Population Dynamics
in the United States

August 13, 2010

Population
Background
Fertility, Births
History
Sustainability
Agriculture
Fossil Fuels
Water
Pollution &
Global Warming

Biodiversity
Coastal Areas
Wild Areas
Garbage
Sprawl
Sexual Responsibility
Politics
overConsumption
Immigration
Imports, Exports, Exploitation
California
Cities and States
news
US Techno Mindset
024545 USpopulation_index`M
 
In 1969, President Nixon issued to Congress a "Message on Population." Referring to the expectation of the time that the U.S. population might exceed 300 million by the year 2000, he said:

This growth will produce serious challenges for our society. I believe that many of our present social problems may be related to the fact that we have had only fifty years in which to accommodate the second hundred million Americans. In fact, since 1945 alone some 90 million babies have been born in this country. We have thus had to accommodate in a very few decades an adjustment to population growth which was once spread over centuries. And now it appears that we will have to provide for a third hundred million Americans in a period of just 30 years. 024546

U.S. Population Milestones.  
1915: 100,000,000 1967: 200,000,000 2006: 300,000,000 019018


Population
U.S. Population Impact Map at NumbersUSA.   July 22, 2009   NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA believes that federal immigration policies are the cause of most U.S. population growth. The clickable population maps on this website (follow the link) will help you see at a glance where immigration is driving the most population growth and radical change across the country. Nearly every county that is colored for high growth either (a) has had a lot of immigration, or (b) has had a lot of migration of Americans fleeing other parts of the state or country. You can click on the metro areas on a state map to obtain zoomed-in maps.

NOTE: the maps do an excellent job of showing population growth, which is horrific in many places. They do not actually show where growth is due to direct immigration, or flight from other areas due to traffic congestion or other factors, as opposed to a high birth rate.   Karen Gaia says: For example, the map shows that California is ranked as Number 12 in growth, growing by 54% from 1980 to 2008. However, after WWII, the high growth rate was due to migration of mostly natives to California. And in the 1960's there was a large baby boom in the U.S., with an average of four children per couple. The 1980's saw the children of those baby boomers being born. California shares a border with Mexico and large numbers of legal and illegal immigrants cross the border there. Many of them go back and forth. There is no doubt that more recently immigration, if you include children born to immigrants, is responsible for the higher growth rate in the last two decades. But the birth rate is higher than the immigration rate in Calif. Best to address unintended pregnancies, which run about 50%. Even Catholics, many of them, practice birth control after 1 or 2 kids, if given the means. 024119

Hey, You're Standing on My Foot! the U.S. Population is Projected to Reach 400 Million by 2043.   June 2009   Mother Earth News
If the U.S. population, now approximately 300 million, were to keep increasing at the current rate, we'll reach 400 million by 2043. "Population growth is the ever expanding denominator that gives each person a shrinking share of the resource pie," Lester Brown of the Earth Policy says. "It contributes to water shortages, cropland conversion to non-farm uses, traffic congestion, more garbage, overfishing, a growing dependence on imported oil and other conditions that diminish the quality of our daily lives."

In other developed countries, populations have either slightly dropped or stayed constant. "It may be time for the United States to establish a national population policy, one that would lead toward population stabilization sooner rather than later," Brown says. It may be important to switch the focus toward population stabilization and then decide how to stretch the resources among society. 024095

America Galloping Toward Its Greatest Crisis in the 21st Century.   May 22, 2009   Examiner.com - By Frosty Wooldridge
At current growth rates, America expects to add 100 million people by 2035 - only 26 years from now. Yet the mainstream media says nothing, not even our favorite, most imformative, newscasters. And environmental groups, like the Sierra Club won't address the core cause of it all: overpopulation.

No matter how many water shortage reports, climate change indicators, mass species extinctions or air pollution stories you read about, America blissfully adds 3.2 million people annually.

Another 77 million humans add themselves, net gain, to the planet annually and 1.0 billion add to the globe every 12 years.

Such a population growth cannot be sustained. Religious, cultural interests, and big business push the growth ever faster.

Distractors write that overpopulation is a New World Order myth or that the 'Illuminati' expect to kill off half the human population or some other nonsense. Mother Nature, who kills 18 million humans from starvation and related diseases annually, is ultimate population Nazi!

From 'WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE' by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, November 6, 2008 and www.dominantanimal.org (click on 'Further Information'), here is an outline what we should do:

One: put births on a par with deaths --

"Human beings have always fought against early death from accident, hunger, and sickness, and in the past century or so have employed improved sanitation and the use of pesticides and antibiotics to raise life expectancy. But given the frightening potential consequences of the explosion in human numbers that has followed reductions of the death rate, it is essential to pay equivalent attention to reducing high birthrates as well. Programs to educate and open job opportunities for women, and to make effective contraception universally available, must be an integral part of development policies in poor countries. Placing women in important cabinet posts in a new U.S. administration should have high priority and would send a strong signal in support of women's empowerment (even in developed nations, prejudice against women is widespread)."

"And, of course, a global discussion over the next several decades will be required to reach a consensus on those lifestyles and thus on the appropriate maximum population size - which we already know must be smaller than the present 6.7 billion."

Two: emphasize conserving more than consuming --

"At any given level of technology, there is a trade-off between the numbers of people in a society and the level of per capita physical affluence that can be sustainably supported. The more people there are, the smaller each one's share of the pie must be. One way of dealing with this unavoidable trade-off would be a cultural shift away from creating ever more gadgets to creating more appreciation and better stewardship of Earth's aesthetic assets." We need "careful husbandry of manufactured and natural capital (our ecological assets), and a crash program to abandon the use of fossil fuels and transition to sustainable energy technologies, would eventually permit most people to live satisfactory lives." We must abandon "the irrational idea that constant growth in consumption is automatically good and can continue forever."

Three: judge technologies not just on what they do for people but also to people and their life-support systems

"A novel synthetic chemical added to the plastic in a sports bottle may increase its durability, but if it leaches into a baby bottle's contents or into the environment and functions in tiny doses as an endocrine-disrupting agent, is the risk worth the benefit?"

Four: transform the consumption of education

"It is widely recognized that literacy and civic education are keys to 'development;' they could also be keys to sustainable development. Reform of education to help us solve the human predicament is thus crucial."

Five: rapidly expand our empathy

"We're a small-group animal, trying to live in large groups." .. "Can affluent people in the West learn to empathize enough with a child in Darfur so as to take real action to save her? Can they learn to care about the world her grandchildren will live in, and act to move that society towards peaceful sustainability? If the global community takes step five, the answers to both questions will be 'yes,' and we'll be on the kind of road that could lead to a level of global cooperation that might allow a billion or two, perhaps three billion, small-group animals to live together sustainably in relative peace, in the next century.

Six: decide what kind of world we all want

"What are the ultimate goals of our lives?" .. "Are Americans really happier traveling to work an hour or more each day wrapped in a ton or two of steel and breathing smog that threatens their lives? While the U.S. GDP has multiplied almost five times since 1958, satisfaction, as shown by surveys, has not increased at all."

"We could initiate a Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior (MAHB) to begin a discussion of what economic, social, and political systems will best fulfill human desires as we struggle to live in gigantic, culturally diverse groups." ... "The USA could meet developing cultures halfway by focusing less on 'standard of living' and more on 'quality of life,' and it could bring the experts along with it." 023962

Vasectomies Spike as Economy Sours.   March 30, 2009   RH Reality Check
When the stock market fell, the bad economy increased the number of requests for vasectomies by 30% in January.

Sales of over-the-counter contraceptives jumped 10.2% in the first two months of 2009. Condom sales jumped 5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 6% in January, compared with last year. Sales of a non-invasive, irreversible birth control method for women were up 28% over last year.

Planned Parenthood clinics report increased traffic over the past several months.

If recent trends show that contraception is a great form of protection against uncertain times and many are opting for the permanent form. A vasectomy will cost between $500-$1000.

Family planning is a foundation on which many Americans build responsible lives. Those who have lost their jobs and health insurance are in great need of family planning. Family planning is an American value and, something we rely on in our times of need.  rw   Karen Gaia says: Right on! I run this webpage because I care about people's right and capability to control their family's future. It has been difficult to make this point without sounding racist, because Americans have been relatively well off, up to now, but the same holds true the world over. People and governments who feel they suffer bad economic times benefit by cutting down their planned family size or delaying a pregnancy. Resources are not without limit! 023678

More U.S. Babies Born in 2007 Than Any Other Year.   March 19, 2009   Chattanooga Times Free Press
More U.S. babies entered the world in 2007 than any other year in the nation's history and represents a 1% increase over the prior year. Some are concerned about another year's rise in teen births, after hitting an all-time low in 2005, and a record number of births to unwed mothers.

The U.S. birth rate for teenagers 15 to 17 years old rose in 2007 by about 1%, to 22.2 births per 1,000 girls. Our population is at an all-time high with an increase in the number of women of childbearing age

.

An influx of immigrants and a growing minority of groups that tend to have higher fertility rates contributed to a higher birth rate.

In 2007, fertility rates increased in all racial groups by 1% percent, to 69.5 births per 1,000 women age 15 to 44, the highest level since 1990.

The year's total fertility rate is 2.1 children per mother, only slightly higher than past years, and the increase cannot compare to the impact of the post-World War II baby boom. Some of this boom is from single mothers.

In 2007, births to unwed mothers hit a record high of nearly 40%, continuing a trend fueled by a lessening of the stigma on single parenthood. More than three-

quarters of those unmarried mothers were over 20.

As the economic recession continues, the rising birth rates may not last. The lowest birth rates in the US occurred during the Great Depression before modern contraception.  rw   Karen Gaia says: there are signs that the current economic crisis may result in a lower birth rate. 023743

Oh, Baby! US Breaks Birth Record; Unwed Mothers Had 40 Percent of Babies Born in 2007.   March 18, 2009   ClickOrlando.com
More babies were born in the US in 2007 than in the nation's history. There is good and bad news for the more than 4.3 million births:

The U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend.

However, the teen birth rate was up for the second year in a row.

The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40%. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older.

It's become more acceptable for women to have babies without a husband. Happy couples may be living together without getting married. Some cited a growing trend among all adult women to have children regardless of their marital status.

Countries with much lower rates face future labor shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.

Some experts think birth rates are declining because of the economic recession that began in late 2007.

The 2007 snapshot reflected a relatively good economy coupled with cultural trends that promoted childbirth.

U.S. abortions have been dropping to their lowest levels in decades. Some attributed this decline to better use of contraceptives, but others have wondered if the rise in births might indicate a failure in proper use of contraceptives.

Teen women tend to follow what their older sisters do, so teen births are going up just like births to older women. The numbers also showed:

Cesarean sections continue to rise, to almost a third of all births, much higher than is medically necessary.

Utah continued to have the highest birth rate and Vermont the lowest.

CDC officials noted that despite the record number of births, this is nothing like what occurred in the 1950s, when a smaller population of women were having nearly four children each, on average. That baby boom transformed society, affecting everything from school construction to consumer culture.

Today, U.S. women are averaging 2.1 children each.  rw   Karen Gaia says: with the increase in population due to immigration, we don't need a natural increase of 2.1. This amounts to a net increase of around 1%, which will double our population in 70 years. 023626

U.S.: Immigration, Population and Politics.   June 29, 2008   Sacramento Bee
California had about 27 million residents when Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) was formed in 1986 to raise alarms about the impacts of continued population growth. California now has about 38 million residents. If California continues to grow, it faces environmental degradation.

Many of the problems facing California today have one root cause: too many people. As California's population grows by a half-million or more each year, virtually all of that growth stems from immigration, legal and illegal.

Population growth, creates the demand for more housing, more water, more schools, more highways - more of everything and that puts pressure on the environment.

Overpopulation driven by unsustainable levels of immigration is bringing on more traffic congestion, escalating energy prices, overcrowding of our beaches, parks and recreational areas, and increasing demands on our limited water supply.

That said, while the low- or no-growth policies might lessen the environmental issues, they would also create new and difficult economic and social problems.

Shortages of trained workers are looming in California. Low-growth countries such as Japan are already feeling that pinch.

Without ever-expanding, tax-generating construction, employment and retail sales, state and local governments would be compelled to raise taxes on an aging population with fixed incomes.

Changes of political policy often produce unintended consequences.  rw   Karen Gaia says: add more workers to solve the aging population problem and you will have those workers becoming aged themselves one day. Who will take care of them? It is an insane pyramid scheme to keep growing the population to take care of the aged. Regarding immigration contributing to growth, most of California's growth is due to births, many of which are unintended and can be prevented - regardless of whether or not the parents are native born. There are many legislative measures that affect California's fertility. Let us work on them!!! 023130

End of "Population" section, 


Background
US Ohio;: Women in Their 20s Lead Rise in Out-of-Wedlock Births.   January 23, 2007   Associated Press
Up to 40% of last year's births among unmarried women, up from 29% in 1990. The birth rate among teens declined in 2006 to the lowest level on record. The increase has been led by women in their late 20s who have delayed marriage or are in live-in relationships. Behind are women in their 30s and 40s with college degrees and careers.

