As I review the headlines on all of the global media networks, I cannot help but see a disturbing trend.  I read story after story of the devastating social, economic, and environmental crises happening all over the world…  and they all have something in common.  Whether it’s a direct cause – or simply a contributing factor making things much, much worse…

…the stories all relate

to population growth.

The first article which caught my attention was a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which announced that 2015 surpassed all pre-existing global records for heat.  [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=”https://npg.org/?p=8769″]Since 2000, Earth has broken monthly heat records 20 times and seasonal records 11 times.[/inlinetweet] Scientists blame a combination of human-caused climate change and natural El Nino.”  According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average U.S. temperature will increase by between 3°F to 12°F by the end of this century.  Worse yet, if global emissions of greenhouse gases continue to increase, U.S. summertime temperatures “that ranked among the hottest 5% in 1950-1979 will occur at least 70% of the time by 2035-2064.”

[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=”https://npg.org/?p=8769″]NPG has long drawn the links between population growth, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change.[/inlinetweet] (For more information, you can review the following NPG President’s Column articles on these subjects:  Fuel Efficiency and Emissions, Climate Change and U.S. Energy Infrastructure, and U.S. Population Size and Climate Change.)  As our human numbers grow and continue to contribute to climate change, we face much more dire consequences than hotter temperatures: 

• Atlantic hurricanes are expected to strengthen and intensify as the oceans warm – increasing the number of the strongest Category 4 and 5 hurricanes.  Extreme weather events will become even more commonplace. 
• “Heavy downpours that currently occur about once every 20 years are projected to occur between twice and five times as frequently by 2100….”  More catastrophic flooding, lives lost, and costly damages to property can be expected. 
• As more Arctic ice and glaciers melt, sea levels will continue to rise – the EPA predicting by as much as 1-4 feet by 2100 – which will change the coastlines around the world.  If recent trends continue, a 2-foot rise in global sea level by 2100 would result in the following sea level rises in the U.S.:  2.3 feet – New York City (Population 8.5 million), 2.9 feet – Hampton Roads, VA (Area Population 1.7 million), and 3.5 feet – Galveston, TX (Area Population 6.3 million).  Other major U.S. cities like New Orleans and Miami – as well as most of the state of Florida – are at serious risk if sea levels continue to climb.  

[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=”https://npg.org/?p=8769″]If our population continues to grow, more people will face risk from these climate-change-related events.[/inlinetweet] And our growing population continues to place an ever-greater strain on the environment – further contributing to climate change.

It is a desperate cycle.

And we must act now to break it by

reducing our population size and growth.

Even more heartbreaking are the headlines regarding the tragic situation in Syria.  As the world calls upon every nation to admit hundreds of thousands of refugees, each country must weigh both the humanitarian need and the population implications.  As reported in the Washington Post, an estimated 4 million refugees have already “sought sanctuary in neighboring countries” over the past four years of raging war.  And the mass exodus is growing:  “381,000 refugees and migrants… have sought asylum in Europe so far this year,” which is double the number from last year.  The influx has been so enormous, several European nations have tightened border controls and imposed restrictions on admissions.  These countries have faced sharp criticism for attempting to regulate their admissions of migrants.  Yet they are the ones who will have to reallocate their own limited resources in order to feed, clothe, house, employ, and educate millions of asylum-seekers.  While the refugees’ need is urgent, we must not vilify the reasonable practice of reviewing and managing even humanitarian immigration admissions.  

NPG has long held that humanitarian admissions should absolutely be permitted each year in the U.S.  Our proposed limit of annual legal admissions – a total of 200,000 per year – allows for 30,000 permanent admissions of “refugees, asylees and displaced persons that in the strictest sense are in mortal peril and have no other options.”  Our proposal also allows for up to 50,000 temporary (not more than one year) humanitarian migrant admissions each year.  NPG agrees that our nation must act as a sanctuary for those in the greatest need.  But we cannot – and we must not – yield to the short-sighted temptation to annually admit hundreds of thousands of refugees, and hundreds of thousands of workers, and hundreds of thousands of family members, and, and, and…