How to Help Fight Against the Effects of Overpopulation
- 1). Reduce your consumption. This means everything from driving less to buying less to using less water and electricity. People in richer, developed countries use far more resources and produce far more pollution, per capita, than those in the developing world. In other words, if everyone lived like people in the United States, who consume the most resources per capita, the effects of overpopulation would be far more severe. If the growing human population is to be supported, people need to waste fewer resources and produce less pollution.
- 2). Donate money to organizations that support education, or become a teacher yourself. Improving education in the developing world is an important step toward reducing the effects of overpopulation. The more educated people are, the more capable they are making good family planning choices.
- 3). Support women's rights. Volunteer or donate money to nonprofit organizations that champion women's rights, particularly in developing nations. Historical records of birth rates in the industrialized world agree with predictions of the demographic transition model and show a very clear correlation between the rights and empowerment of women, the use of birth control and lower rates of population growth.
- 4). Support universal health care, especially for women and young children. Support charities that provide health services, as well as candidates who advocate for health care rights and foreign aid. The demographic transition model of population growth shows that death rates start to go down once people have access to education and health care. This initially leads to population growth, but birth rates eventually adjust and also become lower. If people have access to birth control, they respond to lower rates of infant mortality by having fewer children.
- 5). Encourage birth control. Family planning is vital to any effort to fight overpopulation, and it is simply not possible without cheap access to birth control. Support charities that educate people on the use of condoms and other methods of birth control or that provide them for free or at reduced cost.
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