NPG IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS OF OUR 2022 ESSAY SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST

NPG
July 11, 2022
Scholarship
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NPG is pleased to offer challenging contests as part of our mission to enlist a new generation of activists who will be focused on calling attention to the dangers of population growth. We send our thanks to all of our members and friends who have so generously contributed, as well as our appreciation for the tens of thousands of students who have competed in our contests. It is your support and participation that make this critical program possible!

2022 Topic
The 2000 United States Census counted a total U.S. population of 281.4 million people. In 2020, just twenty years later, the U.S. population stood at more than 331.4 million people. That increase of 50 million is roughly the population of New York state and Texas combined. Is this growth good or bad for the United States? Give 5 reasons to explain your answer.

Click on each name to view the text of the winning essay.

Award	Winner Name	School
$5,000 - The Donald W. Mann Memorial Scholarship for Population Studies	Harrison Hall	Liberty University
$2,500	Jadon Lau	Northwestern University
$1,500	Aaron Chan	Elon University
$1,500	Conner Daehler	Valparaiso University
$1,500	Yihan Deng	Georgetown University
$1,500	Matthew Doty	University of Notre Dame
$1,500	Najya Gause	Harvard College
$1,500	Lily Ogburn	Northwestern University
$1,000 The Michael Hanauer NPG Scholarship	Taylor Gollhofer	The University of Northern Colorado
$1,000	Shamona Joseph	University of Central Florida
$1,000	Ethan Pellicane	California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
$1,000	Roniel Rivera-Garcia	Iowa State University
$1,000	Maryanne Thomas	North Carolina State University

NPG

AMERICA’S NEW ENVIRONMENTAL DEBATE

NPG Awards $21,500 in Scholarships for 2022-2023 Academic Year

$5,000
Harrison Hall
Liberty University

Another hurricane wreaks havoc on the East coast. A haze fills the sky as multiple cities along the West coast reach an unhealthy air quality index. Twenty-three animals across nineteen states are declared extinct (Center). Disease spreads like wildfire and a staggering number of Americans die due to unavailable ICU beds. The signs of overpopulation across the United States are everywhere and choosing to ignore them now will result in a legacy of detrimental and potentially irreversible consequences. Advancement in medical technology, lack of family planning and immigration happening at a runaway pace are contributors to the skyrocketing population growth. In just twenty years (2000 to 2020), the US population increased by over 17%. In order to protect this nation from further harm, it is imperative that Americans turn the tide of the country’s increasing population.

Population growth negatively impacts the United States because it is a primary cause of:

Disease spread and lack of available medical care
Climate change
Air pollution
Biodiversity loss
Loss of green space

Overpopulation is deadly, as seen in recent history in the US. In over-populated areas communicable diseases spread more quickly. Such was the case in the early days of the coronavirus in New York City. Governor Andrew Cuomo, stated, “New York’s density makes it especially vulnerable to a respiratory disease pandemic (Rogers).” Subsequently, medical resources were not sufficient to serve the numbers of critically ill, resulting in avoidable deaths, a fact reported in a recent Yale study. This study showed a significant association between the number of hospital beds available in the first weeks of the COVID pandemic and the mortality rate (“Lack”).

Population growth increases harmful gasses from agriculture, industries and vehicles resulting in climate change and decreased air quality. Energy-saving technology has reduced per capita CO2 emissions, but emissions continue to rise due to population growth in our country and even more so due to immigrants entering the country. A staggering number of immigrants, often illegal, come to America from countries with very low per capita CO2. They enter the United States, one of the highest per capita carbon producing nations in the world. As such, once in the United States, they themselves greatly increase the amount of carbon they produce. The decline in air quality, relative to the increase in population, continues as cities grow without regulation (“Air”).

In addition to unclean air, the destruction of forests to make room for swarms of people hastens the vanishing of green spaces and of biodiversity loss. With it, Americans’ mental health suffers. According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, citizens who grew up with the least green space had as much as 55% increased risk of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse in later years (“Green”). As human activity continues to encroach on the natural environment, animal and plant species are pushed to extinction. The World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report indicates that 68% of all vertebrate wildlife populations have been lost since 1970 (“Living”) and in that time the human population has more than doubled.

There are potential solutions to the issue of overpopulation and the problems it creates. Educating youth about family planning, focusing on limiting climate change and use of renewable energy are a start. However, none of these will be effective enough without a massive reduction in immigration. If we are to begin solving these problems, the rise in the number of people in the US must be critically addressed. Population growth must come to a halt so that this country can continue to be great for centuries to come.

$2,500
Jadon Lau
Northwestern University

A Bright, Sustainable Future

While a thriving country often has a growing population to match it, excessive growth has detrimental impacts to various facets of American life. Currently, the U.S is on track to reach over 400 million people in the next forty years (Statistia). This will put unprecedented strain on America’s economy, transportation systems, environment, infrastructure, and people.

