SOURCE: http://clv.h-cdn.co
What do architects and communist China have in common? They are both trying to curb the negative effects of population growth. According to Matt Rosenberg, an award-winning American journalist, and Carol Kaufmann, an award winning author and freelance journalist, China’s one child policy and tiny houses called micro homes are just a few of the ways that government and industries across the globe are trying to control population growth. Although both solutions help address overpopulation, micro homes are a better solution because they don't limit people's rights like China's one child policy did.
China's one child policy was established by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to limit China's population growth. The program, which was only supposed to be a temporary measure, lasted for 36 years after its establishment. The policy limited couples to one child. It began to be formally phased out in 2015 and has since been replaced by the two child policy. During its first twenty years it’s estimated the one child law “reduced population growth in the country of 1.3 billion by as much as 300 million people.” However, in order to enforce this measure the government utilized “fines, pressures to abort a pregnancy, and even forced sterilization accompanied second or subsequent pregnancies,” things still being used to enforce the new two child policy. With this new policy in place, “there were 17.86 million births in China in 2016, an 7.9% increase on 2015.” While all of these statistics prove the effectiveness of this policy to decrease population growth, it’s a morally questionable practice that infringes on the basic liberties of people.
Over the past 40 years, “the average home in the United States has increased in size by more than 1,000 square feet, essentially doubling the amount of living space per person since 1973.” However a decade ago a new movement sought to fight this trend, the creation of micro homes. Micro homes, or tiny houses, measure on average 100 to 400 square feet. Despite their small size, they are big enough to include the needed amenities of a home such as “a sleeping area, a bathroom, a modern kitchen, storage and spots for eating and relaxing.” Other than the obvious benefits of reduced maintenance and financial burden, micro homes are an efficient way to house more people with our growing population without harming the environment. Micro homes allow for more individual housing on the same plot of land at a much more affordable price for buyers. Additionally, those living in micro homes are more likely to not have kids due to the limited amount of living space. By continuing to manufacture these houses we can help to control the negative effects of overpopulation such as not enough space and resources and help limit the birthrate.
While policies like the ones China has implemented are effective, they are destructive to human liberties. Creative engineering, like micro homes, has proved to be one of the most important tools in fighting overpopulation. If the government increases funding for these types of projects, we could have a real solution to the overpopulation crisis.
FUTURE RESEARCH: I will explore how population growth has affected the economy.
