Urbanization Overpopulation
This article is about the effects of overpopulation and industrialization on the environment. Overpopulation refers to a condition where the population enlarges to such a limit that leads to environmental deterioration and also a notable decline in the quality of life or even a population collapse. It is the relation between human population and its environment in which case it is the earth. It is the relation of the population the available resources.
In his book Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Glen Adelson states that, industrialization is the establishment of factories and industries with an aim to increasing employment in order to support the human population. Industrialization came about in the industrial revolution in the 19th century with scientifically and technologically advanced machines for the manufacture of goods. Both overpopulation and industrialization have a history of causing detrimental damage to the environment.
Glen Adelson (2008) Unavailability of resources In his book Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Glen Adelson states that, the population of a nation is ideally supposed to be supported by the available resources. However due to overpopulation this is not the case since the resources available do not meet the needs of the people since the people exceed the resources and the environment is said to be overpopulated. Glen Adelson (2008) Pollution
Water pollution is caused by the lack of sewage treatment as well as the lack of sanitation; untreated water from the industry s and urban areas is dumped into the water bodies and this untreated water and also chemical discharge from the industries cause pollution to the environment. Glen Adelson (2008) Overpopulation and industrialization as caused harm on a global scale since it has let to an increase in the emissions of harmful air pollutants from the industries. These harmful pollutants some of them are said to be capable of depleting the ozone layer and can also cause global warming.
Glen Adelson (2008) In his book Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Glen Adelson states that, overpopulation has let to the deteriorating of environmental conditions. Industrialization since the 19th century together with advanced technology has enabled communities to expand in population. Glen Adelson (2008) In his book Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Glen Adelson states that, this has completely changed the relationship between nature and humanity. Overpopulation also has changed those basic conditions on earth that have allowed life to thrive.
These are the natural climate of the earth and also the manipulation of the natural resources. Glen Adelson (2008) Industrialization In his book Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Glen Adelson states that, this is the establishment of factories popularly known as the industrial revolution that led to the creation of new establishment and also expansion and these affected the environment in various ways. Congestion is one of the effects of industrialization where the cities are congested and there is an increase in traffic in the city areas thus causing very high pollution.
This has led to respiratory diseases to the city habitats. Deforestation Land was cleared and continues to be cleared even today to make way for the construction of factories as well as town s. many constructions projects use wood both for commercial purposes such as fossil fuel and paper thus this as led to deforestation. Mackinney (2007) This is a real and detrimental threat to the environment since most forests contain the water catchments areas and also they are able to absorb carbon dioxide which comes from other present day energy sources. These are such as coal natural gas as well as fuel.
These release potentially harmful gases upon combustion. Mackinney (2007) These gases are known as the green house gases namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides. These gases have continually increased in the atmosphere wit an increase in the world population. Mackinney (2007) Products of industrialization According to the book, Environmental Science Michael Mackinney states that, harm caused by industrialization and overpopulation is the need by humans for comfort, and their needs have continued to evolve. They have the need for poser and energy which comes from coal at present and this is a key contributor in global warming.
Mackinney (2007) These are such as automobiles which have caused an increase in the average global temperatures since the chemical make u of the greenhouse gases allows the penetration of the suns visible light through to the earth’s surface while the earth emits back infrared radiation. Mackinney (2007) According to the book, Environmental Science Michael Mackinney states that, these emissions are then absorbed into the green house gas molecules and they ado not break hence they remit back energy onto the earth surface and this leads to he warming of the earth surface.
This has increased the average global temperature and is known as global warming and in the long run may alter the agricultural productivity, the earth’s climate. Mackinney (2007) Poverty This is co-related with overpopulation, sine the poor nations use fuel hence contributing to the fuel omissions since it is the cheapest way of production of oil for their nations. Anzovin (1996) The environment in which case is such a large number of people and this leads to poverty. Anzovin (1996) Inadequate fresh water
According to the book by Steven Anzovin (1996), Preserving the World Ecology, Industrialization causes water pollution through the emission of harmful chemicals and also causes air pollution. There is inadequate fresh water and also for drinking and for sewage treatment. Anzovin (1996) Therefore there is soil contamination whereby drainage system from the industries is released onto the land thereby contaminating the soil. There is also noise pollution whereby there is a lot of noise coming from the machines used in the industries and hence pollute the environment through the interference of human activity since the noise affects them.
Anzovin (1996) Species extinction Overpopulation causes the cutting down of forests for settlement thereby interfering with the habitat in the forest. This is whereby the animal species from the forests have become completely extinct, since deforestation interferes with them, as they live in these forests. Anzovin (1996) The accelerated overpopulation has increased the destruction of species and natural habitats as people invade the habitats and replace them with inhospitable places to live in this leads to their extinction.
According to the book by Steven Anzovin (1996), overpopulation has also led to an increase in desertification with the loss of arable land as the human population continues to grow, the more they continue to clear the land for settlement and this ahs led to desertification. High infant and mortality rate In his book Environment Peter Raven States that, with overpopulation and industrialization there is also a high infant and Childs mortality rate where it is an increase in death rate of infants and children.
