FEATURED STORIES

U.N. Issues New "World Population Prospects"
Goodbye to Canada As We Know It?
A Community Goes to Court


COMMENTARY: by NPG President Donald Mann

You might say we are "all over the map" with the featured stories in this issue of The NPG Journal. However, that's the purpose of this forum - to remind NPG members and readers that population issues are everywhere, not just here in the U.S. Whether far beyond our borders or right in our own communities, population and immigration issues can and will impact our lives in meaningful ways - today and in the future.

Here at home it is still impossible to get a solid read on exactly when this year's version of "immigration reform" legislation will see the light of day. Stories abound that some of the voting coalitions in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are falling apart, thus stalling any chance for floor votes in the near future. Other stories tell of Members of Congress who are "chomping at the bit" to get the issue front and center. What is known right now is that no comprehensive immigration bill that has a chance of consideration has been formally put forth by the Bush administration, by Senators Kennedy and McCain who took the lead in developing the bill considered in the Senate last year, or by a group of Republican Senators who oppose guestworker/amnesty legislation.

True to form, pure unadulterated politics -- rather than national security or a reasonable population policy -- is driving this issue. Take today's presidential politics, throw in a good number of newly-minted Members of Congress who promised to fight amnesty legislation, and add a large dose of weak-kneed politicos who don't want to put their future in peril by going on record on such a volatile issue and we could well have a recipe for a stalemate that will carry any final resolution of this issue beyond the 2008 elections.

Finally, it is impossible not to comment this week on the recent immigration raid on a factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts that holds tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts making equipment and apparel for the U.S. military. Some 361 people - including children as young as 14 and 15 who were working at the factory in the middle of a school day - were taken into custody. Many were shipped directly to Texas to be deported. A humanitarian crisis has now developed in how to deal with many of the young children of the illegals, who were born in the U.S. and are legally citizens, being separated from their parents. Most of the Massachusetts congressional delegation has gotten involved in trying to get the federal government to reunite these families.

This is definitely a sad story. It speaks to how illegals are being exploited by greedy employers (amazingly, they are working for the U.S. Defense Department). It shows how, even when it does its job, the Department of Homeland Security comes under political fire. And it only underscores how pervasive such problems are going to become the longer we let the immigration issue go unresolved.


U.N. ISSUES NEW "WORLD POPULATION PROSPECTS"

The latest population report from the United Nations holds some interesting projections as to how our world will change over the next 43 years.

Projecting population numbers out to 2050, the latest revision of "World Population Prospects" compiled by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division predicts the global population will jump 2.5 billion from today's 6.7 billion.

One key factor noted in the report is that the population of the more developed nations (not including the U.S, China or India) "is hardly changing and will age markedly." It stated, "A combination of people living longer and having fewer children would nearly double the number of people over 60 years of age from the current 245 million to 406 million in 2050."

Another interesting forecast states that "the populations in 46 countries, including Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, most of the former Soviet Union states and several small island states are expected to be lower in 2050 than they are now." Click on the link above for a more complete summary of the full report.


GOODBYE TO CANADA AS WE KNOW IT...

A recent story about our neighbors to the north presents an invaluable insight into how a nation can change almost overnight without proper population planning.

The story focuses on the results of Canada's 2006 census and starts out with the declaration that "The country is on track to becoming 100 per cent dependent on immigration for growth." The discussion goes on from there.

Just as here in the U.S., the people and the politicians are at odds as to how to set future population and immigration policy. Michael Bloom, a vice-president of the Conference Board of Canada seemed to best sum up the problem in stating, "We have not strategically thought through how we should manage our largest single source of population [immigration] for net growth."

Population growth is reconfiguring the country in disparate ways. Home-grown Canadians are boosting British Columbia's population jump in the past five years while Ontario saw its population grow by 750,000 people - 600,000 of whom came from outside the country. Quebec lags behind the national average of growth. When all the 2006 census data is finalized it is expected that the number of Canadians will hit just about 33 million. Click on the link above for the full story.


A COMMUNITY GOES TO COURT

The story of Hazelton, Pennsylvania and other cities and communities across the nation that have passed local laws directly related to reining-in population growth fueled by illegal immigrants has received scant mention in the national media in recent months.

This week, the question of who will come out on top on this issue will be put to the test in a federal court in Scranton, PA where community control, civil liberties and constitutional authority will all be on the docket. In addition, this case will highlight the bigger question as to how much small communities have to suffer due to the failure of federal agencies to control illegal immigration.

