Positive Effects Can Come From a Lower Birth Rate Essay

In the non-so-distant past, thither was a earthly concern wide effort to create zero cosmos festering. The environmental uproar in the 1970s had scientists convinced that with 4 billion or so community on that planet, Earth had get h senior ofed her carrying capacity. The basic premises was that there wasnt bounteous room for all the deal being born(p) and that there definitely would non be rich room when we reached 2050 and a project cosmos of 11 billion (Cohen, 1). Though the globular warming predicts had non begun yet, there were considerable concerns that the planet could not produce enough in itemizeectual nourishment for 11 billion mickle and that we would be consuming re bugs at such an alarming score that world would die from too or so large number.Flash forward thirty years and now, industrialise countries across the world ar emiting concern that they may experience been too hasty in their condemnation of macrocosm growth. In fact, many ar down right crazy about their world declines or genuinely slow population growth. They express concern that the thriftiness result founder as the burden of the patriarchal is too great for the younger propagation to support and disquiet for. compass antecedeers claim there forget not be enough great deal to do the work out that pauperisms d ane and roughly early(a)s decry the kink as the true end of the British Empire and the dominance of Hesperian Civilization as those are the countries with declining hold order. The artless truth is that a low stimulate rate great deal be a confident(p) choice for the industrialized world, if considered in the right light. This paper pull up stakes catch at some of the factors contri excepting to the declining population and the effects that are presumable because of a population decline.To understand how this situation developed, it is interesting to review the fit 900 years of pitying sexuality. In his essay Two in serie s(p) Motivations for the Declining assume Rate in the West, Phillippe Aries argues that since the middleway Ages, the shift in societal norms had sensation to the declining alliance rate. The Church enticed people to a honorable stance once against pre-marital sex and as the economy evolved from largely agrarian to industrial and even retail based, the large family was no daylong an economic requirement (646).In an agrarian society, children were a source of cheap labor and a financial boon to their parents. The cost of feeding and clothing them was much than make up for by their assistance in earning the family sustenance. But as societies travel away from the farm, children became an expense. Indeed, Aries writes, the trend to qualityifi fecal mattertly smaller families began in the Middle Ages and continued unabated until the sis Boom after the end of being War II (647).The trend toward smaller families was also a sign of planning and fore judgment. It was assumed th at a smaller family could even be considered a measure of self-control and The less the children, the more care and attention that could be devoted to each (Aries, 647) As society became more mobile and people were no longer trapper in the social class that they were born in, people chose smaller families with the idea that they could provide more opportunities for that smaller family and their children would buzz off great economic opportunity that they did (648). In addition, in the mid-1970s concerns about overpopulation ran rampant.By the mid 1990s, they were in crisis mode. In Science magazine in 1995, JE Cohen wrote, Earths capacity to support people is determined both by inborn constraints and by valet choices concerning economics, environment, culture (including reputes and politics), and demography. Human carrying capacity is thusly dynamic and uncertain. (341). Though scientists argued about what that carrying capacity might be, they warned rabidly that if the exp s ensationntial population growth were not stopped the capacity would be reached in our childrens lifetime if not our own.Further complicating things was an environmental movement that claimed deforestation to put to work the land into agricultural production as ca development soil wearing away and pollution hurried than we could imagine. If the world growth continued unabated, the population would reach that carrying capacity much sooner because the Earth would be too polluted to sustain life. Even now, in An Inconvenient Truth Nobel Prize achiever Al Gore points out that trees cut down to provide range land for cattle are contributing to global warming because the spiritedness trees would confirm cut carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Though Gore does not make the leap, it is there to behold. Too many people instrument more land devoted to food production which means fewer trees and faster global warming.With all that in place, it is no wonder then that people chose to retain smaller families or no families at all. And that is where the new scientific debate and political nightmare began. The United Nations reports that 75 percent of the industrialized nations of the world have reached zero population growth including the United States and to the full(prenominal)est degree of Western Europe. The population of Britain is still growing at a very slow rate, largely callable to immigration, but in Germany and Japan the score population has begun to decline.This has thrown social scientists into a tizzy. They complain that there leave behind not be enough workers to take all the jobs that are ask they claim the workers exit no longer be able to happen the value contains of their nations and they claim that a declining number of young people will mean that there is no one around to care for the Baby Boomers as they get older. Not surprisingly, many of these doom and gloom predictions are written by Baby Boomers.Instead, it might be nice to strain on the positive benefits of population control. A smaller population will mean simple things, manage less congestion on the highways and fewer people in the one centripetal checkout line at the grocery store. But those are the incidental effects of a dishonor population growth. The key benefits of a smaller population are go access to education, less pollution and therefore less global warming, and more job opportunities.For a decade or so, the Statesns have been decrying overcrowding in the civilise systems as a factor in school performance. In 2003, CNN describe that overcrowding was causing a smack in the temporary classroom pedigree and states across the nation were taking steps to reduce overcrowding (CNN, 1). With a declining birth rate in the industrialized nations, fewer children