Immigration and Environment

Kenric Ward: Environmentalists ignore the population bomb, risking catastrophic explosion

By Kenric Ward
Sunday, June 7, 2009

ABC's new comedy, "The Goode Family," (which moves from Wednesdays to 8:30 p.m. Fridays this week) mocks environmentalist excesses with its biting portrayal of vegan dogs, hybrid cars, white guilt and cries of "What Would Al Gore Do?"

HaHaw!

But the political correctness of environmentalism becomes deadly serious when its devotees dodge the No. 1 contributor to environmental degradation: people.

From his perch in one of America's greenest cities, Jack Hart, former managing editor of the Portland Oregonian, recently penned an essay titled "Treading on a taboo: Overpopulation in America." In it, he observed:

"A March 29 headline read, 'Portland lessens its carbon footprint.' But Portland did no such thing.

"Portlanders may have indeed reduced their per-capita driving by 5 percent over five years, as the story reported, but the metro area's population grew by 8 percent over the same period."

Running the last decade's growth numbers, which drove a 45 percent increase in vehicle registrations, Hart determined that Portland's total carbon dioxide emissions are up - way up.

In addition to cars, our technology-intensive society guzzles more fossil fuels and electrical juice than ever. Power mowers, trash compactors, microwaves, big flat-screen TVs, computers, treadmills, subzero freezers, etc. - household items little-known just two generations ago - are commonplace today.

"I bet one 1950s slob made less of a mess than two 21st-century eco-freaks," Hart opined.

Critiquing his own business, the journalist adds:

"The taboo (against an honest connection of the population-environment nexus) afflicts most media. The Oregonian's Earth Day editorial urged support for politicians who back energy-efficient buildings, wind power, public transportation and so on. Everything but population control."

This discussion turns naturally to immigration - the No. 1 population driver in many regions of this country. And here's where things get really controversial.

Demographers estimate that 90 percent of U.S. population growth over the next 40 years will come from post-2000 immigrants and their descendants. These folks come with a hefty price tag.

California, home to an estimated 3 million illegal immigrants, expends more than $13 billion in public services on these undocumented people. That's taxpayer money the deficit-wracked state can ill afford. Without this influx, congestion would decrease and more funds might be freed up for environmental protection.

In Florida, where a majority of public schoolchildren are minorities, 51 percent of births are to Medicaid recipients. If demography is destiny, the Sunshine State appears to be following California's fiscal footsteps into the mire.

Everywhere, the cost of government services - including the protection of our air, water and land - is rising as population increases. It's axiomatic: The larger the population, the greater the ecological degradation.

Former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm recognized the link and attempted a coup d'etat of the Sierra Club in a bid to make population (and border) control a primary plank in the tree huggers' platform. Alas, political correctitude would not budge.

For their honesty, slow-growthers are tarred and feathered as neo-Malthusians by the right and racists by the left. Florida Hometown Democracy, the voter initiative that would give Floridians veto power on growth, has incurred similar opprobrium, despite the fact that FHD founder Lesley Blackner is a Palm Beach attorney who voted for Barack Obama.

But name-calling cannot stand up to truth. And now that Hart no longer edits a mainstream newspaper, he feels free to speak his mind, to wit:

"A Portland carpooling project saved - according to its own chest-thumping claims - 3,000 tons of CO2 over five years. That's pathetic - we could have accomplished the same thing by slowing metro-area population growth by 30 people a year.

"If you want to help, don't waste your time on inconsequential environmental work that treats the symptoms while ignoring the disease."

Floridians, take note.

ken.ward@scripps.com
Scripps Lighthouse