How many people can America hold and remain sustainable?

By Frosty Wooldridge

Americans continue with a two-centuries-long myth that human population can expand forever, without end and to infinity.  If you ask 10 Americans if they ‘see’ any problem with endless growth, you would get 10 for 10 supporting unlimited population growth.  “Look at all the open space across America,” they say.

Very few Americans understand ‘carrying capacity’, diminishing oil reserves, scarce water supplies, limited arable land or species extinction.  Yes, they roar at gas prices, curse at gridlock traffic and complain about air pollution—but they never connect the dots as to human population overload.

In a brilliant piece, New Mexico environmentalist Kathleene Parker, “Can We Support Everyone Counted?” addressed what Americans face in the Southwest.   
   
“The first U.S. census, in 1790, counted our numbers, then about 4 million,” said Parker. “With the release of the current census, we hear about how we are becoming older or more diverse, but we get no discussion of the stunning fact that our nation is one of three global population super-giants and the world’s fourth-fastest growing nation!
   
“We also get no discussion of whether that is good, considering the Great Recession, boom growth’s part in our economic woes and that the Southwest — our fastest-growing region — is in a water crisis of potentially catastrophic implications and proportions.
   
“Just three nations — China, India and the United States — have populations over 300 million.
   
“That our place there is not being acknowledged is irresponsible considering the implications to the planet and the impact to our individual lives: gridlock on Paseo del Norte, health-care overwhelmed, education strained to breaking and states buckling under the debt for staggering amounts of new growth-required infrastructure.
   
“Bangladesh’s overpopulation is a huge problem for Bangladesh but of little consequence to the world, except as a breeding ground for terrorism. But the population super-giants’ overpopulation — with their huge resource consumption and environmental impact — is a problem for the world.
   
“Census hoopla will likely not mention that the United States in 2006 reached a number that a Nixon-era presidential commission warned we should never reach, 300 million. Just four years later we hover at 310 million, a nagging reminder of an approaching 450 million by 2050 or a possible China-like one billion late century!
   
  Big Media headline a “falling” birth rate. Wrong!
   
 “True, each woman has fewer babies, an average of 2.2, but more women than ever are having babies. Births in 2007 actually exceeded the 1957 peak of the Baby Boom. One in 12 was to an illegal border crosser.
   
    And, there is immigration.
   
“Open-border apologists say we are “a nation of immigrants,” but we are also a nation that tightly limited immigration — until recently.
   
“Between 1860 and 1920, we admitted fewer total than between 2000 and 2006! During the Great Depression, immigration was held below 10,000 a year. During the Great Recession, at 700,000 a year, legal immigration alone exceeds the previous high, the Great Wave of 1880 to 1919 when a “mere” 600,000 were admitted annually — until the American people demanded cuts to 200,000 a year.
   
“Today, 1.2 million — legal and illegal — arrive, and no, there is not room for more.
   
“People can survive like sardines in a can. Population is limited by resources.
   
“We are at the brink of becoming a net importer of food and could become as beholden for food as we are for energy.
   
 “And water shortages, especially in the American Southwest, put us at the brink of a precipice.
   
“The Colorado — the region’s primary water source — was over allocated in the 1920s when 16.4 million acre feet were apportioned from a river that holds closer to 13.5 million. Add an exploding population, prolonged drought and cautions by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and others that the region is returning to a far drier norm and Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, could run dry by 2021.
   
“Little wonder that Las Vegas, Nev., which gets 90 percent of its water from the Colorado, is building a new lake-bottom intake to draw water until the last bitter drop!
   
 But that might be the least of our problems.
   
“The drought emergency will begin a new era of shortages, rationing and required water-use cutbacks to Colorado River states. Junior water rights holders like New Mexico could quickly play second fiddle to the political clout of California. San Juan-Chama water — a new lifeblood to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and diverted from the Colorado — might be imperiled or simply not exist.
   
“Continuing long-term shortages — in addition to also threatening still drought-strained Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir, could have catastrophic implications to the economy and perhaps even political stability of a Southwest today holding 60 million people — a number likely to double by mid-century.
   
“Is it wise, therefore, for politicians to promote growth in our arid region?
   
 “Aren’t we overdue for an honest discussion about the numbers whether we can or should continue our current population explosion? “
   
 Kathleene Parker authored “Population, Immigration, and the Drying of the American Southwest” for the Center for Immigration Studies, www.cis.org.

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In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”, Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG, graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation.  Take five minutes to see for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=player_embedded

“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck

This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future generations: in a word “Mind boggling!”  www.NumbersUSA.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ

If any of us, no matter what our race, creed or color might be, refuse to engage our U.S. Congress as we have not for 30 years as to the population/immigration equation-our children will find themselves living in a terribly degraded America where the American Dream will be described by the history books as a ‘fleeting fantasy’ from the era of 1950 to 2010.

These are several of the top organizations where you can take collective action to change the course of American history as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Take collective action at:

This is the best website to start:  www.numbersusa.org ; watch Roy Beck’s “Immigration by the Numbers” at 14 minutes. Bi-partisan and very effective. Become a faxer of pre-written letters to your reps to make positive  change.

Also: www.fairus.org ; www.capsweb.org ; www.thesocialcontract.com ; www.populationmedia.org ; www.worldpopulationbalance.org ; www.populationconnection.org ; www.quinacrine.com ; www.familyplanning.org/ , www.skil.org ; www.growthbusters.com; www.populationpress.org ; www.thinkpopulation.org ; www.carryingcapacity.org ; www.balance.org ; www.controlgrowth.org ; in Canada www.immigrationwatchcanada.org ; in Australia www.population.org.au and[email protected]; in Great Britain www.optimumpopulation.org ; and dozens of other sites accessed at www.frostywooldridge.com.   In Florida, www.flimen.org .

Must see DVD: “Blind Spot” www.snagfilms.com/films/title/blind_spot/ , This movie illustrates America’s future without oil, water and other resources to keep this civilization functioning. It’s a brilliant educational movie! www.blindspotdoc.com

Must see: Rapid Population Decline, seven minute video by Dr. Jack Alpert-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWduFB_RX0

Must see and funny: www.growthbusters.org ; www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXSTrW_dARc
Dave Gardner’s Polar Bear in Bedroom:

growthbusters.org/2010/03/save-the-polar-bear-in-your-bedroom ; Dave Gardner, President, Citizen-Powered Media ; Producing the Documentary, GROWTH BUSTERS; presents Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity, Join the cause at www.growthbusters.org ;760 Wycliffe Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 USA; +1 719-576-5565

Check out this link with Wooldridge on bicycle and Lester Brown and panel discussion:

www.upnorthmedia.org/watchupnorthtv.asp?SDBFid=1631

Tomorrow’s Americaproject on www.youtube.com/contemporarylearning.

Producer: GEORGE A. COLBURNwww.tomorrowsamerica.com

DC: 202-258-4887

Email: [email protected]

Link to www.tomorrowsamerica.com for more discussions on America’s predicament.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.starbrightmediacorp.com

www.tomorrowsamerica.com

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Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as six times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents “The Coming Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it” to civic clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com He is the author of: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans. Copies available: 1 888 280 7715