Sociology

Every population in a society is sustained by the resources available in its environment. The minute these resources begin to experience some stretch beyond their capacity to sustain the population living in it, then we can with no doubt draw a conclusion that there are possibilities of overpopulation in that society. The case of United States is not any different from this as the population has kept on rising at a relatively high growth rate with the country recording a significant higher number of births compared to deaths each year. By 2009, the US recorded 1,400 births per 100,000 people compared to 810 deaths per 100,000 people. This has in high extent been due to improved health care which has minimised infant mortality rate and improved life expectancy to even higher levels. In addition, United States is one of the industrialized countries with high rates of immigration through its favourable policies like the offer of Green Cards to foreigners who ends up becoming citizens hence increasing the population further. We can also not forget the issue of illegal immigration across the southern border which has increased the number of people living in the United States to a significant level (Donohoe, 2003).

In major cases, overpopulation leads to many devastating effects such as strain in provision of basic health care, education facilities, shortage of proper housing and increase in crime. Other indirect effects are experienced in handling of generated waste and its disposal and increased strain on natural resources to provide adequate food and energy. This argument can strongly be associated with the Thomas Malthuss Theory on Overpopulation. In his argument, he draws a worrying disparity between the ability of a man to procreate and to produce food and looking for other resources to sustain the added life. In addition, the present problems associated with food shortages, climate change, pollution, shortage of water is a clear indication that more resources are being consumed at a faster rate than they are replenished in the environment world wide.

Effects
In the recent past, great focus has been put on the overpopulation in the developing countries, however, the rapid population growth rates in developed countries like US poses grater problem than that of the developing economies. This is in the basis of the amount of resources devoted to each person due to lifestyle and the strain posed to the environment to produce each and every single resource.

Increase in population in the country has garnered a lot of concern as the government strains with Healthcare Bill at senate level to prevent collapse of health sector due to overpopulation. The reason is the economic productivity of any person in this country is dependent on his or her assurance of a good health 6through health care sector. The ability of these health facilities at local and national level has been limited by the availability of resources to expand them to rhyme with the increasing population.

In the education sector, the effects of the overpopulation have been felt even at the class room level. In the ideal situation, the class population should be at 15 students per teacher. However, this has not been the case as most classes have a population of up to 23 students or more in the overcrowded areas of the country. This has reduced not only the ability of a teacher to have a close touch to each and every student but has also put strain on the available resources committed to the education sector. (Donohoe, 2003)

Every person in the US has a capacity of generating waste equivalent to over 50 tons of waste in his lifetime. This translates to huge amounts of resources consumed in ones life. The rate of consumptions of resources in the US is very disproportionate to its resource base. For instance, focusing on the non renewable resources base available, if the trend of consumption is not checked, these resources might get exhausted by mid of this century.

Every person in the United States is expected to produce over fifty tons of litter in his or her life. The disposal of this garbage is not only a challenge now but will be even greater problem in the near future as most of the land fills are filling up. Increase in people in the US has led to taking up of more space to create a room for settlement, farming and providing amenities like roads hence disrupting the natural setting of an ecosystem. Degradation of environment has been noted in most parts where deforestation has occurred to supply wood for building materials at an expense of environmental and wildlife conservation.

The damage to the environment as a resultant of increased population has extended to the waterways which poses a lot of risk to the health of most of people. The US public Interest Research Group has reported a scenario that clearly depicts the state of trouble facing American waters. Some of the wastes generated by US population have found its way into the waterways polluting an approximate of 39 percent of rivers, 51 per cent of estuaries and 46 per cent of lakes rendering some of them not safe for either swimming or fishing activities. About 20, 000 beaches were closed in 2004 as a result of high level of pollution (Beusekom, 1999). Toxic pollution from industries and domestic settings in most of the fishing areas has caused over 30 states to receive reviews on their fish consumptions. In recent years, over 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated raw sewage, industrial waste and storm waters with all kinds of wastes has found their way into American waters annually. The increased population has added strain in the sewage treatment systems hence the increased level of discharge of raw sewer to waters. In addition, some of this pollution has originated from increased levels of agricultural activities using pesticides, fertilizers and other associated chemicals that ultimately find their way to waterways. Notwithstanding the fact that, every new child born today in the united states is expected to consume over 10 million gallons of water in his lifetime, production of safe drinking water for each and every member of society has become a challenge now that there is increased level of pollution of water resources.

Increased population has created increased demand of energy. Most of US energy comes from burning of fossil fuel. This has had a devastating effect on air pollution through carbon dioxide which is emitted during energy production process. In addition, the carbon emitted from the motorways is also a major concern to the quality of air we breathe. The fine particles emitted to the air from all these processes have added risk to the health of people like the emergence of pulmonary diseases as the country strives to provide the population with a modest lifestyle (Day, 2008). Traffic congestion experienced in major of our roads is also another effect of overpopulation. This has led to wastage of valuable time in traffic jams. Such time would have otherwise been utilised in doing some productive work and improve the economy.

United States has seen an increased crime rates in recent times than in the past. This can be associated to overpopulation. The US jails are holding the highest number of inmates especially the young youths than ever before in the US history. High rates of crimes are closely associated with a society that is struggling to survive by any means.

Scarcity of jobs has also been another problem that is facing the US today. This has increased the dependency ratio as many of those people not under employment has to depend on those under employment to provide them with most of the basic necessities.

Overpopulation has led to unexpected rise in urban population to a level that has chocked most of these cities. As a result of this high population, there has been a lack of proper as the rate of population increase has been higher than the rate of development of modest housing. This has led to overcrowding in some low class housing areas and in most serious case we have seen an increment in street families (Beusekom, 1999).

To sum up, the current explosion in population growth in the US has reached a point of concern. Contrast to the common belief among some members of our legislature that a high economic growth rate is achieved through the provision of adequate labour from increased populations. Overpopulation in the US has brought more harm than good and continues to pose greater problem in future. Large part of the country is composed of inland waters, deserts and tundra which are inhabitable. In addition, the resources available in the United States can equitably sustain a population of 200 million citizens. This means that, adequate measures need to be put in place not only to check the population but also to ensure that the country attains a sustainable level of development that can match with the resources available now and in future.