James Boyd
Population growth and America’s future
People, people, people everywhere! What are all the people doing, where are they going, where are they living?
I grew up in the boondocks of Toombs County, Georgia. It was possible in the 40s and 50s to travel the fifteen miles from our house to our county seat town of Lyons, Ga. and not pass more than three or four vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. Today, traffic, even in the “boondocks” has multiplied considerably.
We presently live on St. Simons Island, Ga. When B. J. and I spent our honeymoon on St. Simons in 1960, much of it was still pristine and undeveloped. Today, fourteen thousand people live on the island and it is still growing in population.
The world’s population will soon reach a level where there will not be enough resources to sustain life as we know it. Growth must be checked in order to avoid the catastrophe.
The human population has been increasing nonstop since the conclusion of the Black Plague, about the year 1400. The most noteworthy growth has been in the last half century. This has been attributed mainly to medical advancements, proliferations in agricultural yield and the increasing handiness of plentiful low-cost energy.
Studies show that the rate of world population growth has been waning since the 1980s. However, the best estimates for the sustaining capacity for the earth under prevailing circumstances are between four billion and sixteen billion people. Considering which approximation is used, human overpopulation may or may not have already happened.
In spite of being a sound world global force, the United States is not exempt from this trend. The United States is the third most populous nation on earth, exceeded only by China and India. During the twentieth century, the U.S. inhabitants increased fourfold. If this movement persists during this century, the U. S. would be the habitat of over one billion people by the debut of the twenty-second century. Be that as it may, the United States has one of the greatest population escalations in the industrialized world.
The consequences of this population explosion are quickly obvious: low income coupled with high unemployment, public school systems with excessive student-to-teacher relations, and government aid programs so cripplingly exploited that serious cuts will be necessary to maintain them.
For the complete column pick up your copy of The Baxley News-Banner on newsstands today or CLICK HERE to Subscribe.
We presently live on St. Simons Island, Ga. When B. J. and I spent our honeymoon on St. Simons in 1960, much of it was still pristine and undeveloped. Today, fourteen thousand people live on the island and it is still growing in population.
The world’s population will soon reach a level where there will not be enough resources to sustain life as we know it. Growth must be checked in order to avoid the catastrophe.
The human population has been increasing nonstop since the conclusion of the Black Plague, about the year 1400. The most noteworthy growth has been in the last half century. This has been attributed mainly to medical advancements, proliferations in agricultural yield and the increasing handiness of plentiful low-cost energy.
Studies show that the rate of world population growth has been waning since the 1980s. However, the best estimates for the sustaining capacity for the earth under prevailing circumstances are between four billion and sixteen billion people. Considering which approximation is used, human overpopulation may or may not have already happened.
In spite of being a sound world global force, the United States is not exempt from this trend. The United States is the third most populous nation on earth, exceeded only by China and India. During the twentieth century, the U.S. inhabitants increased fourfold. If this movement persists during this century, the U. S. would be the habitat of over one billion people by the debut of the twenty-second century. Be that as it may, the United States has one of the greatest population escalations in the industrialized world.
The consequences of this population explosion are quickly obvious: low income coupled with high unemployment, public school systems with excessive student-to-teacher relations, and government aid programs so cripplingly exploited that serious cuts will be necessary to maintain them.
For the complete column pick up your copy of The Baxley News-Banner on newsstands today or CLICK HERE to Subscribe.
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