CLEAN UP THE MESS!

Throughout 2007, NPG will continue to use the power of our members to fight Congressional immigration reform measures that give the green light to tens of millions of guest-workers and new immigrants. If the American people continue to stand united and raise their voice loud enough, we can succeed in halting this disastrous legislation.

Guest-worker and amnesty programs would add millions of new immigrants to our vastly over-populated nation and for this reason NPG strongly opposes these measures. The proposed programs will also put incredible strains on the Department of Homeland Security's inept Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), which already lacks the capability to process and track current new applicants.

CIS continues to set new records for bureaucratic bungling. Stories abound on how those who want to comply with our immigration laws face a process that is paperwork intensive and drags on for years. Recent news stories related how more than 600,000 recent immigration applications were not properly investigated for national security threats. And a report that CIS lost track of 111,000 immigrant files does not bode well for an agency that could soon be hit with a tidal wave of work.

Clearly, the problems at CIS will only get worse if Congress passes legislation that would add millions of new immigrants who would even further overwhelm the current system. The 110th Congress must commit itself early on to give CIS the dollars it needs to do its job – properly and thoroughly – instead of taking action that would add to its burden.

In early January, NPG called on Members of Congress via a national press release to prioritize CIS reform so it can streamline its operations and regain the confidence of the American people that it can effectively perform its tasks.


THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER
A Message from NPG President Donald Mann

Wow! Has it really been 35 years that immeasurable numbers of Americans have united under NPG's umbrella to work together for a livable future?

The answer is a resounding "yes." And it is surely something to celebrate!

Whether you have been with us for the entire run or just signed on as a new NPG activist in recent months, I want to extend my personal thanks to you for helping us to sustain and expand our work in these very challenging times.

With three and a half decades behind us, the stage is set for an exciting new era of progress for NPG. As in the past, we look to the new year as a special opportunity to once again rally our tens of thousands of members, friends and supporters to carry forward our mission.

NPG has prospered and grown for 35 years because we are intently focused on an issue that simply cannot be ignored – the world we live in today and the one we will leave for future generations. We fund vital research; educate millions of Americans and countless elected officials on population and immigration issues; compile and distribute important surveys and studies; publish our quarterly newsletter and biweekly NPG Journal; send thousands of books and educational materials to schools and libraries; spread our important message through powerful advertising; assist college students with our NPG Scholarships and speak out on national and local radio stations. In all, we have together built NPG into a powerful presence in America.

Concurrently, NPG continues to expand its national grassroots network – especially among up-and-coming generations who will live for many decades in a world very much defined by population issues.

In 2007, NPG has an even greater opportunity to make a difference in our country's future and bring forth reasonable and responsible change when it comes to population and immigration issues. That is why we very much need you to remain an active member in this special 35th Anniversary Year as we seize this moment and launch new programs and policies that will make us even more effective.

It is truly disheartening that our nation's immigration crisis still goes unresolved due to political cowardice. Today we face a new political environment in Washington, D.C. and in many states. We cannot step back from the fight to halt the tidal wave of new arrivals whose sheer numbers greatly increase our already exploding population and threaten our future quality of life. Hopefully, the feedback we receive from our NPG Elected Leaders' Survey on Population Issues that we'll launch in the coming weeks will enable us to identify and work with new legislators who will be more receptive to our message (see accompanying story).

In all, I know our members are proud of what they have accomplished in the past 35 years. Together, we've made NPG an acknowledged political and educational force with a greater level of influence and recognition with each passing year.

Now, we must use this special 35th Anniversary Year to win more victories, make more progress and build on our success. Remember, our mission will not be complete until every American can look to the future with promise and optimism that his or her quality of life will be as good as, if not better than, those who came before.

Thank you again for 35 wonderful years!


NPG MEDIA CAMPAIGN: A HUGE SUCCESS!

As America passed the 300 million population mark this fall, NPG's across-the-board media campaign proved to be a giant success. We used every avenue of communication to remind the American people about how fast we are moving toward a hopelessly overcrowded and polluted world. We also called on our leaders to work together to rein-in today's explosive population numbers which, if not brought under control, will exceed 400 million people in just a few decades.

Our thanks go out to all of the NPG members and supporters who provided the extra contributions to fund this overall educational effort. We asked. You gave. And the results were magnificent.

