And the higher levels of consumption place supplementary strains on the already scarce natural resources. Additionally, the incremental levels of consumption translate into higher levels of waste. This waste comes from both individual consumers, as well as from industrial agents and it directly impacts the quality of the water as well as the availability of fresh water resources. Garbage dumping near waters contaminates them and leads to three primary impacts:
The death of the species living in the respective waters
The illness or even death of the non-water animals which drink from the respective source
The illness or even death (in rare cases) of the people who consume the animals that drank water from the contaminated source or who themselves use the respective source of water in the household
Waters are also contaminated through the incremental need for more natural resources. Since the large majority of oil, gas and other sources have already been extracted, the rest of them lay in areas which are difficult to access. This implies the necessity to use hard drilling techniques and strong chemicals which destroy the elements standing in the ground and preventing the access to the resources. The use of these strong chemicals once again impacts the quality of the waters and the soils, to eventually impact the bio-diversity of the region.
The increasing population leads to deforestation due to its need for land on which to construct homes, offices, retail centers and other locations, but also due to its necessity for lumber in order to satisfy the increasing need of the population for furniture, paper, cellulose and the rest of the items manufactured from lumber and timber.
The incremental levels of deforestation virtually destroy the lungs of the planet, leading as such to significantly decreased quality of air. And this quality of the breathing air is also reduced through the incremental levels of pollution generated by automobiles, airplanes and other daily elements of the modern day society.
Overall, these impacts -- alongside with several others -- lead to global warming, which is the ultimate threat upon the environment and the society.
6. Impacts on the Quality of Life
As it has been mentioned throughout the previous section, the increasing population impacts the environment, which consequently means that the quality of life will be decreased through water and air pollution, but also through the decay of the bio-diversity. Yet, aside from these environmental concerns, fact remains that the quality of life would be negatively impacted due to other dimensions as well. A first example in this sense is offered by public services and locations, such as commercial centers, parks, zoos and other...
This virtually means that the personal space of individuals will be invaded and this will negatively impact their quality of life. As a response, developers construct new facilities, on deforested land and by dumping the residues in waters, to deepen the degree of environmental threats.
A direct result of the increasing crowdedness in commercial centers has been materialized due to the advent of
technology. A combination of
technological innovations and socio-environmental circumstances has led to the creation and
success of online retailing. Retailers and shoppers meet in the virtual community and exchange products and
money, while avoiding the crowdedness in the stores. Yet, this leads to a lack of human interactions and the loss of the personal elements.
7. Conclusions
The contemporaneous
society is currently facing a major crisis -- and not the
economic crisis, but the socio-environmental crisis generated by the uncontrollable growth of the population. For decades now, the planet's population has increased, but this increase has not materialized in incremental prosperity, but in incremental pressures upon the environment. The world is coming next to a situation in which it will be unable to feed its population, let alone ensure it the high luxurious and consumerist life styles to which it has become accustomed.
The growth of the population generates a series of
negative impacts upon the society. At an environmental level for instance, it reduces the quality of water and air, while, at a social level, it reduces the quality of life for individuals.
