Why is overpopulation a serious issue?

With more people, more precious and LIMITED resources are needed for survival. Our population explosion has many detrimental effects on the well being of our biotic community. For example, we will witness the loss of resource rich lands necessary for agriculture and vital ecosystems like the rainforest. Our water and air quality will inevitably become increasingly contaminated resulting in numerous health related issues not only for the human population but for all living things; meanwhile plant and animal biodiversity will diminish with habitat loss and polluted energy sources.

Fossil fuel consumption is also a problem that will escalate with increased population. Developing countries are predicted to quadruple fossil fuel consumption, while industrial nations will increase by 30% over the next 50 years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change and the U.S. Department of Energy. Each individual person contributes to the problem of fossil fuel consumption, which is directly related to climate change and air pollution.

As population increases, so too will the demand for energy. The global demand for energy grew twice as fast as population over the last 50 years, a time period when the population did not even double. Along with the population increase so will waste. There are already issues arising today in the deposit of waste material. Landfills will become saturated and with more people there will be less places to store our garbage. (Brown)

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