No Apocalyptic Predictions Necessary. The Present is Enough

The legacy media is full of expansionist narratives built on the shaky foundation of Ponzi Demography, and the cracks are showing. The expanding human enterprise is contributing to the sixth mass extinction in the U.S. and around the world. The loss and destruction of critical habitat needs no Cassandra to prophecy where our current trajectory might lead when we have an abundance of indicators that tell us unequivocally where we are right at this moment.

60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley reports on the declining salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest, and with it “a way of life that began with native tribes a thousand years ago.”

Representatives from countries around the world met in Montreal last month to set goals to preserve and protect 30 percent of their nation’s land and water by 2030. But as 60 Minutes reports, none of the goals from the 2010 gathering were met. Why will this time be any different? The Biden Administration has its own “30×30” plan and it, too, is unlikely to meet its goal. Part of the problem is that the success of establishing new reserves – important as they are – are like “grains of sand in a beach.”

The U.S. grew by more than 20 million people between 2010 and 2020. That’s roughly five Los Angeles. Every person, no matter how eco-conscious, requires food, shelter, and materials – roughly 15 football-fields worth.

A 2010 US Forest Service report warned that a “growing population is projected to lead both to increased demands for a wide array of goods and ecosystem services from forests and rangelands and to shifts in land uses as public values for certain goods and services change.”

They were right.

To the surprise of many, the United States is one of the most biodiverse nations in the world. What a responsibility we have! We are still blessed with an abundance of riches, though our room to grow may be more limited than your fellow citizens imagine.

It is just a fact that immigration policy is the sole driver of long-term U.S. population growth. If you want to address the main driver of habitat loss, you have to address the main driver of population growth.

JEREMY BECK is a V.P., Deputy Director for NumbersUSA