will need to be educated and the student to teacher ratio will decrease. That will lead to more individualized attention for each student and stop learnedness opportunities. In ad dition, as those children get older, instead of being able to advert prices and keep students from going to college, colleges and universities will be forced to compete for students.The humanity is that smaller class size throughout the educational process will mean that all students are getting a emend education, not just the ones who can afford private school or the ones lucky enough to be talented an attract a teachers interest. Furthermore, as the population seeking a college degree decreases second-class universities with apocryphal accreditation will be driven out of business and the top schoolman talent will mass in good schools providing good educations.As simple as it sounds, some other advant age of a smaller population will be less pollution. Gores movie and other studies of global warming indicate that one of the significant contributors to greenhouse gases are personal vehicles. If there are fewer people, there will by simple logic be fewer cars and fewer cars m ean that fewer greenhouse gases are emitted.And, fewer people means less need for food, so some farmland could be returned to forest or born-again from vast corporate farms to sustainable small farms which produce healthier food and fewer pollutants. The rain forest of the Amazon River Basin could be left wing as rain forest with no need for more cattle to feed the worlds desire for beef consumption and the demand for galvanisingity would fall as there were fewer people using it. As the demand for electricity falls, older, fossil fuel burning electric plants could be shut down or replaced with newer, tidy burning extension facilities.The ultimate proof of the effect that the population has on the environment can be observed today in India. Environmental pollution is one of the serious problems faced by the people in the country. Rapid population growth, industrialization and urbanization in country are adversely alter the environment. (Nagdeve, 2). India has polluted its sacre d rivers and begun poisoning itself, creating a severe lack of potable water because of its overpopulation. Many of the pollution problems come quite exactly from human excrement. There are meager sewage facilities and the sewage contaminants the ground water, hint to environmental collapse. With 1.1 billion people, India is the second well-nigh populous nation in the world and is being destroyed by its high birth rate (Nagdeve, 33).In China, the worlds largest population has go away the primary source of greenhouse gases and is polluting the world at an alarming rate. Though they have instituted some population control measures, the population is so large now that until some of it dies off or moves to other areas, overcrowding and pollution, as well as low-down access to resources will continue to be their plight.By far the most concerning aspect of the low-birth rate to most the industrialization nations is the impact it is likely to have on the economy. Naysayers claim th e smaller populace will be ineffectual to carry through the needs of the elderly population, will be unable to construe the impose burden placed on them by their parents and grandparents and will not be able to meet the employment needs of the country. The arguments are mingled and may have a grain of truth in them, but are not the forgone conclusion that they are assumed to be.First, there is the extend of meeting the needs of the elderly populace. This is in many ways a self-serving argument of the Baby Boom generation the reality is that in the United States, a third of the workforce is now over the age of 55. Because of an aging population and declining growth of the labor force, human resource policies are changing. Companies are offering incentives to keep older workers working past seclusion age. Older workers can sometimes replace the lack of younger employees. Opportunities like flextime, part-time, temp work, job sharing, and extended vacations are becoming more ple beian for employees of all ages. Businesses are learning that people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, and backgrounds can be good workers (Johnson, 1)Many of the Baby Boomers are living to ripe old ages and will need long term care, but it also means they are staying in the workforce longer. And, they are relegate able to care for themselves than any previous generation of retirees. In addition, society has seen this short-term boom in the elderly population coming and ahs planned for it. Retirement communities and flatbed complexes make care for the elderly much easier than in previous generations. Since they are all located in one area instead of being spread out in various private homes, the number of people needed to care for the elderly is greatly reduced.Second, there is the question of the tax burden, again a selfish notion of the elderly that the younger generation should have to support their Social Security needs even though it is an unrealistic expectation. Unfortuna tely, instead of working as Franklin Roosevelt had planned and being a supplement to a personal retirement plan, Social Security has become the only retirement plan for many the Statesns and the judicature has continued to release out failed retirement plan after failed retirement plan, usually due to poor fiscal planning or malfeasance on the part of those overseeing the plan.The simple reality is that the elderly cannot continue to rely on the government to meet all their needs and it is likely that in choosing to have fewer children they chose not to have the financial support of a younger generation. Aries argued that they shouldnt need the financial support family or the government because of their decision not to have a large family. He argued that with the money people saved by not having a family, they should be able to pay for encourage when they reach retirement age (Aries, 629).While this inability to deal with the tax burden is a valid concern, it can also be viewed as a great opportunity. Many people complain that the current government system is messed up and the tax plan unfair, but no one seems to be able to do anything about it. Though a collapse of the economic structure is an extreme way to bring about change, it is a valid way and one that may have to be considered in the near future.Finally, the argument against low-birth rates is that the there will be insufficient people to work the jobs that need doing. This is perhaps the weakest argument of all. Do we in truth need a Starbucks on every corner and a McDonalds two doors down? The reality is that the economic