Human Population: Arguments for and Against Birth Control - Essay Example

These tremendous achievements contributed to the growth of the human population immensely over the years such that there are now valid concerns on how to sustain a growth pattern that can be reasonably supported by the existing but finite resources.

The foremost argument for birth control is an old one, raised several centuries ago by a famous English scholar and political economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834). He argued that human populations are subject to the same limiting factors as any other living species in the world such as famine, diseases, and available food supplies. Human populations tend to grow or outstrip increases in food supplies and would simply result in the majority of humans suffering under a cloud of hunger and misery. This is very much evident today in various parts of the world such as Africa where famines occur regularly. Moreover, the total arable land has decreased over the years due to increasing development and the rise of urbanization, reducing the area available for food production. Additionally, human activities have led to pollution of water supplies, which make potable water difficult to obtain in many areas and droughts also caused supply scarcity.

The world's natural resources are mostly finite in nature, and an increase in humans will surely contribute to the depletion of these supplies. Water, food, and energy are not readily or always renewable in limitless quantities and some form of birth control has to be instituted. The world is definitely reaching its limits that can sustain an acceptable level in the quality of life.

A consequence of increased human populations is the issue of global warming. Climate change is now upon us and this has affected everything on Earth, including the ability to raise the food crops necessary for survival and the water supplies for irrigation. More people means more carbon footprint and harmful gas emissions that contribute to the worsening of global warming.

On the other hand, the argument against birth control is mostly based on moral or religious grounds. Major world religions prohibit artificial means of birth control as against the tenets or teachings as contraception, for example, is also against the laws of nature itself. It is the original injunction to “go forth and multiply” as contained in the bible (Condit, 1994, p. 74).

A second argument against birth control is to let nature take its course and not be too worried about procreative sexuality. Let a baby be conceived and born if that happens to be, and many of the Malthusian warnings did not happen because man is intelligent and creative, able to find new ways to increase food production over the years (Tobin, 2001, p. 10) through science.

Birth control will always be a contentious and controversial topic but humans have also remarkably coped over the years. This is because populations will adjust accordingly based on food supplies, quality of life, health concerns, and the availability of good public education.