Appropriate partners may not be available due to death or incarceration.  rw 020116

The United States at 300 Million.   October 03, 2006  
The US is set to become the third country after China and India to have 300 million people. Within another 37 years, we are projected to pass 400 million.

Natural increase drives nearly 60% population growth annually. International immigration accounts for about 40%. One of the most significant trends has been the shift of the population west and south. Between 1970 and 2000, the population share in the South and West rose from 48% to 58%. People are moving farther from central cities and their inner suburbs, pushing into woodlands and farmland.

The percent of the total population living in the suburbs of metropolitan areas grew from 38% to 50% between 1970 and 2000, while those living in central cities stayed at around 30%. People are concerned about crowding.

One-person households are more than twice as common as those of five people or more at more than 26% of the total. Young adults are moving out on their own. Older people who are divorced or widowed often choose to live alone.

Many forces underlie these changes. The age at first marriage has risen from 23 to 27 for men and from 21 to 26 for women. Increasing levels of women's education give women more options for independence outside marriage.

Children are moving back home after college. Saddled with school loans, many overcome any reservations they might have had to returning to the nest.

Between 1970 and 2004, the share of women in the labor force rose from 43% to 59%. The array of occupations include far more than the traditional options. Economic forces exerted pressure on families until it was hard for one-income families to get by.

Experts believe the current Social Security system will not be able to cover the payments promised to retirees after 2030. Of Americans ages 25 and older the share who finished high school soared from 55% to 85% between 1970 and 2004. Now more applicants are expected to have a college degree. The number of foreign-born people in the US has reached more than 35 million. But at 12% of the population, the share is lower than it was between 1860 and 1920, when it ranged to 15%.

The largest share of immigrants to the US still comes from Latin America, and from Mexico in particular.

Many are not authorized to be here. Recent estimates peg the number of unauthorized migrants at 11.5 million, with more than one-half from Mexico.

Immigrants are fueling the growth in the number of ethnic minorities. One-fifth of all children under age 18 are either foreign-born or in a family where at least one parent was foreign-born. Today, almost half of all children under age 5 are members of a racial or ethnic minority. And if current trends persist, that share will increase.

These trends could have an impact on the US. Since 1974, the under age 18 have been more likely to live below the poverty line than other age groups. In 2005, 18% of the young lived in poverty, compared with 10% of people 65 and over and 11% ages 18 to 64. Members of racial or ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, with blacks the most likely 34%, Hispanics 28% and whites 14%.

If we don't address these age and race differences in poverty and well-being, today's children may be less able or willing to support the predominantly white when they reach adulthood.  rw 018869

U.S. Population Growth and Its Effects on Our Environment Must Be Addressed, Experts Say.   August 06, 2006   San Diego Union Tribune
The top-priority campaigns of the nation's big environmental groups emphasize animals, pollution and global warming.

What's missing are initiatives that tackle U.S. population growth.

The environmental establishment has abandoned talking about the nation's growing populace, particularly as it relates to immigration. The debate centers on economics and national security.

The US population has nearly doubled since 1950, and is expected to hit 300 million in October.

The link between population and the country's environmental capacity, its water supply, farmland, fisheries and other natural resources, is getting more attention from groups that aren't among the names in environmentalism.

The scientific data shows that the U.S. is reaching many of the nation's ecological limits, and that many are linked to population trends. It's a shame that environmentalists haven't found a way to get involved in a prominent way.

Countries in Europe, with Russia and Japan, have shrinking populations because births aren't keeping pace with deaths.

America's relatively high population growth and high rates of consumption and pollution make result in the largest environmental impact per capita.

Americans occupy about 20% more developed land per capita for housing, schools, shopping, roads and other uses than they did 20 years ago, partly because the average number of people per household has dropped while the average size of homes has swelled. About 40% of the nation's rivers and 46% of its lakes are too polluted for fishing and swimming. Wetlands are shrinking by 100,000 acres a year, mainly because of development.

More than half the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of the coast, and can damage seaside ecosystems.

There's no universally accepted estimate of how many people the nation can accommodate.

The number is ultimately a question of balancing quality and quantity.

Technological advances that help clean the air, conserve water and grow more food on less farmland have helped to mitigate or delay predicted population-induced disasters.

Last year, one of every five immigrants worldwide lived in the United States. The National Audubon Society supports international family planning while taking no position on U.S. immigration. Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council largely stay out of domestic immigration issues, though neither explain why.

Sorting out the ecological costs and benefits of immigration and population growth can be enormously complex and has led some environmentalists to say their groups should stick with saving species, curbing pollution and preserving open space.

Aggressively advocating birth control or abortion rights could alienate church groups. The U.S. population grew by 14.9 million between April 2000 and July 2005. Immigration accounted for more than 42%.

Immigrants also play a key role in population growth once they arrive in the United tates.

A 2005 report found that there was an annual average of 84 births per 1,000 foreign-born women in the U.S., compared with 57 births per 1,000 native U.S. women.

The US has 12 million unauthorized immigrants. About 3 million of them, mostly from Mexico, live in California.  rw   Karen Gaia says: we could work harder at preventing unintended pregnancies, especially for teens, who have the highest birth rate in the developed world. 018373

U.S.: Data on Marriage and Births Reflect the Political Divide.   October 13, 2005   New York Times*
In New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the median age of first marriage is 29 for men and 26 or 27 for women, four years later than in Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Utah. The age of first marriage has been rising since 1970. But it is impossible to say whether the early-marrying states are moving in the same direction, at the same pace, as the later-marrying ones. In states where people marry later, there is a higher proportion of unmarried-couple households. The study found states in the Northeast and West had a higher percentage of unmarried-partner households than those in the South. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, unmarried couples made up more than 7% of all coupled households, twice those in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi. On teenage births, the same differences become clear. In New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, about 5% of babies are born to teenage mothers, while in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, 10% or more of all births are to teenage mothers. Over all, 15% of women who had given birth in the US in the previous year were not citizens. While noncitizens made up a third of the new mothers in California, and more than 20% in Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey and Texas, there were a dozen states where less than 4% of the new mothers were not citizens. While 21% of all women who gave birth in California in the last year and 14% in Arizona, Nevada and Texas did not speak English well or at all, there were 14 states where less than 2% of new mothers had limited English skills or none. There was no evidence that immigrant mothers were poorer than others. There was no correlation between language, citizenship and poverty status.  rw    015390
Incredible Shrinking US Family.   December 02, 2004   Monitor, The(Uganda)
Over the last several decades the size of US families has shrunk. The percentage of households containing five or more people has fallen by half and the number of single and two-person households has soared. Compared to the middle of the 20th century, marriage is not a universal status of adulthood. Disney films have depicted a number of untraditional family groups but the model of three children living with both their natural parents, is retro today. In 1970, 21% of households had five or more people, today it has dropped to 10% while households with one or two people increased from 46% to 60%. The number of people per household decreased from 3.14 to 2.57. The proportion of young, never-married singles has increased, particularly women 30 to 34 which has tripled since 1970. The reduced fertility is the result of the increase in the percentage of women who work and the rising expense of raising children. Parents are more concerned with putting effort into the raising of each child and unlike European societies, the US has limited government support for families. Big families may be becoming the province of the upper classes who can afford them. The US has an estimated 5.5 million stay-at-home parents, and of these, 5.4 million are women. There are only 98,000 stay-at-home dads.  rw    012273
US Life Expectancy at All-time High, but Infant Deaths Up - Cdc.   February 12, 2004   Push newsfeed
Life expectancy for 2002 reached 77.4 years, up from 77.2 in 2001. Infant mortality increased from 6.8 deaths per 1,000 in 2001 to 7.0 per 1,000 in 2002. In 2002, there were four million births and 27,977 infant deaths. The rise was due to an increase in infant deaths of less than 28 weeks old, particularly infants who died within the first week of life. The three major causes were birth defects, premature birth low birth weight, and maternal complications. SIDs declined from 2001 to 2002. The US mortality rate dropped by 855 across all ethnic groups except native Americans and non-Hispanic white females, whose death rates remained unchanged. Homicides dropped by 17% from 2001, although that figure was distorted by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Among leading causes of death, heart disease dropped 3%, stroke nearly 3%, accidents and unintentional injuries, nearly 2% and cancer, 1%. Death from HIV/AIDS, dropped 2%. HIV mortality has decreased 70% since 1995, but remains the fifth leading cause of death from people ages 25-44.  rw    009932
A Crowded Nation on Lou Dobbs Oct. 14.   October 14, 2003   CNN.com
Join us for our special series of reports "A Crowded Nation." To keep up with population growth, power plants crank out more energy that causes pollution. At the same time, some factories are using more energy to create more products that cause waste. What is the impact on the quality of your air? We take an in-depth look. 008259
End of "Background" section, 


Fertility, Births
U.S.: Shaky Economy Means 'Bye-Bye Baby' for Some.   January 15, 2009   MSNBC.com
The economy is a worry for many Americans, with 80% saying they feel stress about their personal finances. Many have decided the time isn't right to have a child. There was a dramatic decline in fertility rates following the Great Depression in the 1930s.

In each year after the country's last four recessions, general fertility rates dipped slightly. For example, following the 1980-1982 recession, the fertility rate [birth rate] fell from 68.4 in 1980 to 65.7 in 1983.

How far the birth rate falls depends on how severe and long this financial crunch turns out to be. The U.S. birth rate has been at replacement levels for the past three decades, which, plus immigration, ensures the population remains robust.

The No. 1 thing in this calendar year is postponement, But if this translated into a long-term fertility drop, it would be a big deal. Some clinics around the country are seeing signs of a financially driven baby chill.

In vitro fertilization increased about 17% in 2008 over the prior year, and consults for new IVF patients seem to be holding steady. A middle-class family making more than $77,100 will spend nearly $300,000 raising a child from birth to age 17, not taking account of college tuition or inflation.

For some families, postponing may mean just delaying a few months. For others, it could mean they never have children, due to age-related declines in fertility.  rw 023574

Teen Birth Rates Up in 26 States.   January 07, 2009   USA Today
There are increases in the number of teens having births and the rate at which they are having births.

The data shows significant increases for 2006. In the two previous years only one state in each year had a significant increase.

In 2006, the general fertility rate hit its highest level since 1971. New data gives credence to the idea that the downturn in birth rates is over. The highest teen birth rates are Mississippi with 68.4 per 1,000, followed by New Mexico, with 64.1 and Texas, with 63.1. The lowest rates are in New Hampshire with 18.7 per 1,000, Vermont, with 20.8 per 1,000, and Massachusetts, with 21.3 per 1,000.

Some blame a more sexualized culture and greater acceptance of births to unmarried women. Others say abstinence-only and a de-emphasis on birth control may play a part.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy claims that abortion is driving higher teen birth rates and suggests that increases in high-profile unmarried births in Hollywood, movies and even politics is a factor for impressionable teens.

The new data reflects the first decline since 1968 in the average age of first-time mothers, from 25.2 years in 2005 to 25 in 2006.  rw 023556

Against the Trend, U.S. Births Way Up.   January 16, 2008   Associated Press Online
The US is reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years. The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. Data shows that the US has a higher fertility rate than Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan.

Experts believe the reasons are: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.

Hispanics have fertility rates about 40% higher than the U.S. overall. Americans, especially those in middle America, view children more favorably than other Westernized countries.

Demographers say it is too soon to know if the sudden increase in births is the start of a trend.

To many economists and policymakers, the increase in births is good news. Countries with much lower rates face future labor shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.

But the higher fertility rate isn't all good. The CDC reported that America's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years.

Births are more common in nearly every age and racial or ethnic group. Total births jumped 3% in 2006, the largest single-year increase since 1989. The recent birth numbers are a result of many women having a couple of kids each, rather than a smaller number of mothers, each bearing several children.

The 2006 fertility rate of 2.1 children is the highest level since 1971. The fertility rate among Hispanics 3 children per woman has been a major contributor. The high rate probably reflects cultural attitudes toward childbirth developed in other countries. Fertility rates average 2.7 in Central America and 2.4 in South America.

Fertility rates often rise among immigrants. The rate among Mexican-born women in the U.S. is 3.2, but the overall rate for Mexico is just 2.4.

Some complain that many illegal immigrants come here purposely to have children.

"The child is an automatic American citizen, thus entitled to all benefits of American citizens."

Fertility rates were also relatively high for other racial and ethnic groups. The rate rose to 2.1 for blacks and nearly 1.9 for non-Hispanic whites in 2006.

Fertility levels tend to decline as women become better educated and gain career opportunities. Experts say those factors, along with the legalization of abortion and the expansion of contraception options, explain why the U.S. fertility rate dropped to 1.7 in 1976. The fertility rate climbed to 2 in 1989 and has hovered around that mark since.

Other factors include: declines in contraceptive use here; limited access to abortion in some states; and opportunities for mothers to return to work. It is more common for American women to have babies out of wedlock and more common for couples to go forward with unwanted pregnancies. New England's fertility rates are more like Northern Europe's. American women in the Midwest, South and certain mountain states tend to have more children.

