COMMENTARY: by NPG President Donald Mann

          It is very interesting to watch TV news clips and read newspaper and internet accounts about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who have taken root in an urban park in Manhattan and have inspired like-minded protests in cities throughout America. 
            Without question these frustrated citizens, both young and old, have serious concerns about the future of our nation.  They have taken to the streets to vent their anger at both government (demanding that it do more) and business (demonizing it for being too powerful).  And as they are cheered by many of their fellow citizens and condemned by others, they are definitely serving a useful purpose.
            I am not about to give my support to all of their antics or that part of their inane advocacy which calls for a socialist utopia.  However, in focusing the American public’s attention on a number of the critical issues which have gone unaddressed for far too long, I do believe that this movement is helping to foster important debate on critical issues.  They are making us take a more conscientious look at where our country is headed and what it will become if we don’t make radical changes and responsible decisions soon.
            That driving effort to make important changes now is very much at the heart of NPG’s mission and message.  And while the subjects of population and immigration policy are not among the main topics being advanced by the Occupy Wall Street protestors, we can use their challenge to the status quo of political gridlock, especially when addressing population and immigration policies.
            The public’s venting of frustrations against the “powers that be” has a long history in our country.  Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s demonstrations on campuses across the nation became the center of radical activity with throngs gathering to protest the war in Vietnam or to launch the environmental movement.
            As NPG prepares to celebrate our 40th Anniversary in 2012, we cannot forget that our organization was born at a time when frustration and anger also ruled American politics.  What is quite a bit different from today’s protests is that many of the calls for real reform decades ago were much more focused.  Those of us who launched NPG rallied around the potential to make the recommendations of the newly-released Rockefeller Commission on Population Growth and the American Future a reality in order to save our nation from the social, economic and environmental pitfalls of population growth.  Even after giving his wholehearted support to launch this important effort, a politically spineless President Nixon rejected the Commission’s final report and in doing so, gave new impetus to ongoing efforts to fight for responsible population and immigration policies.  For the past 40 years, millions of Americans have joined our cause and tens of thousands have joined as NPG members.  Recent national polls show that a strong majority of our fellow citizens share our goals.
            Today, NPG does battle in a political system where more and more very rich, powerful and organized lobby groups make it exceedingly difficult for substantive issues to be fully explained and debated.  Yet NPG continues to thrive and serve as America’s premier organization dedicated to population issues because, in the end, the American people can still make a difference.  As we raise our voices, demand that Congress advance responsible population and immigration policies, and work to create a better nation to leave to our children and grandchildren, we have much in common with today’s protesters.

 

KEEPING UP WITH POPULATION DEMANDS

            One of the reasons we created the NPG Journal was to expose NPG members and supporters to important news stories related to population and immigration.  The recent story headlined “Population, climate change taxing the planet’s resources” that appeared in The Washington Post a few days ago fits the bill.
            Written by reporter Juliet Eilperin, the story provides a stark review of the global ecosystem where, as the sub-headline notes:  “Expanding demands are depleting seas, fresh water and forests.”
            Just as today’s global economy has had a huge impact on shifting jobs to different areas of the world, that same economic growth in one area of the world is resulting in radical changes in the balance of nature thousands of miles away.
            Eilperin quotes Robert Engelman, executive director of the Worldwatch Institute, as stating:  “When you have China out roaming the seas looking for anything they can get for its population of 1.3 billion people, that’s increasingly affecting any local resource anywhere in the world, which is at risk of getting depleted for a distant populous power.
            Robert Glennon, from the University of Arizona, another expert in the area of population impact, weighs in with the fact that “water supplies are under pressure because they meet so many needs.”  Glennon notes that:  “About 70 percent of the world’s fresh water is used for irrigation, 22 percent for industry and 8 percent for domestic use.”  According to the article, the U.N Food and Agricultural Organization expects that “two-thirds of the world’s population could be living in areas where the supply of fresh water is under stress” by the year 2025.
            The issue of forest depletion is addressed by Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund who related that:  “in the past decade land conversion to farmland worldwide has grown at a pace of 0.6 percent a year; by 2050 that would mean another 24 percent of the Earth would be devoted to agriculture on top of the 33 percent used now.”  While this may be good for agriculture, it’s devastating to the health of our forests and the habitats and natural resources they support.
            Babatunde Osoteimehin of the U.N. Population Fund sums up the problem of how human needs are transforming the planet in declaring:  “People can’t talk about the environment without talking about population.  Many of the environmental issues you talk about, whether it’s climate change or something else with the environment, people are in the center of it.”
            Eilperin also reports on efforts by some private companies and organizations to help countries manage their growth differently to protect their critical resources.  This article is also accompanied by an educational chart which shows evaporating water supplies in 75 countries as well as a global map that highlights net change in forest areas from 2005 to 2010. 
            Note:  NPG takes issue with a sentence accompanying the chart on water supplies where the United States is referred to as a nation “with stable or declining” population.  Such a statement is totally off the mark considering that without major immigration reform, our U.S. population is expected to increase by 140 million people by mid-century.  Read the full article at www.washingtonpost.com

