The Earth’s population is stated to be approaching seven billion. Concurrently, environmental degradation is persistent and resources are being depleted. The wealthy nations have assured the less wealthy ones that they too are on the verge to become rich. Their population growth rate is expected to decline as well (Dykstra, 1965). However, it is no longer apparent if this will happen. Scarcity of resources such as oil is anticipated to reduce the economic growth in future. It is expected that the demographic transition which has coincided with economic growth is unlikely for most nations.
About 220,000 people are increased in the planet on a daily basis (Mudd, 2013). Statistics report that the United States of America alone adds one person to the Earth after every eleven seconds. This rate is very alarming. There is an immense need to come up with population control methods to help sustain the world. Background to the Problem Nations do not need to wait for wealth increment to slice down the fertility in the high fertile zones. The urge for new policies and incentives to halt the population growth is intensifying. A lot has been published about population growth after the initial edition of Malthus Essay, written in 1978.
Nevertheless, one underlying truth is often left unsaid: The Earth’s rapid population growth has to be curtailed. It is sensible for human beings to limit population growth by employing many possible strategies instead of waiting for high mortality rates to do the work. So many techniques are poised which others might think are inhumane. However, as the Consequentialism theory suggests, the end justifies the means. The world needs interventions to slice down the population. Population control is inevitable and perhaps it is important to recall the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Award.
When Norman Borlaug won the award for his great work in coming up with new plant strains which formed Green Revolution basis, he shocked many in his acceptance speech. He said that there was no permanent means to control hunger. The agencies had to strive hard for food production. Importantly, those organizations that combat population growth had to equally fight hard (Wang et al, 2014). Borlaug emphasized on population control mitigation as a method to avert hunger indicating that even his newly developed strains of plants was not the solution. Both consumption and population are integral parts of the crisis the world faces.
All of them cannot be ignored since they have a worsening effect on the Earth (Wang, et al. , 2014). It is distressing that many people ignore the problems created by increased population on the planet. Pretending that about 80 million added on the Earth each year is inexcusable. According to Mudd (2013), Kenneth Boulding is quoted saying, “Any person who is convinced that the exponential growth will go on forever in an infinite world can only be an economist or a madman. ” The continued population growth cannot be sustained. Intelligent solutions to the problem require wits and courage to employ the knowledge.
When these strategies are employed, then Earth’s population is anticipated to reduce to about 1. 6 billion by 2100, the population held by the world in 1900 (Mudd, 2013). If the population of the world had been kept at that level, then this paper will be as meaningless as the conversation on controlling the population growth in the planet. Population Control Strategies Analyses assume that the world’s population will heighten to nine billion by 2050. Whereas this looks unreal, it is expected to happen. This section of the paper delves to study some of the suggested strategies that can curb population growth.
Herein, the techniques posited are highly effective. Use of War Questions have been frequently asked whether war is an effective method of controlling population. While others express doubt, I argue that war is efficient mechanism. It has been debated that humankind is violent, horrendously criminal and a violent race. It has been discussed how people murder each other for vengeance, pleasure or without any formal reason (Wang et al. , 2014). People are killed in wars. Instead of viewing effects of war on an ugly side, it is high time people started thinking of it in a positive way.
War should be viewed as a mechanism that controls population. Heinous massacres have occurred throughout the history of civilization of humankind. The death toll that results from these wars is large enough to reduce the population of the world by a meaningful margin. In the Napoleonic Wars, about 6,500,000 deaths were registered. 5,000,000 people died in the Mongol Conquest (Mudd, 2013). In the American Civil War, 625,000 souls died. The Rwandese Genocide saw 1,000,000 people die. The Vietnamese Wars was marked by 3,900,000 die (Wang et al, 2014). The Korean War registered 3,500,000 deaths. In the Spanish Civil War, 500,000 people succumbed.
World War I and II were gross in terms of deaths recorded. 9,911,000 and 61,000,000 died in World War I and II respectively. These numbers are big and led to significant decline in the world’s population. The magnitude caused by wars is huge and cannot be ignored. Every war leads to lives lost. People should view war in a positive way. Wars and aggression causes many lives lost which entirely leads to a decline in population (Lima & Abades, 2015). This paper is not advocating for war, it is human. However, when the world’s population keeps growing and nothing is being done to curb it, then war becomes an alternative.
