Deputy Director's Corner - Negative Population Growth

Deputy Director’s Corner

Tracy Henke
December 22, 2015
NPG
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Deputy Director’s Corner

NPG Deputy Director Tracy Canada can be reached by email at tcanada@npg.org.

On December 7^th, CNN reported: “Smog in China closes schools and construction sites, cuts traffic in Beijing.” According to the article, “Much of the Chinese capital shut down Tuesday after Beijing’s city government issued its first red alert for pollution… According to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the air quality index stood at 250 [on December 7^th], classed as ‘very unhealthy’ and 10 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.”

While the capital city of the world’s most populous nation was effectively shut down due to air pollution, global leaders continued to hammer away at negotiations during the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Paris. You would think the Beijing closures – impacting much of the city’s population of over 21 million people – would serve as a warning: act now to lessen climate change, or we will all suffer the environmental consequences.

Yet the U.S. House of Representatives worked furiously last week to undermine environmental regulations designed to protect our nation’s air. On December 4^th, The New York Times ran an article titled “Congress Moves to Sabotage the Paris Climate Summit.” According to the article, “the House approved two resolutions aimed at blocking regulations to curb U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. The first would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing rules aimed at cutting emissions from new power plants; the second would prevent the agency from enforcing rules targeted at existing power plants.”

“Together, these rules are known as the Clean Power Plan, and they are crucial to the Americans’ negotiating position in Paris.”

It is deeply saddening to me – although it (unfortunately) comes as no great surprise – to see our nation’s elected leaders playing politics with our environmental future! NPG has long drawn the link between population growth and greenhouse gas emissions – as well as the toll that climate change has on the U.S. infrastructure. It is imperative for Americans to realize – we must act now to slow, halt, and eventually reverse our population growth. The future quality of life for our children and grandchildren is at stake!

That’s why NPG hasn’t slowed down in our efforts to effectively reach millions of Americans nationwide with that critical message. Thanks to your support, 2015 has been an incredibly productive year:

- We’ve published 10 NPG Forum papers, which were distributed to our members, the full U.S. Congress, key contacts in the national media, and other interested organizations.
- Our NPG Press Releases were picked up by thousands of media outlets across America – such as The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, the Star Tribune, YahooNews! and many others. The interest of these key media outlets allowed NPG’s critical message to reach over 220 million subscribers.
- Powerful NPG advertisements were placed in major publications across the U.S., including the first of our Editorial Cartoon series of advertisements by award-winning artist Steve Artley!
- NPG Teacher’s Packets were requested by hundreds of schools nationwide, allowing our educational materials to reach over 50,000 middle and high school students this year alone!
- Through our annual NPG Scholarship Contests, we awarded $20,000 to 26 talented young people – aiding them with the rising costs of college tuition.

And we’re not stopping – we’ve already started gearing up for 2016, with an aggressive agenda in place to keep moving forward. But we need your help to maintain our momentum! Remember – December 31^st is coming fast, and like all nonprofit organizations, NPG relies on your generous contributions to continue our programs! Your support of our mission is critical – and your gift is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law!

Remember – some generous NPG benefactors have agreed to MATCH YOUR CONTRIBUTION (up to $4,250) if we receive your gift by December 31^st. (This limited-time opportunity is also a wonderful way to let your 2016 NPG Membership Renewal go even further to help our cause!) And there are many ways that you can contribute:

- 1. Make a traditional one-time, tax-deductible contribution through NPG’s secure website. (You can also print and mail this form to contribute to NPG by mail.)
  2. Contact our office by phone (703-370-9510) to sign up for the NPG President’s Circle – with a recurring monthly charge of any amount, you can join the ranks of this exclusive group of special NPG supporters.
  3. Put your creativity to work for our mission – now you can select NPG on EBay for Charity! Simply choose NPG as your cause to support, specify what percentage of each EBay sale you want to donate to us (anywhere from 10% to 100%), and start selling!
  4. Attention Federal employees! Again this year, you can designate your donation to NPG through this year’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC #12055).
  5. Does your company participate in Corporate Matching? Click here to see if your employer will match your donations to NPG!

Once you’ve made your personal contribution to NPG (thank you!), I want to share with you a new opportunity to help NPG – and it’s something a little different. The next time you do some online shopping, you can designate for NPG to receive a donation from Amazon.com! Here’s how it works:

- - You shop online through Amazon Smile – featuring the EXACT SAME Amazon retailers & prices you normally see.
  - You pick your items, and you purchase them like you normally would.
  - When you select NPG as your charity, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to us!

Clearly, 0.5% isn’t a large donation – so we still need the regular contributions of our members and supporters! But you can encourage Amazon.com to donate a small amount to NPG, at absolutely no cost to you! If all of our members took this simple step when shopping online, it could add up to a huge difference for our mission! Remember – every little bit helps!

So no matter how you choose to help the NPG mission – whether through your time and activism, your generous direct contributions, a portion of your EBay proceeds, or just your regular online shopping – your support goes directly towards our critical programs. Every moment and every dollar you spend contributes towards our ultimate goal: to slow, halt, and eventually reverse U.S. population growth.

Thank you again for all you do!

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Tracy Henke

Tracy Henke served as Deputy Director of NPG from 2012 to 2017, contributing to the structure and development of NPG’s publications programs. Acting as NPG’s principal editor and a contributing author – as well as a regular contact for the public and media, Tracy extensively researched U.S. population issues and worked to establish significant grassroots support for the NPG mission. She holds a degree in Leadership & Social Change from Virginia Tech, with a professional background in non-profit and program management.