What is the effect of overpopulation on the environment? One approach to solving the problems that accompany overpopulation might be government-imposed sanctions limiting development in an area. What kind of effect would such environmental sanctions have on the economic stability of a family living in the area?
Economists traditionally believe that economic growth and modern advancement, once reaching a certain level, would allow for the replenishment of the natural resources in an area that were destroyed during the advancement process. It is now understood that many of the resources that were once believed to be replaceable, in fact, are not. I think this brings into question the feasibility of uncontrolled growth as well as exponential consumption placed on an within an area.
I believe that environmental sanctions placed on an area would ultimately benefit the area as well as the people in it. If sanctions placed on land prohibited the development and inhabitation of said land but allowed people to use it for farming and gathering, it would allow families a means for survival. It is necessary to expound the word "economic stability" from its sole focus on man-made capital earnings and to include the other forms of stability, such as natural and social stability.