Human beings must learn that the effects of population explosion are gross and worse than the effects of war. In future, when the data rises to 9 billion, then people will start wishing for even conflicts because the repercussions will be too much. The International Criminal Court of Justice is vigilant on perpetuators of civil wars in Africa and other parts of the world. The reason is because they have refused to see the positive sides of these aggressions (Lima & Abades, 2015). These conflicts are saving the world from the greater problem of getting to balance between overpopulation and limited resources.
Wars are not good, but when they occur, they limit the world’s population. Exposure to Plagues and Famines If the mortality rate of human beings increases; then population growth is bound to decrease. Plagues and famines seek to control population growth. Herein, the Malthusian Catastrophe comes in handy. A person born in 1700s believed that nature had its own ways of slicing the population (Lima & Abades, 2015). It was anchored on demand for the natural resources. In that era, Bubonic Plague took place in the fourteenth century when European population had begun to explode.
The effect of the plague, also referred to as the Black Death killed over 100,000,000 people. The disease was not totally eliminated since evidence suggests that it reared its head many times in the continent and its toll is somewhat reduced (Wang et al, 2014). Antibiotics have been used to treat the disease but its magnitude was large in reducing population. Today, other plagues are manifesting in the world. Cancer is causing more deaths. Malaria that is transmitted by mosquitoes is killing millions of people in the world. The Ebola virus that is highly contagious has wiped so many lives in West and Central Africa.
Sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS continue to take more lives (Lima & Abades, 2015). China has suffered greatly from the Birds Flu virus that took away millions of lives in the world’s most populated nations. These are diseases that have surfaced in nature to reduce population. Besides, famine and hunger have increased in most parts of the world. Millions of people die in Africa, Asia and the rest of the world due to starvation and lack of water. Biologist, Charles Darwin, in his theory of evolution posits that survival is of the fittest.
As a result, human beings should be exposed to these adverse conditions of nature such as diseases and famine (Lima & Abades, 2015). The strongest will survive while the weakest will be eliminated. Eradication of the weaklings by diseases and famines means that population is reduced. Nature needs only those who can survive, unfortunately, weaklings are numerous. I propose that the Developed Nations must stop aiding the less developed countries. There is need to halt the donor funding given to these countries in terms of food, medical aids and medical personnel (Lima & Abades, 2015).
Such countries will be faced with extreme starvation and diseases which will wipe out a great part of the population. The method is ethically debatable but is based on personal opinion. One Child-Policy is Vital In the Third World Nations the rate of reproduction is alarming. Each day, millions of children are born in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Shockingly, reproduction rate is high in places where poverty is extreme (Wang et al, 2014). The developing countries cannot sustain the existing population yet they continue to multiply amidst scarce resources. There is need to control this crisis.
China, the world’s most populated nation has been renowned by the famous ‘One-Child Policy. ’ According to the program, Chinese families are not allowed to reproduce more than one child in the family (Wang et al, 2014). It is a law that its violation is punishable by legal means. Initially, the policy was infamous. However, the citizens had to adhere by it because there was no space in China for new generation (Wang et al, 2014). To some extent, it helped in regulating the reproduction rate of Chinese and consequently reducing population growth. The third world nations need to emulate China and adopt the same policy.
It is a mechanism that is efficient. A family that can reproduce up to eight children must be compelled to sire only one child (Wang et al, 2014). It is expected that most of these nations will disagree. Some might even allude to the religious doctrines that human beings were meant to procreate. Still, the essence of adding more lives in the planet that cannot be sustained is meaningless. The developed nations can help in implementing this policy by rationing donor funds or imposing economic sanctions to countries that fail to adhere to the One-Child Policy (Wang et al, 2014).
Most of them will oblige if the sanctions are employed and this will result to reduced population growth. Other methods that can be used to control the population growth are education. There is need to sensitize people on the problem that increased population presents to the world (Mudd, 2013). People must be made aware of the means that they can employ to reduce the population. Use of contraceptives is advised during sexual intercourse to reduce reproduction rates. Partners are advised to use condoms, E-pills and other family planning techniques to reduce chances of siring unwanted children (Lima & Abades, 2015).
In most countries, abortion is being legalized with aims of controlling the increasing global population. In summation, population explosion is a problem that is ignored by people and has adverse problems. When resources finally get depleted, then the world will regret why they did not use wars, plagues, famines, One-Child Policy, contraceptives and abortions to control population growth. These strategies might be viewed as inhumane, yet they are practical. They are my opinion and the moral and ethical basis of them is personal and subject to varying opinion.
