EARTH DAY ACTIVITIES

April 22^nd will be upon us very soon and we urge all NPG members to make an extra effort to celebrate this special day. The best way to do that is to join in a local Earth Day event that calls attention to our fragile planet and reminds all of our neighbors about the crucial role each of us must play if we are going to pass on a clean, livable -- and uncrowded -- planet to future generations.

Here at NPG we have a variety of materials that outline our message about the vital need to rein-in and reverse out-of-control population growth now -- before we get to the point of no return. It has been 36 years since the first Earth Day and we can all take comfort in the fact that the global community has made some phenomenal advances in understanding and adjusting our interaction with the environment. However, tremendous challenges remain, especially to our sustainability and quality of life. Your membership in NPG helps us fund invaluable research in this area and distribute it to our nation's decision makers and educators to keep this issue in the forefront of public debate.

NPG members who are interested in acquiring Earth Day materials for their local school or community event are urged to call 703-370-9510 or e-mail us at npg @ npg . org. Whether you set up an NPG booth or share your materials in another way during Earth Day celebrations, we urge you to take some photos and forward them to us so that we can post them on our website.


SURVIVAL RESEARCH: IT TAKES NEW THINKING!

In today's age of instant communication we are constantly reminded that we live in one world that shares many problems -- a majority of which are continually fueled by an ever-increasing population. How these problems interact and how we can better solve them with new thinking is the basis for a new book, Global Survival: The Challenge and Its Implications for Thinking and Acting, edited by Ervin Laszlo and Peter Seidel.

Within the pages of Global Survival, twenty renowned academics and thinkers present and dissect the obstacles facing us and offer proposals for real change. As Peter Seidel explains it:

"While we are winning many battles to protect the environment, overall we are losing the war, and this is dangerous. This book proposes new scientific discipline, Survival Research, combining all relevant scientific disciplines with an overarching, unified, humanistic philosophy that would directly and positively influence the sustainability of life on Earth."

As part of our ongoing Library Project, NPG recently mailed hundreds of copies of this 290-page book to academic and community libraries throughout the country. We are pleased to make it available to members who return a donation of $25 or more (see enclosed response form).


STATE PROFILE: MINNESOTA

As a northern border state, Minnesota does not often come to mind when discussing illegal immigration. However, a recent study prepared by the Minnesota Department of Administration titled The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Minnesota: Costs and Population Trends highlighted some key statistics including:

The Minnesota report brings to light the high cost of illegal immigration in a state where it is easy to think there is not a significant problem. Current estimates as to the annual cost impact of illegal immigrants in Minnesota run as high as $188 million in just the three areas of K-12 public education, public assistance health care and incarceration of illegal immigrants. There was no data available for housing costs and job losses although the report noted that the Urban Institute estimated in 2004 that there were approximately 55,000 to 65,000 undocumented workers in the state which represented 2-3% of the work force.

This well-researched study is a valuable asset to Minnesota policymakers and NPG would like to see similar studies in all 50 states to help state leaders understand the vital need to get a grip on the costly, ever-expanding immigration crisis before it spirals out of control. (Note: Minnesota's legislature gave very little consideration to the immigration issue in the 2005 session).

The report is available on the Minnesota State website, www.state.mn.us, or by contacting NPG.


DEVELOPMENT RUN AMOK

It's not just because it's near NPG's headquarters that we opted last year to run our first set of radio ads in Loudoun County, VA to spread our message. According to a recent story in the Christian Science Monitor the once idyllic county that sits 25 miles from our nation's capital has become a "little test tube" for coping with hypergrowth on the far fringes of many American cities.

Loudoun has topped the list of the nation's fastest growing counties for the past several years and the numbers are shocking. Population has tripled in just 15 years and in the past five years it has surged 46 percent from 169,600 to 247,273. Rich grazing and farmland is being plowed under, air quality has worsened, houses go up ahead of water and sewer lines, local streams are becoming polluted and "if current growth continues, the county estimates it will need 125 grammar schools in the next 15 years."

