Over Sized and Overwhelmed

http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Sometimes-it-smells-like-a-by-Frosty-Wooldridge-090918-686.html
The article “Sometimes it Smells Like a Barn Coming Out of the Faucet: Overpopulation in America” (September 21, 2009) was written in OpEdNews.com by Frosty Wooldridge. The author claims that 1) Overpopulation is detrimental to the environment, 2) America must limit immigration to stop overpopulation and, 3) There are some toxic wastes that cannot be avoided in order for us to survive. Wooldridge’s claims are strong, but he fails to connect his examples and quotes to what he is arguing, and rarely gives credibility through citation.

The author goes on to state that, “we add 3.4 million people to the U.S. annually, predominantly by immigration. Ironically, those immigrants stream into America from overpopulated countries that add 77 million people, net gain, annually to the planet. Next destination: 100 million people added to America by 2035. That’s 26 years from now” (Wooldridge 2009). This information is not common knowledge. Wooldridge fails to cite the data, making the data less credible to the reader. How are we to know that the information is fact and not something made up to improve his argument? Without any citations this data loses its value. If Wooldridge is going to argue that overpopulation from immigration is destroying the environment, then it is thought that he should have concrete evidence to back himself up.

“Example: the Mississippi River spews millions of gallons of toxic water into the Gulf of Mexico 24/7 to create a 10,000 square miles dead zone. Toxins include fertilizer runoff, insecticides, herbicides, household wastes, sewage and a host of chemicals. Vertebrates cannot live in it, thus, our poisons created a dead ocean area. As humans’ ultimate toilet, worldwide, our oceans suffer horrific consequences to marine life, plankton and fisheries.”(Wooldridge 2009)

This is an example where Wooldridge proves that with the excess number of people in America it has created a detrimental environmental situation. Wooldridge inserts the example directly after the introduction, where it has no purpose. After stating the example Wooldridge never elaborates on the point he made, he then goes on to the next point without connecting it to his argument. Instead he should have wrote how the increasing population creates more toxic waste, and because of the constant growth a 10,000 square miles dead zone has been created from humans pumping into the Gulf of Mexico, and then relate it to his main claim that, over population is slowly destroying the world.

Wooldridge also makes quotes that do not forward his argument at all. He tends to make arguments that have no relationship with his main clause for example when he writes about Agricultural runoffs from farms and how they are “the single largest source of water pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams, according to the E.P.A. An estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from waterborne parasites, viruses or bacteria, including those stemming from human and animal waste, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology”(Wooldridge 2009). This is the only creditable information; however it does not forward his main clause that the increasing overpopulation and excess waste is detrimental to the environment.

Frosty Wooldridge’s main claim was that overpopulation is slowly causing major environmental crisis, and it’s only going to get worse. Although he has many good ideas, the structure of his argument needs improvement. Also his quotes are out of place, and there are no citations to give any creditability to what he is trying to prove. I do agree with the message he is trying to justify, that with more people, there will more waste created and that excess waste will slowly but surely cause major problems. These problems could include dead zones in the oceans like state, destruction of animal habitat, and lethal pandemics from increased bacteria. However, I think an immigration limit is excessive; something needs to be put in place to reduce waste. A country should have the appropriate waste disposal systems ready and must know exactly how many people it can cope with.


Reference
Wooldridge, F (2009, September 21). Sometimes it smells like a barn coming out of the faucet: overpopulation in America. Retrieved from http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Sometimes-it-smells-like-a-by-Frosty-Wooldridge-090918-686.html