On May 8, 2024, Sir David Attenborough turned 98 years old. Attenborough was born in England and became a famous broadcaster, biologist, natural historian, and writer. He is known throughout the world as being one of the most passionate and effective supporters of environmental causes and the natural world. He has advocated for restoring biodiversity, … Continued
David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club, knew that reducing immigration levels was a necessary part of population stabilization and achieving authentic sustainability. He said: “Overpopulation is perhaps the biggest problem facing us, and immigration is part of that problem. It has to be addressed.”
Some scientists believe that natural nighttime darkness may already be extinct in much of the eastern U.S. We are witnessing this as America’s population continues to soar to unprecedented levels, with no end in sight. The Census Bureau predicts that America’s population will grow by another 70 million in the next 35 years, with roughly 90% caused by immigration. It’s significant that this projection was made before the recent and disturbing immigration surge at the southern border, which has brought illegal immigration to rates surpassing those of legal immigration.
Back in 1972, the rate of legal immigration into the U.S. was around 400,000, as was illegal immigration. Legal immigration now amounts to 1.2 million, which pales next to the rate of illegal immigration at 2.5 – 3.0 million per year.
Despite the Clean Water Act, many of America’s rivers are suffering, with no relief in sight, as our population continues to soar to unprecedented levels. The Census Bureau projects America’s population will grow by another 75 million in the next 40 years, with roughly 90% of that caused by immigration. It’s significant that this projection was made before the immigration surge at the southern border, where illegal immigration has become more than twice as high as legal.
Bartlett points out that immigration, both legal and illegal, is the largest component of population growth in the U.S., and that continued immigration is the largest threat to sustainability of the United States. “Indeed, members of the two political parties vie with each other to see which party can produce legislation that will let in the largest annual flow of legal immigrants,” he writes.
Americans have grown increasingly efficient with our use of resources (i.e., our per capita ecological footprint). But we haven’t grown more sustainable — that is, the U.S. ecological deficit (gap between footprint and biocapacity) has increased — because the amount of natural resources (i.e., our biocapacity) per person has also declined. Why? In part because we have converted them into urbanized areas to accommodate immigration-driven population growth.
The most direct and fundamental way to resolve America’s decline in biodiversity is to gradually bring down our high levels of immigration. Habitat loss cannot be stopped as long as immigration (legal and illegal) continues to add roughly three and a half million people every year.
Legal and illegal immigration now amount to the rough equivalent of a new Los Angeles every year – a factor in the loss of 60,000 acres of wetlands every year.