From supersized soda sizes to yearly iPhone releases, America’s economy is built on the idea “More is Better”; however, the recent population increase is doing more harm than good. A population that exceeds the necessary workforce leaves many unemployed and underpaid. This, in turn, strains the economy as the government is pushed to give handouts rather than using that money for progressive causes. Many states are already facing the harsh realities of an uncontrolled population. California, for example, has the highest state GDP but sustains the greatest homeless population at over 150,000 people (World Population Review). The U.S owes it to its citizens to give them a life worth living opposed to a life in musty tents on littered streets.

The growing population also impacts the daily commute of Americans. State and federal governments are already spending half or more of their budget on road infrastructure, yet commute times still rob many people of many crucial hours that can be spent away from the wheel (U.S. Pirg). According to the U.S Census Bureau, the average one way commute time to work is 28 minutes, with longer times in major metro areas (U.S Census Bureau). An hour taken from every working citizen results in a huge loss of productivity. Clearly, the solution does not exist in increased spending towards road expansion, but rather in solutions to negate the uncontrolled population growth.

Supporting an exponentially growing population with finite resources is economically infeasible, and research has shown that the U.S can only support around 150 million people–less than half its current amount. This puts much strain on America’s agricultural institutions. Deforestation for farms destroys the habitats of indigenous animals. Excrement from animals releases harmful pollutants into the soil, water, and atmosphere (Footprint). Americans are already the second-highest meat consumers in the world, and with an increasing population, the demand for meat will only rise (Sentient Media). This further exacerbates the pressing environmental issues that will cause irreversible damage in the long run.

America’s infrastructure is also struggling to accommodate the massive population. Much of the current infrastructure was built in the 1960s, when the U.S population was half of its current size. With the current population, congestion is causing billions of dollars in economic waste. For example, air traffic congestion is estimated to cause $120 billion per year, and other infrastructure continues to provide suboptimal conditions for the large population (CFR).

Finally, as a result of the growing population, it is the very citizens that go through the most difficulty. With something as recent as the COVID-19 pandemic, our oversized population flooded hospitals to the point where many people had to wait hours to days to get a bed. There are simply not enough resources to accommodate the needs of every individual, leading to decreased satisfaction. Indeed, according to the World Population Review, the U.S ranks nineteenth in overall happiness (World Population Review). To add, in 2022, only 38% of Americans were satisfied with the state of the country–an all time low (Gallup). Controlling America’s population may appear to be taking steps backwards, but really, it is the only ethical way forwards. We owe it to the next generation to create a sustainable environment worth living in.

$1,500
Aaron Chan
Elon University

Saving America The Beautiful

“O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!”

~Katherine Lee Bates

The idea of America as a land of inexhaustible bounty has long been part of its national identity. An immeasurably rich continent, stretching “from sea to shining sea,” how could it ever be depleted?

However, a look at reality quickly shatters this beautiful dream. In order for a nation to be ecologically sustainable, its biocapacity, or total natural productive capacity, must not fall below its ecological footprint. The United States crossed that line in 2015 (“State of the States”), and the situation has not improved since.

This crisis can be attributed to steep population growth increasing demands on natural resources. Since 2000, the population of the U.S. has lurched upward by 50 million. This growth strains the resources of an already-strained continent, and exacerbates a host of other problems.

Take for example, the increase in pollution. Despite 40 years of innovation improving the efficiency of all technology, making car engines 20% more efficient (Nally), and light sources save 90% more energy (“10 Advantages”), U.S. CO2 emissions and energy consumption still rose by 11% and 19% respectively since 1980 (“Air Quality-National Summary”). This increase is due to America’s burgeoning population growing total demands for energy, not just erasing, but reversing emissions savings made by technology. In an era of climate crisis, growing America’s population hinders our efforts to save the planet.

Population growth also encroaches on natural habitats, turning up extinctionary pressure on species across the continent. Scientists estimate that a third of all U.S. species risk extinction, amounting to more than 8,500 plant and animal species (Tolmè). Halting humanity’s rapid growth and expansion into their habitats would give many endangered species a chance to survive, presenting a chance to save America’s rich biodiversity.

Additionally, an increasing population also exacerbates a stinky problem—the problem of overflowing landfills for our waste. On average across the U.S., a mere 14 years of landfill capacity remain (“Time is Running Out”). To accommodate demand, governments will have to set aside enormous new tracts of land to deposit trash, displacing wildlife, taking away space from housing or agriculture, and further covering our beautiful nation in mountains of garbage. Reducing American population growth would reduce the amount of waste generated, making the issue easier to deal with.

Most ominously of all, population growth could beget even more population growth. The 18th century English economist Thomas Malthus noted that population does not grow in a straight line, but has the potential to increase geometrically (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc), becoming overwhelmingly large in just a few generations (“15.2 Population”). If growth is already straining the resources and ecology of the U.S. today, without decisive action to reverse it, we could face an exponentially larger problem in the near future.

