Overpopulation and Industrialization Issue Paper

Issue paper #1

In the 1800’s the planet was a wonderful place, full of life and clean air, now fast forward to the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, there’s an increase in population which then results in an increase in industrialization. Once again, skip ahead a few more decades which brings us to present day, we have a massive spike in population and an uncontrollable demand for bigger and better resources. This isn’t just a problem the U.S is facing this is a problem that the entire world is plagued with. A prime example of this is the epidemic in China. China is having to crack down on doing their part of bettering climate change; with the worsening air pollution it has become the top concern for many of the Chinese. . . Countries like China and India, with their huge populations, do not have the luxury of repeating the mistakes of Western nations (Weihua, 2015).  Because of the massive rise in global population since the 1900’s, it has assisted the problem of being overpopulated and industrialized.

When humans first invented agriculture, global population was probably between 2 and 20 million. With agriculture came the first great surge in human numbers. Population grew much faster, probably between 10 and 1,000 times as fast as before, but nonetheless very slowly, by tiny fractions of a percent per year” (McNeil, 470) As the number of people grew the locations in which they resided in grew too small, which then lead to people having to migrate to accommodate to the rise in population size. The unusual population history of the twentieth century was the peak of a long frenzy of reproduction and survival. Their vast voyages spread diseases among populations that had previously been long isolated from one another. In the short run, this led to disastrous losses. Eventually this swirl of infection produced stronger immune systems, closer relationship between pathogens and hosts, and then, public health systems, so that the toll from epidemics dwindled (McNeil, 4168). The expansion of the cities came from both migration and from population growth. When people would migrate they would bring their own traditions and practices with them and applied them to their new surroundings, which caused unusually powerful environmental consequences (Spohnholz, in class notes, September10th). Population growth, often lead to be the main cause of environmental disturbances.

In addition to population growth, industrialization has added to the problem of climate change as well. With an increase of population it has led to a higher demand for jobs. In doing so with the creation of more jobs we had an increase in more products. This creates a slippery slope of supply and demand, and constantly needing more. Because of the increase of people there is a constant calling for more jobs, which will produce more products continuing the cycle for constantly needing more (Spohnholz, in class notes, September 3rd). All of these changes to the atmosphere were accidental effects of industrialization. The main driving force was fossil fuel use, but new technologies played a substantial role too. Behind this industrialization lay the attractions of higher living standards, and more consumption, for large masses of people (McNeil, 1973). Transportation technology made even larger differences. At the end of the nineteenth century most people depended on combinations of railroads and animal-or human- drawn carts and carriages. Such a transport system had its environmental consequences. American railroads, for example, destroyed forests. They usually burned wood in their boilers. Boxcars were made of wood and some rails were too. Crossties, which had to be replaced every few years, consumed the most wood of all. When the system was growing fastest (1890s), it threatened to consume American forests (McNeil, 4644). The result of industrialization that we’ve seen more recently with a boom of large companies that produce large quantities of pollutants has effected many bodies of water around the world (Spohnholz, in class notes, September 8th). This problem loops back around to population. If we have a lot of unclean water that has been polluted from large manufactures, there will be a spike in people consuming this unhealthy water, and they might get sick and begin to diminish that will cause a dip in population, which will cause another flux in populations encouraging people to repopulate.