Although
the first Earth Day, observed on April 22, 1970, saw the start
of the successful "Stop at Two" campaign (an effort
to persuade American women to achieve replacement fertility levels)
major environmental organizations, most notably Zero Population
Growth and Sierra Club, have abandoned the effort to achieve a
stable U.S. population.
While mainstream environmental groups like National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation produce excellent educational materials about environmental degradation and loss of wildlife habitat, and pay lip service to the impact of population growth on sprawl, they shy away from addressing the policy issue of too many people. One reason is a reluctance to deal with the abortion issue, the other is the fear of tackling the out-of-control immigration that is responsible for 60% of U.S. population growth since 1970. Both are viewed as "politically incorrect".
In his book, Living Within Limits, Garrett Hardin states, "It is now known that the planners of Earth Day 1990 were under economic pressure to leave population out of the picture. When directors of philanthropic foundations and business concerns were solicited for financial support they let it be known that they would not look kindly on a population emphasis. Money talks, silence can be bought."
A more detailed analysis of this abandonment comes from Roy Beck and Leon Kolankiewicz in a chapter they wrote for a recent Journal of Policy History, (Vol.12, No. 1 2000, Pennsylvania State University Press), titled: "The Environmental Movement's Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization (1970-1998): A First Draft of History". http://www.numbersusa.com/about/bk_retreat.html
While ZPG (now renamed Population Connection) addresses teenage pregnancy and international family planning, and Sierra works on "smart-growth" sprawl and world population stabilization, a grassroots movement has sprung up in the U.S. to deal with the underlying cause of our myriad environmental and social problems -- too many people and an out-of-whack immigration policy.
If you hold memberships in multiple environmental and social issues organizations, perhaps you should see the policy statements on population/immigration from some of these major organizations. You can find a survey on www.npg.org/specialreports/env_org_survey/envorg_body.htm
GRASSROOTS PATRIOTS
(We do not labor alone!)
Americans
for Better Immigration
American Freedom Riders SW Florida Brigade
Californians for Population Stabilization
California Coalition
for Immigration Reform
Center for American
Unity
Citizens Against Illegal Aliens
Citizens
for Sensible Growth/Sarasota
Colorado Alliance
for Immigraion Reform
Congressional Votes on Immigration issues
Controlgrowth.org
Diversity
Alliance for a Sustainable America
Federation
for Ammerican Immigration Reform
Florida
Public Interest Foundation
Florida
Hometown Democracy
Floridians
for Environmental Accountability and Reform
IllegalAliens
Midwest
Coalition to Reform Immigration
Minuteman
Civil Defense Corp.
Negative Population
Growth
Numbers USA
Population
Media Center
ProjectUSA
Sierrans for U.S.
Population Stabilization