Population growth, immigration, and environmental degradation in the United States

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?").

The Difference and Relationship between Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice can be described as an uncorroborated and unproven preconception about a person or group of people that may be constructive or hostile in nature, nurturing to exploit it as a trend. If put simply, prejudice is to think negatively about a person or group if he/she belongs to a different ethnicity or race, sexual category, religion etc. The person demonstrating a prejudicial attitude is always found to have a very good logic and interpretation for his/her way of thinking. However, when prejudice inspires actions, it can prove to be really detrimental ("prejudice," 2013). When one turns the pages of history, it is crystal clearly evident that the hostility engendered by prejudice has been the cause of unforgettable human suffering including ethnic and racial groups, sexes, and spiritual devout or linguistic marginal groups. According to some researchers, prejudice can be considered as a subconscious fear of the stranger or economic competition. On the other hand, many consider it a chauvinistic approach towards religion or nationalism. However, a majority of scholars have categorized prejudice as a learned attribute which can be alleviated by making different communities and their members to work hand in hand to accomplish a common goal or by cross-marriage ("prejudice," 2013).

On the other hand, discrimination is an action that has prejudice as an instigator. Anyone discriminating on the basis of prejudice is observed to treat everyone in a certain group as same ignoring the fact that every person has unique personality traits and good or bad qualities. It is important to note here that no religion promotes any kind of prejudicial or discriminatory behavior. Thus, the main difference between prejudice and discrimination is that prejudice is an individual's inclination to think and feel negatively regarding a person or group of persons whereas discrimination is an authentic, unconcealed and blatant behavior demonstrated by an individual. Even though the two concepts have an obviously plain relationship, there is no joint occurrence of the two all the time and sometimes they are not even related.

There could be four types of prejudicial and discriminatory behaviors that can be demonstrated by individuals. The first two possible cases are that of the "all-weather liberal" and the "all-weather bigot." The "all-weather liberal" does not display a prejudiced and bias behavior and never even discriminates people. On the other hand, the "all-weather bigot" is always demonstrating a prejudiced and bias behavior and practices discrimination as a part of his/her daily routine. These two cases represent a consistent relationship between prejudice and discrimination.

On the other hand, the other two possible combinations i.e. The "fair-weather liberal" and "timid bigot" demonstrate an inconsistent relationship between prejudice and discrimination. The "fair-weather liberal" is any person who makes discrimination but is not prejudicial in nature whilst the "timid bigot" is prejudicial in nature but is not discriminatory towards anyone. Such types of variations and divergences between peoples' attitudes and behavior are very common and are resultant of a number of social pressures. One of the most common pressures is the wish for doing the accepted thing and meeting the expectations of society. However, both the mentioned traits can occur independently as well.