Overpopulation: Reasons and Consequences

"Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we posses. What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education of the billions who are its victim."         -Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

 

 What ever happened to the phrase, "the more the merrier"? In a word: Overpopulation. Environmentalists have long been concerned about overpopulation due to the devastating effects an excessively high human population poses to our biosphere - the Earth's life-support system. Alarmingly, the Earth's population is expected to grow from 6 billion people to 9 billion in as little as 50 years (Pimentel). Our rapid growth rate has serious effects for all of us. The continued degradation and exploitation of our natural resources, higher birth-rates and lower death-rates courtesy of advances in modern medicine, and cultural variables such as the North-American way of life have all contributed to exponentially worsening the situation. How is it possible to deal with such a problem? Can a pragmatic solution be implemented in order to slow, halt, or even reverse the growth of human civilization? It is my belief that through the course of limited [non-coercive] government intervention, improved educational discourse, and localized individual action that we can, in fact, address and potentially correct the problem.