Poverty Children

Poverty Children
Brittney Montoya
Bio 121 - Environmental Conservation
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Jennifer Feighny
November 16, 2012

After reading that 500 children age 5 and younger die each day (14 per minute) from preventable malnutrition and infectious disease, it makes me think of my children and how I need to change the way my family and I live. Unfortunately, before this class I considered environmental problems out of sight, out of mind. Some basic causes of environmental problems are population growth and poverty. Miller, G.T., & Spoolman (page 16) There are a few ways my family and I can help address the environmental issues are world is facing.
The human population is growing at a rapid rate. With the world reaching an estimated 6 billion in population at the end of the 20th century, I would agree with a lot of people that we have a population crisis. One of the biggest reasons we are in this population crisis is because of the dramatic decline in mortality. People are living longer and are having fewer children. With the population continuing to grow threatening our environment, major changes need to be made. Since the world’s people consume a vast amount of food, water, raw materials, and energy, we need to focus on ways we can consume less. In the United States, an average American consumes 30 times more than an Indian and 100 times more than a person in a poor country. It takes 27 large tractor trailer loads of resources a year to support one typical American. (Miller, G.T., & Spoolman, Page 17)
Another main cause of deaths within children is the issue some countries face with poverty. There are 900 million people that do not have clean drinking water. One billion do not have enough food for good health. Another one billion do not have adequate housing and health care. Two billion people do not have electricity. Twenty nine percent of the population does not have enough fuel for heating and cooking and 37% of people do not have adequate sanitation facilities. In my home we sleep with the TV on at night.
I have recognized a lot that my family and I can change to help out environmental issues being faced all over the world. After reading two billion people in the world do not have any electricity, it makes me sad to think my family and I have taken advantage of the resources we have. Currently, I fight with my son about drinking water instead of juice. There are 900 million people that do not have clean drinking water. I will be making some major changes in our home. My family may not be happy about the changes that I am going to make, but after I show them the statistics that I just learned about I am sure they will be willing to change.

References
Miller, G.T., & Spoolman, S. (2012) Environmental Science: Principles connections and solutions (14th Edition) Pacific Grove, CA: Brookes/Cole.
Environmental Literacy Council. (2012) Population Studies. Retrieved from http://www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory.php/30.html

References: Miller, G.T., & Spoolman, S. (2012) Environmental Science: Principles connections and solutions (14th Edition) Pacific Grove, CA: Brookes/Cole. Environmental Literacy Council. (2012) Population Studies. Retrieved from http://www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory.php/30.html