With strong public commitment and political support for immigration reduction, aggregate water consumption could be reduced even more, allowing still more water to remain where it belongs — in natural streams, rivers, and lakes — where it furnishes ecological benefits to habitat, wildlife, and society.
The issue of high levels of immigration is not unique to the United States. An op-ed from the United Kingdom's The Times explains how Britain has recently grappled with the same situation. The overarching point is applicable to the United States: resources and land are finite and housing shortages are already pervasive. This continued population growth, which is driven by immigration policies, is out of the control of the average person as each country's governments are at the helm.
The amount of anthropogenic noise is increasing with far reaching effects, but we are not yet able to understand to which extent. Recently, researchers have uncovered alarming connections between exposure to unwanted noise and cardiovascular health for those that live in urban areas. This raises additional concerns as to how wildlife is impacted and what it means for the long term health of our ecosystems. Our National Sprawl Study points out that our population growth, which is primarily driven by Congress's immigration policies, only worsen the issue.
Even those of us who live the most sustainable lifestyles still have an ecological footprint. While technological advances can help mitigate the problem, as long as our population continues to climb, many of these gains will not be realized solely because there are more people consuming finite natural resources. An essential component to this issue that we must consider is our growing population, which in our country is mainly due to Congress' immigration policies.
Water is quickly being depleted by a growing U.S. population. This is placing an increased demand on rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater for drinking water, farming, and industrial production. This precious resource deserves our protection, stewardship, and care. Yet, our government officials have turned a blind eye to the crucial component of doing so, which is to cut immigration to the U.S.
Each year, the Global Footprint Network measures when "when humanity's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year." This is measured based on the needs and use of our global population, but the Global Footprint Network also breaks this down by country.
This year, Overshoot Day in the United States was March 13. Our population growth is straining our natural resources and threatening biodiversity. As long as our population continues to grow due to immigration, which can be attributed primarily to Congress's immigration policies, our environmental woes will only be further exacerbated.
Our National Parks and protected areas are revealing their fragility as pressures from our growing immigration-driven population increase. Unprotected areas are part of the larger ecosystems of protected land, and urban sprawl brings with it habitat loss and increasingly fragmented landscapes along with a myriad of other issues. Between the years 1940-2000, 28 million housing units were built within 50 km of protected areas in the United States. If this trend continues, this number will increase by another million by 2030, many of which will be built within 1 km of protected areas.
The town of Buckeye, Arizona is experiencing rapid population growth, some of which is due to its high quality of life. However, the projected growth of this small town will bring its population to levels that rival nearby Phoenix. Once this occurs, the quality of life will decline as issues including traffic congestion, noise pollution, and loss of open space become the norm in Buckeye. Many small towns across the country are on the same trajectory.
The Department of the Interior has declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time. Currently, there are 40 million people depending on it for water. Farmers and ranchers also rely on the Colorado river to produce their crops. If immigration-driven population growth, driven by federal government policies, continues at its current pace, water resources will be put under even more stress.
When Covid-19 hit New Zealand, that country's government took decisive action to seal its borders. The New Zealand government is now taking a course to ensure that its immigration policy operates for the benefit of its citizens.