Fortunately, Malthus’ predictions have not come true in America so far. Fertility rates have decreased year by year, dropping the U.S. annual population growth to a historic low of 0.1% last year (Rogers). While this averts the dire consequences of runaway growth, we should not take this respite for granted. The historic first of an almost static U.S. population gives us a golden opportunity to reverse all the damage growth has wrought, a chance to decrease strain on natural resources through sustainable habits, to cut emissions with more efficient technology, to bring back our disappearing biodiversity, and tackle the problem of overflowing landfills. The road ahead is long and difficult, but with rising national awareness of the issues, cooperation, effort, and a little luck, America the Beautiful will remain for future generations to live in and love.

$1,500
Conner Daehler
Valparaiso University

As war continues to rage on in Europe, the stark reminder of savagery and brutality is shown across millions of televisions throughout the nation. Yet it’s not just on the television that reminders of this war are felt. Every day, Americans turn to the gas pumps and see prices sit at record highs. Grocery stores see prices slowly creep upwards. And on top of this, record inflation continues in our nation. While these effects are painful, they are dulled by thousands of miles of land and ocean. The population crisis, however, is occurring right in our own backyard. We will not experience the same luxury of distance dulling its pain. From rising prices of goods and services, to the depletion of our natural resources, the population crisis in America will have consequences that cannot be ignored.

With our limited natural resources being used at startling rates, population growth is only increasing the difficulty we face in preserving our most strategic resources. Every day in the US, nearly 19.78 million barrels, 1.31 million tons of coal, and 85 billion cubic feet of gas are consumed (EIA). The University of Stanford has calculated that at these current rates, US oil reserves will run out by 2052, gas reserves by 2060, and coal reserves by 2090. And an increasing population will only hasten this pace. Resources so vital to our nation must be protected and preserved for generations to come.

Additionally, our environment continues to feel the pain of population growth. A 1% increase in population results in a 1.28% increase in global pollution (IUSSP). With the US population expected to grow to 404 million (nearly 20%) by 2060, the environmental impact would be devastating. Following the UN model of climate change, to avoid the most devastating impact of climate change, net-zero emissions must be reached by 2050. Yet just from population growth, emissions are projected to grow by 30%. While President Joe Biden creates ambitious plans to uphold the UN pledge, population growth fights him every step of the way.

And it’s not just catastrophic climate change that we need to worry about. Even simply feeding people is a growing concern. Farmland with a quality deemed “Superior” by the Department of Agriculture in the US has decreased by over 11 million acres Dempsey). With 11.8% of Americans already at threat of food insecurity, this number is only likely to grow (FRAC). Especially in a first world country, this is a startling reality. America may have enough food now, but with farmable land decreasing and population increasing, we are at threat. Action must be taken.

One basic human right at threat should already be enough to quickly act, yet nutrition is not the only right at threat. Increased urbanization threatens our most basic need of shelter. Average house prices for rural homes hovered near 170k, while in suburban and urban areas it was nearly 40% higher at 270k. This problem gets even worse in the most urbanized areas of the US, where for example in San Francisco housing prices were over 900k and average rent was nearly 4,000 a month (Zillow). With a 20% increase in housing prices in just the last year, and urbanization only accelerating with our increasing population, the American dream of owning a house is quickly becoming a fantasy.

The population in the US has ballooned by millions in just the past few decades. And with this trend projected to continue, we must find a way to preserve the quality of life we have in this great nation.

$1,500
Yihan Deng
Georgetown University

The United States’ demand for resources is second to none. In hectares of productive natural land used annually per capita, Americans’ consumption outstrips most developed countries by up to seventy percent. Therefore, increases in the U.S. population pose a greater risk to sustainable development than any other sizable nation in the world. Considering the dramatic expansion of the American population over the past two decades – from 281.4 million in 2000 to 331.4 million in 2020 – the need to limit further population growth is more urgent than ever.

Every birth in the United States adds twenty times more carbon dioxide to a parent’s carbon footprint than a lifetime of automobile and fossil fuel use. Births since 2000 represent twelve percent of annual American emissions, exacerbating the global effects of climate change and contributing directly to climate stress in the United States.

For instance, rising temperatures in the American Southwest have produced the region’s worst megadrought in over a thousand years, evaporating critical freshwater reserves such as the Colorado River and Lake Mead. However, Southwestern states also have some of the fastest-growing populations in the country (Henderson). The increasing demand places an impossible burden on water supplies, costing agriculture, electricity, and other water-intensive sectors up to 1.3 billion dollars annually. Researchers predict nearly half of freshwater basins across the country will fail to meet demand by 2071, so with the population projected to reach 500 million by 2100, shrinking water supplies will only be spread thinner.

