Problems With Toxic Waste Due to Overpopluation

Overpopulation occurs when "the number of individuals of a given species exceeds the number that its environment can sustain." Encyclopædia Britannica Online states that the possible consequences of overpopulation are "environmental deterioration, impaired quality of life and a population crash." Large cities produce more carbon emissions and waste. Diseases spread quicker and water and food are strained in tightly-compacted societies.

Overpopulation

• Half of the nearly seven billion people in the world live in cities. According to National Geographic, by 2050, two-thirds of the predicted nine billion people will reside in urban areas.

  Dense populations exacerbate problems such as poor water and air quality, insufficient water, high-energy consumption and waste-disposal issues. Urban energy consumption and motor vehicle exhaust lead to more air pollution. As more housing is built, there is less room for trees and other plants to offset the carbon dioxide in the air.

  Animals lose habitats and are decimated by toxic substances and loss of food sources.

Other Issues

• The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) web site reports that the most pressing and important environmental issues in the U.S. include acid rain from air pollution, water pollution from fertilizer and pesticide run-off, limited natural fresh water resources and desertification. Fertile land becomes barren or turns into a desert in desertification. This occurs through rapid depletion of plants and topsoil caused by drought and over-exploitation of vegetation, especially grasses, by people.

  The site also stated that the U.S. is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide in the world.

Toxic Waste

• According to Encyclopædia Britannica Online, even in trace amounts, toxins may "have acute effects, causing death or violent illness, or they may have chronic effects, slowly causing irreparable harm. Some are carcinogenic, causing cancer after many years of exposure. Others are mutagenic, causing major biological changes in the offspring of exposed humans and wildlife."

  Toxic waste is created by factories, commerce, the military, residential chemicals, agriculture, medical facilities and even small businesses like dry cleaners. It's released into the air, water or land. Solid waste is destroyed or buried. Even improperly-disposed of prescription medications contaminate the water and land.

  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the disposal of 500 different types of hazardous waste. Each year more than 40 million tons of toxic waste is produced in the U.S.

Sustainability

• The EPA reported that each American produced about 4.6 pounds of waste each day in 2006. This resulted in more than 251 million tons of solid waste. Industrial waste added another 7.6 billion tons. Unknown is the amount of waste that was improperly disposed.

  To address the growing problem, the EPA urged all businesses, industries, consumers and organizations to recycle at least 35 percent of the waste.

  Use of alternative energy, greener materials, efficient waste disposal and slowing the population growth are also necessary.