Population Growth & Environment

Overpopulation has huge impacts on the environment. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia. 

Many people think that Earth is so large that human activities couldn't possibly make much of an impact on the planet. But, human populations have expanded at a more than exponential rate. We are using more resources and producing more waste than ever before. This has impacts on the environment. 


Different environmental factors limit where populations can exist. Space, clean air, clean water, good soil and enough food to support a population are limiting factors in some locations. But, human ingenuity from advances in farming that has kept so many people alive. Technology has altered the impact that each individual human has on the environment, primarily because technology increases the use of resources. 


There are limiting factors for human population growth.  Some are short-term factors, creating apparent effects to the population within the same year the event occurs. Examples of such events include drought, natural hazards (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes) and disease. Immediate-term factors are those that produce noticeable effects within 1-10 years.  Examples include energy shortages that affect agriculture, desertification, and a decrease in the supplies of nonrenewable resources. Long-term factors are events that would not cause apparent effects until 10 years after the event occurred. Examples include soil erosion, loss of groundwater, and climate change (global warming).