 

PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON SECRETARY NAPOLITANO

            A number of U.S. Senators are increasingly incensed at recent actions of the Obama Administration to do an “end run” around Congress and devise a system where the majority of illegal alien deportation cases are deemed “low priority.”  Frustrated over the whole situation, they took Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to task at a Judiciary Committee hearing last week.  Committee Ranking Member Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) used the same terminology NPG has been using in relation to this disastrous policy when he referred to it as a “back-door amnesty program.”  He also took great issue with the fact that many of the illegals who may remain in the U.S. under the new lax deportation policy will also be able to apply for work authorization.  However, for all of the Congressional ranting and raving against the unilateral actions of the White House in advancing this policy, it appears that Majority Leader Harry Reid will not challenge President Obama’s Executive Order, thus shutting out the legislative branch of government which should have dominion over setting national immigration rules.  Indeed, Senator Dick Durbin, the Assistant Senate Majority Leader, who supports the new ICE guidelines on deportations, complained to Secretary Napolitano that DHS is not doing enough to get the program in place as soon as possible.

 

LABOR SHORTAGES IN ALABAMA AND GEORGIA – GOOD OR BAD?

            While millions of residents of both Alabama and Georgia continue to praise the actions of their state legislatures in passing new laws designed to get tough on illegal immigration, national business interests and the mainstream media have gone out of their way to paint both states as bastions of hate.  The open-border lobby definitely doesn’t want any states to follow suit and insists that states who seek to enforce federal immigration laws only make those who are here in our country illegally uncomfortable.  
            The opposition’s latest tactic is reflected in a news story that appeared this week on WSJ.com which noted that:  “Labor shortages translated to an estimated $140 million in lost production value for Georgia’s blueberry, blackberry, onion, bell pepper, squash, cucumber and watermelon growers this year.”  The story went on to cite a new study from the University of Georgia’s Center for Agriculture and Economic Development which found that in 2009 the state’s total production of those crops was worth $578 million.  Of course, one is supposed to conclude that the value of the crops declined this year following an exodus of illegals from the state. 
            In fact, WSJ.com quotes Charles Hall of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association who blames the new state immigration measures, when he says that Georgia is now “the poster child for what can happen when mandatory e-verify and enforcement legislation is passed without an adequate guest worker program.”
            The WSJ story also referred to a recent Associated Press report on a similar labor shortage in Alabama where Grow Alabama’s head Jerry Spencer told the AP that “he hasn’t been able to find unemployed people who would work quickly enough or long enough” to help harvest the tomato fields.
            While NPG is certainly sympathetic to growers who were caught off-guard this year with the passage of the new state legislation, their present plight seems fixable with a bit of planning for the future rather than forcing residents of their states to foot the bill for sheltering hordes of illegal aliens within their borders.  A 2010 study by the Federation of American Immigration Reform regarding state and local expenditures on illegals showed that they annually cost Alabama $298 million and Georgia about $2.4 billion.

 

THE HIGHEST DECADE EVER FOR IMMIGRANTS

            In early October, the Center for Immigration Studies put forth an analysis of Census Bureau data which shows that the U.S. immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached 40 million in 2010.  CIS holds that to be the “highest number in American history” citing the fact that “Nearly 14 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country from 2000 to 2010.”  The report’s author, Steven Camarota, noted that “from 1990 to 2000…slightly fewer immigrants arrived (13.2 million).”
            In summarizing CIS’s research it was also noted that:

• The nation’s immigrant population has doubled since 1990, nearly tripled since 1980, and quadrupled since 1970, when it stood at 9.7 million.
• New arrivals are offset by out-migration and deaths.  As a result, the net increase in the immigrant population was more than 8.8 million over the last decade, from 31.1 million in 2000.
• Growth of the immigrant population has primarily been driven by high levels of legal immigration.  Roughly three-fourths of immigrants in the country are here legally.
• States with the largest numerical increase [of immigrants] over the last decade were California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

            The full study is available for review on the Center’s website at www.CIS.org.

 

WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE?

