Global Conflicts Issues And Exponential Population Growth (Essay Sample)

Climate change
Climate change
As the world over takes hold of the New Year, innumerable threats and issues lay in fringes of the fast-paced society of the twenty-first century. Amidst terrorism, global conflicts issues and exponential population growth, the inhabitants of the planet earth still have to contend with the challenge of climatic changes. Increased human population has resulted in a drastic rise in the consumption of fossil fields that are taunted as the number one pollutant of the atmosphere. The resultant impact has been the instigation of negative, drastic and unprecedented changes and occurrences within the natural environment. It is without doubt that a great deal of human activities is going to be influenced by the changes in climate, a factor that places among the greatest concerns of the New Year even as the 21st century takes shape. While the direct impact of climatic changes such as increases in sea levels and temperature are likely to be felt, the greatest impact is going to be that of the interruption of human activities such as politics and economics.
The significance of climate change on a global scale can be noted for degree of attention it received in the recently concluded American presidential elections. Policies by various candidates highlighted the impact that the issue had already influenced within the political structure. For the developing world however, poverty, ignorance and disease still form a central part of national decision making, an aspect that has contributed to the continued deterioration of the climate. For instance, deforestation remains prevalent in most of the developing countries even as individuals strive to eke a living in one way or another. With poor political and economic structures, the enforcement of policies such as those that control population or the type of energy to be used becomes obsolete in a world that is dominated by the concept of survival. The direct dependence on the environment for survival has been one of the greatest challenges that environmentalists have faced in mitigating climate change. Most of the developing world has a direct dependence on its environment for survival, from water for plants and animals, to land for pasture and agriculture, the environment offers the main source of livelihood. In this case therefore, while the policies may have huge positive impacts for the people in the long term, such a consideration remains invalid in poor countries.
Resources distribution remains the central and most crucial challenge of climatic change. According to Blanton and Kegley (2017), temperature increases, sea level rise, frequent droughts and sporadic rainfall patterns are likely to redefine the resource use map of the world with the greatest victims being the developing world. The refugee crisis that has recently been experienced by the European continent as a result of political strife and in the Middle East has been one of the key indicators of the level of impact that climate change is likely to cause. Huge throngs of people are likely to shift in search of habitable environment around the world and in the process reshaping political, economic and social structures of various places.
Increasing human population lies at the very heart of climatic changes. Over the years the use of fossil fuels has increased consistently bringing about significant changes for the long term (Stern, 2014). The steady increase in population without a subsequent investment in the development of alternative sources of energy has resulted in the overdependence on fossil fuels, a comfort that has been paid for by astronomical carbon depositions into the atmosphere.
Population growth control has been lauded as one of the best way of ensuring carbon emissions remain on the low. While such a move is possible or the first world, due to political and economic stability, the developing countries face far much bigger burdens that have limited the efficiency of such strategies (Griffin, 2003).Technological advancement in alternative forms of energy has been nothing short of exciting, more so for the last five years. From the development of electric cars, to the discovery of biofuels that offer not only clean sources of energy but also cheap alternatives, the energy world has largely been limited by the element of price and affordability. The adoption of alternative sources of energy has since been reduced to political rhetoric.
Hanging on the very precipice of major policy change in relation to climate change, a great deal of the political and economic environment of the past year has been determined by environmental and climate change issues. Increased prevalence of conflict and civil strife has been singled out as a possible outcome of the changing environment. This relation arises from the resource scarcity that is likely to arise from the some of the climatic change. For instance, increased droughts and famines will instigate conflicts for water and food, with the greatest challenge being for the developing world. For the developed world on the other hand, increased population pre...