Population Growth: Asphyxiating Our World

Hernandez 1
Hector Hernandez
ENGL V01A
February 6, 2018 The World of Plenty
Our vast population growth is asphyxiating our world. Over the past century alone the population has gone from 1.5 billion to over 7 billion. We as human beings have evolved to the point to where a once fatal broken leg is means little to us. Advances in technology have helped us survive for longer periods of time, which is a blessing and a curse. Many scientists believe the maximum carrying capacity of earth is around 10 billion, and this number is based on the number of resources available to us and the limited availability of fresh water (Wolchover). The late-18th century philosopher Thomas Malthus wrote in, An Essay on the Principles of Population, "The

The US National Library of Medicine reported back in 2006 that 2 out of 5 pregnancies were unwanted (Finer). 29% of these pregnancies where unwanted at the time and 19% where unwanted period, the lack of access to contraceptives around the globe is a big issue because if they were provided to everyone not wanting a pregnancy. We as a human species, could reduce the world's population size enormously.
Limiting family sizes to a max of two children per family will also decrease our overpopulation problem over time. As Americans we want to have our own children, having at least two of them is enough. There are other ways to have children such as adopting. There are 428,000 foster children in the United States , 60% of children in foster care spend 2-5

What I mean by that is to eat more fruits and vegetables. Most of us are accustomed to eating meat or dairy products, it is way easier and faster to grow and cultivate plants, then to raise livestock. Every nutrient and protein found in meat can also be found in vegetables, implementing this into our diet can help improve not only our health but our epidemic. We use an enormous amount of water to grow crops that animals eat. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) states, "A single cow used for milk can drink up to 50 gallons of water per day—or twice that amount in hot weather—and it takes 683 gallons of water to produce just 1 gallon of milk. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water