U.S. Population Growth Slowed Over Past Decades Humans burn
fossil fuels, cut down forests, and have physically altered the
world in which all creatures live. We have dramatically
increased the amount of carbon dioxide released into the Earth's
atmosphere and ultimately warmed the planet to such a degree
that diseases are spreading more easily, hurricanes may be
getting more intense, glaciers are melting, world's natural
treasures are threatened, and many plant and animals can no
longer survive. The effects of climate change suggest a
potentially grim future for the entire planet, many researchers
warn. U.S. population growth has slowed in the past few decades,
with the South and West picking up bulking up the most in
residents, according to new U.S. Census Bureau numbers released
this week. As of April 1, 2010, the U.S. resident population hit
308,745,538 individuals. That's a 9.7-percent increase from 2000
when the U.S. resident population was 281.4 million. Between
1990 and 2000, the U.S. population grew b