Overpopulation: The Underlying Cause of Most Environmental Issues Katie Caputo Essay

There be so umteen purlieual thins that be affecting the entire globe straighta demeanor. People often articulate of environmental issues as if they piss no control on the whole over do them better or worse, however, environmentalists feel that numerous if not all of the environmental lines that we be facing are either caused or exacerbated by commonwealth growth (West, 2009). That think nighs that great deal themselves are the genuinely cardinals causing disparage to the environment. What we do or dont do about the issue of overpopulation will de experimental conditionine the very fate of the environment in the forthcoming. This presents the take away for ethical decision making.Global environmental worrys are ethical problems (Br induce, 2009). separately and every person has a virtuous and ethical obligation toward the environment, the problem is that people often ignore that responsibility, especially when it presents other ethical dilemmas. specify E thics To begin, I would like to define ethics. A definition taken from the National Academy of Engineering states ethics is c at a timerned with what is right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair, responsible or irresponsible, indispensable or permissible, praiseworthy or blameworthy (2006).So what does ethics take aim to do with overpopulation and other environmental issues? If we know that overpopulation is the direct cause of more(prenominal) of the environmental issues that are affecting the entire globe, ethically, it is our responsibility as valet de chambre to come up with a solution to the problem. Population Growth Over-population is the term that refers to a condition by which the population density enlarges to a h sure-enough(a) back that provokes the environmental deterioration, a remarkable decline in the quality of brio or a population collapse (Biology Cabinet face, 2003).In somewhat 1963, the global rate of human population growth peaked, but the governme nt issue of people living on demesne has gr let by much than two-thirds since then, topping out at over 6. 6 billion today (West, 2009). all year, much than 81 jillion people add to the homo-wide population. Every 10 years al well-nigh one billion inhabitants are added to the realisms population (BCO, 2006). By the year 2050, the human population is judge to exceed nine billion (West, 2009). What affect does this have on the environment? Effects of Over-population Global WarmingGlobal warming is considered to be one of the top environmental issues today. Scientists have determined that it is mostly human activities that are contributing to global warming by adding excessive inwardnesss of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, accumulate in the atmosphere and side drum heat that would normally exit into outer space. M whatever greenhouse gases pass away naturally and are needed to create the greenhouse effect that continues the E arth warm enough to support life, but it is human use of fogey fuels that cause the excess greenhouse gases.By driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power floras, or heating our legal residences with oil or natural gas, we become carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere (West, 2009). Deforestation Deforestation is another environmental issue and is a signifi washbasint source of greenhouse gases because fewer trees mean less carbon dioxide conversion to oxygen. The most grand direct causes of deforestation include logging, the conversion of forested lands for agriculture and cattle-raising, urbanization, mining and oil exploitation, blistery rain and fire (World Rain Forest Movement, 1998).Deforestation and forest adulteration occurs both(prenominal) in Northern and Southern countries and its belowlying causes also produce in both, although with varying degrees of responsibility. Industrialized countries have not only bite down or degra ded their own forests in the past some are still doing so today. This occurs either through large-scale clear-cutting (as in many areas of Canada, the US or Australia) or through the thinning and then degradation of forests, reducing them to a few commercially valuable species at the expense of biodiversity (such as in Sweden, France or Finland) (World Rainforest Movement, 1998).The root of the problem is trying to keep up with the demand of the ever-growing population. Biodiversity Biodiversity is defined by the majuscule Biodiversity Council as the full range of life in all its forms (2003). Biodiversity passing game away is largely a result of deforestation. The worldwide rate of extinction of plant and animal species is estimated to be 10,000 times as rapid as it was in prehistoric times, with to a greater extent than 27,000 species becoming extinct every year.An example of the outlet of biodiversity due to overpopulation is seen in the state of Washington. Washington is o ne of the most biologically diverse states in the union. This is due to the states diverse topography, its impression to Pacific Ocean currents and weather patterns, and its location on the migratory mode of many wildlife species. Washington, in fact, contains most of the major ecosystem types found in the horse opera United States, including two found nowhere else in the world the prodigious rainforest and channeled scablands. However, since statehood in 1889, Washington has lost an estimated 70 percentage of its estuarine wetlands, 50 percent of its riparian habitat, 90 percent of its old-growth forest, and 70 percent of its native shrub-steppe and arid grasslands (Washington Biodiversity Council, 2003). As the smallest and second most densely be of the rapidly growing Western states, Washingtons population in 2008 was 6. 5 million according to the U. S. Census Bureau, and is expected to add over 21 percent by the year 2020 (2009).This puts Washington in colossal danger of losing much of its diversity of plant and animal life at heart the next few decades. Although scientists are not fully aware of all the consequences of the continual loss of biodiversity, they do know that a diversity of healthy, surgery ecosystems is essential to the environment. Water Shortages As we in peeing-rich countries take our daily showers, wet the lawn or laze about in the pool, its easy to deflect that fresh water is a life-or-death issue in many parts of the world.Of a population of roughly 6. 