A similar phenomenon holds true for waste production. Americans burned 34.6 million tons of waste in 2018 and sent 146.1 million more to landfills, contaminating ecosystems, producing greenhouse gases, and causing serious health issues in surrounding communities. Meanwhile, the annual volume of waste produced in the U.S. increased from 243.5 million tons in 2000 to 292.4 million tons in 2018 despite the per capita rate of production remaining constant. Due to population growth, toxic waste pollution will continue to worsen.

Moreover, population growth has forced an unsustainable rate of housing construction. Since 2000, over 21 million homes have been built to accommodate new residents. Worryingly, urban sprawl has destroyed 24 million acres of natural habitat and 11 million acres of farmland since 2000. It also encourages wasteful automobile use, increases energy consumption, and worsens health outcomes through air and water pollution. As cities expand, overpopulation threatens to entirely undermine green housing.

Most alarmingly, the worst consequence of population growth has already come to pass: the rapid spread of diseases such as COVID-19. With Americans flocking to cities, the United States’ average population density has increased from 79.7 people per square mile in 2000 to 93.8 in 2020. Because population density is the best natural predictor of COVID transmission, it is unsurprising that the Omicron strain of coronavirus has resurged most violently in New York City and New Jersey, among the most densely populated places in the country. As the growing population continues to urbanize, the spread of infectious diseases will only accelerate.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the nation to confront the immediate difficulties of population growth, overpopulation endangers ecology, human health, and economic well-being now and far into the future. At the current rate of growth, the population crisis will continue to worsen. The United States can only provide a safe, secure, and sustainable future for so many before it becomes lost for all.

$1,500
Matthew Doty
University of Notre Dame

Growth is commonly considered a good thing. Yet, ever-increasing size does not always result in desirable outcomes. For example, algae are critical to maintaining the ecological balance of marine life in bays, lakes, and coastal waters. However, when algal growth is unrestricted, their exponential growth suffocates and destroys marine ecosystems. Similarly, population growth strains the supply of resources necessary for quality human life and creates conditions that risk societal unrest.

Over the past 20 years, the United States population increased by over 50 million people. Those persons require access to potable water. However, the amount of freshwater on Earth is finite and diminishing worldwide. The increased US population over the past 20 years requires an additional 50 million gallons, or the equivalent of draining 2.5 average size freshwater lakes, each day. Some might argue that a sufficient supply remains even with these increased demands; however, a 2014 study found that 40 states anticipate freshwater shortages in the next decade. While water recycles, it does not necessarily return in the same condition or to the same place. Consequently, increased population accelerates the competition for this already diminishing yet necessary resource.

The increased population likewise requires food. Recent studies show that between 1 to 3 acres of arable land are needed to feed a person for one year. However, there are only 1.2 acres of arable land per person in the US, and due to desertification and urban sprawl, that ratio is decreasing. These data indicate that the US is on the brink of no longer being food self-sufficient. Worse, so is the world. Critics might suggest that food production could become more efficient; however, present-day methods of increasing efficiencies require more fossil fuels and more water, both of which are in diminishing supply. Thus, the increased population again accelerates the competition for a resource needed for survival.

More people require more energy, generate more waste, and produce more pollution. Energy production, whether renewable or not, uses finite resources. The extraction processes of the needed raw materials contribute to pollution and habitat loss. Air pollution resulting from energy demand is directly linked to respiratory diseases, heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer, diminishing public health. Moreover, land waste generated by individuals gathers in waterways and streams. The accumulated waste hinders access to and affects the potability of water. Plastic debris found in US fisheries jeopardizes access to marine food sources, 80% of which originate from land waste. In this way, population growth leads to greater energy demands and more pollution, which threaten the health and quality of life for all people.

On average, the carbon footprint for US citizens in 2016 was 15.2 tons of CO2 per year. Scientists largely agree that to avoid climate-driven catastrophic effects on water supply, food supply, and public health, the average carbon emissions from the world’s population must be less than 2.3 tons of CO2 per year by 2030. The task of reducing the US carbon footprint is formidable. Each additional person makes it that much more difficult. The concomitant increase in carbon footprint with a growing population accelerates the potential of desertification, famine, and disease.

Water, food, health, and a livable environment are basic human needs. When needs are poorly met, quality of life decreases. When needs are not met, civil unrest is the typical outcome. Continued population growth will threaten our quality of life, will threaten fundamental needs, and is likely to eventually lead to conflict as people compete in a struggle for survival. The real possibility of these outcomes of population growth overshadows any hypothetical economic benefit.

$1,500
Najya Gause
Harvard College

The population of the United States has grown by 50 million people in 20 years. Population growth of this size was once unimaginable, but today, is steadily increasing. That is 50 million more mouths to feed, jobs to find, and ecological footprints being created. 50 million too many! In this essay, I will argue that the population growth experienced in the US in the last two decades has had a negative impact on its environment, economy, and the overall quality of life of the American people.