An article in the Los Angeles Times summed up the issue and the trial's opening quite well. It noted, "The city council of the 31,000-resident former coal-mining town in northeast Pennsylvania approved ordinances last year that would fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, deny business permits to companies that employ them and require residents to register with the city to prove their citizenship." The law was barred from being put into place until a trial could determine its constitutionality.

The Times article stated that in the past 5 years, "Hazelton's population increased by 10,000 residents, most of whom were Hispanic, although no one can track how many were undocumented."

Kris Kobach, the lead attorney for Hazelton quoted shocking crime statistics that led to the new law. In addition he noted, "The new residents also drained Hazelton's public school and health systems...Spending on English as a second language soared from $500 in 2000 to $1.1 million in 2006." He also stated that the average wait in emergency rooms climbed to more than 5 hours.

Here at NPG we have long spotlighted how immigration politics makes strange bedfellows. Powerful groups line up on the side of the open-border advocates to protect their turf or expand their empires. Thus, the recent announcement by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce taking sides with ACLU in this court fight should come as no surprise to anyone. Click on the link above for the full story.


POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION NEWS NOTES

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION INFO ON NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS

A late February report from the National Science Foundation published in the February 23rd issue of the journal Science tells the story of how oceanographers have studied the ecosystems along the continental shelf waters of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean - from the Labrador Sea south of Greenland all the way down to the North Carolina coast - and conclude that these areas are experiencing rapid changes.

An NSF press release noted that while some scientists have pointed to the decline of cod from overfishing as the main reason for the shifting ecosystems' climate change is also playing a big role.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that Northwest Atlantic ecosystems are being affected by climate forces from the bottom up and overfishing from the top down," said Charles Greene, an oceanographer at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and lead author of the Science paper. "Predicting the fate of these ecosystems will be one of oceanography's grand challenges for the 21st Century."

JOHN EDWARDS '08 GOING CARBON NUETRAL

In an effort to get out in front on the global warming issue and distinguish himself apart from his fellow contenders in the 2008 presidential contest, former U.S. Senator John Edwards has announced his commitment to make his campaign "carbon neutral" - meaning it will offset the impact of its energy use to ensure that it does not contribute to global warming.

Edwards issued a statement on March 13th that noted: "I've asked my staff to take concrete steps to reduce their own energy consumption. Conserving energy now is the single biggest thing we all can do as individuals to combat global warming." He went farther and added: "I have also directed the campaign to purchase carbon offsets that support alternative energy production to neutralize the global warming impact from our travel and office energy use. Carbon offsets are an expensive proposition for a national campaign - but I believe it is an investment in our planet that we simply must make."


QUOTABLE

"In the last 20 years, [traffic] congestion in the 85 largest cities has caused the number of hours lost each year by the average driver in rush hours to increase from 16 to 47. In the 13 largest cities, drivers are stuck in traffic the equivalent of eight work days. Congestion's immediate and indirect economic costs - not including the lost serenity, family time and civic engagement - just begin with fuel and wear and tear on vehicles."

National Columnist George Will
March 11, 2007


WHY THE NPG JOURNAL?

The NPG Journal (offered free to all recipients) exists to give more widespread distribution to timely news stories and articles related to population, immigration, environmental and political issues that currently affect our daily life -- or have the potential to seriously impact our future. NPG President Donald Mann offers his personal insight and commentary on individual stories, especially those that challenge, confirm and/or complement our NPG Research and Forum Papers. The goal of the NPG Journal is to greatly expand NPG's educational mission. As NPG celebrates its 35th Anniversary we continue to emphasize the need for Americans to speak up on population issues and keep our nation -- especially our elected leaders on the national, state and local level -- focused on taking action to help resolve today's immigration crisis and work to halt, and eventually reverse America's out-of-control population growth.


We welcome your feedback to articles posted on the NPG Journal and urge you to forward us the e-mail address of friends you think would like to receive a complimentary copy of the NPG Journal on a bi-weekly basis. Contact us at npg@npg.org.

ABOUT NPG:

Negative Population Growth, Inc. (NPG) is a national nonprofit membership organization with over 30,000 members nationwide. It was founded in 1972 to educate the American public and political leaders about the devastating effects of overpopulation on our environment, resources, and standard of living. We believe that our nation is already vastly overpopulated in terms of the long-range carrying capacity of its resources and environment.