Ad Campaign Says Population Growth Devours Open Space, Destroys Wildlife Habitat

Vast majority of population growth results from immigration

SANTA BARBARA — Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and allied groups have launched an ad campaign to draw attention to the environmental devastation caused by continuing population growth. The ads will appear in major publications across the nation.

“Loss of open space, increased traffic congestion, never-ending sprawl—these are all consequences of a growing population. Habitat loss due to population growth is, by far, the greatest threat to wildlife,” said Diana Hull, the organization’s President.

"Population growth is overwhelming the gains that the United States has made in energy conservation and protection of critical wild lands. Water shortages and energy shortages result, in part, from the increased demands of an increasing population, yet we are ignoring this half of the equation. Americans do not want the increased crowding and resource depletion, but it is being forced on them by politicians,” Hull continued.

The United States now has a population of more than 300 million, and projections indicate that it will soar by another 100 million in 30 years. If no action is taken, the U.S. will face a population of 600 million people by the end of this century. While other developed nations have stable populations, the population in the U.S. continues to grow like that of India and China.

More than 80 percent of the nation’s population growth results from immigration and births to immigrants. In California, immigration accounts for virtually 100 percent of the population growth.

This national ad campaign by CAPS and its partners in America’s Leadership Team for Long Range Population-Immigration-Resource Planning is part of a long-term plan to raise public awareness of the extent of the nation’s current population growth, the consequences of that growth on myriad environmental and social problems, and the policies that produce the growth.

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