How Changes in Population Impacts Our Environment

Effects of Population Changes on the Environment
1. An introduction that describes the forces behind population change
Change in population takes into account the increase or decrease in the size of population in a particular period of time. In the contemporary, the population of the world has been progressively increasing. There are different forces that account for the change in population. One of the key forces is births. In delineation, the number of births causes an increase in population and having a high birth rate gives rise to a high increase in population. Another force to population change is deaths. In particular, the number of deaths have a direct effect on the decline of the population and therefore a high death rate gives rise to a high decline in population. Aspects such as growth and development in health care, technology, education have given rise to a positive population change. For instance poor healthcare causes a decline in population whereas advanced and developed medical care increases life expectancy and therefore an increase in population. In general, the rate of change in population of a particular area is obtained by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. An additional key force to population change is migration. In delineation, migration encompasses the movement of individuals in and out of an expanse. Migration brings about population change in the sense that when people migrate from one region to another, the population size of one region decreases whereas the other one goes up. Some of the key reasons for migration include employment, accessibility to services and amenities, natural disasters, and marriage (Stolley, 2005).
2. A discussion of the effects on the environment when population change results in urbanization
Population change through an incessant increase gives rise to urbanization. In delineation, urbanization takes into account the overall increase in population and signifies the movement of populaces from rural to urban expanses. This population has a massive impact on the environment. One of the effects takes into account pollution, which encompasses air, noise, and water pollution. Urbanization encompasses increased industries and also vehicles, which give rise to elevated contaminated and polluted air within the urban regions. Poor quality of water, inadequacy in availability of water, issues in disposal of waste, as well as high energy intake are aggravated by the increasing population demands. This indicates that population change leading to urbanization causes degradation of the environment (Uttara et al., 2012).
Urban populations interrelate with their environment. Urban populaces alter their environment by means of their depletion of food, energy, water, and land. Then as a result, the polluted urban environment impacts not only the health but also the quality of life of the urban populace. The amplified consumption of energy is expected to have harmful environmental effects. It is also essential to note that urban expanses not only impact the atmospheric and weather patterns, but also have an impact on the water runoff patterns. In general, these regions bring about additional rain, but also decrease the permeation of water and bring about water tables that are significantly lower. The implication of this is that runoff takes place much faster with superior peak flows. With the increase in the volumes of flooding, the pollution of water also increases downstream (Torrey, 2004).
3. An analysis of the effects of effects population change from the structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic interaction approaches
There are effects of population change from the structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic interaction approaches. To begin with, with respect to the structural-functional approach, population change and its different forces ate normal and pivotal processes for any society. It is deemed that without a doubt a society cannot subsist or last if it loses members, but it can succeed solely if it grows to meet imminent challenges. Effects also include pollution and environmental issues. Secondly, with respect to the social-conflict approach, population increase is owing to the lack of government provision of contraceptives or enhance education and independence of women, which diminish birth rates. It also considers racial and ethnic discrimination to be causes of immigration. It also considers effects such as air, water and ground pollution to be due to lack of strong rules and regulations by governments. Lastly, there is the symbolic interaction approach. It lays emphasis on the perceptions of individuals of populations and environmental issues to the magnitude that their attitudes play a fundamental role in the pervasiveness of these issues. Symbolic interactionism accentuates that individuals from dissimilar social upbringings and from dissimilar cultures may have diverse considerations of population problems and of environmental problems (Barkan, 2013).
4. A summary that reviews the major points of the paper and offers one suggestion for further study on the issues related to population change and the environment
In summary, population change encompasses the change in the size of a region’s population within a certain period of time. Forces of population change include births, deaths and migration. These three elements cause an increase and a decrease in the population of a particular area. Migration of individuals from rural to urban areas results in urbanization. This aspect has an impact on the environment. This includes air, noise, and water pollution. The amplified consumption of energy is expected to have harmful environmental effects. It is also essential to note that urban expanses not only impact the atmospheric and weather patterns. This shows that population change giving rise to urbanization causes degradation of the environment.


References
Barkan, S. E. (2013). Social problems: Continuity and change. Flat World Knowledge, Incorporated.
Stolley, K. S. (2005). The basics of sociology. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Torrey, B. B. (2004). Urbanization: An environmental force to be reckoned with. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau.
Uttara, S., Bhuvandas, N., & Aggarwal, V. (2012). Impacts of Urbanization on environment. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Applied Sciences, 2(2), 1637-1645.