The news article noted that Loudoun County is "the poster child for development run amok." But it is not alone. Land use-experts cited that we will soon see such rapid development on the outer fringes of Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Seattle. Many of these areas are already facing fastpaced development that is challenging their ability to keep up with schools, roads, water recreation and water and sewer services.

Urban planners call for "smart growth" zoning and heavy regulation of development. But further population growth, whether it be smart or dumb, fast or slow, cannot be allowed to continue. As one member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors stated: "The great American dream is turning into the great American nightmare."

It is because audiences who are experiencing overly rapid development in their own backyard are most receptive to NPG's goals that we are now running radio spots in Flagler and St. John's counties in Florida. In the coming months, we plan to run them in counties in Georgia, Nevada, and Texas.


GLOBALIZATION: OUR NEW ENEMY?

Today's front-page headlines carry worries about the worldwide spread of bird flu. Yet for those who are paying attention to health issues around the globe, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Global Health, a new book published by Public TV's WGBH Educational Foundation and Vulcan Productions in Boston warns of four major dangers to health in our modern world.

1. Urbanization exposes more and more people to new diseases, after they migrate to cities from rural homes;
2. Globalization and the increasing number of people traveling, guarantee that diseases developing in one place will soon spread elsewhere;
3. Environmental changes, including global warming, make it easier for diseases to spread, including malaria, West Nile virus and Lyme disease;
4. Erratic government health policies, coupled with drug-resistant diseases are leading to a resurgence of tuberculosis, cholera and pneumonia.

Global Health's text stresses that "urbanization and population growth threaten nature and the environment more today than during any previous era in world history. In the last 50 years, the Earth has lost 20 percent of all agricultural lands, 25 percent of all topsoil and 33 percent of its forests. Thousands of species of plants and animals have become extinct." The fact is that when loss of habitat kills predators, populations of insects, rats and mice increase -- and diseases spread.

Modern-day medicine is trying its best to keep the vast number of diseases under control. However, the idea that a major epidemic can spread around the globe like wildfire should serve as a constant reminder as to how much species, habitats, wilderness and human life is all so intricately interconnected.

NPG IN THE NEWS We are always appreciative of the media when they highlight NPG's leadership on population policy and wish to extend our thanks to the following publications which recently mentioned our work: Albion Monitor, Albion, CA; The Telegraph, Dixon, IL; The Bradford Era, Bradford, PA; The Santa Fe New Mexican; and the Fort Wayne News Sentinel in Fort Wayne, IN. In addition, NPG's spokesman can also be found carrying our message to audiences both large and small on the nation's airwaves. Last month, Dave Simcox was a featured guest on WBIG in Aurora, IL as well as the Talk Star Radio Network.

OUR NEW 51^ST STATE

NPG is pleased to present an excerpt from the Congressional Record of February 16, 2006 when Congressman Charlie Norwood from Georgia?s 9^th Congressional District presented a very succinct outline of just where our nation currently stands in combating illegal immigration.

MR. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, there was a very subtle illegal guest-worker plan stuck in the budget the administration just submitted to Congress. That budget calls for the United States to allow over one million illegal aliens to infiltrate our borders during 2007.

As a matter of fact, last year's budget is allowing one million illegal aliens to enter this year as well. That is how many immigrants enter our country each year under our current enforcement plans.

We know it will happen because it happens every year under current enforcement policy; and we are going right ahead with the same old plan, knowing in advance that it will be a total failure.

We continue talking about how we are adding 1,500 new border agents in 2007. They won't be in the field until 2009, letting another two million illegals to walk across our border.

We talk about how we are adding technology and fencing, but that won't be ready until 2010, allowing another million illegals in our country.

Right now, with our current budget and reform plans, we are, by default, agreeing to allow an additional four million illegal aliens into our country. That is equivalent to the population of South Carolina or Oregon.

Think about that. We are being asked to add a 51st state populated entirely by low-income illegal aliens.