NPG Sees Link Between EPA Reports of Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions and U.S. Population Growth

• NPG
• July 31, 2013
• Press Releases
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Alexandria, VA (July 31, 2013) – A recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) heralded a slight decrease in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2011.  However, the drop from 2010 was just 1.6 percent – and emissions since 1990 have actually risen by 8.4 percent.  A July report from the Earth Policy Institute found that fossil fuel emissions have risen by 2.6 percent each year since 2010, “hitting an all-time high of 9.7 billion tons of carbon in 2012.”

NPG President Don Mann expressed serious concern regarding America’s increasing output of greenhouse gases, a major contributor to climate change.  In a new NPG President’s Column, Mann sees a direct link between rising emissions and population growth.  “Emissions (per capita) multiplied by the population size equals total emissions.  That is simple arithmetic.  Why then is it universally ignored?”

“Our federal government disregards,” Mann added, “that – if per capita emissions remain the same – our population size is the principal determinant of the size of our greenhouse gas emissions.  What we urgently need to do to reduce emissions,” Mann explained, “is to reduce the size of our population so that it can eventually be stabilized at a sustainable level.”

The 2011 EPA Greenhouse Gas report found that “power plants accounted for about 67 percent of 2011 reported emissions.”  And a new Department of Energy report expressed serious concerns about America’s energy sector – specifically that, as climate change worsens, more energy breakdowns will occur.  “As new plants are built and additional energy is distributed to meet the needs of our ever-growing population and changing climate,” Mann added, “how could we not expect a significant increase in our emissions?”

“Beyond any question,” Mann concludes, “our country is already greatly overpopulated in terms of the carrying capacity of its environment and resources.  The size of our population is simply not sustainable over the long term.  To make it sustainable, we must slow, halt, and eventually reverse our population growth, then maintain it at that lower level.  Only by reducing our population can we ensure a stable and rich quality of life for the generations to come.”

Negative Population Growth is a non-profit membership organization which works to educate the American public and elected leaders regarding the devastating effects of population growth.