On October of 2011, the entire world population surpassed seven billion. There aren’t any long-term solutions to the environmental problems that we face because of this exponential population growth. There are too many people with too few resources. The human population needs to go through a demographic transition that eventually will help control population growth and furthermore, the environment. In order to go through this process, people need to change their cultural beliefs about how many children should be in a family (worldometers.info).
According to the official APES class textbook, depending on the quality of life that people are willing to live, anywhere from 2.5 billion to 40 billion people can live on the planet at one time. The human population is a main catalyst for environmental issues such as global climate change, and the destruction of ecosystems.
Each day, more and more people enter the planet. In many cultures, it is a type of “social security” that people get if they have more kids. Many have the mindset that the more children they have, the more they will be taken care of as an elder.
For example, according to a BBC special on human population studies, in Southern India, most wives are expected to have as many male children as they can, so as to ensure their families are taken care of later on. Boys are particularly coveted, since they can carry on the family name, and have more job opportunities. So, in an attempt to produce a male heir, and be secure, multiple children are born. If the cultural ideas were to change, young women would not have to suffer through the pressure to produce so many children, and the birth average would drop from four kids per household.
“I personally don’t believe that there should be more children in the household, but I don’t live in that kind of culture. The number of children is a choice, but with choice comes responsibility, and resources that are needed,” said AP Environmental Science Teacher Joe Krupens. He has two kids, aged nine and two. He and his wife agreed that they should have no more than two. However, these choices were based on personal beliefs, not taking into account the issue of population growth. If more people were to adopt the belief that two children is a good limit, the population would reach the ideal stage three in the demographic transition, making birth rates decline down to the level of death rates.
Being an environmental teacher, Krupens explained why population growth is an issue. “Most people want to live an affluent life,” he said, “but that leads to resource use beyond what’s available, which degrades the Earth, and also perpetuates greed in humans.” He does not find many benefits to a larger family, but finds the drawbacks to be extensive.
The earth needs to reach a rate of zero population growth, achieving the replacement fertility level, which, by definition, is each when a woman has an average of 2.1 children. This average covers some families having two, three, one, or zero children, while the 0.1 makes up for child death and infertile women. People need to start believing that having an average of two kids will help the environment, as well as the family (marathon.edu).
Freshman Randi Williams is the youngest of six children, aged 14 all the way to 24. “I don’t think someone should be able to tell you how many kids you can have,” Williams said. “If you want seven kids, if you can afford it, and if you can properly take care of them, then have seven kids.” She explained that it is important to know that if a family is going to have to have that many children, they should be financial stable, instead of relying on government spending. The benefits she saw from having a bigger family included the lessons she’s learned from her older siblings. Williams said, “I always learn from my brothers’ and sisters’ mistakes; they make sure I don’t go through the same.” However, she did name a few drawbacks. Williams added, “It can be crowded and overbearing, even if you want personal space, you still don’t get it. Having friends over is just crazy, too.”
The earth faces many future problems if human population keeps rapidly growing. To fix these problems, the population needs to go through a demographic transition to become stable. Krupens said, “The cultural belief of having more kids perpetuates poverty.” If cultures around the world continue to believe that having more children is beneficial, there will never be a solution to the environmental problems we face.