Policy Speech
Channel: Colby Becker
Date: 14/04/2016

Title: More People, More Problems; and Time is Running Out 
Topic: Problems caused by overpopulation and ways to act upon and solve it. 
Introduction:  As our population of the world increases steadily and immensely, we encounter many problems with the environment. There are lots of bad effects on the ecological surroundings around us that are directly correlated to too much human population. The overpopulation of humans on Earth is posing lots of problems and issues with the environment, thus inevitably leading to a catastrophic population collapse. We as humans affect the atmosphere and climate and most importantly, are depleting our natural resource supply. The natural resources is especially a concern because they are not renewable for the most part, and some scientists are worried we may run out. There is a range of potential solutions from a one-child limit to simply cleaning up our actions and our footprint we are leaving behind, and  something definitely needs to be done about these effects on our environment by we who inhabit this Earth. Overpopulation is real thing, and it poses problems most people would not think of.

Body:
Overpopulation has effects on the quality of the air and atmosphere around us.
According to Dr. Glen Barry in his article, the Earth has lost an astonishing 80% of its original forests. This naturally severely cripples the oxygen supply and air quality. (Barry, 2014)
We have begun to affect all four of the major parts of what affects climate; the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. (Emmott, 2013)
We must change our actions very drastically, particularly consuming less.  (Emmott, 2013)
Overpopulation is not the cause alone of using up all of the valuable and non renewable resources, it's what everyone is doing with them and at what rate.
“Every additional person needs food, water and energy, and produces more waste and pollution”. (Walsh, 2011)
We consume way too much and are careless. (Walsh, 2011)
Thomas Malthus believed population grows “exponentially” but food production on the other hand, increases at the same constant rate, or “linearly”. (de Sherbinin, Cassels, Lopez-Carr, Lopez-Carr, Jiang, and Miller,  2014)
There are many potential solutions that have been proposed over the years, and some course of action needs to be taken. 
According to a study and figure proposed and theorized by Professors Corey Bradshaw and Barry Brook, even a mass death of many people, the population by 2100 will still remain relatively high. ( Bradshaw, Brook, 2014)
While the decreased fertility in women, or a child amount restriction such as what has been implemented by China, may eventually garner some results, it will not work quickly enough to sustain the environment. (Bradshaw, Brook, 2014)
The best possible solution is to work on finding ways to reduce our mark left on this earth and our depletion of nonrenewable resources. (Bradshaw, Brook, 2014)

Conclusion: Overpopulation is a real problem on Earth, and has begun to affect the environment all around us. This issue is strongly affecting our atmosphere and climate and we are rapidly draining our supply of natural resources. The world is suffering because of our enormous consumption and wasteful habits. We need to find a solution, or multiple solutions that will solve this dilemma. There are many propositions by professors and scholars to help slow or reduce population growth, such as the global one-child policy akin to what was adopted for years by China, or even that a mass mortality might help us in the long run. But overall, the main thing we need to limit is our wastefulness and “footprint” on the Earth. We are harming our planet, and we must reduce our footprint and take better care of this place where we live, if we wish to continue living here. 

References
Barry, G. (2014). On Overpopulation and Ecosystem Collapse. EcoInternet. http://ecointernet.org/2014/05/17/on-overpopulation-and-ecosystem-collapse/ 
 
Bradshaw, C. J. A., Brook, B. W. (2014). Human population reduction is not a quick fix for environmental problems. PNAS. http://www.pnas.org/content/111/46/16610.full#abstract-2 
 
de Sherbinin, A., Cassels, S., Lopez-Carr, A.,  Lopez-Carr, D.,  Jiang, L., Miller, K. M.  (2014). Population-environment theory and contemporary applications. The Encyclopedia of Earth. http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/537f8ed20cf2aafa2ccd987e/

Emmott, S. (2013) Humans: the real threat to life on Earth. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jun/30/stephen-emmott-ten-billion
 
Walsh, B. (2011) Why the real victim of overpopulation will be the environment. TIME. http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097720_2097782_2097814,00.html