Over the past twenty-five years, NumbersUSA has published numerous scientific reports on the causes and consequences of sprawl in the United States. Our most recent study quantifies ecological decline in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed over the past three decades. Looking forward, we explore a path toward ecological sustainability centered on stabilizing the region’s population through reduced immigration.
Despite half a century of efforts to improve water quality and restore fisheries in America’s Chesapeake Bay, its ecological health continues to decline. A new study from NumbersUSA quantifies this ecological decline within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, explores its causes, and discusses possible futures.
If federal immigration policies driving national population growth continue, California’s environment and residents’ quality of life will pay an ever higher price. There can be no sustainability in a context of ever growing human populations.
Our nation’s immigration-driven population growth is fueling urban and suburban expansion, which has become the principal factor contributing to deforestation in the United States. As development spreads outward irreplaceable forest functions are lost, leaving communities more vulnerable to flooding, pollution, extreme heat, declining biodiversity and declining quality of life. Unless excessive immigration rates are reduced, urban sprawl and deforestation will continue.
By Jeremy Beck
Basic Freedoms Four out of five Americans say the area where they live either has enough people living there, or is already too crowded. In a recent CBS News poll (May 2023), Americans were asked about population density where they live, and whether or not their areas needed more people. Almost a third of Americans … Continued
By Jeremy Beck
Population growth has its downsides… …at least in Idaho, where The New York Times reports “the population and living costs have surged in recent years.” The surge of people moving in from California and elsewhere has “put new demands on health care, education, and transportation.” NumbersUSA is currently working on a study of urban sprawl … Continued
By Jeremy Beck
Federal Conservation and Population Policies At Odds “WILDLIFE IS DISAPPEARING around the world,” The New York Times reports. “Humans are taking over too much of the planet, erasing what was there before…” Habitat corridors across the American landscape are being extinguished. Good faith efforts to save them can only hope to mitigate the loss if … Continued
By Jeremy Beck
What Hurricane Ian tells us about immigration policy and resiliency Hurricane Ian will likely go down as the most expensive storm in Florida history: $66 billion in property damage and a record number of homes and properties destroyed. The damage is still being calculated. By one measure, Ian is tied for the fifth strongest storm … Continued
By Jeremy Beck
Some of the fastest-growing cities in the US are among those being roasted by record temperatures that are baking more than 100 million Americans under some sort of extreme heat warning. The sprawl of concrete for new housing has helped heighten temperatures in many of these growing cities. The spread of hard surfaces has also … Continued
