GA is facing its own looming crisis

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OP-Ed FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
Rick Oltman, National Media Director
Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS)
415-215-9550
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Poisoned Wells
Our future depends on the courage to speak out for a sustainable population
By Mark Cromer

As the looming crisis of dwindling long-term water supplies hangs over the American Southwest like vultures circling for dinner, the alarm bells are finally starting to be heard from academia to the media.

National news magazines this month have featured articles on growing water shortages across the nation; with one analysis showing most of California has "moderately to severely overused" its ground water supplies.

Dr. Brian Fagan, a UC Santa Barbara professor emeritus of anthropology, wrote a column this week in the Times that contrasted human flexibility in adapting to sustained aridity in California a millennia ago with the challenges we face developing water sources today.

"The future is truly frightening," Fagan writes.

Indeed it is-and all the more so because elected officials and even many experts in science and the environmentalist movement have been cowed into silence when it comes to addressing the elephant in California\'s living room: population growth.

While Fagan ticks off a compelling list of warning signs, including a projection by Britain's Hadley Center for Climate Prediction that 40% of the planet will be in a state of "extreme drought" by the end of this century, the professor only makes a passing reference at our surging population.

That glaring omission is not accidental but rather an act of self-preservation. As the state's ground water supplies grow ever more precarious, the well of public discourse has been poisoned.

One of the early casualties of the rancorous debate over immigration into the United States, both legal and illegal, has been the ability to openly discuss the staggering impacts of our population growth on critical resources such as water. Since immigration-and particularly illegal immigration-is the human engine driving the sustained population growth in California and the U.S., addressing population growth is to wade into the immigration debate.

Thus, academics, environmentalists and elected officials alike run the very real risk of being tarred as "racist" by immigrant advocacy groups if they dare to suggest serious limitations to immigration as part of an overall strategy to stabilize our population growth.

The chilling effect this has had on the issues surrounding population growth is evident in the increasing calls for new water-use policies, tougher restrictions on developers, beefed up land-use regulations and investment in research and development of technologies that might ameliorate the discomfort of our crowding; anything but a reasoned call for slowing our population growth and then reducing it to replacement levels over the next century.

It is politically correct to call for dramatic reductions in overall consumption, to specifically conserve fuel or water, or to preserve what remains of arable land. But it remains verboten among political, academic and in many media circles to discuss the root of our consumption run amok: population growth.

This whistling past the graveyard has taken on an absurdist hue in various environmental groups, where it remains chic to warn against global overpopulation but absolutely unacceptable to discuss the immigration that is fueling America's population surge.

I was treated to an example of the depth of this intellectual charade not long ago while speaking with a Sierra Club representative who was working an information booth for the venerable environmental group.

We chatted amicably for a few minutes about the runaway development in Southern California that in a generation has erased the open space that once demarked 'city limits,' a building spree that has created a mammoth suburban sprawl that simply is not sustainable. She seemed pleased as punch to meet a fellow traveler on the issue of sustainable growth.

Then I dropped the "pop-bomb" into the mix, asking her about the Sierra Club's view on population growth and its impacts on the environment. She quickly down-shifted her pleasant banter into a stock, monotone recitation of the challenges posed by global overpopulation.

When I pointed to the dramatic strain of critical resources in California, such as water, and contrasted that with the state's continued population growth that has us on track to hit 60 million people by mid-century, her response was immediate: She lifted her hand up in front of her, like a crossing guard ordering cars to halt, while sternly intoning "No! No! No!"

And that was the end of that, conversation over.

But the serious discussion on California's population growth has yet to begin. It is absolutely intellectually dishonest for academics like Fagan to proffer "adapting" as a solution without confronting the state\'s continued population growth.

Academics, scientists and elected officials-and the media-must find the courage to address the issue of overpopulation in the face of the insidious smears they rightly anticipate they will suffer.

We no longer have a choice.

The longer we put off launching that discussion in earnest, the faster Fagan\'s projection of a "frightening future" is going to become a stark reality.

This would be a great television and radio ad for every state.  The no-borders politicians need to be reminded this problem is everywhere. 

With the drought and the water shortages, this would be a great add to make people stop and think.    Not too long ago, I wrote Perdue a letter trying to make him see Georgia did not need population growth.  What America needs is a return to true leadership and that did not include allowing the social ills from third world countries to come and milk America of her jobs and future. 

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CAPS New Ad Campaign Says Population Growth Devours Open Space, Destroys Wildlife Habitat

Vast majority of population growth results from immigration CAPS and allied groups have launched an ad campaign to draw attention to the environmental devastation caused by continuing population growth. The ads will appear in several major publications across the nation.   http://capwiz.com/caps/utr/1/LEWIIPOS... src="mhtml:{28D2ED16-A703-49B8-84DC-1FC70C3680DF}mid://00000028/!x-usc:http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i12... border="0" alt="CAPS Bulldozer Ad" width="200" height="250" align="right">"Loss of open space, increased traffic congestion, never-ending sprawl-these are all consequences of a growing population. Habitat loss due to population growth is, by far, the greatest threat to wildlife," said Diana Hull, CAPS' President.   "Population growth is overwhelming the gains that the United States has made in energy conservation and protection of critical wild lands. Water shortages and energy shortages result, in part, from the increased demands of an increasing population, yet we are ignoring this half of the equation. Americans do not want the increased crowding and resource depletion, but it is being forced on them by politicians," Hull continued.   The United States now has a population of more than 300 million, and projections indicate that it will soar by another 100 million in 30 years. If no action is taken, the U.S. will face a population of at least 600 million people by the end of this century. While other developed nations have stable populations, the population in the U.S. continues to grow like that of India and China.   More than 80 percent of the nation's population growth results from immigration and births to immigrants. In California, immigration accounts for virtually 100 percent of the population growth.   This national ad campaign by CAPS and its partners in America's Leadership Team for Long Range Population-Immigration-Resource Planning is part of a long-term plan to raise public awareness of the extent of the nation's current population growth, the consequences of that growth on myriad environmental and social problems, and the policies that produce the growth.   The ad which shows a bulldozer as "one of America's best selling vehicles" can be viewed here (pdf)">http://capwiz.com/caps/utr/1/LEWIIPOS... and on CAPS website, www.CAPSweb.org">http://capwiz.com/caps/utr/1/LEWIIPOS....