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Category: Sustainability

America’s night skies are being washed out by population growth.

By Henry Barbaro

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.

The Rockefeller Report (1972) – a lost opportunity to reform immigration

By Henry Barbaro

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. 

Immigration-driven population growth is impacting America’s waters.

By Henry Barbaro

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.

Al Bartlett’s prescience on how immigration makes America less sustainable.

By Henry Barbaro

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.

The New “State” Of Illegal Immigration

By Jeremy Beck

Imagine a policy proposal to add another state’s worth of people every three years without adding any additional resources to provide for all of the necessities of American life

A talk about trade-offs in Texas

By Rob Harding

In a state where 95% of the land is privately owned, the trade-off between unchecked population growth and open space preservation in Texas is clear.

America’s overshoot is magnified by mass immigration

By Henry Barbaro

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.

Conservation Candidates’ Immigration Challenge

By Jeremy Beck

Candidates who emphasize habitat and wildlife conservation have an edge in these Western states. But to fulfill campaign promises, conservation candidates will have to address immigration policy.

Less immigration would save habitat; wildlife

By Henry Barbaro

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.