This is greatly contributed by the fact that overpopulation causes an increase in the chances of the outbreak of epidemics due to overpopulation and also other environmental and social issues such as non- existent and unavailability or very poor health care, overcrowding , and poor living conditions as well as exposure to infections and infectious diseases and also malnutrition. Raven (1995) Poor nations also suffer due to overpopulation more than the rich countries due to ill health, lack of a good diet, diseases and also starvation due to lack of enough and adequate supply of food. Raven (1995)
It has also led to low life expectancy with unhygienic living conditions where there is the discharge of raw sewage s well as solid disposal onto the environment. Raven (1995) Crime According to the book, Environment Peter Raven States that, overpopulation has led to urbanization where people have migrated from the rural areas to the urban areas in search of better opportunities and employment this has led to an increase in the crime rate whereby the cities become crowded with lack of jobs and hence people are not able to meet their needs and this has forced them to engage in crime. Raven (1995)
According to the book, Environment, Peter Raven States that, Crime due to poverty is caused by these people migrating into towns from the rural areas and not able to earn a decent income thereby they are recruited into drug cartels due to he money and other forms of crimes in order to make ends meet by supplementing their income. Raven (1995) The ozone layer Industrialization and overpopulation has led to the decrease in the thickness of the ozone layer to such an extent that a hole has been formed in the layer and scientists have attributed this to the human activities and overpopulation. Anzovin (1996)
Economy According to the book Economic Growth versus the Environment (2002) overpopulation and industrialization has got a great effect on the economy. Overpopulated nations do not have sufficient food to support themselves. This means also that if they do not have enough food for use for themselves then they also have inadequate food to sell and this contributes to a very low domestic gross product per capita. Cherni (2002) According to the book Economic Growth versus the Environment (2002), this means that in such a case the country is not also able to support itself and has got to rely on foreign debts.
Cherni (2002) In such a situation the countries resources are stretched and the governments meager resources also are stretched and hence an economical instability and decline in the economy of a country altogether. Cherni (2002) Unemployment According to the book Economic Growth versus the Environment (2002, Overpopulation causes unemployment since there are not enough jobs to support the population. The already available jobs are for only a few people as the population of more than the available resources. Cherni (2002), Standards of living
The living standards are affected in that with the lack of resources in an overpopulated nation there are no enough jobs to support the population and this leads to unemployment hence people are not able to support themselves financially and they are not in a position to meet their basic needs or even to afford basic and decent living standards. For that reason they live in poor living conditions. Cherni (2002), Environment According to the book, Environment Every basic space of the planet is needed for forests and for arable land and farming and agriculture and not to be inhabited like is the case with overpopulation.
However trees have continued to be cut and this has led to bare land and desertification and also the environment continues to be affected through waste excretion with pollute water and also kill the wildlife. Demand for food According to the book Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Glen Adelson states that, overpopulation leads to the need for a large amount of food which forces farming to be done at a high rate. This leads to the depletion of the nutrients in the soil and this leads to a demand in fertilizers and other chemicals for enriching the soil. Adelson (2008
The rise in the demand for food has led to his destruction of world’s natural habitat as people search for space to settle, for their cattle as well and other needs. This leads to the over exploitation of the earths land due to the demand for food for the people and more so the overpopulation. Adelson (2008 Oceans These have continued to be over fished and this means that fish species are not able to sustain their numbers due to this phenomena. The cities that are close to the oceans dump untreated sewage to the sea thus causing a serious health risk to the whole city and also to those visiting the beaches.
Anzovin (1996) Urbanization Overpopulation has led to urbanization which is the migration from the rural areas to the urban areas thereby congesting the urban areas. These people move into the towns with an aim to get better opportunities and to have a better life than they do in the rural areas. However this has led to the demand for more jobs hence industrialization which has caused detrimental harm to the environment in the long run Conclusion Industrialization and overpopulation have an overall detrimental effect on the environment.
An increase in human population in comparison with the available resources is overpopulation where the resources are not ale to meet the needs of the population. Adelson (2008), Industrialization is the clearing of land for construction of towns as will as industries. This has led to the pollution of the environment through the emission of harmful chemicals and gas onto both land and air and also noise pollution. Overpopulation has caused rural urban migration where people have moved to search for better living conditions.
Adelson (2008) References: Glen Adelson (2008), Environment, Interdisciplinary Anthology, Yale University Publishers. Connecticut Judith Cherni (2002), Economic Growth versus the Environment: The Politics of Wealth, Health and Air Pollution. Palgrave Publishers. Hampshire Michael Mackinney (2007), Environmental Science, Jones & Bartlett Publishers. New York Peter Raven (1995), Environment, Saunders Publishers. New York Steven Anzovin (1996), Preserving the World Ecology, University of Michigan Publishers. Michigan
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