            In early October, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered state agencies to translate documents and provide interpreters in six languages for immigrants seeking public services – including illegal aliens.  The program is estimated to cost $1.5 million (funded by state and federal taxes) and will translate documents and websites into Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French and French Creole.  In reporting this story, The Wall Street Journal stated that:  “The group New York Lawyers for the Public Interest estimates that 2.5 million immigrants in New York require help understanding English.”

 

NPG NOTES

GETTING READY FOR NPG’s 40th ANNIVERSARY

            While dramatic changes over the past four decades have forced many advocacy organizations to shutter their doors out of frustration or because of financial problems, NPG continues to stand as America’s premier organization dedicated to population issues.  
            It all started in 1972.  And throughout 2012 we will be celebrating our consistency and success in keeping our elected leaders and fellow citizens focused on the critical need for a smaller, truly sustainable, U.S. and world population.  In the coming weeks we will be setting forth our new 2012 agenda and announcing our NPG Scholarship contest subject and rules.  Our 40th Anniversary will also see us launch new educational projects, a more visible media presence and a powerful new effort to expand our membership base.  Finally, special programs throughout the year will be centered on getting all of our members more involved in our activities. 
            Late next month we will mail out our 40th Anniversary Membership Card.  It is extremely important that you and other members respond positively in renewing your support for what will surely be an exciting year that will continue to keep NPG on track for many more decades of fighting for our shared goals.

 

A SPECIAL THANK YOU…

            With 2011 quickly winding down we would like to take this opportunity to publicly offer a special recognition and thank you to a select core of NPG donors who play a quiet, yet very important role in NPG’s success.
            While we are truly grateful for the financial support of all of the thousands of our friends and supporters who annually renew their membership and give generously to special appeals to fund our NPG programs, there are a few hundred members who never hesitate to go the extra mile.
            We are speaking specifically of the donors who willingly open their checkbooks to provide the money for our annual NPG Scholarships, generously underwrite special educational and media projects, and are so quick to answer our calls for financial help to advance our cause.  
            We won’t list any names.  Suffice it to say that you know who you are.  Please accept our sincere thanks for all that you do. 

 

QUOTES

            “One of the most serious challenges to human destiny in the last third of this century will be the growth of the population.  Whether man’s response to that challenge will be a cause for pride or for despair in the year 2000 will depend very much on what we do today.  If we now begin our work in an appropriate manner, and if we continue to devote a considerable amount of attention and energy to this problem, then mankind will be able to surmount this challenge as it has surmounted so many during the long march of civilization.”

                                    President Richard Nixon, July 1969
                                    Launching the Rockefeller Commission

 

            “America has struggled with its budget for the past 30 years, with only a brief period where we weren’t racking up significant debts.  And yet, somehow we’ve decided that we can provide extensive services to people who enter this country in violation of our immigration laws.                        
            Let’s put aside for a moment the immense costs to maintain border patrol and deportation services.  Why would a country that doesn’t have enough funds to cover its most basic responsibilities take on the obligation for health care and education for those who came here illegally?
We can sympathize with those people who risk their lives to come here from countries that offer them little or no opportunity.  However, it is not our obligation to fund their needs – if it were, then we should also be writing monthly checks to the people of Haiti, Cambodia and Sudan.  Despite massive deficits, the Obama Administration has chosen to abandon deportation efforts for illegal immigrants who are not convicted felons.”

                                    Bruce Bialosky
                                    National Columnist

 

            “In 2008, both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, Barack Obama and John McCain, warned about man-made global warming and supported legislation to curb emissions.  After he was elected, President Obama promised ‘a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change,’ and arrived cavalry-like at the 2009 United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen to broker a global pact.
            But two years later, now that nearly every other nation accepts climate change as a pressing problem, America has turned agnostic on the issue.”

                                    Elisabeth Rosenthal
                                    “Where Did Global Warming Go?”
                                    The New York Times 10/15/11

 

WHY THE NPG JOURNAL?

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            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. 

            We realize not all news stories covering population issues will reflect NPG policies and goals.  One of our main purposes in creating the NPG Journal is to expose these items to a wider audience, and to draw attention to the fact that so many articles speak to immigration and population issues but often fail to address the central cause of many problems – TOO MANY PEOPLE. 

            Ultimately, NPG would like to see writers at all levels make the obvious (to us, at least) connection between environmental and resource problems and the growing number of people in both the United States and the world.  Unfortunately, most do not.  To that end, we comment as necessary to help our readers see those links in hopes they will continue to speak out on what we deem to be the most pressing issue of our time – population size and growth and its negative impacts on our environment, resources and quality of life.

            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 programs.  NPG’s activities 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 to us the e-mail address of friends you think would like to receive a complimentary copy of the NPG Journal on a monthly basis.  Contact us at www.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.

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