Population Shortage vs. Overpopulation

    Imagine a world where the sound of children playing is no longer at every corner. Where the happy family with a husband, wife, and two kids no longer exists. Where women can no longer produce children. Where the idea of a happy, healthy family is gone. This is the world that Margaret Atwood has developed in the book, The Handmaid's Tale. This story follows a woman who happens to be a "handmaid", which is a woman who's job is to produce children. They are assigned to certain households where they are made to have the child, and then give it to the woman of the house to raise it. This handmaid will never have a family, never have a husband, will never know a loving touch in her entire life. The question is, why are women subjected to such a position? Why is this happening?
    The book doesn't give much information on the topic, but from what is given we know that there are toxins in the air that have polluted women's bodies. Thus, a fetus does not have the nutrients to grow into a fully functioning child. Only a certain amount of women have the ability to have children, and they are placed as handmaids.
   A handmaids job is to make sure the sound of children playing at every corner comes back, and that the sight of a happy family of four is once again attainable. Their job is to repopulate in a world where they have lost so many lives.

   The opposite seems to be happening in the world today. Today we find ourselves facing overpopulation. Especially in countries like China, Mexico, and Brazil. Overpopulation has presented itself with it's own set of problems; food shortages, human suffering, collapses in global diversity, and space shortages. In today's society, the sound of children on every corner is heard everyday, all day. That happy family of four is actually a happy family of eight. We may not have a sustaining humanity problem like presented in The Handmaid's Tale, but the other problems presented could lead just to that. With food shortages, and human suffering, the death tole will increase. With the collapse in global diversity, we lose certain animals that are essential to our ecosystem. With space shortages, disease and bacteria is more likely to spread. We may not be dealing with population shortages, but with the way we are dealing with overpopulation, we may lead ourselves straight to being handmaids.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-tal/overpopulation-is-still-t_b_3990646.html