Dear Students,
We all are now aware of the consequences of increasing population. In our day to day life, we refer the word “population” in a negative sense. As soon as we use this word, we sense something bad out of it.
But the science does not consider anything “bad” as such. Science first asks you about relativity i.e. what do you mean by “bad”? How much bad or how much good is it? What are the criteria etc? From that point of view, the word “population” has its own importance.
Population is nothing but number of individuals of a same species in a particular area for a particular duration of time. It is affected by many things at a time. How many individuals are “born”, how many remained viable? How many died in that particular time period? Is the distribution of the individuals even or uneven? etc.
If the rate of growth of population is much higher or much lower in a particular region, it also affects the population of that region. Further, if there are many “Grandfathers” and “Grandma”s than any others, then there is probable future decline in the population! Hence, the “age structure” of the population also is important.
If there are many people who are capable of reproducing than the aged ones, the population becomes more and more ever growing in future while, if there are less number of individuals from under-reproductive groups i.e. children, it shows declining population.
If the population should grow in size uniformly, there must be almost equal number of males and females of that species. The population stabilizes if it reaches the point of carrying capacity, and then starts declining if the resources fail to feed the population. See the number of “If’s” in the discussion..It indicates that all the things are relative from the point of view of science!
In case when any of the above factors behave in such a way that they lead to increase in number of the individuals, the population surely shows the shoot up in it. If it shows further increase, it reaches a well-known stage called “population explosion”.
Here lies our favorite point! This increase definitely leads to the complications such as inadequacy in food, housing (with increase in rates of course!), health problems, standard of leaving etc. Then we call it as “Explosion”.
If there are many number of adolescent individuals in a population, the population, though is in declining stage, in future, it is about to show shoot in future, when they reach their reproductive age. Adolescence is a very critical stage in a person’s life, where he or she suffers from many transition related problems, which of course disappear as the age increases.
The population is stable; the mental health shown by the individuals is also good. If it is not, they probably will show problems like alcoholism, drug addiction etc. Hence, the concept of “health” includes physical, mental, social as well as spiritual contexts.
If there are these many aspects related to the population, now we know that the word “population” is not bad. It’s unnecessary increase is bad. To know this, you got to know what the science says regarding such ambiguous and relative concepts.
So why to study this chapter?
Now a days, we are trying to find out good living conditions on other planets, so that “if” in future, our population “explodes”, we will live on there. You know what? This does not make any sense!! See.. Destroying the nature’s gift- Earth and then going towards other planets which cannot support you anyhow, sounds funny!! There is one shortcut! Why not to keep our Earth beautiful as it is? Control your lavish activities, maintain the earth and live here, must be our strategy. If you study carefully, you come to know that most of the problems that we face, ever increasing population is the important reason behind all of them.
So, I hope you liked this point of view and now you will not only “study” the chapter, but “Feel” it from within..for our own welfare..
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