1 billion, more than 1 billion lack access to potable water. The World Health Organization says that at any time, up to half of humanity has one of the sixer main diseases such as diarrhea, schistosomiasis, or trachoma, or infestation with ascaris, greaseball worm, or hookworm which are associated with poor drinking water and short sanitation. About 5 million people die each year from poor drinking water, poor sanitation, or a dirty home environment, often resulting from wa ter shortage (University of Wisconsin, 2001).The water shortages are becoming more and more evident all over the world. For example Mexico City (home to 20 million people) is sinking because the city sucks out underground water smart than the aquifer can be refilled Florida indispensabilitys to refill its over pumped aquifer with untreated surface water, despite federal regulations to the contrary Texas is moving toward private, for-profit water sales. The water will be mined from aquifers that are disappearing fast. No raillery on what the private suppliers, including corporate raider T. Boone Pickens, will do once the aquifers run dry.Aquifers around the world are being over tapped for irrigated agriculture, which fills about 40 percent of the global larder The Bush Administration has sequestered a proposed tightening of the arsenic standard for drinking water. Critics say the old rule, dating to 1942, could allow thousands of cases of cancer and other diseases. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, whats been called the largest insobriety of a population in history has 35 to 77 million people drinking arsenic-laced water and last but not least(prenominal), a showdown is looming over the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which originate in Turkey, then water both Syria and Iraq.If Turkey goes ahead with a series of dams, the downriver nations could starve. There are projections that three billion people, half of todays population, will be short of water in 2025 (University of Wisconsin, 2001). Some Recommended Solutions for Overpopulation Being that this issue is one of such great importance, we need to be proactive at purpose some kind of solution. There have been many different ideas that have been presented to try to get the population under control however, thus far, most of the ideas have been just that- ideas, with no definite plan of action.Some of the proposed solutions, to come to a few, have been making sure people around the world have access to family pla nning services empowering women in developing countries economically, socially, and legally in a manner that results in them having an equal say (with their husbands) in reproductive decisions modifying school curricula to include information on population levels and implications for the future reforming tax laws in a way that encourages couples to have no more than two children. They would still be able to have as many kids as they want, but the tax code would no longer subsidize more than two) (Jeantheau, 2005). The Need for Ethical Decision-Making People tend to be very opposed to the thought of their freedom being imposed upon, especially when it deals with the amount of children that they can or cannot have. Many people will argue from a apparitional standpoint that God specifically says in the Bible to cipher and subdue the landed estate. Some feel that the use of birth control is wrong and against Bible principles. The problem is that people do not want to do anything e lse about the issues at hand either.For example If we were still living the way our ancestors did the amount of people living on the earth would not be a problem. Unfortunately, we are polluting the earth with our technology and over consuming our resources. So the argument can also be presented to those against birth control for religious purposes, that the Bible also says that we should not be gluttonous. But again earth tend to want what they want when they want it. Most only keep the Bible principles that suit them. In any case, as in many ethical problems we are faced with a deterrent example dilemma.A moral dilemma is best described as when two or more obligations are in conflict. The crucial features of a moral dilemma are these the ingredient is required to do each of two (or more) actions the agent can do each of the actions but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions. The agent thus seems condemned to moral failure no matter what she does, she will do something wrong (or fail to do something that she ought to do) (McConnell, 2006). When presented with a moral dilemma, we need to subside which obligation is most important and give preference to the more important one.Unfortunately, when contemplating any solution for an issue such as overpopulation, we are going to be faced with moral dilemmas. Now we have to choose the lesser of two evils. Should we practice birth control even though it violates our moral principles or continue to allow the population to grow to numbers that the earth cannot sustain? Should we object to abortion when a woman does not want to have a child? Abortion may violate our own personal beliefs however, if it is what the woman wants for herself and it will surely decrease the number of people being added to our population, shouldnt we support that decision?Utilitarians view the best moral decision to be the one that brings about the maximum amount of pleasures and the least amount of suffering. They do not make dec isions based on their own self-centeredness, they insist that the joys and sorrows of others must be part of the calculation (when making any ethical decision) (Waller, 2008). So, from the utilitarian standpoint, trying to find an answer to slowing the population growth would not be an intrusion or a assault of ones rights, it would be welcomed to lessen the amount of suffering that is caused by the issue of overpopulation.In the very near future, we will have no choice but to make some very important decisions as to what we will do about the issues that plague the environment. Again, environmental problems are therefore ethical problems. The only way that things will get better in our environment is if we get the rate of growth of the human population under control. We can no longer ignore the moral and ethical responsibility that we as humans have toward the environment, regardless of the ethical dilemmas that we are presented with.