The signs are clear. Ecological overshoot is here.

Many thanks to my friend Karen Shragg, naturalist and gifted writer, for her meditation on Earth Overshoot. Shragg writes:

“As our traffic jams and homelessness increase while our open land for wildlife is doing a deep dive it is time to consider the harsh reality that our country may be expansive, but it is not limitless.”

August 1 is this year’s Earth Overshoot Day, the day which marks when we have used more from nature than the planet can renew for the entire year. For the United States, Overshoot Day was even earlier (March 14). The EarthxTV show #OvercomingOvershoot offers an informative introduction to the concept of ecological overshoot, and our national sprawl study makes the case that “the size of each footprint matters, as does the number of feet.”

While Elon Musk denies that we are in ecological overshoot, I trust Musk on matters of ecology and sustainability as much as I trust a plumber to give me a good eye exam.

Did you know? The U.S. meets its consumption demand by taking resources from future generations (drawing down domestic resources), and from other countries (importing resources; exporting waste).

Millions of Americans limit their personal consumption to conserve natural resources. But Congress has
set a course, through immigration policy, to ensure that the United States will add tens of millions of
people between 2016-2060. See our fact sheet.

I first wrote about America’s overshoot predicament for NumbersUSA in 2019. I’m following up that reflection with this new post. If you are reading this article, I hope you will share it with someone you know and contact your representatives in Congress.

Your voice matters!

The point I want to carry forward from my previous writing is this:

“One major opportunity in the United States is to allow the country’s population to stabilize and eventually decline to a sustainable level over time.”

Simply put, America’s population can’t stabilize without reducing annual immigration. Writing for The Hill in 2022, former director of the United Nations Population Division Joseph Chamie emphasized this fact:

“With the nation’s fertility below the replacement level, stabilizing America’s population will necessarily involve substantially reducing immigration levels, estimated at approximately 1.1 million per year.”

This Earth Overshoot Day, remember that sensible immigration policy should prioritize a population size America can sustain over a population size America can contain.

Take action: Tell Congress that less immigration is needed in response to ecological overshoot.

Explore more: Sustainability Initiative, Our Studies, Conservation Challenges