Stories of current times might seem surreal to citizens of the year 2552. Tales of water coming out of the ground, fuel sources called fossil fuels, or vast areas covered in trees would all be stories about the virtual campfire world . The lands once known as Africa have become uninhabitable even for the most resistant organisms. It's so cold at the poles that fuel lines in vehicles freeze in eleven seconds. The descendants of the seven billion people who currently inhabit this world would face difficult times if we did not act. Every year 80 million more people are added to problems such as global warming, food and water shortages, the depletion of fossil fuels and the destruction of ecosystems. All of these problems will become more prevalent as the world's population increases. In 1804 there were only one billion people. In 1927 it doubled. There were three billion in 1959, four billion in 1974, five billion in 1986 and six billion in 1999. With 218,000 more mouths to feed every day, we no longer have time to take adequate measures. If the current rate of population growth remains the same, the earth will run out of land and the resources we consume to maintain our lifestyles. The term overpopulation is normally associated with a specific number that represents a large number of people. However, overpopulation is the phenomenon that occurs whenever the environment is no longer able to support the demands of the species that inhabit it and the carrying capacity is exceeded. Carrying capacity is the amount of species an environment can hold before it begins to degrade. We are approaching the threshold of Earth's carrying capacity. We are currently consuming 20% ​​more natural resources than our planet can account for...... half of document ......quences-of-inequal-d_b_674779.html>.Hoevel, Ann. “Overpopulation could be a problem for people and the planet.” CNN. September 25, 2007. Web. March 18, 2012. .Kristof, Nicholas. "The Birth Control Solution." The New York Times. November 2, 2011. Web. March 17, 2012. "Living Planet Report 2002." WWF. Network. 15 March 2012. .Minois, Georges. "Too much life on Earth?" The New York Times. July 13, 2011. Web. March 18. 2012. .