Diminishing Natural Resources and Increasing Population

how the world population is growing

   

   "In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference." 
-- Rachel Carson

We can define natural resources simply by this small sentence “The resources collected from nature is called natural resources”.

These natural resources are very essential for our survival and every country has some unique natural resources such as oil, gas, water etc. From the beginning of the human civilizations, we began to use natural resources for our own sake. Therefore, natural resources are very much important to us for doing our daily necessary things, for developing our infrastructure, developing country as well as technology. There are two types of natural resources renewable and non-renewable. The proper use of these resources can ensure thrive of the world.

the picture shows how natural resources are decreasing

This world got its 7 billionth population on the 31 St October 2011.The people of the world are growing very fast in the recent years especially in the Asian part of the world as half of the population of the world is in this area. Does large population create pressure on natural resources? Of course, large population creates huge pressure on natural resources especially on the non-renewable resources. Thus, our non-renewable natural resources are being depleted very quickly and recent statistics can clarify how quickly it is getting vanished. Though rich countries have less population, they consume more resources for their development for instances the U.S.A has 5% of the world population they consume 30% of the world resources. Only 25% of the people live in developed countries but they consume more than 80% of the natural resources of the world and rest 75% people use only 20 % of the natural resources. Some countries like China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Japan etc. all are from Asia. These people are exploiting natural resources for collecting their basic things, for developing technology and for developing technology. If a country’s population is large, it needs a large amount of resources for its population. As the world population is getting larger, it is consuming more natural resources such as land, oil, fresh water. We can see from the statistics that how fast the world population is growing---

 

shows the environmental pollution and other problems

As natural resources are depleting very rapidly, this may create a far-reaching impact on the environment and the economy. Some of the countries are facing the worst impact from the very beginning of this century. Frequent cyclone, tornado, flood, earthquake and drought are the major problems that appeared in most of the countries recently. Hurricane Catrina, Rita hit the U.S.A, some regions of India are turning into desert, melting of polar ice and rise of sea level are the direct or the indirect negative impact of overuse of natural resources like oil, gas, drinking water, minerals and so on. However, large population can also be a very good resource as the one the other natural resources if we can use it properly for example Japan used their population. This population used their optimum capabilities with minimum natural resources and making proper use of natural resources to make them one of the richest countries in the world. Therefore, handling population in the correct way can alleviate economic as well as social inefficiency and scarcity of resources.

The population problem is a big issue but there are other factors, which are creating problems. The other major factors may be sophistication in technology, deforestation, intense competition etc. Different companies are now using high technology to boost up their profit and people are using technology to maintain their daily life but they use a huge amount of resources for it that is 2% of the energy is used for internet use, which equals to 30 billion watts. This energy directly or indirectly comes from nature. It is just a small part of the technology. The overall view of consumption of natural resources for technological purpose is overwhelming. We are cutting down trees and deforesting indiscriminately especially the rainforests. These types of activities are harmful for the human being and other species. Many animals, birds, and other wild lives have been perished and are being disappeared. Some birds and animals are losing their nesting places. This also creates ecological imbalance and jeopardizes environment by creating cyclone, storm, high temperature and other problems. Intense competition abets to reduce natural resources. People use natural resources indiscriminately when they get involved in intense competition. This competition may be country-to-country or company to company. People use huge natural resources for living luxurious life and rich country use most of the natural resources of the world.

Excessive use of nitrogen reduces soil’s productivity. Overconsumption of natural resources may be boomerang for us because the environment might take revenge in future. Some of the effects are recent cyclone, drought, and rise of sea level and so on. If we are not conscious of the non-renewable and renewable resources, we will make a great mistake and endanger for our existences. Most importantly, natural resources provide us with foods, materials and energy. If we consume all of our reserved and limited resources, our next generation will face extreme shortage of foods and energy. 8.5% of the world’s forests have been chopped and this is reducing biodiversity of the world. Moreover, we will face meagerness of fresh drinking water and some low-lying countries will go under seawater within the next century. Some of the medicines come from nature. Therefore, deforestation will interrupt it seriously.

There are many things to do to solve this problem. This is a global problem, so joint effort is very urgent for solving this problem and rich countries like The U.S.A, Canada and industrially developing countries like India; china etc. should help one another to Cooperate and solve this problem. Stopping deforestation, decreasing population, and assuring proper use of resources are the main tools for reserving natural resources. Moreover, recycling any product, which is possible, and using filterer will help. We can go for the renewable resources like solar and wind power as alternatives to non-renewable resources. In addition, global awareness is necessary.

Above all, some policies to reduce population pressure and awareness among people are necessary for the best result. Thus, we can express solidarity with the quote of Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

      “We must alert and organize the world's people to pressure world leaders to take specific steps to solve the two root causes of our environmental crises - exploding population growth and wasteful consumption of irreplaceable resources. Overconsumption and overpopulation underlie every environmental problem we face today.”
-- Jacques-Yves Cousteau

 

            Stop cutting trees