The influence of religions in those latter regions is an important factor.  rw 022544

Report: U.S. Teen Births Rise.   December 05, 2007   Associated Press
The nation's teen birth rate has risen for the first time in 14 years. The birth rate had been dropping since 1991, but government statisticians said it jumped 3% from 2005 to 2006.

For 2006 births to unmarried mothers hit a new record high, and the overall birth rate has climbed to its highest level since 1971.

The teen increase was based on the 15-19 age group, which accounted for about 99% of the more than 440,000 births to teens in 2006.

The rate rose to 41.9 live births per 1,000 females in that age group, up from 40.5 in 2005.  rw 022374

U.S.;: How Many People is Too Many?.   August 14, 2006   Alternet
This year, the USA will hit 300 million inhabitants and 400 million in less than 40 years.

When people don't have the means and information to control their fertility, the results are that you can't go a week without seeing evidence of overpopulation, choked highways, crowded classrooms. We have to maintain not having living space and forests, farms, wetlands, etc.

One-third of all pregnancies in this country are unintended. Yet we're wasting millions on abstinence programs that have been shown never to work. Abstinence proponents want to punish people who act, in their view, immorally.

Current attacks on birth control are as much about making political hay as making babies.

They see access to contraception within marriage as a negative influence: it gives easy access to adultery and therefore has reduced faithfulness in marriage.

A professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said "We've got room. Don't let the fear of overcrowding discourage you, the issue is what the Lord wants for them."

Jennifer Shawne has published her book "Baby Not on Board: A Celebration of Life Without Kids" last year and says that it's not just religious conservatives who try to convince her of her duty to have children. She points out the unsupported assumption that political and cultural attitudes are inherited traits.

The Oakland-based think tank Redefining Progress estimated that this nation's level of consumption and waste generation requires 269 global acres per person, almost nine times the footprint of the average in China and more than 22 times that of the average Indian or Pakistani.

From the planet's point of view, the birth of a single American child has the potential impact of 10 births in those countries.

What would 400 million Americans look like?

Pat Buchanan argued that our nation's existence is threatened by insufficient enthusiasm for childbearing and growing immigration from Mexico. Buchanan urged a return to large, patriarchal families as a way of outstripping the immigrant population.

Negative Population Growth (NPG), is a U.S. population of 150 million and advocates the two-child family and curtailment of resource consumption, but now spends most of its energy on immigration issues.

Working for reproductive rights and smaller families without forceful action on immigration is doomed to fail.

"If not for immigration, we already would have stabilized the U.S. population. Our problem is immigration. It's easy for one person to bring in his sisters, brothers, parents. And immigrants have more children. Pretty quickly, one immigrant can really amount to 12."

Can we find ways of viewing immigration that lead to a less cruel course of action?

What is really going on is capitalism operating normally. Employers gain. Native workers lose. Immigrants lose too. Both groups lose because they are not united.

If it's hard to predict how many of us there will be, it's even tougher to know who we'll be. Jennifer Shawne said, "This culture, is constantly evolving. I'm more interested in seeing how it changes in the future than in preserving it as it is or was."  rw 018261

U.S.: Is this the next baby boom?.   July 16, 2006   USA TODAY
A record number of babies were born in the USA in 2007. Details about the mothers won't be available until the fall, because all the agency has now is birth certificate data. The last time the number was this high was in 1957, in the middle of the baby boom years. Data for 2006 show a 3% increase over 2005. The largest single-year increase since 1989.

It's going to be nowhere near the baby boom of the 1950s or '60s. The 2007 numbers can be attributed to: more immigrants having children, professional women who delayed childbearing until their 40s, and larger numbers of women in their 20s and 30s in the population. The average number of births per woman was 2.1 in 2006, the highest since 1971.

From the perspective of schools, this is a real increase in the number of births and something they're going to have to deal with. But it won't be the kind of shock that we saw at the beginning of the baby boom in 1952 and '53.  rw 023347

U.S.: Unplanned Pregnancy Increases Among Poor.   May 05, 2006   unknown
Based on nationwide data from 1994 through 2001, the rate of unplanned pregnancy increased by almost 30% for women below the federal poverty line. For women above poverty (now $16,000 for a family of three), the rate of unplanned pregnancies fell by 20%.

Some state and federal reproductive health programs have been cut back in recent years, and the decline in contraceptive use could be a result of those changes. Programs have increasingly focused on abstinence and some have argued that the switch is leading to reduced contraceptive use and more unintended pregnancies. Many social conservatives argue, that all contraceptives have limitations and the only way a woman can ensure she will not have an unintended pregnancy is to refrain from sexual intercourse.

A larger study found that the overall abortion rate has declined steadily for years and a higher percentage of women with unintended pregnancies are carrying them to birth. Women who get abortions are doing so earlier in their pregnancies, when it is safer for the woman.

Among poor women, the proportion of unintended pregnancies increased by almost 50% between 1994 and 2001, while it declined for women with twice the official poverty level. Poor women who had abortions did so on six days later in their pregnancy than women of greater means.

A study found there were 6.4 million pregnancies in the US in 2001, resulting in about 4 million births. There were 1.3 million abortions and 1.1 million miscarriages. The pregnancies were evenly divided between intended and unintended, and the unintended led to almost even numbers of births and abortions.

The growing disparities between richer and poor women appeared to be the result of higher levels of contraceptive use by the more affluent. In 20, after decades of increasing contraceptive-use rates, the trend stalled in the late 1990s and began to decline. The decline was almost entirely in poorer women.

The overall pregnancy rate for women of child-bearing age declined from 1994 to 2001, as did the overall abortion rate. Black and Hispanic women were more likely to become pregnant than white women, and black women had the highest percentage of unintended pregnancies and abortions.

A study found in 1994, 87 women out of 1,000 below the poverty line had unintended pregnancies. In 2001, the number was 112 out of 1,000.

For women earning between $16,000 and $32,000 a year, the number of unintended pregnancies increased from 65 per 1,000 in 1994 to 81 per 1,000 in 2001. For women in families earning more than $32,000, the number declined from 37 to 29 unplanned pregnancies for each 1,000 women.  rw 017341

End of "Fertility, Births" section, 


Sexual Responsibility
US California: Profile of a Teen Success Participant.   March 29, 2010   Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
Rebecca became pregnant when she was just 12 years old, and gave birth to a daughter at age 13. The father of her baby was only 13.

Rebecca, now 16, felt isolated during the first months of the pregnancy because her family urged her to have an abortion. But she was determined to see the pregnancy through. "In my heart I felt I could take care of my daughter even though I couldn't be there financially. I could be there physically and emotionally."

When her daughter was 14 months old, Rebecca was referred to Planned Parenthood's Teen Success program, designed to motivate pregnant and parenting teen mothers to maintain their family size and finish their education.

At first, Rebecca feared being judged, and was reluctant to go to the meetings. But after the first session and hearing other young girls' stories, she was relieved and decided to come back the following week. Now, after 3-1/2 years, she has been faithfully attending weekly Teen Success meetings.

She said the program has helped her with goals. For example, she was very self-conscious about being overweight after her pregnancy. The Teen Success facilitator reminded Rebecca could come to group meetings without being judged. She went on a diet and lost 50 pounds, with fellow Teen Success moms applauding her new healthy eating habits and trimmed-down shape.

"Teen Success is real encouraging," she said. "They make you feel like you don't want to give up on anything - staying in school, being a parent, maintaining your family size or getting a job.  rw 024355

US California: Domestic Abuse May Affect Reproductive Freedom.   January 25, 2010   Medpage Today
In abusive relationships, some women are sabotaged into becoming pregnant, by men poking holes in condoms and flushing birth control pills down the toilet, for example.

In a study by Elizabeth Miller, MD, of the University of California Davis, and colleagues of 1,278 women ages 16 to 29 treated at five family clinics across northern California, about 20% of women said that their partner tried to coerce them into having a child. The results were reported in the online journal 'Contraception'.

More than half of the women surveyed reported physical or sexual partner violence and a third of those also reported pregnancy coercion or birth control sabotage.

Both pregnancy coercion and birth control sabotage were separately associated with unintended pregnancy, and the two together nearly doubled a woman's odds of unintended pregnancy.

Men wanted their partners to have children for various reasons: to leave a legacy, a desire for attachment, having absolute control over her body, or to make them dependent on their partner. There have been cases where a young mother who has a child with another partner will be forced by her new boyfriend to have another baby with him.

Key strategies include advising women about "invisible" forms of birth control such as injectable and intrauterine contraceptives, as well as easy access to emergency contraception. "If we can identify that reproductive control is going on," Miller said, "we can offer the woman methods for birth control that the partner can't mess with."

Physicians and counsellors should talk about women's empowerment with regard to reproduction during reproductive health visits. We need to have a discussion around whether the girl is feeling ready for sex, rather than just talk about birth control. 024286

As Economy in Silicon Valley Slides, Birth Control Booms.   June 26, 2009   San Jose Mercury News
With the ranks of the uninsured increasing along with unemployment rates, many women are taking steps to avoid having a child.

Among gynecologists and family-planning clinics throughout the South Bay, there have been more birth-control consultations since the fall, and women are asking for more reliable, more permanent methods of contraception.

"They want to focus their finances on the one or two kids that they have," said an OB-GYN. "Instead of going with condoms or birth-control pills, they want longer-term solutions like the intrauterine device." IUDs have a lower failure rate than birth-control pills and condoms, according to the CDC.

A national Gallup poll revealed that 20% of women surveyed were more concerned about an unintended pregnancy during the bad economy, and 19% were more conscientious about using birth control.

In the years straddling the market crash of the Great Depression, birthrates plummeted almost 30%. Rates peaked after World War II, then took another nose-dive following the recession of the early 1970s.

Even lower-income women are filling the rooms of in a Planned Parenthood clinic East San Jose.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which runs 33 clinics in Northern California,

including the South Bay region, sees between 40,000 and 50,000 patients every month. Last December clinics had 25% visits than the previous year, and in March, it was 16% more, with the bulk of patients coming in for birth-control consultations, refills and infection screenings and treatment. Local abortion rates went down during the same time period.

One woman who opted for an IUD said she wanted a more reliable method since her boyfriend started having trouble finding painting and construction jobs. They can hardly pay the rent on their one-bedroom apartment, and as their public benefits run out, they're struggling with the four kids they have. "I tried the injection and I got pregnant, I tried the pill and I got pregnant. I needed something safer."

Some women use permanent sterilization, such as the outpatient procedure of placing titanium coils in the fallopian tubes.

Sometimes it is more than the money. For Indian immigrant women on H-1B visas that require them to be actively employed, losing a job can mean leaving the country.

Paying for the birth control itself is usually a challenge for low income women. California's Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment program, which provides free contraception and reproductive-health services to low-income Californians of childbearing age, received 5,000 more claims in 2008 for services than in 2007. Latinos make up the majority of enrollees in the

program at 65% statewide.

With the proposed up to $36 million in cuts to family-planning programs in the state budget, there is much to fear. The federal government matches

every $1 the state spends on family planning with $9, so even more is at stake.

Men are also undergoing more vasectomies to cushion their families against hard times. 024034

Out-of-Wedlock Birthrates Are Soaring, U.S. Reports.   May 13, 2009   New York Times*
Unmarried mothers gave birth to 4 out of every 10 babies born in the United States in 2007. This ratio seems to be increasing. The figures come from "Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States," a report released by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before 1970, most unmarried mothers were teenagers. But in recent years the birthrate among unmarried women in their 20s and 30s has risen -- rising 34% since 2002, in women ages 30 to 34.

In 2007, women in their 20s had 60% of all babies born out of wedlock, teenagers had 23% and women 30 and older had 17%.

Many of the births are from parents who are living together but are not married. These cohabitation arrangements tend to be less stable than marriages, studies show.

Government data taken from birth certificates shows that Hispanic women's unmarried birth rate has climbed 20% from 2002 to 2006, compared to 11% for Hispanic women, 7% for black women and 3% for white women.

In Iceland, out-of-wedlock births are also rising: 66%; in Sweden, the share is 55%. While in some countries, like Japan, it is just 2%.

"In Sweden, you see very little variation in the outcome of children based on marital status. Everybody does fairly well," said Wendy Manning, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. But increases of out-of-wedlock births in the United States are of greater concern because couples seem to be less stable than in many other countries, the U.S. has less government support for children, children of unmarried parents tend to have poorer health and educational outcomes than those born to married women, but that may be because unmarried mothers tend to share those problems.

Decades ago, pregnant women often married before giving birth. But the odds of separation and divorce in unions driven by pregnancy are relatively high. So when a woman gets pregnant, are children better off if their parents marry, cohabitate or do neither? That question is still unresolved, Dr. Manning said.

Marriage or cohabitation may cement financial and emotional bonds between children and fathers that survive divorce or separation, but familial instability is often damaging to children.

It is mystery that unmarried birth rates have risen after stabilizing between 1995 and 2002 and declined among unmarried teenagers and black women. In 1940, just 3.8 percent of births were to unmarried women.

In 2007, the District of Columbia and Mississippi had the highest rates: 59% and 54%, respectively, while Utah had the lowest rate: 20%.

