Our planet is vastly becoming overpopulated. The more I travel the more I notice the effect we have on our environment as a species. Suburban areas and major cities constantly expand to accommodate the increasing housing demands. According to data.worldbank.org, the French population density (people per square kilometer of land area) has increased from 111 in 2000 to 121 in 2014. The population of France has gone up from 63.6 million in 2006 to 66.2 million in 2014. Map-france.com reports that Angers has a population density of 3538 people per square kilometer. While Angers is not by any means the most densely populated city in France it is easy to see just how crowded it actually is. It is also easy to see the amount of waste the city produces simply by walking through the streets. Cigarette butts, glass bottles, and other trash litter the ground all over the city. Recycling is encouraged in Angers but many people do not take the time to differentiate between trash and recycling when they dispose of their waste. As you pass the waste bins on the side of the street you can clearly see that waste is not organized into two separate bins, but instead just thrown all together into a dumpster. Littering and improper waste disposal are not the only problems influenced by overpopulation.
There are a surprisingly large amount of homeless people in Angers. As you walk around the city you will notice that there is a person begging for money on almost every corner. I’ve witnessed these homeless people digging through trash to find scraps of food, and as they do this they scatter the trash all over the ground around the dumpster. These people do not have much regard for the environment because they are more focused on whether or not they will be able to eat today. If there were more food to go around and places for these people to sleep they would likely have a higher regard for the quality of the environment they live in. Due to the high population density and housing market factors living in angers is extremely expensive. France also has been building a decreasing number of homes each year. With the increasing population that France has it is likely that homelessness will only increase as time goes on which will then contribute to an increase of littering and pollution.
One could assume that this increase in population leads to an increase in the demand for things such as housing, food, and automobiles. In fact, statista.com reports that France imported 100 billion US dollars worth of goods more in 2014, in which they imported 679 billion US dollars worth of goods, than in 2006 in which they imported 541 billion US dollars worth of goods. If you walk into a nearby grocery store in Angers and pass through the fruit and vegetable isle you will notice that a good deal of the produce comes from outside France. Some of the produce comes from a nearby European country such as Spain, but others come from as far as a South American country like Peru. Importing goods is very costly to the environment because of the large amount of coal and gasoline that are required to transport goods over long distances. As Leopold said, “We fancy that industry supports us, forgetting what supports industry”, meaning that we are more concerned with actually getting the food that we want than we are with how we are getting it. It is clear that there is a correlation between increase in population and importation of goods. France does have locally grown produce, but some things cannot grow in this climate and must be imported from somewhere else.
France does do a good job to limit the amount of automobiles being driven and releasing pollution out into the air in the form of carbon dioxide. There are a good number of public transportation options that are available to get people where they need to go. In Angers specifically an electrically powered tram is available that covers a good portion of the city and does not directly release any carbon dioxide pollution into the air. Another way that the demand for transportation is addressed is the bus system. Many people can ride in one vehicle as opposed to all riding individually which would produce a great deal more of pollution. One of the advantages to having such a densely populated area is that most of the city can be accessed by walking and does not require a car or tram.
France will also see a temporary population increase due to the influx of Syrian refugees. France had taken in approximately 5000 Syrian refugees as of march 2015 according to syrianrefugees.eu. It is assumed that more Syrian refugees will spill over from Germany in the near future. France will have to house and feed these people, which will most likely require more imported goods. In addition to the increase in imported goods, France will also have to house the refugees which will likely require them to expand cities. Other European countries will likely have to increase imported goods to accommodate the increase in population.
Overpopulation is a global issue that is evident in more than just France. During my travels of Europe over the summer I noticed the effects of overpopulation the most during my stay in Rome, Italy. Worldpopulationreview.com reports that the city proper of Rome has a population density of 2100 people per square kilometer. The influence that such a large population has on the environment were even more evident with such a massive population density. The water of the Tiber River, which flows through Rome, is dark and seemed to have an overabundance of algae. I also did not notice any fish in the river as I walked by, which I believe to be caused by such high traffic from tour boats. The air quality of Rome is rated very low due to the great number of automobiles in the heavily populated city. Due to the population density of Rome there is an alarming number of homeless in the city. As previously discussed this also likely contributes to littering within the city, but the tourists and locals also seemed to have little regard for proper disposal of waste.