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This past year, the global population has surpassed 7 billion people, meaning that just in the last 60 years, about 4.5 billion people have added the the world population. Researchers for the United Nations have projected that if the population growth remains the same, the world population could reach over 9.3 billion by 2050. This rapid growth has placed an incredible threat on the Earth's resources. Steve Jones, who is a leading genetics researcher, stated that, “Humans are 10,000 times more common than we should be, according to the rules of the animal kingdom, and we have agriculture to thank for that. Without farming, the world population would probably have reached half a million by now." That being said, “Humans interact with their surroundings far more intensely than any other species and use vast amounts of carbon, nitrogen, water, and other resources”. The issue of overpopulation is the most essential to environmental sustainability and human welfare. Currently, humans are consuming the equivalent of one and a half planet earths every year, and when the population reaches 9 or 10 billion, a total of 2.8 earths will be needed to carry out the needs of the population. This also means that it would take the earth almost 3 years to recover from one year of human consumption. While population growth remains a key factor, consumption and social interests also become a prominent concern as some areas of the world consume much more than others. For example, if everyone on earth consumed as much as the average American, the global society would need the resources of 4.5 Earths just to meet the needs of the current population.

All of the speculations that are estimated to sustain the growing global population are made according to the current level of scientific and technological abilities that have aided in the population growth specifically in the last century, which has allowed humans to live longer. However, the projected advances in scientific fields such as nanotechnology, genetics, biological engineering and regenerative medicine are geared towards the global society's obsession with living even longer than previous generations. Even now, there is substantial research on life extending substances, such as Resveratrol, found in red wine, which has been found to increase life expectancy. Anti-aging is another popular field in research. Our chromosomes contain sequences of DNA that form protective caps called telomeres. They shorten after each round of cell replication, and are eventually depleted, leading to death. This research in anti-aging technology will eventually develop a way to prevent this DNA degradation, and ultimately extend human life. There has also been developments in a more theoretical based research, which is aimed at achieving human immortality. For example, advances in nanotechnology, which is an area of science in which atoms are manipulated on an extremely small scale, has brought about the idea that we can theoretically create nano-robots that could be released into the blood stream, taking on the role of blood cells by finding and destroying cancer cells and harmful bacteria. Also, advancements in the field of cybernetics could fuse biological and artificial parts of the human body, making humans resistant to aging and disease, becoming theoretically immortal.

Although it may take years for this research to become reality, advancements in the related fields have made it is possible for the near future, which poses a significant threat to the world's overpopulation issue. An intervention for this issue would be for the government to enforce a strict limit on research in this field until we can solve the current problems facing this issue including hunger, access and availability of water, climate change, and resource scarcity. A ban on research of this degree has been placed in the past, for example, when the Bush administration halted embryonic stem cell research,which is absolutely necessary to develop cures for cancer and disease. The funding for this type of immortality research should then be directed towards medical and scientific research that is aimed at managing and curing diseases such as cancer or AIDS.

Bibliography

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5. . "Why Population Matters." //World Overpopulation Awareness//. N.p., 2011. Web. 29 Nov 2011. .