Sarah S. Brown, chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a nonprofit advocacy group, said sex and pregnancy were handled far too cavalierly in the United States, where rates of unplanned pregnancies, births and abortions are far higher than those of other industrialized nations. 023941

Why We Need Bristol (and Levi).   May 08, 2009   The Huffington Post
Bristol Palin - best known as the unmarried (formerly) pregnant teen daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin - debuted as a teen "ambassador" for the Candies Foundation, which raises awareness of the teen pregnancy crisis.

At first the story was that Bristol and boyfriend Levi were in love and would marry soon after the election. Now Bristol and Levi are broken up and seem to be doing much of their communicating, including negotiating custody/ visitation arrangements for their son, on prime time TV.

Bristol appeared on ABC and NBC, emphasizing the abstinence-only approach to pregnancy prevention on Good Morning America ("It's important for me to get involved just to advocate and promote abstinence and send my message out...abstinence is a hard choice but it's the safest choice and the best choice") and on the Today Show admitted that abstinence can be unrealistic for some teens and they should use contraception ("If you're going to have sex I think you should have safe sex.")

While her messages are mixed, they are definitely worth listening to. While she has seemed at times brainwashed by the group which still believes abstinence is the only direction a teenager needs to get, Bristol has in fact voiced the core message of comprehensive sex ed which is: there's no better protection against pregnancy and disease than abstinence, teens should postpone becoming sexually active, but those that are having sex need to use to protection. 023893

U.S.: Time for Real Sex Ed.   March 17, 2009   Population Connection
The Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL) Act authorizes federal funding for comprehensive sex education programs, which have no dedicated funding.

The REAL Act calls for sex education that is medically and scientifically accurate, free of religious bias, and empowers young people to make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual behavior.

With a new and more supportive Congress and President, we have a real opportunity to make a difference in the lives and health of teens.  rw 023628

U.S.: Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds; Teenagers Who Make Such Promises Are Just as Likely to Have Sex, and Less Likely to Use Protection.   December 29, 2008   Washington Post
The new analysis of data found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

Taking a pledge seems to make a difference in condom use and other birth control. The new analysis, however, focuses on teens who had similar values about sex before they took a virginity pledge and compares only apples to other apples.

The new Obama administration is about to reconsider the $176 million in annual funding for such programs.

The Democratic Congress needs to get its head out of the sand and get real about sex education.

Proponents however, dismissed the study as flawed.

The new study is the first to use a method to account for other factors that could influence the teens' behavior. Rosenbaum focused on about 3,400 students who said they had not had sex or taken a virginity pledge in 1995. She compared 289 students who were 17 years old on average in 1996, when they took a virginity pledge, with 645 who did not take a pledge but were otherwise similar.

This study came about because somebody who decides to take a virginity pledge tends to be different from the average American teenager. The pledgers tend to be more religious and conservative.

About 82% of those who had taken a pledge had retracted their promises, and there was no difference in the proportion of students in both groups who had engaged in any type of sexual activity. Abstinence has to come from an individual conviction rather than participating in a program.

The percentage of students who reported condom use was about 10 points lower for those who had taken the pledge, and they were about 6% less likely to use any form of contraception. About 24% of those who had taken a pledge said they always used condoms, compared with about 34% of those who had not taken a pledge.  rw   Karen Gaia says: abstinence is good, but only when combined with knowledge of human sexuality and of how to prevent pregnancy and disease if pledges are broken. 023498

End of "Sexual Responsibility" section, 


Immigration
U.S.: Immigration Affects Environment, Too, Reports E -the Environmental Magazine; But Solutions go Deeper than Building Fences.   May 07, 2008   NewsBlaze
Immigration has become a hot issue, but often for the wrong reasons. What's missing is frank discussion of its impact on overall population growth, the environment and on how to address its fundamental causes.

Largely because of immigration, the U.S. Census estimates that from 303 million today we'll grow to 400 million people as early as 2040, and 420 million by 2050. The U.S. is growing so fast it now has the third largest population in the world.

America is a nation of immigrants. We absorbed 25 million people between 1860 and 1920, and most observers believe we are a stronger nation because of it.

America's rapid population growth makes it nearly impossible to achieve sustainability. About 93% of U.S. increases in energy use since 1970 can be attributed to population growth. We pave over an area the size of Delaware every year, and every day we remove 3.2 billion gallons of water from aquifers that are not replenished by natural processes.

The energy and climate effects are little understood. Any efficiency gains we make are being swamped by rapid population increases.

With just 5% of the world's population, the U.S. is the top consumer of 11 of the world's top 20 traded commodities. The increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., which rose 13 between 1990 and 2000, mirrors the population increase. A huge percentage of climate emissions can be attributed to population growth.

Many people want to come to America from the overpopulated developing world. The swelling numbers abroad create pressures leading to "increased poverty, hunger, land degradation, a lack of health services and limited social and economic mobility."

How do we address these pressures without calling for the mandatory caps on U.S. immigration? The organization Population Connection wants to combine action at home (reducing teen pregnancy, ensuring contraceptive availability, defending reproductive rights) with foreign aid. If people see hope for better lives at home, they will feel less pressure to emigrate.

Such views have many supporters. If we and the governments of the countries they are coming from were to devote as much to improving their standard of living at home, they might not feel the need to come to America.

The obstacle is to get countries around the world to focus on eradicating hunger, infant mortality and poverty, and limiting births through universal access to family planning. A 20-year plan to address these issues has languished as donor countries, including the U.S., have fallen short of meeting their financial commitments.

In addition, the reinstatement of the "Global Gag Rule" which mandates that no U.S. family planning assistance be provided to foreign organizations that use funding to make abortion available, has had a severe impact. Cultural and religious opposition have also combined to thwart efforts.

Nevertheless, UNFPA, says that the process offers the best hope for reducing migration pressures. The growing poverty and demographic divide between rich and poor countries must be addressed.  rw 022981

Immigrant Human Katrina Flooding Into the United States.   February 18, 2008   NewsWithViews.com - Frosty Wooldridge
Obama, Hillary and McCain promise to give amnesty to 20-30 million illegal aliens, continue chain migration, double U.S. immigration from 1.0 to 2.0 million annually and accept millions of anchor babies. This means 70 million immigrants and their children will flood into America by 2040. The following interview with Dr. Albert Bartlett of Colorado University will give you plenty of reasons for taking action to prevent this.

Lake Mead which provides water for millions of people in the West, will dry up by 2023. The cause comes from drought, global warming and population growth. Lake Lanier, Georgia has already dried up in 2007 while Georgia expects to add six million more people in four decades.

We cannot change drought. At the same time, population growth devours water faster than it can be recharged. Everyone thinks population growth remains inevitable. False! Nature stops populations from growing when they cannot obtain enough water or food.

In America, corporations, political leaders, realtors and home builders salivate at the word growth. They pour concrete onto 6,000 acres daily and 2.19 million acres annually.

It's time to try again to correct the innumerate experts who say that growth is inevitable. They fail to recognize that after maturity, continued growth is either obesity or cancer.

The authors of growth would like us to believe that the battle against growth is lost, so our only role is to be the best losers. We should remember that Smart Growth and Dumb Growth both destroy the environment, but Smart Growth� destroys the environment with good taste.

Our leaders yank our leash into unending, unacceptable and relentless growth? Such growth yields chronic and painful ramifications for everyone in America regarding quality of life and standard of living?

What does growth really bring to you and me? It creates a few rich people. It brings more homeless and unemployed, more people living in poverty, more traffic congestion, higher parking fees, more school crowding, more unhappy neighborhoods, more expensive government, more and higher taxes, more fiscal problems for the state, more air and water pollution, higher utility costs, diminished democracy, crowded highways, growing costs of infrastructure maintenance, higher food costs and more destruction of the environment. You will encounter overloaded campgrounds, beaches, ski resorts, more litter, higher gas costs, greater housing costs, water shortages and loss of choices and personal freedom.

It's not clear why the government would think that people would want these known consequences of growth. Crude oil increased from $20 a barrel in 2002 to $100 a barrel in 2008. We could look at $500 a barrel in another six years.

Culprit? Immigration causes 80% of our growth!

By their continued promotion of growth, the innumerates are speeding the arrival of painful but predictable shortages and consequent rationing of gasoline, natural gas and water across America.

Bartlett concluded: The arithmetic of population, resources and growth is inexorable. The consequences cannot be avoided by believing that wishing will make it so.  rw 022751

Mexico: Toward a Green Agenda on Immigration .   April 18, 2006   Grist Magazine
The debate in Congress over immigration, has touched very little on NAFTA. But the issues are related, for NAFTA stipulates that capital and goods must flow freely across the U.S.-Mexico border, while leaving policy about labor to the respective governments.

Right now, the battle is being waged between Republicans who want to punish undocumented Mexican workers and Republicans who want to exploit them. Kennedy will succeed in cobbling together a bill that preserves a militarized border, a guest-worker program and a large disenfranchised army of undocumented workers.

In the last decade, businesses have been able to easily relocate overseas. Meanwhile, workers fleeing Mexico's crumbling rural economy have been sneaking north. The argument that "they're taking jobs Americans don't want" doesn't tell the whole story. Illegal immigration has been a boon to Wal-Mart and its shareholders -- and not just because the retail behemoth has itself exploited it. Thus the global model embodied by NAFTA -- capital and goods move freely, while workers are restricted, has led to rising corporate profitability and stagnating wages.

The immigration boom is a legacy of the free-trade fervor that conquered the Mexican elite in the early 1980s. The U.S. investor class has reaped the benefits.

If we agree that a global economic system hinged on export and long-distance trade is energy-intensive, and that U.S. policy has worked to promote global trade, then a way forward comes into view.

An environmentalism that challenges this status quo has potential to bolster sustainability. By promoting local production for local consumption on both sides of the border, the U.S. economy can wean itself from its addiction to Mexican labor. And the Mexican economy can begin to work for its own citizens. To do so means challenging the assumption that state power exists to promote long-distance trade. One place: the 2007 Farm Bill, which will govern how the government subsidizes agriculture. Since the 1970s, the federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars rewarding production of environmentally ruinous commodities like corn, which threaten rural livelihoods in Mexico.

Let's work to promote organic agriculture destined for nearby consumption. Ending the commodity-corn subsidy will instantly provide relief to rural Mexicans now contemplating a trip north.  rw 017129

U.S.: We Don't Need 'Guest Workers'.   March 21, 2006   Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration
In 1964 Congress killed the seasonal Mexican laborers program despite warnings that its abolition would doom the tomato industry. Then scientists developed oblong tomatoes that could be harvested by machine and California's tomato output has risen fivefold. Now we're being warned again that we need unskilled laborers from Mexico and Central America to relieve U.S. "labor shortages." Guest workers would mainly legalize today's vast inflows of illegal immigrants, with the same consequence: We'd be importing poverty. They generally don't go home, assimilation is slow and the ranks of the poor are constantly replenished. Since 1980 the number of Hispanics with incomes below the government's poverty line has risen 162%, while the number of non-Hispanic whites in poverty rose 3% and blacks, 9.5%. What we have now is a policy of creating poverty in the US while relieving it in Mexico. It stresses local schools, hospitals and housing and feeds social tensions (witness the Minutemen). Some Americans get cheap landscaping services but if more mowed their own lawns it wouldn't be a tragedy. Among immigrant Mexican and Central American workers in 2004, only 7% had a college degree and nearly 60% lacked a high school diploma. Among native-born U.S. workers, 32% had a college degree and 6% did not have a high school diploma. The illegal immigrants represent only about 4.9% of the labor force. In no major occupation are they a majority. They're drawn here by wage differences, not labor "shortages." Most new illegal immigrants can get work by accepting wages below prevailing levels. Hardly anyone thinks that illegal immigrants will leave, but what would happen if illegal immigration stopped and wasn't replaced by guest workers? Some employers would raise wages to attract U.S. workers; others would find ways to minimize those costs. The number of native high school dropouts with jobs declined by 1.3 million from 2000 to 2005. Some lost jobs to immigrants and unemployment remains high for some groups. Business organizations support guest worker programs - they like cheap labor and ignore the consequences. Why do liberals support a program that worsens poverty and inequality? Poor immigrant workers hurt the wages of unskilled Americans. We've never tried a policy of real barriers and strict enforcement against companies that hire illegal immigrants. Until that's shown to be ineffective, we shouldn't adopt guest worker programs that add to serious social problems.  rw    016968
End of "Immigration" section, 


Politics and Funding
U.S.: Justice Ginsburg Says Roe Will Be Upheld, Applauds Kagan.   July 12, 2010   Politico
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg predicted that the U.S. "will never go back to the way it once was" before Roe v. Wade. She also said that current legal challenges do not completely eliminate abortion rights.

Abortion restrictions hurt poor women - "If people realize that, maybe they will have a different attitude." Since Roe, "over a generation of young women have grown up, understanding they can control their own reproductive capacity, and in fact their life's destiny."

