EARTH DAY:Prominent Conservationists Call for Immigration Reductions in New Book

A timely post about from www.numbersusa.com about immigration and environmentalism. This follows this post about U.S. workers being displaced by immigrants..
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Prominent Conservationists Call for Immigration Reductions in New Book

https://www.numbersusa.com/sendfax

 

Some of the most prominent immigration-reduction voices in the country are featured in a new book titled Life on the Brink: Environmentalists Confront Overpopulation. The new book, a collection of essays about the environmental consequences of overpopulation, includes some significant voices for reducing immigration in order to stabilize U.S. population.

Many of Life on the Brink’s contributors have also been advisors to the series of sprawl studies published by NumbersUSA. These authors confront challenges posed by mass immigration and overpopulation that others in politics, the media, and many environmental organizations refuse to acknowledge.

This book is particularly important as the U.S. environmental community has abandoned U.S. population stabilization as goal. The fact that immigration is a large contributor to unsustainable population growth has driven many environmental organizations to completely drop U.S. population from their agendas -- a far cry from the first Earth Day when population stabilization was central to the national environmental agenda.

Life on the Brink editor Phillip Cafaro is the president of Progressives for Immigration Reform’s Board of Directors, one of the few progressive organizations that calls for an end to mass immigration in an effort to stabilize population and preserve a sustainable quality of life for future generations. Cafaro is a professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and co-editor Eileen Crist is a professor of environmental studies at Virginia Tech. Both hope to re-ignite the overpopulation discussion in this country, including addressing immigration’s contributions to the problem.

When speaking about immigration policies, Cafaro notes the lack of thought U.S. lawmakers give to the population component, questioning whether Congress is listening to the voices of its constituents. He says Washington is considering new immigration laws that could add tens of millions more people to the U.S. in the coming decades without any discussion of whether more population growth is smart, or fits into the wishes of Americans.

One of the book’s contributors, Leon Kolankiewicz, has co-authored many studies published by NumbersUSA that quantify the role of immigration-driven population growth in the urban sprawl in the U.S. that causes major loss of open spaces and deforestation along with overcrowding of cities and highways.

Kolankiewicz provided this excerpt from the book description:

"Life on the Brink aspires to reignite a robust discussion of population issues among environmentalists, environmental studies scholars, policymakers, and the general public. Some of the leading voices in the American environmental movement restate the case that population growth is a major force behind many of our most serious ecological problems, including global climate change, habitat loss and species extinctions, air and water pollution, and food and water scarcity. As we surpass seven billion world inhabitants, contributors argue that ending population growth worldwide and in the United States is a moral imperative that deserves renewed commitment."

Contributors include Paul Ehrlich, Captain Paul Watson (of “Whale Wars”), former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, environmental activists Dave Foreman, Stephanie Mills, Tim Palmer, former and current Worldwatch Institute presidents Lester Brown and Robert Engelman, and thirteen others. They explore the whole range of difficult moral and political issues surrounding population policy sparingly addressed in today’s mainstream dialogue.

If mass immigration policies are not changed, the U.S. population is expected to reach 618 million people by 2100, almost doubling our current population.

“Pursuing environmentalism without addressing our ever-increasing population is an exercise in politically-correct futility,” states Cafaro. “If environmentalists refuse to engage with population issues, we are going to have to say goodbye to most of what we have worked to protect.”

You can read more about the book or oder a copy for yourself from University of Georgia's Press website.

You can also order a copy of Life on the Brink: Environmentalists Confront Overpopulation from Amazon.

MELANIE OUBRE is the Local Activism Coordinator for NumbersUSA

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The Man Who Saved Millions of Lives - Norman Borlaug

An interesting article from www.wnponline.org about a man who saved millions of lives. You can send this article to your HEALTH NUT FOOD POLICE friends. This follows this post about the Greek bailout.For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.



The Man Who Saved Millions of Lives
by wnponline
He saved more lives than any human who ever lived. Yet you probably do not know his name. Some say he was the “person of the twentieth century”. He would certainly have my vote. I first heard of his work forty years ago but thought by now he had died until I read a book about the world food crisis last month and saw that at age 95 he was still working. His name was Norman Borlaug and he died this week.

Norman Borlaug
Borlaug was a plant scientist who led a research effort during the 1950’s and 60’s that started what became known as the “Green Revolution”. His work in Mexico led to the development of a variety of hybrid grains that could be grown in many climates, was immune to many common diseases and produced larger yields. The result was larger harvests to feed the worlds growing populations.
The Wall Street Journal writes that from the time of the Civil War through the Great Depression of the 1930’s the average American farm produced 24 bushels of corn per acre. By 2006 output had multiplied to near 155 bushels per acre. The same results have occurred around the world and are the key reason the world’s burgeoning population has been fed and kept alive. The article goes on to say, “In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization declared that malnutrition stands “at the lowest level in human history,” despite the global population having trebled in a single century.” (“The Man Who Defused the ‘Population Bomb’”, September 16, 2006)
In 1968 a book was written by Dr. Paul Ehrlich called “The Population Bomb”. Ehrlich predicted a dire scenario of famine and death for millions in the developing world because of a lack of food. No doubt many would have died had not a revolution in plant science, le by Borlaug, produced the means for increased food production. Thankfully, Ehrlich’s predictions, and those of others, did not come to pass.
Borlaug’s work has been heavily criticized because of its reliance on lots of fertilizer and pesticides. Fears of genetically modified food keep some grains out of world markets. But the poor who survived and grew to adulthood because they were fed do not have the luxury of such debates. They lived and grew to adulthood as humans created in the m=image of God. At a future point on God’s timeline they will come to know Him in the fullest and truest sense and have opportunity take their place within the family of God. There comes a time when we have to let God sort out the issues of life of this planet. The value and dignity of human life outweighs all other considerations. Borlaug’s work allowed a quality of life for many millions.
Unfortunately, food shortages and resulting famine within developing nations has not been eliminated. Weather upsets, government policies and political corruption have created pockets of famine resulting in the deaths of many hundreds of thousands. Those problems continue and Bible prophecy show us will one day result in the ride of the black horseman of famine foretold in Revelation 6:5, 6. For more information on this prophecy click here.
The world continues to face potential shortages of the basic resources of food and water. There will be a time when the problems will be too great and simply overwhelm humanity. Fortunately, the same prophecies tell us God will step in to end the suffering and save the world from an unimaginable destruction.
Until then it is good celebrate people like Norman Borlaug. Borlaug turned his back on wealth and fame to continue working in the trenches for the good of all. It is sad commentary on the shallow American culture that most do not know this man’s name. Now you do. Be glad he lived.