market will excoriate itself. Fewer people available to do the jobs will mean that high school and college students are able to dominate part-time work again and it will mean that the unemployment rate will drop. Regardless of the opportunity, there will incessantly be some degree of unemployment either voluntary or temporary, but with greater opportunities available, more p eople will have better economic opportunities. Yes, some low-paying jobs may go unfilled.If that happens, the need will play off to the job growth. Like the tax issue, it will probably mean a restructuring of societal values. If more people are need in the medical checkup field to care for the elderly and society places a higher value on that then serving coffee or flipping burgers, society will adjust to the loss of mass market coffee and fast food. afterward all, less than fifty years ago, fast food was barely thought of. Fast food and poor paying retail jobs were not always a vital part of the American economy and if there is a labor paucity, they might be gone again. If there is a shortage of labor, society will adjust and fill the positions that it most needs.Some economists have argued that with a smaller labor force, economies could collapse as the total productiveness level of a nation is decreased, but historical analysis shows us that this too may be a made up misgiv ing and an irrational prediction. In an essay regarding the impact low birth rates will have on the economy, William H. Reid, writing for the Journal on backstage said that memoir shows that our most productive times in history were when the population was smaller.For example, he said, right after the Black Plague productivity in Europe skyrocketed (Reid, 1). The idea behind the increase was that people had something to work for and out of necessity worked hard to get it. He further argued that while overall productivity might be down, wages will be up as employers compete for qualified staff. That will mean that the economy will be booming.The simple truth is that zero population growth was a good idea twenty years ago and that has not changed. The great majority of opposition to it in Europe and North America is in fact a form of xenophobia, a fear that if other move of the world outbreed the locals, the local way of life will be destroyed. If analysts were honest and admitted to this fear, there might be more action interpreted on it. By hiding their fears in other concerns, they throw a chance for honest discourse on the effect that a huge Indian and Chinese population will have on the world.They miss the opportunity to take real action to address the overpopulation concerns of India. Allowing more people to emigrate from overcrowded areas to less crowded areas will cut down on the demands on the resources of individual nations and improve the quality of life around the globe. However, so many areas are insular and afraid to share their land or way of life with anyone of a different culture. If the industrialized countries were at least willing to admit that, there arguments might have more stand in the worlds eyes.The reasons why the birth rate in the industrialized world is dropping are numerous and debatable. Aries suggested that another reason why the birth rate is declining is that people no longer see a way to make the world a better place for t heir descendants.Whether it is a fear of nuclear annihilation or global warming, many people are concerned that the world will not be a great place for the next generation and have decided against having children (469). Others have decided to keep the money for their own blessedness instead of spending it on a child and some simply wait longer than they meant to and find they unable to have children. Whatever the reasons for the declining birth rate, it is a fact of life in Europe and North America. Those nations can simply decide how to live with the consequences or, as they have in parts of Europe, take extreme action to reverse the course.In Japan and Germany where the population is already beginning to decline, the smaller population had coincided with an economic growth period. Whether this is simply coincidental is hard to tell at this point, but history seems to tell us that the chances are good that a deckling birth rate does not spell doom and gloom and the end of the worl d. Instead, it will like lead to a period of greater education for the average person, a cleaner environment and a booming economy.It may also lead to subversive thinking as the countries that have always had plenty of people to do their menial tasks have to consider other alternatives, such as an open border with Mexico so that there are more workers, or allowing a mass immigration from India, to relieve overcrowding there. Whatever the solution, it will require scientific and political minds meeting together and honestly discussing the wants and fears of Europe and North America and their desire to change them.In the end, the outdo consequence of a declining birth rate might be a further globalization of the world. Areas in the Far East and the Indian subcontinent with population problems will need to find more space and Europe and North America will have to find more workers. If the struggle be worked through and the prejudices and fears overcome, then the best thing that could come from a lower birth rate would be an international melting pot with everyone working together for a better planet, better economy and a better life.WORKS CITEDAries, Phillippe.Two Successive Motivations for the Declining Birth Rate in the West Population and Development look back Vol. 6, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 645-650 November 20, 2007.Cohen, JE Population growth and earths human carrying capacity Science Vol.269, Issue 5222, Summer, 1995, p. 341-46.Ending overcrowding in California Schools Policylink http//www.policylink.org/ research/SchoolOvercrowding/ November 20, 2007.Johnson, Kelly. The Effects of a Declining Birth Rate on the Labor advertise http//cber.cba.ua.edu/rbriefs/ab_jan98.html November 20, 2007.Martin, Steve P. Diverging Fertility among U.S. Women Who Delay Childbearing Past Age 30 Demography , Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov., 2000), pp. 523-533 November 20,2007.Nagdeve, Dewaram. Environment and Health in India presented to Asian Context at Bangkok, Thailand, June 10 , 2002. http//www.iussp.org/Bangkok2002/S09Nagdeve.pdf November 20, 2007.Overcrowding Fuel Boom CNN.com http//www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/06/02/classsize.portables.ap/index.html November 20, 2007.Reid, Walter H. Will Declining Birt rank creates a Crisis? Journal of Extension (Summer 1988), Vol. 26, No. 2 , November 20, 2007.