The Earth Is Not Overpopulated

” I want to expand on this a little bit before I go into my argument. First, I must show that the Earth is not overcrowded. Second, I must show that the natural resources of Earth are not being depleted. There are three main things a human (and, in fact, any animal) requires. These are food, water, and shelter. With this in mind, the other natural resources aren't as imperative to human survival, so, by "natural resources", I'm only going to consider those three. Thus, I must also show that there is enough food, water, and materials needed to construct shelters on Earth for every human on Earth. Finally, I must show that the environment is not deteriorating. Assuming the natural resources humans need are not being necessarily consumed in greater rates they can be replaced (which I'll show in arguing the second point), environmental degradation is not necessary for human survival. All of it currently going on can simply be stopped. Thus, I don't need to show anything for the last point. II. OvercrowdingIf each person on Earth were given equally sized, distinct plots of land, each person would receive five acres of land. If each person on Earth were given equally sized, distinct plots of arable land, each person would receive a half acre of arable land. Thus, overcrowding is clearly not an issue. [1][2]III. ResourcesThe first resource is food. “According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2009a, 2009b) the world produces more than 1 1/2 times enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That’s already enough to feed 10 billion people, the world’s 2050 projected population peak. ” That’s three billion more people than there currently are on Earth, and even enough to cover the entire population when it peaks in 2050. [3]“In 1996 the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimated that the world was producing enough food to provide every man, woman and child with 2,700 calories a day, several hundred more than most adults are thought to need (around 2,100 a day). ” At today’s population levels, we could even have everyone eat at quantities comparable to the average American (although that’s not recommended). [4]The second resource is water. Clearly, we have more than enough water itself. The main problem is that most of it isn’t fresh, and the vast majority of the water that is fresh is trapped in glaciers. But we have already devised cost efficient methods such as desalinization to make ocean water fresh, and there are many plans that have been devised to melt glaciers. In these capacities, we have more than enough water to satiate the needs of every person on Earth. [5]“In 1900, estimated water withdrawals for all purposes were 56 cubic kilometers per year (km3/yr). Water use in the U. S. peaked in 1980 at over 610 km3/yr (Solley et al. , 1998), a tenfold increase in water withdrawals during a period when population increased by a factor of four. ” In other words, in the U. S. at least, the amount of additional freshwater withdrawn over the last 100 years or so is much greater than would be expected if increases matched population growth. This shows that we have the amount of freshwater necessary not only to sustain life, but to maintain a comfortable lifestyle as well. [6]The final resource is the materials needed for shelter. There is also clearly enough material needed for shelter, as the Earth currently has three trillion trees (that’s 3,000,000,000,000 trees) to make wood from. In addition, there are a myriad of other low cost materials such as brick and steel that shelter can be constructed from. It could even be argued (although I’m not sure where I’d get the sources to prove this) that we have enough standing, individual structures to house every person on Earth. [7]Other resources such as fuel to produce electricity, cloth to make clothes, and metal to make tools, while not necessary for human survival, are in such plentiful supply that they make the production of food and the processing of clean drinking water easier. We even have enough resources to make leisure and pleasure items out of. With all of this in mind, it is clear that the Earth has more than enough resources to provide for the needs, and at least some of the wants, of every person on Earth. In fact, we have so much that our resource production will still be sustainable during the population peak in 2050. Thus, we see that, in this regard, the Earth cannot be seen as overpopulated. ConclusionThe Earth has enough food, water, and materials for shelter for every person on Earth, and even for every one of the projected number of people on Earth during the population peak in 2050. Further, the Earth is clearly not overcrowded by any stretch of the imagination, as the Earth is more than large enough to give each person on Earth enough space. Therefore, there is no way the Earth can be considered overcrowded. Sources[1]: . https://www.cia.gov...[2]: . https://www.pop.org...[3]: . https://www.researchgate.net...[4]: . http://www.economist.com...[5]: . http://www.industrytap.com...[6]: . http://www.colorado.edu...[7]: . http://www.bbc.com...