The first negative effect of population growth is the degradation of the environment. A growing population means that more food supply is needed, and the solutions to this problem are often harmful. For example, more intense farming requires “mechanization, pesticides and chemical fertilizers” all of which can cause soil erosion (LeBlanc). The agricultural runoff from excess fertilizers lead to eutrophication, causing dead zones in bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico (Callihan).

Next, the depletion of natural resources. A once infinite world is now becoming finite. Resources are being depleted at a higher rate than they can be replenished. Although 71% of the Earth is water, only 0.3% of that water is potable (Mullen). That 0.3% is becoming depleted, as evidenced in the water shortages in the summer of 2021 where many national governments had to enforce water consumption policies. Lake Mead, the largest water reservoir in the US, reached a record low at 200 feet below normal (Burlig). If humans continue to drink more water than available to us, one day, it will run out.

Thirdly, the negative impact on the US economy. More people in the country means that the government has to spend more money on infrastructure, education, and health care – systems that arguably do not currently operate effectively (Doyle). For a country that is already over $30 billion dollars in debt, this proves difficult (“U.S. National Debt”). This growing debt will have detrimental impacts on future generations. Population growth also leads to growth in the labor force. The US does not have enough jobs to account for this growth, supported by the 5.6% increase in unemployment between 2000 and 2010 (“U.S.: Annual Unemployment”).

Additionally, an increase in American poverty. When the economy is in decline and the population is growing, more people are pushed into poverty. Living in poverty is defined as being unable to “meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter”, and is something no American should ever have to experience (“Absolute Poverty”). Typically, poverty breeds more poverty due to a greater number of children in impoverished homes and the effects of the poverty cycle. This is evidenced by the 2.8% increase in poverty in the US between the years of 2000 and 2010 (“U.S. Poverty Rate”).

Finally, an increase in disasters such as pandemics. The combination of population growth and the aforementioned increase in poverty unavoidably leads to dense, unhygienic populations with little to no health care. This becomes a breeding ground for new infectious diseases, as well as the emergence of pandemics and epidemics (Rinkesh). The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a perfect example. As of April 7th, 2022, the US has suffered almost one million COVID related deaths (CDC).

50 million people is a big number and population size of some countries – but the negative impacts of that population growth on the United States is even bigger. The world is, effectively, dying from environmental and economic crises. Our primary focus should be bringing it back to life rather than increasing the burden that is humanity. Future generations deserve to live in a world as beautiful as the one we were born into without exceptional population growth.

$1,500
Lily Ogburn
Northwestern University

In 1969, President Richard Nixon warned that population growth would be “one of the most serious challenges to human destiny.” His message fell on deaf ears. Now, over 50 years later, America stands at a population of more than 331 million people: a massive increase from 1970’s 205.1 million. Population growth has become a threat to both the environment and the economic well-being of the American people.

As the U.S. population increases, the environment is pressured to sustain that expansion. U.S. farms are strained; an increasing demand for food, both crops and livestock, requires land. This need for space has decided the fate of ecosystems across the country; thousands of habitats are destroyed to create farmlands. In 2020, the United States lost 1.59 million hectares of its natural forests, due in great part to agricultural expansion. Population growth has become one of the greatest contributors to the loss of natural environments in the U.S.

The growing population has also contributed to America’s rampant pollution problem. From consuming electricity to driving a car, carbon dioxide is released in various ways at alarming rates in the U.S. In 2020 alone, the U.S. produced about 68 million tons of pollution. These high rates of contamination are caused by more than the over-usage of fossil fuels; the increase in population has dramatically contributed to this problem. The average carbon footprint of a person in the United States is about 16 tons, and as the number of people living in the United States grows, so does the country’s overall carbon output.

The strain on the agricultural sector and pollution contribute to another problem: the loss of biodiversity in the U.S. As pollutants seep into America’s few remaining natural environments, habitats are destroyed and species are lost. Humans have named fewer than 1.4 million of the estimated 5 to 30 million species in the world; but as mankind pollutes and destroys habitats and ecosystems, it forces both known and unknown species to extinction. Deforestation and waste pollution have negatively affected America’s biodiversity, caused mainly by the increased use of resources required by a growing population.

Beyond environmental detriment, the population boom within the past 20 years has given rise to more poverty in the United States. Poverty has accelerated quickly over the last 20 years; from 2000 to 2012, the poverty rate jumped from 12.2% to 15.9%. As population dramatically expands, especially in urban areas, the lack of land and resources to sustain the community results in homelessness and poverty. As prices for housing increase due to population expansion, millions of Americans are forced onto the streets. Population growth contributes to the already dire poverty situation in America.

