Rapid Population Growth: Its Startling Effects on the World as a Whole

Why would a company giant like Coca-Cola feel compelled to implement new plans focusing on water conservation? They, along with similar corporations, see the imminent dwindling of the Earth’s water supply. The global population, as of October 2011, has reached seven billion people. The recent rapid growth of the population on Earth has resulted in scientists predicting many problems in the future of the human race if nothing is done to either reduce the growth or produce more resources. After all, the Earth has a set size and only so many resources. Overcrowding, however, is not necessarily the issue: humans do not actually take up much room. According to the National Geographic magazine, all seven billion people packed shoulder-to-shoulder would only fill up an area the size of a large city like Los Angeles, California. The main issue plaguing the minds of researchers is not space but water scarcity.

Those that are hit especially hard by the lack of water and other resources from the growing population are developing countries. The population growth in developing countries like China, India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh is much more rapid than in developed countries like the United States, England, and Japan. India’s population especially is growing at a rapid rate. Currently, according to the 2011 census, it is estimated to be the home of 1.3 billion people and is the world’s second most populated country after China. By 2025, it is projected to surpass the population of the geographically much larger front runner. The cause of such a rapid population growth over the years has been largely a result of new innovations in the medical field. Vaccinations have helped eradicate many diseases, thus lengthening the lifespan of humans. Also, infant mortality rates have greatly dropped over the years, resulting in more children living to become adults.

According to Carl Haub, a demographer for the Population Reference Bureau, “[The population growth rate] is rather amazing when you look at the fact that in 1900, we were 1.6 billion. In 99 years, we flipped the number to 6.1 billion in 1999.” Though the world’s population is increasing at such a massive rate, the annual growth rate has actually slowed from 2.1% in the 1960s to 1.2% today. Despite this slight decline, the population growth is still a major issue.

It is not just recently that people have worried about the growing population: an economist by the name of Thomas Malthus first published An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798. Malthus formed the idea that many call the “Malthusian limit,” in which there is a certain point where the Earth would no longer be able to support such a large number of humans, a point where it would not be possible to produce enough food for survival. At this point, the population number would begin to fluctuate up and down based upon the amount of food production, disease, and other factors in a given amount of time. At last, the wavering would stop, and the population would hit a nose-dive, catapulting downward because of some natural cause: the dwindling of all food supply, pestilence, or another disaster caused by the overpopulation of the Earth.

Scientists today do not know whether Thomas Malthus’ theory is correct. They do not know the Earth’s maximum capacity of humans. What they do know is that in order to provide for the booming population, fast changes must be made: advancements in agriculture, the water supply, and in lifestyle, such as family planning in developing countries.

One important way to implement positive change is to educate our world’s population on the issue, something that is covered in some Chatham Hall courses. According to Dean of Students and environmental science teacher Kyle Kahuda, the reason that the growing population is important to teach in class is that, “Climate change, extinction, pollution, water shortages, and more will affect our lives greatly, as they will negatively impact our ability to produce enough food, increase rates of infectious disease and cancer, and alter the very ability of the Earth to sustain such abundant and diverse life.” He adds, “As our human population and standards of living increase, we consume more resources, produce more waste and pollution, and alter the land, water, and atmosphere in ways scarcely imaginable even a century ago.”

For the immediate future, the main focus of scientists will be to work in developing countries to spread family planning information, engineer better crop yields, and concentrate on the water scarcity problem. The United Nations estimates, “1.8 billion people will live in regions suffering from water scarcity, and two-thirds of the global population will live under water-stressed conditions by 2025.” 97% of the world’s water is saltwater, so only 3% of the water on the planet is fresh, and a large portion of that freshwater is frozen at the poles.

According to UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Program, about 22% of the water consumed on the planet is used by industries like Coca-Cola. Having these companies change their methods could have a large positive impact on the world’s water supply.

High School Journalism