Ginsburg first met Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan during a federal clerkship Kagan held and later "grew to know" her during Ginsburg's Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1993. She praised Kagan's performance during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. 024488

U.S.: More Women in Need of Publicly Funded Family Planning Services; as Cost of Providing Services Increases, Centers Have More Difficulty Meeting Clients’.   May 17, 2010   Guttmacher Institute
In 2008, 17.4 million women were in need of publicly funded family planning services, an increase of 6%, due to a rise in the number of poor women needing publicly funded contraceptive services and supplies.

Publicly funded family planning centers have responded to this need, serving 7% more clients in 2008 than in 2001. More than seven million in 2008, helping to avert 1.5 million unintended pregnancies.

Without these publicly funded family planning services, the overall U.S. unintended pregnancy rate would have been 47% higher and the abortion rate 50% higher.

Rising costs have made it difficult for publicly funded family planning centers to provide these services. The annual cost per client increased by 27% between 2004 and 2008. By assisting women to avoid unintended pregnancies, publicly funded family planning clinics save taxpayers $3.74 for every $1 spent providing contraceptive care. The services provided in 2008 generated savings of at least $5.1 billion in Medicaid expenditures.

Public funding sources—such as the federal Title X program and state revenues—fail to keep pace with the need.  rw 024445

Birth-Control Opponents Greenwash Their Message.   May 13, 2010   Grist online magazine
Opponents of birth control are "going green" these days. "Study after study has shown how the chemicals from the pill discharge into our waterways and wreak havoc on the fish," says the campaign site.

What the "Pill Kills" site doesn't make clear is that the American Life League opposes all contraception of any kind. If the group cared about the environment, it would acknowledge that unplanned births lead to more environmental degradation than the Pill.

The League wants you to protest on June 5, to mourn the anniversary of the 1965 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of married couples to use birth control.  rw 024414

The History of the Pill is Personal!.   May 13, 2010   Planned Parenthood Federation of America
It is the 50th anniversary of the Pill, which has changed the world, not just for hundreds or thousands of women, but for hundreds of millions of women around the world.

Its approval 50 years ago by the FDA didn't mean it was available to all women, but it was a huge step forward.

In June 1960, women were finally able to walk out of a medical office with a prescription in hand, at least in the states where it was legal and with women who could afford it. A prescription that might as well have been a ticket to the future, and to a life that held so much more opportunity than it had just a day before.

Within a decade, one in four married women under 45 had used The Pill — thanks in part to a Supreme Court case fought by Planned Parenthood to guarantee access for married women in all 50 states. By the 1980s, that number was up to nearly 80 million women worldwide, and today it is 100 million women. Still, countless women lack access to affordable birth control, including The Pill.

Chances are, if you're a woman reading this, you have used the Pill and probably have a story about how, with the pill, everything changed for you.

Planned Parenthood and others have been pushing the effort to force all insurers to cover The Pill for years. Now, we are also pressing the current administration to include contraception along with other preventive health care at no cost under the new health care reform law. You and I know just how critical it is that every woman everywhere has access to quality, affordable reproductive health care, including The Pill. We need to make sure federal officials know it, too.

If you have a story about how The Pill changes lives or how we fought for access to The Pill to share those stories, help stand with those women who still don't have access by sharing it. There are those who still don't understand how transformative that little pill can be for the health, happiness, and opportunities of millions of women. By sharing your story, you'll help make sure that contraception is covered at no cost under health care reform.

Follow the headline link to share your story.   Karen Gaia says: I first started using the pill in 1963, after my first child was born a couple of years before I had planned to have children. I had just turned 20 and was a married college student. At my postnatal check, my doctor asked me if I wanted to get pregnant again right away. Of course I said 'No', and he recommended the pill. I was amazed 30 years later, to find on a visit to a family planning project in Bangladesh, that the same method was used for young women shortly after the birth of their first child. Female health care workers were prepared to administer several methods of birth control when birth spacing is desired. Although the pill failed me twice, and also an IUD, I am extremely grateful since I would have had 6-7 (or maybe 13, like my grandmother) children, instead of just four. Fortunately birth control has improved a lot since then and so far I only have two grandchildren. 024415

U.S.: Federal Health Care Reform –the Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly.   March 29, 2010   Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
Over the last year, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM) worked to ensure that their coalition partners health centers are included as "essential community providers" in the new insurance exchanges and women will have access to the full scope of reproductive health care, including abortion. Women insured under the new plans will be able to have screenings for breast and cervical cancer, check-ups and other preventive services without making co-payments. PPMM also successfully achieved expansion for state family planning programs across the country.

The families PPMM serves will benefit from Medicaid expansion to more of the working poor. Its clients will no longer fear being dropped from or denied access to insurance because they have a pre-existing health condition. Young adults can now continue to be covered under their parents' plans up to the age of 26, and insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate based on gender.

It was disappointing that two previously pro- choice representatives in California territory voted for Rep. Bart Stupak's amendment in the House bill that would have banned all abortion coverage. After thousands of calls to the two Congressmen, it was encouraging to see that they voted for the final health care reform bill without the Stupak amendment.

Fortunately the Senate indeed voted down the Stupak ban, but it was replaced with the problematic and burdensome Nelson amendment that sets up accounting and administrative obstacles to women seeking an abortion.

The Nelson amendment - which violates the promise of President Obama that "no person would have less coverage" after health care reform - may be the lesser of two evils in health care reform. However, it threatens abortion coverage for every woman buying insurance through the government health care exchanges,

even those paying with all private dollars. Over time, it has the potential to erode all abortion coverage for insurance, as it has done in states with similar laws.

The anti-choice groups' relentless attacks on access to abortion won't stop with the passage of health insurance reform. We will need to remain vigilant at every step of implementation at both the federal and state levels.

Meanwhile, however, millions of women, children and families who previously lacked access to health insurance will now have the peace of mind that health coverage can bring. Many of them are PPMM's clients.  rw 024353

U.S.: Utah Bill Reduces Women to Incubators.   March 2010   Guardian (London)
It's hard to get an abortion in Utah, and a new bill opens the door to prosecuting women who 'intentionally' miscarry.

The new version "designates the 'intentional or knowing' miscarriage as criminal homicide" and "stipulates that a woman can be charged with homicide for 'the death of her unborn child', unless the death qualifies as legal abortion".

Utah already requires parental consent for minors seeking abortions, a 24-hour waiting period to terminate a pregnancy, subjects women seeking abortions to state-directed counselling which discourages abortion, and allows public funding for terminations only in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality, or threat to the women's life or physical health.

There were 6 abortion providers in the whole of the state in 2005, and currently the state has only one licensed abortion clinic.

Utah has become a frontline in the war against legal abortion. Roe is still in place, but anti-abortion activists are battling to render it an impotent statute, hollowed out by state legislation that chips away at abortion rights.

Legal abortion is only worth as much as the number of women who have reasonable and affordable and access to it, and that number is dwindling: 88% of counties in the US have no abortion provider - a figure that rises to 97% in non-metropolitan areas. This can put legal abortion out of a woman's reach.

Anti-choice activist's current strategy is to make legal abortion as inaccessible as possible and criminalise everything else.

Terminating a pregnancy by any other method than the one which has been most ruthlessly restricted - via piecemeal legislation and the defunding of clinics and the unfettered terrorising of abortion providers - is illegal.

In Utah, women have a technical legal right to abortion, but little means to exercise that right.

In pursuit of ensuring that women's right to abortion is as limited as possible, the state has opened the door to prosecuting women who miscarry after having a drink of caffeinated coffee or a beer or a cigarette, or take a vigorous walk, or miss a prenatal care appointment, or shoot up heroin, or go to spinning class, or any one of a number of things that pregnant women do every day, good and bad, if there's someone who will testify she was trying to miscarry; she told me.

The state has conferred personhood on foetuses, and reduced women to incubators. This comes from the same lot who won't properly fund childhood education or support universal healthcare.  rw 024331

U.S. Religions Quietly Launch a Sexual Revolution .   February 24, 2010   Women's Enews
A think tank, The Religious Institute, in a a 46-page manifesto on the state of sexuality in religious communities has said that silence should be broken about a host of sexuality issues. The manifesto is titled: "Sexuality and Religion 2020: Goals for the Next Decade."

Goals include improved pastoral care of marital relationships, domestic abuse and infertility, and training for prospective clergy in sexuality-related matters.

According to the manifesto, religious leaders should provide lifelong age-appropriate education for youth and adults and to become more effective advocates for comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health in society.

Clergymen who are often first responders in matters of domestic violence and potential (and actual) suicides by young people struggling with sexual identity have usually received little to no training for the job.

The document offers an uncompromised progressive vision that does not seek "common ground" with conservative evangelicals and Catholics.

It calls for full access to reproductive health care, including abortion, marriage equality, full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of religious communities.

The report as generated only a little media attention but progress is already being made.

The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary saw it as "evidence of the continued subversion of biblical authority and confessional integrity that characterizes the revolt against orthodoxy in so many churches."

But he acknowledged: "Our pews are filled with people worried about their sexuality, wondering how to understand these things, struggling with same-sex attractions, tempted to stray from their marriages, enticed by Internet pornography and wondering how to bring their sexuality under submission to Christ." And evangelicals "should not avoid its urgency in calling pastors and Christian leaders to teach and preach about sex and sexuality."

The Religious Institute is a national network of more than 5,000 clergy and religious leaders from 50 religious traditions. Its founder Rev. Debra Haffner, is a former executive director of SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States), the nation's leading association of sex educators.

Advances have been made in the last 10 years, with female clergy taking leadership roles in major denominations; a woman is presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church; Lesbian, gay, transgendered and bisexual people gaining acceptance; and marriage equality being recognized by the United Church of Christ, the Union for Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

One Church recently announced that clergy will now be required to be "competent" to address matters of sexuality in the lives of their parishioners.

The manifesto said that 75% of progressive clergy had not addressed sex education and 40% had not preached about sexual orientation over a two year period. 70% had never preached on reproductive justice.

Issues that parishoners have where they need the help of clergy are: sexual abuse, marriages breaking up, and infertility.

When matters of sexuality are avoided, it shows up in clergy sex-abuse scandals. "And it's not just the Catholics." When you can't talk about it in your churches, where can you talk about it. Silence contributes to people's alienation and aloneness.

Five mainstream denominations are working on mandatory sexual competence for clergy and 15 denominations on matters that affect everyone. a number of denominations have focused on issues of domestic violence. All would benefit from clergy training and open discussion of matters of sexuality, including the teaching of young people and strategies for keeping children safe from sexual predators.

Dr. Martin Marty, the eminent historian of religion at the University of Chicago compared sexuality to religion. "If you get it right, it's beautiful. But if you get it wrong, it really messes you up." 024318

End of "Politics and Funding" section, 


Overconsumption
U.S.: Blocking Build-Build-Builders.   September 27, 2009   Orlando Sentinel
It is frustrating to fight overzealous builders house by house, in local zoning battles. So Lesley Blackner and Ross Burnaman, both lawyers, created Florida Hometown Democracy, a proposed amendment that asks: Before turning the bulldozers loose on the environment, wouldn't you like to vote on it? If approved, Florida would become the only state in the nation requiring democratically elected urban sprawl.

The campaign is blessed by near-perfect timing, with Florida on the edge of a depression with plunging home prices, rampant foreclosures and abandoned houses rotting in the heat and dragging down neighborhoods. There are 300,000 empty houses in Florida.

What is more extreme than the build more-more-more mentality? "They had everything they wanted for the last five to six years. They crashed the economy. They have no solution other than bring the bubble back. Hometown Democracy is the only genuine reform on the table that can change the politics of growth once and for all," says Blackner.

Office vacancies are skyrocketing. The state's population is declining for the first time since World War II. Yet there are requests pending to build more than 600,000 more homes, along with millions more square feet of commercial space. There are plans to create massive new cities in the middle of nowhere.

Our development pandemic threatens the economy as much as the environment. Building more houses when the number of buyers has not increased deflates the value of houses that is going to linger for years and years.   Karen Gaia says: sounds like the population bubble has burst in Florida. Time for the "build it, they will come" mentality to be replaced. 024274

Human Consumption Unsustainable.   September 26, 2009   Nipomo Free Press / The Sustainability Project
Severn Susuki, environmental activist and daughter of Dr. David Susuki, environmentalist has some very important concerns. We consume about 40% percent of Earth's primary productivity. Every day we burn up an amount of energy the planet needed over 27 years to create.

The U.S. population constitutes only 5% of world population, but consumes 24% of world's energy. The U.S. is losing 400,000 acres of rural land per year, while urbanized land area increased between 1969 and 1990 at twice the rate of population growth in the same time period.

Cities lost 33-50% of their pre-1950 population density, as automobiles became the primary mode of transportation and families moved to the suburbs.

The average suburban shopping center takes up as much land as the core center of the city of Florence, Italy.

These are only a few of the statistics showing that our current levels of consumption are not sustainable. We cannot continue gobbling up our diminishing oil supplies and rural lands at the rate we have been doing. We need to bring our social, economic and environmental systems back into balance in a way that replenishes them for future generations.