Population increases often result in a divided society because resources are not unlimited. In the United States, despite the fact that per capita income growth is increasing, the number of people living in poverty has increased from 31.1 million people in 2000 to 37.2 million people in 2020. From 1979 to 2019, the middle class decreased from 61% to 51% of the population, showing that as the number of U.S. habitants has grown, the wealth gap has widened and the middle class has shrunken. Poverty has boomed, just as the U.S. population has; as a result, the country has become more economically divided than ever.

The population boom within the United States negatively affects our environment and significantly contributes to poverty. These consequences will only become more severe as time goes on and growth continues. Action must be taken to stabilize population growth to protect the well-being of both the environment and the inhabitants of the U.S.

$1,000
Taylor Gollhofer
The University of Northern Colorado

I used to believe population growth was a good thing. More people meant more brains for ideas, more people engaged socially, and more hands to work. In high school I began to learn about Earth; more specifically about the problems created by rapid population growth. The 2000 United States Census showed a total U.S. population of 281.4 million people. In 2020, the U.S. population shot up to 331.4 million people. This rapid growth rate has led to five issues; Farming pressure, Eutrophication, Deforestation, Freshwater scarcity, and Global Warming.

The most obvious and easily understood impact of rapid population growth is the added pressure on food production. More people to feed does not mean more land to farm or raise livestock on. Therefore, the population has relied on technological advances to increase food production. In the article “The Environmental Impacts of Overpopulation” it states, “The yield of existing farmland can be increased through intensive farming to feed our rapidly growing population. This approach is characterized by reliance on mechanization, pesticides and chemical fertilizers.” (LeBlanc, 2021). Even with the ability to keep pace with the increase in population via technology, the negative impacts outweigh it.

Due to having to produce crops faster, “the agricultural runoff of excess fertilizers is one of the main causes of eutrophication” (LeBlanc, 2021). Eutrophication is an excess of nutrients in a body of water (often from farmland runoff) that leads to rapid and dense growth of plant life and death of animal life. Eutrophication is killing a food source in marine animal life and producing bottom-dwelling plant life that doesn’t provide any benefit.

More farming leads to eutrophication, but it also is “responsible for nearly 80% of global deforestation” (LeBlanc, 2021). Due to the high demand to produce food, there needs to be more land for crops to grow and livestock to live. Therefore, deforestation has increased. The process uses machinery to clear the land which creates even more greenhouse gases leading to greater global warming.

Fresh water is also a necessity. Considering most of the planet is covered in water, one would assume we have enough. However, “Only 2.5 percent of water resources are fresh water, and just a small fraction of that is available as unpolluted drinking water.” (LeBlanc, 2021). As the population grows, a greater amount of fresh water is needed. Current sources will not be able to handle the higher demand. Until we can efficiently desalinate saltwater, freshwater will be scarce.

Global warming is the biggest reason rapid population growth is bad. A larger population needs higher energy production. The greatest fuels for energy production are fossil fuels; oil, coal and natural gas. Use of these fossil fuels creates greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases encircle the globe and trap in the heat from the sun, thus causing global warming. Higher population leads to greater fossil fuel usage and higher global warming. Even though there is a larger concentration on renewable energy sources, our dependency on fossil fuels is still too great.

When talking about the growth of population in the United States, we have to look at true, destructive effects. On a day-to-day basis, we may not feel the effects, but when viewed on a global scale, they become more obvious. The added pressure on providing for more people has put too much pressure on food production leading to eutrophication and mass deforestation. In addition, it leads to a greater scarcity of freshwater and faster global warming. It must be recognized that the pace of population growth is creating a much more dire future.

$1,000
Shamona Joseph
University of Central Florida

What would the average American write if you asked them to list the top ten issues facing the country? Some common answers would be income inequality, the cost of healthcare, or the national debt. Overpopulation would probably not make the list. Most Americans mistakenly think overpopulation is not an issue because the United States is the world’s biggest economy and can supply everything they need. However, the United States does not have infinite resources to sustain our current growth and consumption. As a member of Generation Z, our country’s future deeply worries me. Ultimately, we’ll be the ones to endure the damage caused by overpopulation. According to Census.gov, in 2000, the U.S. had 281.4 million people. By 2020, that figure rose to 331.4 million, an increase of 50 million! Economists advocate the economic benefits of this boom for the nation, but they overlook the realities. This rapid growth is not good for this country for five reasons: increased greenhouse gases, rising living costs, increased waste, degradation of the environment, and the scarcity of water.

First, a booming populace releases large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases contribute to the warming of our planet by trapping heat. This results in rising temperatures that worsen climate change. Carbon Dioxide constitutes a majority of these gases. Currently, our country is the second-largest emitter of CO2 overall and ranked 13th per capita (world). Our CO2 levels have risen over the past 20 years and reached a peak in 2007 (Statista). The energy and transportation sectors are the two largest sources of emissions. In the U.S., energy consumption peaked in 2018 after steadily increasing since 2000. As more people are born and families expand, the greater the demand for energy and transportation. Moreover, the number of registered vehicles in the U.S. in 2020 was 275 million (Statista) and 88% of Americans owned a car in 2015 (Bloomberg).

