Essay on "Social Problems 8489 Three"

Essay 10 pages (3206 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Social Problems 8489

Three Problems in the United States of America which are derived from Population Growth

Whenever there is a discussion regarding population issues, a majority of people talk about Africa and Asia. However, it is necessary to understand that the United States of America is also challenged with this significant problem of negative population growth. According to the observers, population growth in USA is not only damaging the planet and causing resources' depletion but the Americans (more or less 275 million in number) are creating a massive impact on environment as compared to the Chinese or Indians who have crossed the bar of billion. If truth be told, despite the fact that America is the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world; its inhabitants are faced with the same declination in life quality that other people in less developed countries are facing due to uncontrolled population growth ("Does the U.S. Have a Population Problem?").

There are a number of problems that have developed due to the population growth in the United States of America. The national immigration policies by the American government are considered as one of the basic factors behind the rising problem of population growth. According to the opponents of these policies, the American jobs are being outnumbered as foreigners are continuously migrating and taking up the jobs that are first deserved by the natives of the country. In addition, the immigration policies are creating a burden on the economic conditions thereby increasing social needs. This is the reason why economists suggest that the United States of America must take immediate steps to deal with the push and pull factors that oblige resettlement (immigration) including scarcity of resources, joblessness, financial imbalance and societal inconsistency. If the causes and context are put aside, it is crystal clear that immigration is unmistakably responsible for a major fraction of the overall ecological impact in the United States of America due to population growth ("Does the U.S. Have a Population Problem?").

As far as the economic policies of America are concerned, they also contribute in increasing the snowballing impacts on environment, owing to the haphazard population growth. One of the major environmental problems is that of deforestation that has been created by the rising demand for forest products as well as more space for urbanization and agriculture. The groundwater supplies are replenished by trees and vegetation. They also facilitate in the reduction of runoff. However, human beings are cutting down trees continuously so that there could be more area for fresh, arable farmland. As a consequence, deforestation is responsible for making rainfall lessen. This results in fewer opportunities for irrigation and less growth of crops. Thus, the natural cycle of trees' growth is easily disturbed by deforesting a land and then not reforesting it (Cincotta & Engelman, 1997). Same is the case in American land where population growth demands more land and thus deforestation is occurring on a large scale.

Both economists and environmentalists have accepted the fact that population growth in United States of America has imbalanced the renewable natural resources' production as well as the supply of environmental services. It has been also noted that the ways of life and consumption patterns largely verify the degree of resource utilization, waste production and ecological damage. In the case of United States of America, the respective citizens use "25% of all oil, 23% of all coal, and 27% of all aluminum" ("Does the U.S. Have a Population Problem?"). In addition to this, about 1/3 of total paper is being consumed by Americans. The same people also generate almost ae of the toxic waste in the world. To cut a long story short, the population growth in America has resulted in overconsumption of resources, waste generation and environmental damage more than what can be expected from their number ("Does the U.S. Have a Population Problem?").

Three Major Social Actions that might Help Overcome Environmental Problems

As consumers and citizens, the actions the individuals perform normally can result in negative consequences for the overall environment. Degradation of environment takes place through individual's responses in a variety of ways. These include consumption and production patterns that are adopted in response to the new circumstances. The search for the alternate source of income, resettling in other areas and collective action for the protection of the livelihoods as a group are other ways to do so. These individual responses can easily change social structures in the medium and long-term. Institutional change occurs when individuals change their consumption patterns, when the natural resource dependent people strengthen production, migrate or engage in other substitute new activities, and participate in social transformation in a broader way. Ecosystem degradation need instrumental changes such as behavioral and social responses which includes but does not limit to empowering communities, educating public, empowerment of women and youth and better responses from civil society. These are generally the involvements that stakeholders take and exercise through using their democratic rights in massive efforts in order to improve and advance the ecosystems and well being of humans ("8. What Options Exist to Manage Ecosystems Sustainably?").

Firstly, measures can be taken to reduce aggregate consumption of unsustainably managed ecosystem services. The choices of what and how much a consumer consumes are influenced mainly by the factor of price. But another very important factor is the behavioral factor which includes factors related to ethics and values, culture and behavior etc. Government can take measures and actions in order to reduce the demand of degraded ecosystem services. Government may focus on behavioral changes because that can reduce the demand. These measures can be educating individuals and consumers and conducting special awareness programs for the public and the promotion of demand-side management. Industry and civil society have to play their specific roles as well. Industry can improve product labeling and can commit to use raw materials from sustainable certified sources. Efforts to reduce consumption at the aggregate level can sometimes add in measures to increase the access of the ecosystem services by poor people and other specific groups ("8. What Options Exist to Manage Ecosystems Sustainably?").

Secondly, communication and education are other social responses towards a sustainable environment. There must be better and improved communication and education to accomplish the goal of the environmental conventions, the natural resources sustainable management and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Decision makers and the public can get the benefit from education concerning ecosystem and human well-being. However, tremendous social benefits are provided by education that helps to address many indirect drivers of the degradation of ecosystem. Modern theories of change and learning and not using research are the barriers to the effective use of education and communication. The importance of education and communication is well versed, providing the financial and human resource to take on successful work is a continuing barrier ("8. What Options Exist to Manage Ecosystems Sustainably?").

Thirdly, there must be empowerment of groups particularly dependent on ecosystem services or affected by their degradation, including women, indigenous people, and young people. Social and cultural structures are widely ignored and often restrict the participation in decision making of women, despite of their knowledge and potential about the environment. Young people are, in a way, the biggest stakeholders as they will surely experience the long-term results and consequences of decisions that are made today regarding the ecosystem services. Indigenous control of traditional sort of homelands is frequently presented as having benefits of environment by indigenous individuals and their support groups, although the human and cultural rights based justification continues ("8. What Options Exist to Manage Ecosystems Sustainably?").

Three Approaches that might be used to Solve Urban Problems

The first approach that can be taken to solve one of the biggest urban problem i.e. transport is to create a local or regional transport authority for supporting policy-making locally. It is not an untold secret that one of the biggest challenges that are being faced by the contemporary urbanized cities is that of urban transport due to a number of reasons. Therefore, it is exceedingly necessary for the authorities to get this challenge addressed. For this reason, they must develop an incorporated transport authority so that consistent policies can be made certain concerning every one of the diverse stakeholders. This is because urban transport issues can only be resolved when the transport actors are ready to work in unison with each other with a cooperative approach. Without a doubt, setting up and developing a transport network and arranging money for its infrastructure should be completed in a consistent manner. Only then can a project is ended. This approach is important for the reason that the traffic and public transport regulation can turn out to be difficult to stabilize if they are done independently as actions done by one administration can be very diverse as compared to the actions done by a different administration ("Better Urban Mobility in Developing Countries," 2003).

The second approach is to have control over urbanization to convenient levels by planning… READ MORE

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