The population explosion and declining global resources

Kushagra
Maharaja Man Singh Vidyalaya
India

Ours is a global age and our planet is full of human, mineral and natural resources. Human beings are an indispensable resource of our globe. From time immemorial, human beings have struggled to survive as individuals. Procreation was an essential part of this survival. Unless there was an increasing supply of new human beings, food could not be grown and families could not be sustained. There has always been a high value attached to childbearing. But, with the explosion of the population, the high value attached to procreation has been re-examined. The reason for this change is because of the hazards of excessive population growth.

The rate of population growth increased from two per cent per thousand years in the prehistoric past, to about two per cent a year by the mid-1950s. Approximately one billion people are being added every 12 years. Every minute the global population grows by 150. This equates to 220,000 every day and 80 million every year. By the turn of the century, this world is expected to have 6.1 billion people.

In our globe many are malnourished, poorly clothed, without adequate shelter, unemployed and illiterate. With the rapid increase in the population, the existence of globe is at stake. It is difficult to improve the living standard of people and increase the quality of life. Rapid urbanisation has increased the growth of slums, overcrowding, unemployment and the inadequacy of water, electricity, sewage, transport and other vital social services.

Population is not an isolated variable in the development process. The significance of population education in the contemporary world has become more apparent. Population education is a long-term process. It is not just information or propaganda. There are many themes attached to it. The major themes are to promote the equality of the sexes, the inculcation of scientific ideas, the protection of the environment, the removal of social barriers and, ultimately, the adoption of the small family norm.

The prophets of demographic doom have said that the survival of the planet depends upon curbing population growth.

Along with human resources, our planet comprises of five elements - the earth, the water, the fire, the air and the sky. Along with the planets, every living being is also composed of these five elements. The five elements are full of resources, but when the equilibrium is disturbed, the existence of this planet is at stake.

The opening stanza of Isopanishad says: 'The entire universe (planet) and every thing in it, animate or in animate, is His (god's). Let us not convert anything. Let us treat every thing around us reverently as custodians. Let us enjoy but neither hoard nor kill. The humble frog has as much right to live as we'. Buddhist texts have argued for the sanctity of trees, birds, rivers and life in general.

It is estimated that 30,000 hectares of tropical forests have been destroyed or degraded, deserts have advanced by a similar area, 200 million tonnes of top soil have been lost through erosion and that many species have become extinct. The life support system of our planet is beginning to buckle under the pressure of ever-increasing numbers of humans consuming our resources.

In terms of global warming, scientists predict that, in 60 years, global warming will increase by half as much as the rise of five degrees Celsius since the ice age of 18,000 years ago.

Water is one of the most important resources for the survival of life. One cannot imagine life without water. With rapid urbanisation and the unplanned growth of cities, our rivers are treated as refuse bins where the sewage of the city goes. Our rivers are so polluted as to become severe health hazards. The ocean water is so polluted that it is causing the deaths of hundreds of whales, seals and dolphins and those beautiful, intelligent seabirds.

Air is also an indispensable resource for life. The existence of life is not possible without air. The Earth's atmosphere is no longer safe. Clean air has become a scarce commodity. Population pressure, the mushrooming of unplanned and ugly cities with scarce amenities of sewage and sanitation, the increasing smoke from motorised transportation on unprepared roads and also from chemicals and other industrial units located in the wrong sites, the lurid and ugly hoardings that pollute the eye and mind, all these and much more add to the unwholesome character of the atmosphere in which we live. Noise is also another pollutant that people have become immune to.

The menace of urbanisation is causing too much pressure on the environment. The global atmosphere receives its debris from other sources as well. The most potent of greenhouse gases are the CFCs. CFCs destroy the layer of atmospheric ozone that shields the world from the sun's harmful, ultraviolet rays. These disasters are caused by people.

To save the planet from destruction, we need a political system throughout the planet that secures effective participation; an economic system that is open and explores environmentally friendly strategies of growth; a social system that provides for the peaceful solution of tensions and conflicts and an educational system that is sensitive to a new world order.

The ecological or environmental crisis is basically a moral and ethical crisis. The seeds that caused it to grow are to be found in the mind - and the solutions also lie in the mind. Any transformation desired by the society must begin within the individual.

Global problems are major concerns of this global age because the existence of our planet is severely threatened. As per the poem of Jon Rye Kingston: 'With even greater anger the student shouted, "You helped me to extend my hand with incredible machines, my eyes with telescopes and microscopes, my ears with radios and sonar, my brain with computers, but you did not help me extend my heart, love, concern to the entire human family. You, teacher, gave me half a loaf".'

Top     Senior Presentations     Discuss this presentation     Previous     Next