Dozens of newspapers, TV and radio stations and major Internet sites distributed our press releases. We set a new record in the amount of hits we received on our website. More than 800 NPG members joined in co-signing ads to encourage Congress to Wake Up! to the fact that a nation of 300 million people is not sustainable. And our speakers were interviewed by dozens of radio stations where their words could reach millions.

Finally, a key project which we feel has the best potential for long-lasting impact came in the creation, printing and distribution of more than 6,500 student posters that we sent out to middle and high school teachers across America – the goal being to educate an entire new generation about how population issues affect their daily lives. Feedback on the posters was terrific with teachers sending such comments as "an excellent teaching resource", "great educational tool", "extremely helpful and relevant" and "your poster was informative and captured my students' interest." The demand for additional posters was so overwhelming that we have put in an additional order of 2,000 posters.

It is the extra voluntary contributions supplied by NPG members that help fund special projects like this and we look forward to continuing such worthwhile programs.

NEW LOOK AND EXPANDED DISTRIBUTION

Yes, that's a new title on the front of this newsletter. POPULATION PERSPECTIVES replaces "Population & Resource Outlook" as part of our 35th Anniversary changes. As population and immigration issues pervade almost every aspect of American life, the topics we cover have become much broader and far ranging.

Though we are limited to only a few stories that can fit into our printed quarterly newsletters, the launch of our bi-weekly NPG Journal allows us to comment on and highlight many additional population related issues. We urge all members to sign up to receive the NPG Journal by e-mail.

NPG is also looking to our members to be our eyes and ears in their local communities. Remember, for a grassroots organization like ours, communication is not just a oneway street. We greatly encourage you to forward to us local population-related news articles, Letters to the Editor, etc. to be used in the NPG Journal and other publications. Please don't hesitate to contact us and share your ideas. Go to our Main Page and click on the CONTACT US - FEEDBACK option. Thanks for the input!


IMMIGRATION REFORM AND AMNESTY

The word in Washington, D.C. these days is that with the Democrats taking over Congress and President Bush still clamoring for his guest-worker program, a version of the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform legislation that passed the U.S. Senate last spring has a good chance to be enacted in the 110th Congress. It is expected that enough bi-partisan votes are there to support legislation that will allow illegals currently in the country to stay, pay a fine, and get citizenship. While so many Senators and Congressmen, including many new Democrats, ran and won in the last election promising serious and responsible immigration reform, it still seems that amnesty has a green light on Capitol Hill. President Bush stands ready to sign an immigration bill that pretty much gives open-border advocates everything they want.

Thankfully, national polls continue to show that the vast majority of Americans do not want our lawmakers to go the amnesty route in resolving the immigration issue. Just as important, there is still a sizeable group of legislators who, like NPG and other major national grassroots organizations, recoil at the idea of rewarding illegals with U.S. citizenship. These legislators also recognize the destructive nature of passing open-ended legislation that does not severely restrict the numbers of new people coming into our country. Thus, while many of our nation?s leaders want this issue out of the headlines soon, the battle is far from over.

The immigration, guest-worker, and amnesty issues will be front and center in NPG's activities throughout 2007 as we work for serious, no-nonsense, immigration legislation. We urge you to continue to work with us and raise your voice as we extend our campaign to educate our elected leaders and the American public about the devastating impact the addition of tens of millions of new immigrants will have on our population – and on almost every facet of our lives.

In January, NPG issued a national press release calling on Congress to expeditiously deal with the immigration crisis by demanding better enforcement of existing laws. NPG President Don Mann noted: "Congress is doing great harm to our nation by letting the immigration crisis continue to grow while they drag out the debate and play politics with this critical issue. The longterm stakes for our nation are too high to keep putting off solutions simply to see which political party can pander more to a growing voting bloc."


NPG COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2007

Do you have a child or grandchild, or know of someone who could use some money for college? One of our most exciting projects last year was the launching of our Population Scholarship Essay Contest and awarding $3,500 to talented students who wrote impressive essays that addressed a key NPG question. This year, the question presented will be: "U.S. population reached 300 Million in October 2006. Do you consider a population of this size sustainable in the long run? If not, what size population do you believe would be sustainable and why?" Scholarships of $2,000, $1,000, and $500 are open to high school seniors and current freshman, sophomore, and junior undergraduate college students. The deadline to submit essays this year is April 15th and winners will be announced on August 15th. 2007 NPG College Scholarship Application Forms, rules and additional information can be accessed on the main page of our website.


