mostly about breeding rights. He questions, if those who over breeding are pushing their community to extinction. If a population over populates, the more demand they need for shelter, food and money. Which in some essentials, cannot work because of the area they are in. The more populated the more will starve and die. It is great to have more people in the world, but to put people at risk isn’t a question. Therefore, there must be control to keep issues from going out of hand.

The video, “Don’t Panic: The Truth About Population,” is a live talk on world population given by Hans Rosling, a Swedish statistician, along with segments of film from places around the world. These segments throughout the lecture introduce the countries of Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Asia that help provide explanatory information on the topic. According to Rosling, the average number of children per woman around the world is about two and population is stabilizing. He explains the ways in which population growth has changed/is changing worldwide through statistics on fertility rates, poverty, and climate change. One aspect of the video that impacted me the most was learning about Bangladesh and seeing the concern their people have for

No matter how many people do claim overpopulation is not a relevant issue, it very much is because of the simple fact that starvation and pollution are very real and existing issues that are ultimately offset by overpopulation. In an article titled “Overpopulation Is Not the Problem,” author Erle C. Ellis uses the analogy “Like bacteria in a petri dish, our exploding numbers are reaching the limits of a finite planet, with dire consequences,” to argue that overpopulation is not a problem by stating the opposing claim. “We are nothing like bacteria in a petri dish,” Mr. Ellis solemnly asserts, “...these claims demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the ecology of human systems. The conditions that sustain humanity are not natural and never have been. Since prehistory, human populations have used technologies and engineered ecosystems to sustain

Research physicist for the American Center for International Policy Studies, Gioietta Kuo, in her article “Mega Crisis? Overpopulation is the Problem” describes the possibility of a global mega-crisis, a “perfect storm” of political, economic, and environmental instability resulting from overpopulation and leading to the extinction of mankind (Kuo, 23). The purpose of Kuo’s article is to stress the fact that overpopulation has been over looked as the source of many of the problems afflicting the world today, including climate change, food and water scarcity, environmental degradation, as well as other economic and social effects like unemployment. She adopts logos, ethos, and pathos as well as an urgent tone in order to persuade the United Nations, government officials, and the general public to acknowledge the fact the current high population is the main cause of the problems affecting the world today and also to stress that the unchecked population growth will lead to a mega-crisis.

In his essay “The Tragedy of the Commons” author Garrett Hardin presents several points for his argument against the population problem. The population is growing at an exponential rate leading to a decline in the quality of life for mankind. Due to the fact that the population is growing so must the energy available, if mankind is to survive. Hardin’s argument is that if the population continues to grow with the laws that are currently set in place, the quality of life will eventually decline. Hardin states “Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all” (Hardin 23).

Malthus, in his piece An Essay on the Principles of Population, elaborates on this idea, explaining how much strife is due to an over supply of labor, that is to say overpopulation. He warns against the masses and any extreme action they might take, advocating that the poor be illuminated as to the genuine source of their wretchedness and taught to breed less so they can enjoy higher wages.

Although Thomas Malthus is often criticized for his “radical” ideas about overpopulation, they may not be as radical as you think. Neo-Malthusian is the ambiguous label dubbed to those who are simply aware enough to realize the ever-so-present problem of a continuously growing population. As we look around at our daily life in the U.S., it is apparent that homelessness, poverty and hunger are issues being faced every day. We can’t walk down the street without seeing a beggar desperate for money and you or someone you know may have dealt with a layoff or cutback in work. How is that we claim to have so many available resources and yet there are people all over the country lacking proper health and a sustainable lifestyle? Shouldn’t we be more

The exponential population growth of the human species has created a mass debate for centuries. A great speculation exists that involves the sustainability of the human species, along with other species, into the distant future. Over the years, as the numbers steadily rise the governments of several countries limited the number of children per household in order to limit the exponential growth of the human race. Some scientists believe that the world will inevitably make the novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, a living reality. Which concerns some readers because if the government dictates how the population increases, it will also dictate all other actions as well, stripping citizens of their individuality.

The primary reason for over-population in the US is due to illegal immigration. This is a very serious issue discussed almost every day with the government, on the news, and in the newspapers. It’s hard to say what the actual number of unauthorized immigrants are since they reside in the country under cover or illegally. Once here, they seek out employment, mainly as day laborers. Once the head of household has migrated and has an income, the rest of the family members follows. The wife’s later give birth to a baby who becomes a legal citizen. This is then causing an influx in the school systems and classrooms, therefore, depriving children of the right to education. The overcrowding in classrooms is contributing to

Throughout the last few hundred years, humans have built a foundation. Compared to all of the other animal species on Earth, humans are the most intelligent. We have built houses everywhere, developed a system to sustain ourselves, and now inhabit almost every piece of land on earth. Humans are smart, strong, and know how to fend for themselves. But, humans have a tendency to take it too far, and we have already done so. There have been numerous advancements over the past few hundred years which could ultimately lead to the downfall of the human race. The main issue is overpopulation due to the advancements in technology and general knowledge. The statistics from an article by Kenneth Smail show that “In the year 1900, there were almost 2 billion humans living on Earth. Throughout the 1960’s, the baby boom, there were 3 billion humans on Earth. Today in 2016, there are just over 7 billion humans living on Earth.” Currently, we have taken up just over half of all available land on this planet, and with increased amounts of people having kids, our population will only increase. Overpopulation is becoming a serious problem all around the world, especially in countries such as China and India. There are many global problems associated with overpopulation that are becoming more and more prevalent, which will all have dangerous effects on the foundation that humans have

Overpopulation is an issue that many persons fail to bring attention, but don’t know the underlying effects that it can have on the United States itself. The hardships of overpopulation, affects the economy, the available of resources, and also the success of the future generations to come. Without much thought, someone may have children not knowing that it can affect the livelihood of the future generations who plan to land that job or that position they were aspiring to get. There are those individuals that continue having children, knowing that they are not financially capable of supporting another innocent child. In result this negatively affects the quality of living. If there are more births, it foreshadows that there are more jobs to be created, which causes employment hard to acquire, nevertheless, causing the economy to make a turn for the

What is overpopulation? Overpopulation has been defined as a situation where the number of people in an environment exhausts all available resources weakening its needed support. (Morse &Mosher) For years there have been reports of how many people are expected to live on earth by the year 2050, 2075, and so on. However, the question remains as to whether everyone will have a secured spot. Today, in 2017 there have been plenty of fights with the scarcity of resources, where overpopulation becomes the topic of conversation. However, to solve this issue the option of abortion was brought to the forefront by scientists and advocates such as Dan Savage who mentioned that abortion should be mandatory for the next 30 years in or to control the

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how overpopulation causes social problems. To do so you must take many things into consideration, such as different views of racial problems and conflicting definitions of a social problem. Social problems can be defined in many different ways. They effect everyone and some of us encounter problems everyday as a result of our race, religion, gender, or low income. Others experience problems from technological change or declining neighborhoods, others are affected directly by crime and violence in their own neighborhood, and sometimes definitions of social problems are changed by society because of changes around you. Finally in