Earth: An Overpopulated Planet

990 Words4 Pages
Many issues affect the balance of our lives here on Earth every day. There are political tensions between nations, wars being fought abroad, and poverty reaching historical highs. But most importantly, we should truly be examining the growth of life here on Earth. There are many problematic situations that could eventually contribute to our extinction. Some scientific minds believe a massive extinction event, such as a comet or meteor, will cause our destined destruction. But, if there is one precarious issue which must be addressed here and now, it is the continued expansion of the human race, and how this expansion could threaten the very future of our species. Overpopulation can be most easily defined as our race exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet. Overpopulation can be determined using the ratio of population to available resources. These resources can include, but aren’t limited to, air, water, food, heat, and shelter. Where our resources tend to grow on a linear basis, our population grows on an exponential basis. Nations around the world are already starting to feel the impact of food supply shortages. As more nations consume higher volumes of food, it will be more critical for farmers to produce more supply. But as we have seen in the past few decades, global governments have been forced to provide farmers with increased subsidies in an effort to prevent them from selling their land to developers. Today’s generation sees a harsh outlook on the future of farming. As farmers age and eventually retire, there are fewer people willing to farm land, which could condemn our survival to a very limited window. At present, hunger and malnutrition already kill millions of people each year. Without an intervention from world leaders, we can expect to see additional lives claimed as a result of hunger. Another key component the world must
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