Furthermore, the cost-of-living increases as society expands. With more mouths to feed, the demand for food and other necessities increases. The greater the demand, the smaller the supply, and simple economics predicts prices will rise. Food prices have been hiked since 2017, but the pandemic has sent prices soaring (trading). Despite record home prices, wages have stagnated for years, and people are paying more for less. I live in Polk County, which is the fastest-growing county in Florida. It ranked 7th nationally in terms of growth. With an influx of people, comes a shortage of houses. The median price of a home here trended up 30.7% annually.

Our nation produces the most Municipal Solid Waste in the world, but we think little about where it goes. Most Americans take the “out of sight, out of mind” approach to waste. In 2018, our total MSW output reached a high of 292 million tons, with 69 million recycled.

America is a beautiful country, but our growth threatens the environment. Smog is choking our cities, our water is tainted, and air quality is deteriorating. We’ve lost 36 million trees in the U.S. from 2009 to 2014 from deforestation. Additionally, 1,600 of the 200,000 species of wildlife that call our country home receive government protection.

Lastly, due to overpopulation, our lakes are shrinking. America’s west is drying up; Lake Mead and Lake Powell are shrinking, so there is a shortage of desperately needed water. The Great Salt Lake is inches away from a 58-year low.

In conclusion, the U.S. must slow down and think about how to reverse course on our explosive growth. Our local and national leaders must heed these consequences to ensure a brighter future for generations.

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Ethan Pellicane
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

The unprecedented and explosive population growth of the United States has had decidedly negative effects upon our nation. This growth has caused a massive development of natural land, increased the cost of living, and has put unsustainable strains on agriculture, natural energy sources, and even our water. For these reasons, our population growth threatens both the lives of the millions of Americans living today, but also those of future generations to come.

First, rapid population expansion has caused widespread development of natural land.

According to Glen Colton of Treasure Coast Newspapers, since the early 1980s “developers have paved 40 million acres of forests and fields – an area the size of New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey combined.” The result? The destruction of agricultural land, natural habitats and entire ecosystems.

Additionally, population growth has caused increased cost of living. One example of this is America’s housing market. Population growth has caused unprecedented demand for housing, which in turn has created a historically expensive market. While there are large fluctuations, the trend for the cost of housing has been strongly positive, even when other causes such as inflation are taken into account. This phenomena of increased demand due to a larger population can be linked to similar cost increases in several other sectors. Simply put, an increased population has made it harder and more expensive for Americans to live.

Third, the rapidly growing population strains American agriculture. This trend is caused by two things: the need to feed the growing population, as well as the destruction of agricultural lands, as mentioned earlier. As the American population continues to grow, the country needs to produce more and more food from less and less land. Doing this would be unsustainable, as farmers would be forced to rely heavily on polluting pesticides and fertilizers in order to obtain sufficient crop yields. More likely, however, this task of feeding America may prove to be impossible.

Furthermore, population growth has caused an unsustainable level of exploitation of natural energy. The United States’ total energy consumption has nearly tripled since the year 1950, and the vast majority of that energy (79%) comes from fossil fuels. These sources of energy are non-renewable, and it is becoming clear that at current levels of consumption, America as well as the world at large may run dry very soon. Indeed, coal is projected to run out in 70 years, natural gas in 40, and oil in just 30 years.

Lastly, the population growth in America threatens perhaps the most vital of all resources: water. A study conducted in early 2019 found that because of the growing population as well as climate change, America may face “serious challenges” in its water supply in less than 50 years. According to the researchers, “as population growth plus the changing climate alter water yield and demand, shortages are projected to increase substantially.” If these shortages would come to pass, it could threaten the very lives of millions of Americans.

America’s population growth has had tragic implications for the nation’s present and future state. The growing population has destroyed millions of acres of nature, increased the cost of living, and threatened our food, energy, and water supply. In the status quo and looking into the future, a rising population has threatened Americans’ basic necessities. If the problems caused by this are not addressed, they may come to define the future of our nation.

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Roniel Rivera-Garcia
Iowa State University

When are we going to stop?

We have repeatedly heard this phrase in the last few years: “This is the first time this has happened since…”. More than ever, now we are living events that bring us problems for which we have no solutions. Our lives are changing; we need more energy, more food, more resources, and more space every day. Unfortunately, those are not infinite, and we will run out of them at some point, even more so when the demand for them is greater because we are more every day.

The number of people born each day is twice the number of people who die, representing an increase of 0.000022% to the Mundial population each day. This population growth means a risk to our country and our planet. The first reason it is bad for the United States and the world is global warming. Global warming affects many areas in our lives, and now we are seeing more extreme natural catastrophes than ever. We have seen powerful hurricanes, strong earthquakes, big fires, melting of the poles (rising sea levels), etc. Global warming is an extensive term, but in short, due to global warming (caused by population growth), we are experiencing a series of natural events that are seriously affecting us.

