COMMENTARY | With the world population recently hitting seven billion, there is much cause for concern. More people means higher demand for resources like food, water, and oil, and it also means pollution levels will rise. Simply put, overcrowding harms the Earth. Furthermore, the world population will continue to rise; it was six billion just 12 years ago, and the United Nations estimates there will be 10 billion people by 2100.
If you ask me, the greatest risk of a booming population is food shortages. According to some experts, if the population reaches nine billion by 2045, global food production will need to be doubled. That's largely due to emerging economies demanding more meat and dairy, which require many more resources than a largely vegetarian diet.
One of the potential obstacles to increasing food production is that many of our food varieties have disappeared. For example, there were about 7,000 types of apples that grew in the 1800s, but less than 100 today. Overall, experts think we have lost half of our food varieties in the last 100 years.
This is a problem because it leaves our food supply vulnerable to disease. For instance, there is a strain of the fungus Puccinia graminis that attacks wheat crops. Wheat crops have lost much of their diversity in just a few generations, and an estimated 90 percent of the Earth's wheat is vulnerable to the fungus. Crops in Africa have already suffered, and the fungus has spread to the Middle East. Scientists fear that 1 billion people in Africa and Asia alone could lose there main food source.
A possible solution to slowing population growth would be adopting a one child per family law, such as the one found in China. However, I don't think this would be a good idea. While China has lowered its growth, the policy has taken a toll on human rights. Plus, it would be nearly impossible to enforce in a non-authoritarian nation. Moreover, such policies might not be needed in industrialized nations, where there is often a negative population growth.
I believe that the best strategy to prepare for populations approaching 10 billion is to invest in new technologies and conservation methods. It's essential to reduce fossil fuel consumption as fast as possible. In addition to adding pollution and contributing to global climate change, these are finite resources, and they will eventually run out. This means we need to master the use of renewable energies, like solar and wind.
Adopting policies for sustainable development won't be easy, and sacrifices will be inevitable, whether they are voluntary or forced by a lack of resources. However, there is no feasible way to stop the population from growing during this century, so all we can do is start preparing for the challenges.
Sources:
Jeffrey D. Sachs, "With 7 billion on earth, a huge task before us," CNN
Gwynne Dyer, "The African population disaster," TheSpec
Charles Siebert, "Food Ark," National Geographic
Sushma Subramanian & Deborah Jian Lee, "Black-Market Babies: Broken Families in China, Confused Children in the U.S. ," The Atlantic
Robert Kunzig "Population 7 Billion," National Geographic
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