Is our city sprawling outward, or is it becoming more compact, walkable and transit oriented? Are we creating convenient transit systems, and mixed-use streetscapes that encourage walking and biking? What percentage of our land use is devoted to neighborhoods where people are within a 10-minute walk of basic necessities?

Do city residents have greater access to public parks, plazas, community gardens and urban farms than to parking lots, strip malls and big-box stores? Are we encouraging the use of renewable energy, while reducing the use of carbon-based fuels?

"I think this is the most exciting time to be alive in all of human history. In the following months and years, we're going to have to make some big decisions.

Whether we make the right decisions or fail to make the decisions, will determine the fate, not only of all human kind, but of countless species of plants and animals.

"This is the defining moment, when we will decide whether or not we're going to be a spectacular, flash- in-the-pan failure, or whether we can step up to the plate and show that we are capable of finding humility, compassion, patience and wisdom to truly find a sustainable path."  rw 024175

US Colorado: Down-Sizing County's Dream Homes.   January 27, 2008   Daily Camera
The largest home in Boulder County is 24,953 square feet, the median house was 6,290 square feet in 2006, up from 2,881 square feet in 1990.

County commissioners denied a request to raze the 962-square-foot house and replace it with a home 20 times the size. The technical reason was complex: The parcel of land is part of a wildlife migration corridor; the house would teeter on important riparian habitat; the land is designated of "statewide agricultural importance"; and the house would not exist "harmoniously" with its neighborhood, among other arguments.

But Commissioner Will Toor much summed it up: "I think it's just too big," he said.  rw 022598

Wake Up About Overpopulation.   November 13, 2007   College of New Jersey Signal
Any individual will encounter terms such as carrying capacity, limiting factors and exponential growth. Yet few implement the concept of sustainability.

Until people question the existence, of the global environmental crisis, the population stabilization and reduction initiative will remain little more than a lobby largely ignored by politicians.

The US has been unable to serve as an example. Any way of life that is unlike our own, is a threat and must promptly be democratized, modernized and westernized.

The symptoms of a society that is straining under its own weight are all there, yet we've successfully managed to evade the issue by misdiagnosing, and offering temporary solutions to the problem. While the United States birth rate has decreased, our lenient immigration policies continue to increase our population. Experts predict that the United States population, if left unchecked, is expected to double in 70 years to a total of 540 million people.

We must begin our public discourse when consensus is met; sacrifices will have to be made, for democracy can only deal with the ever-changing present while relegating responsibility for the future to the few who care to take it upon themselves.

An average U.S. citizen consumes 50 times more goods and services than a Chinese citizen and approximately twice as many as a Western European.

Only recently, during spikes in gas prices, has the engineers' task turned to designing automobiles and engines which reduce consumption and emissions.

Our challenge is to stir the minds and hearts of our fellow Americans so that they may awaken to this reality, directing this change for the better before it is snatched from us.  rw 022260

U.S.;: Why Working Less is Better for the Globe.   May 22, 2007   AlterNet
Americans are working harder than ever before. We seem more determined to work harder and produce more. Choosing to work less is the biggest environmental issue no one's talking about.

The Work Less Party is a growing initiative aimed at cutting work hours while tackling unemployment, environment, and boosting leisure time. Working less would produce less, consume less, pollute less and live more.

We work 250 hours, or five weeks, more than the Brits, and a whopping 500 hours, or 12 and a half weeks, more than the Germans. Longer hours plus labor-saving technology equals ever-increasing productivity. Without high annual growth to match productivity, there's unemployment. Maintaining growth means using more energy and resources, which results in increased waste and pollution.

The US is the world's largest polluter. When people work longer hours, they rely increasingly on fast food, disposable diapers, or bottled water. Earning more means spending money in ways that are environmentally detrimental. When people are time-starved they don't have enough time to be conscious consumers. If Europe moved towards a U.S. based economic model, it would consume 15-30% more energy by 2050.

The problem is, France has already begun following America's lead by increasing the workload. France's increased productivity would create even larger problems. In both the US and Europe, work hours declined from the beginning of the industrial revolution until World War II. After the war, the 40-hour workweek was legally in place. Since the 1970s, most European governments have continued shortening work hours whereas the United States has opted instead to let wages fall. The USA has declined relative to all other industrial countries in health, equality, savings, sustainability. What's happened in Europe is people have discovered it's nice to have some time in their lives, and they've wanted more. Here, business has kept that door completely shut.

Take Back Your Time has launched a campaign in the US calling for legislation guaranteeing a minimum of three weeks of paid vacation.

The average vacation in the United States is now only a long weekend, and 25% percent of American workers have no paid vacation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But we continue to suffer from overload, debt, and anxiety, and are stuck in a fatalistic rat race generated by heightened consumerism. Our society is focused on work that makes stuff that goes directly into landfills. Essential work such as art, music, creativity, community, the kind necessary to create a healthy society and planet, is being negated in favor of that.

If you want to protect the environment, you have to consume less, which means you have to produce less, and you have to work less. Our standard of living will improve hugely.  rw 021220

Farm-Raised Fish Given Tainted Food.   May 09, 2007   New York Times*
A chemical that American regulators have identified as a pet food contaminant may have been intentionally added to animal feed by producers seeking larger profits. Three chemical makers said Chinese animal feed producers often purchased cyanuric acid to blend into their feed because it was cheaper and helped increase protein content. American regulators had focused on melamine and animal feed producers acknowledged that for years they added melamine to animal feed to gain bigger profits.

But American regulators have also been aware for several weeks that cyanuric acid may have played a role in causing sickness or death in pets.

China said that it had found two companies guilty of intentionally exporting pet food ingredients containing melamine.

China's watchdog for quality control said officials at the two companies were detained for their roles in shipping tainted goods. In China, chemical producers say it is common knowledge that for years feed producers have secretly used cyanuric acid to cheat buyers of animal feed.

The FDA said that farmed fish had been fed meal contaminated with melamine and other contaminants but that the level was probably too low to harm anyone who ate the fish. Two of the Chinese chemical makers say that cyanuric acid is used because it is even cheaper than melamine and high in nitrogen, enabling feed producers to artificially increase protein readings. They also produce a chemical which is a combination of melamine and cyanuric acid, and that feed producers have often sought to purchase scrap material from this product.

Scientists studying the pet food deaths say the combination of the two chemicals may have created a toxic punch that formed crystals in the kidneys of pets and led to kidney failure.

A joint assessment by FDA and other federal agencies said there was a very low risk of danger to humans who consume meat from animals that were accidentally fed melamine-tainted feed.

China acknowledged Tuesday that two companies had cheated pet food companies by adding a fake protein. Chemical producers of cyanuric acid say the substance is nontoxic, it's legal to add it to animal feed. The practice has been around for many years.  rw   Karen Gaia says: what a small world this has become, now that Americans must depend on China for so many of its goods. How can anyone say the American life style is sustainable? 021156

The Next Added 100 Million Americans, Part 28.   April 06, 2007   NewsByUs.com
In the days of sailing ships, sailors used to leave goats on islands to ensure fresh meat on return trips. But the animals bred faster than the sailors could eat them, and goats ate the vegetation and starved. They also screwed up the environment so that native species couldn't survive. A report blames humans for increased temperatures, melting glaciers and rising seas, they burn fossil fuels at 82 million barrels daily which does no include millions of tons of coal, natural gas and wood being burned every day by 6.6 billion humans.

We've had virtually free energy in the form of fossil fuels. Climate change is a sign that we are exceeding the number of people Earth can sustain. Some, however, point to increased agricultural production and medical advances that fend off disease.

Earth's carrying capacity is thought to be four to five billion people. We have 6.6 billion today and grow by 240,000 every 24 hours. Half of the world's population has little access to medicine, electricity, safe water and reliable food supplies.

You might have 50 billion, but the quality of life might not be pleasing. The US possesses resources to sustain less than half of its current population of 300 million. Americans who make up 5% of the world's population, use 25% of its resources and cast a large footprint.

If all 6 billion people were to share the world's resources equally, Americans would have to reduce consumption by 80% for each of us. Carrying capacity and footprint are tied to the global economy, which has quadrupled since the world's population doubled.

That leads to a fear that slowing population growth might not ultimately curb greenhouse gas production if more people achieve Western lifestyles. China is opening an average of one coal-fired power plant a week to meet electricity demand. Everyone in China wants their own apartment and their own car. People ask how many people the Earth can sustain. That depends on whether you want to live like an Indian or an American.

Farmers worldwide grow about two billion tons of grain a year. Each American consumes 1,760 pounds annually, mainly because of the grains used to feed farm animals. If everyone on the planet consumed that much grain, earth would support about 2.5 billion people. But in India, people consume about 440 pounds each. If everyone else in the world did likewise, the world's grain would support about 10 billion people.

Growing one ton of grain requires 1,000 tons of water which is short in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. As water flows from agriculture to support growing urban populations, more grain must be imported.

Soybeans are increasingly in demand for biodiesel. And ethanol production now vies with food for corn. By 2008, half of the U.S. corn crop will go to ethanol.

70% of all corn comes from the U.S. If we grow fuel plants that would require setting aside lots of land to produce ethanol. We don't have enough land worldwide to meet those demands. Humans are drawing on capital rather than interest, and once that is exhausted, they will find Mother Nature reluctant to make a loan.

We must take action and prevent a horrible overpopulation future for our children by taking action today. We can bring about population stabilization gracefully or nature will do it brutally.  rw 020824

End of "Overconsumption" section, 


Biodiversity
U.S. Tells California to Cut Water Use to Save Fish.   June 2009   Reuters
Salmon and other fish have been pushed to the brink of extinction by Californians' demand for water, ruled the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency. Officials were ordered to cut water supplies by 5-7% to cities and farms.

To turn southern desert into productive farmland, a monumental system of dams and pipelines were built, leaving less water for trout, salmon, sturgeon and other fish.

With the state in its third year of drought, and climate change and a growing population, the fate of some salmon runs looks untenable without change.

If water conservation, recycling and groundwater use do not offset the cuts, the state may be more tempted to build more dams and canals to capture the last trickles that bypass the system.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation regional director said the mounting restrictions on water "just cannot be offset in any given year and maybe over time." State and federal water projects this year have slashed deliveries to about 40 percent of most requests, due to drought, and agricultural losses are expected near $1 billion.

The fisheries agency plans to keep more water behind big dams during the year to ensure a supply of cold water in which salmon spawn, restrict some pumping, and find ways for fish to get to historical spawning grounds upriver from dams. 023983

Supreme Court Hears Case on Navy Sonar, Whales.   October 09, 2008   Los Angeles Times
The Supreme Court was closely split on whether environmental laws can be used to protect marine mammals from the Navy's use of sonar. An administration lawyer urged the court to throw out a Los Angeles judge's order that requires the Navy to turn off its high intensity sonar whenever a whale or dolphin is within 1.2 miles of a ship.

This order disrupts the Navy's war-game exercises. U.S. Solicitor Gen. Gregory Garre disputed claims that the sonar causes harm to the whales.

But lawyer Richard B. Kendall said beaked whales dive deeply to escape the sound, and sometimes suffer bleeding and death when they try to resurface. He also said the order has had a minimal impact on the Navy. Only on a few occasions have ships been forced to turn off their sonar.

The case has turned into a major dispute over whether judges have the power to stop the government from conducting a crucial exercise because it had not carried out an environmental impact statement.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wondered "Why couldn't you work this out?" rather than having a court resolve the dispute.  rw   Karen Gaia says: the more people you have to defend, the more animals stand in the way of "human supremacy" and have to be sacrificed. 023288

U.S.: Endangered-Species Protections Reinstated for Gray Wolves.   July 21, 2008   Associated Press
A federal judge ruled that wolves should be returned to the endangered-species list, derailing plans for wolf hunts in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The 2,000 or so gray wolves that inhabit the three states were removed from the endangered list in March; environmentalists sued to get them back on, saying populations were not yet stable. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, over 100 gray wolves have been killed by hunters in the days since they were delisted. The federal judge will decide if the relisting should be permanent. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may appeal.  rw 023191
Death of the Bees: GMO Crops and the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America.   March 25, 2008   Global Research
There are many reasons given to the decline in Bees, but one that matters most is the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and "Terminator Seeds" that are being endorsed by governments and utilized as our agricultural needs of survival.

Genetically modified seeds are produced by biotech conglomerates who manipulate government agricultural policy with a view to dominance in the agricultural industry. American conglomerates have created seeds that reproduce only under certain conditions, often linked to the use of their own brands of fertilizer and/or insecticide.

The genetic modification leads to the concurrent genetic modification of the flower pollen. When the pollen becomes genetically modified or sterile, the bees will become malnourished and die of illness due to the lack of nutrients and the interruption of the digestive capacity of what they feed on.

There are arguments that the blame be placed on mites, pesticides, or cell phone radiation, but digestive shutdown due to hard material in the digestive tract that compromises the immune system points to GMO flower pollen.

This increased epidemic of the bee colony collapse has risen significantly since the use of GMO in our foods. It is also suspect in the rise of new cases of medical ailments in humans such as colon cancer, obesity, heart disease, etc.