The second reason is the waste produced by humans. It was a miracle when we could use our resources to create products for our use for the first time, and it was a technological advance that helped us continue to develop as a civilization. However, we have reached the point that we do not know what to do with our garbage, and our planet is no longer enough. An example of this is the Great Pacific garbage patch, an “island” made entirely of garbage.

The third reason is the non-renewable resources. Our country has become dependent on non-renewable resources. Although there are projects to develop energy and products based on renewable materials, still most of the products and fuels we use come from non-renewable sources. The problem with them is that they are finite; we cannot have more when they run out. We have always needed the energy to survive, but nowadays, we are dependent on energy due to technological advances. Each average home uses twice as much electricity as home did 20 or 30 years ago, and our consumption is expected to increase. How will we produce so much energy if our resources are running out?

The fourth reason is the food, and the fifth reason is the water. Food and water are our “fuel” as humans, and without them, we cannot live. In the past, the mechanization of agriculture gives a pass to population growth, but now population growth is a challenge for agriculture. Traditional agriculture can no longer satisfy the food demand of all inhabitants. Agriculture has had to develop to produce more efficiently, on larger scales, and under more climatic conditions. However, we are getting to the point that even if we plant all the agricultural lands, we still could not meet the demand for food. The best example is the US territory, Puerto Rico, where it could only feed 70% of its population even if it planted all its agricultural land. Lastly, water is an essential factor in our lives, and due to industrialization, global warming, human waste, non-renewable resources extraction, and bad agricultural practices, potable water is in danger. The more people there are on earth, the more contamination we will have, and unfortunately, that contamination ends up in the water. Despite these problems, we have not shown any sign of stopping. When are we going to stop?

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Maryanne Thomas
North Carolina State University

Around the turn of the 19th century, Thomas Malthus challenged the common idea of philosophers of that time: the notion that mankind was bound to succeed, and the world would evolve into a perfect utopia. In his lifetime, he wrote countless works centering on population growth. Instead of our world evolving into perfection, he countered that it would suffer from the effects of overpopulation. Although not correct in all of his prognostications, the idea that rapid population increase produces negative side effects is not far from the truth (Kagan). In the United States, the population has grown by 176 million since 1950––and although often overlooked, this increasing growth has negatively impacted housing, education, medical care, traffic congestion, and habitat destruction (“U.S. Population Growth”).

The first main issue with population growth in the United States is the affect that it has on housing. As people move into urban centers, housing demand rises. In North Carolina, housing has increased 8.8% in the past decade. Population has increased 9.5%, which has created a housing shortage, resulting in higher housing prices (Constantine). Even this slight outpace of growth has created issues, causing a scarcity of affordable housing.

Next, population growth has negatively impacted education. Schools have become severely overcrowded, which has created a myriad of problems such as student safety during school drop off and pick up, difficulty fitting the students in the classrooms, and higher student-teacher ratios. The 2011 Brookings Institute found that twenty four states are in desperate need of class size reduction; however, it costs around twelve billion dollars per year in teachers’ salaries to lower the national class average by even one student (“Preventing Overcrowding”).

Medical care spending in America has also been significantly affected by rapid population growth. A statistic reveals that “increases in the US population size were associated with a 23.1% or a 269.5 billion spending increase” (Masterson). Not only does increasing population cause greater spread of disease, it also results in a higher need of general medical care that strains the health system. In Texas, for example, it has been estimated that the population will grow to 45 million by 2040, and unless something changes, the ratio between citizens and medical care workers will not be adequate (Brown).

Rapid population growth in the United States has additionally affected traffic congestion, which negatively impacts personal stress and the environment. A study conducted in Massachusetts in 2017 shows that the average worker in Boston spends eighty hours a year stuck in traffic compared to 31 hours of traffic annually in 1982 (Beaudet). With population surging, this is bound to increase even more.

Another negative consequence that has arisen is habitat destruction. In the United States, over forty million acres of fields and forests have been paved into roads, sidewalks, and structural foundations (Colten). Uprooting habitats results in a decrease of species and biodiversity, negatively impacting the necessary interactions between organisms required for a healthy ecosystem (“Population Growth”). Once bountiful, thriving habitats for plants and animals, they are now being converted from lush forests to concrete to fulfill the “American Dream.”

President Richard Nixon once said “One of the most serious challenges to human destiny…will be the growth of the population…Whether man’s last response to that challenge will be a cause for pride or despair in the year 2000 will depend very much on what we do today” (Chamie). Nixon’s words are a perfect summary of the attitude that we must hold: We as citizens must work hard together to solve these issues now, or we risk living in a dystopian future that could have likely been avoided.