How Much Nature Should America Keep?

By Jeremy Beck

We lose a football field worth of nature every 30 seconds in the United States. We add an NFL football stadium worth of people every ten days. You don’t have to be an environmental scientist or demographer to see the connection. Even with our efforts to reduce our individual footprints, our collective feet are stomping … Continued

We Say it Often, Numbers Count. And Here’s An Example of Why

By Christy Shaw

Add Ecuador to a growing list of South American countries beginning to close or significantly restrict mass migration spilling over their borders, a tragic consequence of the chaos and corruption that has plunged over 90% of Venezuela’s population into poverty. It is estimated that by the end of this year, over 5 million Venezuelens will … Continued

Too Many People, Too Little Sand

By Leon Kolankiewicz

If you were to poll average Americans as to what the most important natural resource is that sustains contemporary civilization, you’d probably get responses such as oil, soil, or water. And each of these would be good answers. For each of these substances is absolutely crucial in sustaining not just our standard of living but … Continued

A Reflection on Earth Overshoot Day: Helping #MoveTheDate for America and the Planet

By Rob Harding

July 29 was Earth Overshoot Day, the day which marks when we have used more from nature than the planet can renew for the entire year. Our demand for Earth’s resources far exceeds what Earth can generate in a year. In the 1970s Earth Overshoot Day fell in December and November. In the 1990s it … Continued

Grading Congress on protecting our INDEPENDENCE from coerced congestion

By Roy Beck

If you are finding your Fourth of July weekend diminished by over-packed highways, over-crowded parks, and ill-maintained infrastructures unable to keep up with the people growth, blame the Members of Congress. Since the year 2000, nearly 50 million people have been added to our sprawling cities. And Congress’ immigration policies caused most of it, according … Continued

EarthX 2019: Having Necessary Conversations about Population Growth, Sprawl, and Vanishing Open Spaces

By Christy Shaw

It was my first year joining the NumbersUSA team at Fair Park in Dallas, TX for the annual EarthX event! In general, it was fun and rewarding to be able to share important information with our booth visitors about the impacts of urban sprawl and population growth, both locally and nationally. Most passersby agreed that … Continued

Breaking the population-environment taboo at EarthX

By Jeremy Beck

Last month, we did our small part to break what David Attenborough calls the “bizarre taboo” that prevents an open discussion about the connection between population size and the environment from taking place. Obviously, the number of people in any given space has an impact on the environment of that space. When the first Earth … Continued

Is the U.S. full? Ecological Footprint Reveals an Inconvenient Truth

By Rob Harding

President Trump’s hyperbolic comments about the country being “full” were followed by numerous media responses, like The New York Times article by The Upshot’s Neil Irwin and Emily Badger, as if it needed to be explained to anyone that the country isn’t actually “bursting at the seams” with people. Regardless of the scope or intent … Continued

Immigration, Human Thriving and a ‘decent life for all [life]’

By Jeremy Beck

Last week, the American physicist Steven Chu spoke at the University of Chicago about the need to develop new economic systems that don’t rely on perpetual population growth. “The world needs a new model of how to generate a rising standard of living that’s not dependent on a pyramid scheme.” – Steven Chu at a … Continued