The Ecological Impact of horizontal gene transfer and increase of rampant disease is not fully examined and if so, is kept silent by these Conglomerates. Organic farming is relatively untouched as the bee crisis. The economic impact that the scarcity of bees will potentially have on our society is very worrisome.  rw   Karen Gaia says: another factor mentioned elsewhere is the gathering together of a large portion of a country's bees to pollinate large mono crops such as almonds. When the bees comingle with many other bees, this exposes them to any disease than may be present - similar to the global spread of epidemics among humans. The more people there are, the more corporations profit by economy of scale, and this makes GMO research and large scale food production even more profitable. Of course, the risks are often ignored until disaster strikes. 022900

US Colorado: Local Lynx Survival in Doubt.   March 01, 2008   Durango Herald
Federal wildlife officials will not designate land in Colorado as critical habitat for lynx. They are uncertain whether the habitat in Colorado will support a lynx population. The agency left Colorado out of its proposal to designate more than 40,000 square miles in six states as critical lynx habitat, despite the success of Colorado's reintroduction program. The agency's main concern was the decreasing number of litters born in the wild.

Canada lynx were first released into the southern San Juan Mountains in 1999; today, about 150 radio-collared lynx roam throughout Colorado.

The Fish and Wildlife Services' concerns are valid, in Colorado, it's still an experiment whether lynx are going to survive or not.

The majority live on U.S. Forest Service land outside Durango. Their territory stretches from Durango north to Silverton and from Dolores east to Pagosa Springs.

At Durango Mountain Resort, lynx are commonly spotted passing through the ski area. It seems to be an area that's very important for lynx.

State biologists report they are in excellent health, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is concerned about a recent dip in litter numbers.

Nearly 100 kittens were born in the wild in 2004 and 2005. Litter totals dropped to 11 in 2006 and hit zero in 2007. That was a surprise and the division will be watching litter sizes closely in the next few years. Biologists believe lynx can survive three years of low reproduction rates.

Colorado has the habitat to allow lynx to survive well into the future.

Environmentalists disagree, arguing that one of the best ways to protect lynx is to protect their habitat.

On the one hand, the US Fish and Wildlife is going to designate critical habitat. On the other hand, they're saying we're not sure about the viability of lynx. Environmental groups will probably bring a lawsuit against Fish and Wildlife over the exclusion of Colorado and other areas from the proposal. Reintroduction efforts in Colorado will continue.

We believe we can reach a sustainable population in Colorado. It can be 10, 20 years before we can really know. Our program won't change.  rw 022801

U.S.: Humans: the Number One Threat to Birds.   2008   Alley Cat Allies
Concern over the declining populations of certain bird species has generated debate about the most effective steps toward preserving and restoring those populations. The real cause of declining bird populations is the impact of the human species.

The major cause of bird species loss is habitat destruction, caused by a myriad of human activities, including logging, crop farming, livestock grazing, mining, industrial and residential development, urban sprawl, road building, dam building, and pesticide use.

Of 1,173 threatened bird species, habitat loss affected 83% of the species. Across the US, little land is left untouched by human development. Human activities have led to the extinction of 10% of the world's bird species, while in some locales, that number rises to 90%. Today more than a thousand bird species are listed as threatened, and between 500 and 600 of those will go extinct in the next 50 years.

In the US, much of the impact is a result of growing population and faster-growing development of land. Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. population grew by 33 million people, the greatest increase the country has ever seen. Future growth is predicted to add 27 million people each decade for the next 30 years.

An analysis reveals that urbanized land increased by 47% between 1982 and 1997 and population in suburbs, increased twice as fast as in cities. By 2030, half of the buildings will have been built after the year 2000. With this level of growth, the loss of bird species - due to habitat destruction, pollution, and fragmentation - will continue for decades to come.

The real danger to birds is humans.  rw   Karen Gaia says: we SHOULD care about the birds: after they go, humans will follow. 023398

Alaska Governor Questions Science of Polar Bear Listing.   March 02, 2007   Houston Chronicle
Alaska has not decided whether to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

A biologist and special assistant to the Department of Fish and Game, questioned whether polar bears really need sea ice to survive. She said they are adaptable to use land for hunting, and are adapting to alternative food sources.

She testified that a listing in the US ultimately could harm bears in Canada because Inuit villagers would no longer have an incentive to preserve them. An ESA listing would ban importation of polar bear trophy hides.

The fear of restrictions on development from the Endangered Species Act may outweigh the desire to add more protections.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has been vague about what a recovery plan might entail if polar bears are listed as threatened. The law requires federal agencies to evaluate their actions with respect to habitat, in this case, sea ice.

Supporters want the government to declare global warming as the cause of harm to polar bear habitat, and consider limits on utilities and industry producing greenhouse gasses, throughout the country.

The idea that polar bears can adapt to living on land or can thrive on something other than seals flies in the face of the opinion of most researchers.

There's not a credible polar bear biologist in the world who would make that statement. The driving force in the concern over polar bears is the decline in sea ice. When a species' habitat is declining due to climate change, but there are no discrete human activities that can be regulated or modified to effect change, what do you do?

Critics say polar bears already are closely managed under international agreements. The Fish and Wildlife Service agreed, with one exception: There is no effective mechanism in place to address the recession of sea ice.

The proposed listing is based on the presumption that sea ice will be significantly diminished and that sea ice is the most important factor for their survival. Preferred food sources such as some ice seal populations may be declining, but data indicate that the bears are adapting to use alternative food sources. But most of those food sources are not enough to maintain a viable population in the long term.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is collecting public testimony until April 9. Its decision on listing polar bears is due next January.  rw   Karen Gaia says: the more people, by overconsumption and overpopulation, use fossil fuels, the more likely humanity is contributing to climate change and the demise of plant and animal species whose habitat is threatened. 020348

End of "Biodiversity" section, 


Coastal Areas
U.S.: Chesapeake Bay is Still Hurting.   April 20, 2007   Baltimore Sun
There was little good news in the 2006 Assessment put out by the Chesapeake Bay Program. The report found degraded water quality, a decline in the blue crab population, contaminated rivers and huge losses in bay grasses.

The University of Maryland offered a river-by-river report card for water clarity, dissolved oxygen levels and quality of life for small clams and worms. The results were equally dismal. The flush tax, which former Gov. Ehrlich Jr. signed into law in 2004, is expected to raise about $65 million a year to upgrade sewage treatment plants to reduce pollution.

Dozens of scientists in the region are studying the bay's creatures and looking at ways to help them thrive in an increasingly toxic environment.

Many said they have grown weary of hearing the same gloomy assessments of the bay's health.

The VP of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said state and federal officials have long known what to do but have not the political will to do it.

State leaders should be working to secure federal aid for the bay. Agriculture is the 800-pound gorilla when you're looking at nutrient pollution, but population growth is the 8,000-pound gorilla waiting in the wings.  rw 020994

California, Oregon and Washington Plan to Lobby Bush, Congress.   September 19, 2006   The Seattle Times
The governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced a pact to safeguard the ocean and lobby Congress and the president.

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed seven bills that his office said would "extend the state's leadership" on ocean protection.

Our Western states have started to work together to fight global warming and protect our air, and we now join forces to make sure we are doing everything to maintain clean water and beachess, Schwarzenegger said. Members said their efforts would bolster economies by protecting coastal tourism and enhancing fisheries.

Key concerns include pollution from urban runoff and the environmental effects of off-shore oil drilling.

The U.S. Geological Survey announced a report that shows 66% of California's beaches have eroded over the past few decades. The states want more money to deal with the problems.

Protecting the oceans isn't likely to leapfrog to the top of the national agenda.

The agreement was crafted during the past six months. Similar collaboration goes back to 2004, when the three states started trading ideas for slashing air pollution. In coming months, experts from the participating states plan to meet with environmental and business leaders to develop initial recommendations.

The governors intend to send a series of statements to the president and Congress, urging them to:

Provide money for programs aimed at curbing urban runoff. Expand funding for key regional research efforts.

Request that federal agencies, including the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, are directed to provide technical assistance.

The governors intend to oppose expansion of offshore oil and natural gas exploration.

Similar agreements have been negotiated among Great Lakes, Gulf Coast and New England states.

California's marine problems have been building for years as people cram the coast with development and pollutants endanger sea life.  rw 018766

California Seal Pups Beat Kids in Battle Over Beach.   April 27, 2006   Environmental News Network
This week San Diego officials roped off a prime stretch of the La Jolla shoreline to keep people from disturbing the harbor seals who have taken up residence.

Any move can spook the animals to flee into the ocean and abandon their newborn babies, violating federal marine mammal protection laws.

Seals need adequate sun and sand time in order to maintain good health. The city was urged to act after receiving an increase in complaints that angry residents were harassing the marine mammals.The council voted to erect the barrier each year from January 1 through May 1. Federal officials have installed 24-hour surveillance cameras to watch for people deliberately swimming, kayaking or sunbathing in the area.

Many residents said they were undeterred as it's the only place around with a lifeguard station and bathrooms. A steady stream of tourists and environmental activists clusters around the roped area, unfazed by the stench. The cove has been a popular La Jolla spot since the early 1930s. Nobody knows why the animals began flocking to the shore in the late 1990s but about 200 seals live there. The rope barrier is also meant as a warning to stay away from seal fecal matter and birth byproducts.

A California judge ordered the city to dredge and clean up the beach but the decision has been tied up in litigation and a foul fishy stench remains.

San Diego Council president Scott Peters said he did not feel there was evidence of seal harassment. "The issue isn't so much that people can't get along with seals, it's that people can't get along with people," Peters said.  rw 017282

