preview

Will the Environment Heal Itself? Essays

Better Essays

Will the Environment Heal Itself?

The environment will heal itself, all right, but humans should worry how. The population explosion is causing damage at a faster rate than the earth's ability to recover, and the damage threatens to become permanent. Furthermore, when an expanding population meets shrinking resources, the results are starvation, poorer health and pitched competition for survival. Among other resources, the world has reached its limit in crop harvests, and is declining in animal species, rain forests, top soil, fish stocks, and fresh water.

There are two types of damage that humans cause to the environment. One is long-term, even permanent destruction, such as the extinction of a species or the …show more content…

1998 11

7 billion est. 2009 11

8 billion est. 2021 12

9 billion est. 2035 14

10 billion est. 2054 19

11 billion est. 2093 39

At present, we are adding the population of China to this planet every decade. Feeding and supplying this population explosion are placing huge demands on the environment. And this brings us to the other, opposing trend: the environment's resources are either reaching their limit or shrinking. The result will be like two trains barreling towards each other on the same railroad track. Biologists, historians and economists all concur that whenever growing populations have met shrinking resources, the results have been pitched competition for survival. This is why the above chart sees population growth slowing over the next century.

The population explosion is compelling a growing number of scientists to advocate replacing our growth economy with a sustained economy. Lester Brown, President of Worldwatch Institute, writes:

Among the principles of sustainability are the following: Over the long term, species extinction cannot exceed

Get Access