NPG GOING LOCAL:
ELECTED LEADERS' SURVEY ON POPULATION ISSUES

A giant part of today's debate on immigration reform and setting national population policy is centered in Washington, D.C., home to Congress and most of our national policymakers. However, much of the real story of how America?s exploding population is impacting our daily lives is taking place in communities all across the nation. Schools, housing, roads, hospitals, utilities, and other essential services are being stretched way too thin in many locales and the problems are sure to get worse as population continues to grow.

For NPG, helping to find common solutions to those problems means establishing better communications with a wider range of the nation's decisionmakers. That's why, as one of our key 2007 projects, NPG is going to undertake a major new project – a nationwide Elected Leaders' Survey on Population Issues.

We're getting ready to reach out to more than 15,000 elected leaders – from Congress to city council members – with an in-depth survey that will enable us to receive their input and feedback on the population issues they feel need the greatest attention. While it will not be possible to reach every elected leader in the country, our sampling of state legislators, county leaders, mayors, etc., is sure to give us a better perspective of emerging problems.

Our goal is to offer NPG's help in building local and national solutions to emerging population problems and gather the support of hundreds of concerned officials so that we can all speak with one voice on the critical subject of population growth. Surveys are presently targeted to mail in mid-February. We will keep our members posted on the results.


SPEAK OUT...

Americans have a tendency to get cynical as to whether or not Senators and Congressmen listen to their views. In an age when Capitol Hill offices are daily bombarded by thousands of phone calls, faxes and emails, it is easy for individual messages to get lost in the mix. However, politics is all about numbers and smart Members of Congress do listen to their constituents.

Here at NPG we regularly forward Member Petitions, survey and poll results, newsletters, Forum and Research Papers and other information to Congress. We often receive replies that make it clear that our message is getting through.

Congressman Ken Calvert (CA, 44) recently noted: "I share your concern with an unsustainable level of population growth and that is why I opposed the 'comprehensive' approach to immigration taken by the Senate." His colleague, Congressman Paul Kanjorski (PA, 11) stated: "I am very concerned about the failure of the Bush Administration to enforce effectively our immigration policies and prevent illegal immigration." Unfortunately, the 2006 elections saw the defeat of Congressman Gil Gutknecht (MN, 1) who endorsed our effort by saying: 'I agree with you that the federal government must do a better job of securing our borders and cracking down on illegal immigration.'

We greatly encourage our tens of thousands of NPG members to directly contact their elected officials on a regular basis – especially to help stop any amnesty program and other irresponsible immigration legislation. Oftentimes, it is better to direct your phone calls or letters to the local offices of your Senator or Congressman as they are less swamped than the Washington D.C. office. When you do speak out, don't forget to also send a "Letter to the Editor" of your local paper. That way your views will reach a broader audience and you can rally other concerned citizens to join in spreading our message about the dangerous and disastrous consequences of an exploding population and out-of-control immigration.


AMERICA'S "BOOMBURBS"

The Brookings Institute Press is out with a new book that is sure to be of interest to those concerned about population growth. Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities focuses on the overgrown suburbs that have grown to big-city size almost overnight. "Boomburbs" is a term coined by the authors, Robert E. Lang and Jennifer LeFurgy, for large suburbs of over 100,000 people where population doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in recent decades. There are more than 180 of these super suburbs located throughout America. Meza, AZ (outside Phoenix) is the largest boomburb in the nation. It recently passed St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Atlanta in population.

Population Perspectives is a quarterly publication by Negative Population Growth, a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to educating Americans about the devastating effects of overpopulation on our environment and quality of life.


Board of Directors
Donald Mann, President
Frances Dorner, Secretary/Treasurer
Josephine Lobretto
Sharon Marks
Diane Saco

Negative Population Growth
2861 Duke Street, Suite 36
Alexandria, VA 22314
voice: 703-370-9510 - fax 703-370-9514
email: npg@npg.org - www.npg.org