State of the Environment - North Carolina's Most Urgent Environmental Challenge.   December 16, 2005   Charlotte Observer
If projections from scientific experts are remotely accurate, North Carolina is in for significant change within our lifetimes related to global climate change. One estimate says 770 square miles of the coast could submerge. Air quality may worsen as temperatures rise, and the health of citizens could decline. Some will die of heat stroke. Environmental Defense, among others, has suggested a series of strategies to limit the harmful impact and prepare its residents to make some money off the changes. This year, air quality drops out of the top 10 problems because there were fewer bad air days, because controls on smokestack pollution have begun to take effect. Each of these assessments is subjective, not scientific. Summers have been getting drier, while falls have been getting wetter. As a consequence, North Carolinians have less water available than they did 100 years ago and a future with insufficient water in some areas as the state continues its dramatic urbanization. Raleigh has problems with one of its key reservoirs. Falls Lake which has been below normal level, forcing Raleigh to think about asking for a transfer from Kerr Lake. Concord and Kannapolis have sought to drain 38 million gallons a day from the Catawba River. Storm runoff, nutrients and sediment remain a top concern. Development is overwhelming the ability to keep pollution out of water supplies but the state is losing the war to protect water quality and the environment in North Carolina and America. Rapid growth and inappropriate development has been near the top of the list for 10 years. Residential growth consumes farmland, green space and forests, putting new strains on air quality and water quality. But sprawling low-density development and quality-of-life concerns could interfere with future prosperity. Growth and development has threatened places where no one ever imagined. A growth surge in coastal counties has caused problems and the land use planning program for the coast is totally broken. The very people who depend on waterfront availability for their economic survival can no longer afford that access. How North Carolina will meet its energy needs at an affordable cost will dominate debate affecting the environment. Utilities are interested in building more nuclear plants and pressure grows for the state to rescind its opposition to offshore natural gas exploration. While some fish stocks have made recoveries in N.C. waters, others have declined in alarming ways. River herring have become so depleted that catches failed to reach a quota limit. Oysters, bay scallops and blue crabs are species of "concern" because of low catches. Population growth has increased the amount of garbage going into landfills while the state might begin importing garbage in landfills proposed for sparsely populated areas an environmental threat. The state continues to search for solutions to large-scale hog farm waste. Thousands bought up the shoreline and built out-of-scale mansions to replace the fish camps and clapboard cottages. The loss of natural areas to upscale residential developments has changed what North Carolinians see from our windows. Litter accumulates along our highways, costing the state millions in collection costs and providing volunteers with more work than they can keep up with. Utility poles and wires mar the viewscape. Environmental concerns fail to consider long-term implications and doesn't recognize the interdependence of conservation and development. North Carolina has more than 17 million acres of forests and large stands of trees in national and state forests, parks and wildlife reserves. But the huge stands of hardwoods and regal longleaf pines are now a small fraction of what they once were. In a state where development has gobbled up 100,000 acres of forested lands and natural areas per year, recent legislation may make it harder for local governments to preserve land at a time the state's population continues to grow and consume more natural areas.  rw   Sounds just like most of the states along the east coast. Most of these problems are population and consumption. Where it is a consumption problem, any population growth magnifies it. The problem with people being rich is that they are able to distract and insulate themselves from the problems, which puts them in a state of denial. 015889
Hard Choices Seen in Efforts to Help Louisiana Wetlands.   November 20, 2005   The Times-Picayune
Restoring Louisiana's wetlands, or maintaining those that remain, will be impossible, according to the National Academy of Sciences. The time has come for state and local governments, businesses and citizens to start talking about which wetland areas can be preserved and which must be abandoned. The proposal put forward by the state and the Army Corps of Engineers had worthwhile elements but would not come close to halting wetland loss. The panel considered an area of about 12,000 square miles from Texas to Mississippi. Wetlands support fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, much of the nation's oil and gas production, a growing eco-tourism industry and Louisiana's Cajun culture. But since the 1930's, 1,900 square miles of marsh has been lost beneath the waters of the gulf. Many consider the wetlands a major defense against storms like Katrina, an idea panel members discounted. Marshes may dampen the effects of minor storms, but for Katrina it would not have made any difference. The panel was charged with evaluating a proposal developed after the White House complained that the 30-year, $13 billion Louisiana Coastal Area study, was too large, cost too much and looked too far into the future. The revised proposal, comprises five projects, with an estimated cost of $1.9 billion, that could get under way in 5 to 10 years. The Corps of Engineers said the narrow time frame was a response to the Bush administration, and there was wide agreement in the corps that you need to think where you go long term. The projects are: an embankment along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a canal from the river at New Orleans southeast to the gulf; levee culverts to carry river water into the Maurepas Swamp, and three projects south of New Orleans, a river diversion to support wetlands in the Barataria Basin, improvements to channel banks, weirs and pumps along Bayou Lafourche and a project to rebuild beaches, dunes and marshes near Port Fourchon. The canal is reviled as having accelerated marsh loss but panel members said that this could not be demonstrated but it would be a mistake to reinforce the canal before the corps decides whether to decommission it. The panel said the other projects are scientifically sound, but estimated that in aggregate they would slow marsh loss by only 20%. Wetland loss peaked in the early 1980's, when Louisiana lost about 40 square miles a year. Its annual loss now is 12 to 20 square miles.  rw    015592
US Louisina: Unnatural Disaster: the Lessons of Katrina.   September 02, 2005   Worldwatch News
The overwhelming impacts of Hurricane Katrina are evidence that we have failed to account for our dependence on a healthy resource base. Alteration of the Mississippi River and the destruction of wetlands have left the area around New Orleans vulnerable to the forces of nature. The early results of global warming in the Gulf and rising sea levels may have exacerbated the destructive power of Katrina. The catastrophe is a wake-up call for decision makers around the globe. Future generations may face disasters that make Katrina-scale catastrophes a common feature in the 21st century. This will likely be the most expensive weather-related disaster the world has ever faced. The long-term lessons of Katrina include: 1. Maintaining the integrity of natural ecosystems. Indiscriminate development and ecologically destructive policies have left many communities vulnerable to disasters. Together with population growth this has contributed to economic losses from weather-related catastrophes totaling $567 billion over the last 10 years. During the past years, the US has diverted funding from disaster preparedness to help finance the Iraq War, and reduced protections for wetlands to spur economic development. Both decisions are now exacting costs that far exceed the money saved. Natural ecosystems such as wetlands and forests are more valuable when left intact. The links between climate change and weather-related catastrophes need to be addressed. No specific storm can be linked to climate change, but warm water is the fuel that increases the intensity of such storms and seas have increased in temperature. In the next few decades, water temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise, increasing the vulnerability of many communities. There is an urgent need to diversify energy supplies as the national and global economic impact of Katrina is growing by the day. The world dependent is on oil and natural gas that are concentrated in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. Biofuels and renewable resources represent viable alternatives to fossil fuels.  rw   Biofuels are not sustainable. It takes energy to grow them. They are a worthy alternative only as long as there are subsidies for growing them. 015104
U.S.: OCS with Offshore LNG Coming to a Coast Near You.   April 2005  
A controversial bill from last Congress that expands the authority of the Department of Interior (DOI) to approve drilling rigs, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and other offshore energy projects has reemerged. Critics say it would undermine environmental reviews and by granting the DOI prime authority, while proponents say the move is necessary to streamline the permitting process and boost domestic production. The provision, if enacted, vests the DOI with the authority to grant right-of-way on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for energy and related purposes. It grants this authority in a more narrow area of the OCS instead of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that reaches 200 nautical miles from the coastline. The bill also allows the use of floating production, storage and offloading system that consists of tankers which store crude oil as it is produced. Smaller shuttle tankers carry the oil ashore. This is opposed by environmentalists and was not in last session's bill. The measure gave DOI primacy over expedited approval of LNG processing facilities, conversion of offshore oil platforms to new uses, seabed petroleum pipelines, and offshore wind and wave energy installations. Currently, the authority is dispersed among Coast Guard for offshore LNG terminals and the Army Corps of Engineers for offshore wind projects. DOI has permitting authority only over oil and gas exploration offshore. According to congressional sources, several prominent Democrats were expected to offer amendments to strip the language from the bill before negotiations collapsed. It is unclear if the measure will be included in a Senate version of the energy bill this Congress, but it will be opposed by coastal state lawmakers from both parties. Environmentalists say there is a need for a new licensing regime that would permit offshore energy projects.  rw    013427
End of "Coastal Areas" section, 


Mountains, Desserts, Rivers, Wild Areas
Center for Biological Diversity Announces Support for Global Population Speak Out.   February 26, 2009   Center for Biological Diversity
The Center for Biological Diversity supports a collaborative effort to highlight overpopulation in efforts to restore the planet's ecological health. For many years human population size and growth has been the elephant in the room. Overpopulation is at the root of virtually all of the ecological threats facing our planet. Species extinction, pollution, resource depletion, and climate change can all be traced back to unsustainable population growth.

The Center has won protection for more than 350 species and hundreds of millions of acres of habitat. But that could be overwhelmed as too many people compete for too few resources and create too many burdens for ecosystems. The correlation between human population growth and species extinction has been clearly documented.

Humans use up to 40% of the world's Net Primary Productivity, a measure of energy from the sun that is converted into life-sustaining resources by photosynthesis. A range of extinctions can be tied directly to the energy, housing, food, and other resource demands of our population. The extinction crisis threatens to grow exponentially with climate change, and energy demands of a rapidly growing global populace.  rw 023621

U.S.: Envisioning a Sustainable Chesapeake.   February 17, 2008   Annapolis Capital
It's been most inspiring to see discussions begin to address the future of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay.

They prompt us to ask: "What does a sustainable Chesapeake really mean?"

My vision is built upon a balanced, vibrant ecosystem teeming with fish, shellfish, underwater grasses and clear, healthy waters. But to be truly sustainable, the Chesapeake ecosystem needs to exist while also supporting the region's human population.

Creating a sustainable Chesapeake will not be easy. But as we look around the state, we're seeing more and more positive steps being taken.

Recently, the Maryland Commission on Climate Change made recommendations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving energy throughout the state. These actions will require that we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% within the next 12 years.

An initiative was introduced that will seek to instill a sense of environmental stewardship among the 28,000 students graduating each year. It will also foster research and prepare the new "green" workforce.

By changing our own actions, each of us has the ability to reduce our impact on the bay and the planet.

As long as the region's population continues to grow, and we develop lands faster than needed to accommodate that growth, we make it more difficult to maintain the sustainability equation.

We have struggled more than 20 years to reduce the amount of pollution flowing into the bay and we are still far from where we need to be. Another 10, 20 or 30 years of pollution-fighting efforts will still not be enough. Bay restoration efforts will be needed in perpetuity.

We need to manage for sustainability by remaining aware of what will cross our path in the future.  rw   Karen Gaia says: The way things are going, we will be forced to reduce our greenhouse gases because we have passed peak oil, meaning our consumption of oil will be reduced. 022746

Tree Huggers Embrace Eco-Friendly Logging.   August 07, 2006   Los Angeles Times
The Conservation Fund, a 21-year-old Arlington, Va.-based organization, strives to balance natural resource protection with economic goals. Timber sales will be used to pay for forest and watershed restoration.

The Conservation Fund is banking on transforming the sustainable production and sale of timber that has grown back on previously logged land into dollars that can be used to permanently shield the property from development while improving wildlife habitat and providing jobs.

After buying 24,000 acres along the Garcia for $18 million in 2004, the Conservation Fund is purchasing an additional 16,000 acres in two nearby watersheds for $48.5 million, mostly with state financing. And the group hopes to buy 165,000 acres more, which would make it one of the biggest timber concerns on the North Coast.

Private forest ownership is held by half a dozen companies and families, but is struggling, with land values rising. We are talking about very low density…development but it alters the ecosystem. Lots of animals do not like dogs, cats, horses and cars coming in and out all the time and the land still provides valuable habitat for wildlife.

Financially stretched government agencies often cannot afford to make large-scale acquisitions to create parkland.

Two years ago, the organization bought the Garcia lands for $18 million in partnership with the state Coastal Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Board and the nonprofit Nature Conservancy.

Now the Conservation Fund has designated 35% of the property as forest reserve. On the rest, it plans to continue commercial timber production. Foresters say this would promote sustainable forestry, but it is hard to get society to accept this notion. The land has been logged repeatedly, and most trees are less than 2 feet in diameter. The key, said forester Craig Blencowe, is "cut less than you grow and leave good trees."

The problem is the strategy might not produce enough timber to cover annual operating costs.

When a plan was submitted to the state for logging a few hundred acres, local environmentalists questioned the proposed use of herbicides to kill tan oaks that have taken over previously logged areas.

The proposal was withdrawn for revisions and herbicides will not be used.

But forest activists applaud the Conservation Fund's responsiveness and its decision to run a working forest rather than a park, partly because the region needs the jobs.

The Conservation Fund hopes to close a $48.5-million deal with Hawthorne Timber Co to acquire 11,600 acres in the Big River watershed and 4,345 acres in the Salmon Creek watershed.

The state water board recently approved a $25-million loan for the project.

The Conservation Fund wants the property because it provides habitat for endangered species and is vulnerable to development.  rw   Karen Gaia says: There is no good indicator that growing trees for lumber can be sustainable with the U.S.'s growing population. Perhaps we need to find other ways to conserve forests. 018406

US Florida;: $310m Purchase Finalized; State Officials Accept Deed to Nearly 74,000 Acres of the Property .   August 01, 2006   Naples News
Florida's biggest-ever land purchase, 74,000 acres of wild land bought by the state for over $350 million, comes with a catch, 17,000 acres of adjoining property will belong to developer Syd Kitson, who plans to build a new city. The purchase will preserve about 80% of the Babcock Ranch in the southwest of the state. It will create a corridor for wildlife, from Lake Okeechobee nearly to the Gulf of Mexico. Other green groups lament the development which clears the way for a new community with 19,500 homes, 6 million square feet of office space, and potential for 50,000 residents. The Sierra Club sued to stop the purchase, but dropped the lawsuit when Kitson promised to leave the most sensitive parts of the land undeveloped.  rw 018294
US Florida: Overpopulation is the Real Culprit.   January 21, 2006   Detroit Free Press. Sports Section
Overpopulation is the culprit. Fishing was still going pretty strong in the late 1960s when lots of fish could be caught by trolling in Tampa Bay. But it had all gone to hell by 1980. Mackerel stocks had collapsed, and redfish were decimated. For a long time, like many people concerned with the environment, I was convinced the problem was habitat destruction and overexploitation. If we could just convince people to use less of the resources and preserve as much habitat as we could, things would work out. But the environmental messes we see all around us are only symptoms of the real cause, way too many people in many parts of the country, and a looming tidal wave of overpopulation that threatens to swamp any hope that our great-grandchildren will be enjoy the kind of outdoors pursuits we do. Florida's population is nearing 20 million, and some projections say it will double in 20 years. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is having an awful time trying to manage the state deer herd, but the problem doesn't lie with the deer. The problem is that when you have roughly 800,000 deer hunters, all of whom want a good chance to kill a deer, you can't satisfy the demand and still maintain a deer herd in line with what the habitat will support. Trying to preserve habitat and stop pollution is a losing battle with the kind of population growth America is experiencing. Some projections that the U.S. population will double to more than 600 million in 100 years. Do you think we could continue to maintain the kind of wildlife habitat we have now will the best efforts at controlling air and water pollution do more than slow the rate of degradation? The issue of population growth and its effects on the natural world will become more important with every passing year.  rw    016316
U.S.: Suit Challenges Roadless Repeal.   September 11, 2005   Los Angeles Times
Gov. Ted Kulongoski sued the government for abandoning protections that had barred roads and logging in nearly 2 million acres of Oregon national forests.

He argued that building roads in areas that have escaped development would undermine the water quality and wildlife. Kulongoski, a Democrat, joined with the attorneys general of California and New Mexico in the lawsuit. It asks a federal court to reinstate safeguards the Clinton administration had applied to roadless acres nationally. The lawsuit is a blow to the administration, which had billed its approach as friendly to the states and wants governors to submit petitions specifying which lands in their states should be protected. Kulongoski said the government created a frustrating and uncertain procedure, forcing him to repeat work done by the U.S. Forest Service. He said it keeps us from addressing larger issues of forest policy and he would not submit a petition as called for. Instead, he will ask officials to provide states a simpler and more certain way of returning protection to the roadless lands. Also, he said he would work through the Oregon Department of Forestry to make the state a partner in the revision of national forest management plans. The governor wants addressed the unpredictable logging levels on federal lands and the buildup of flammable tinder. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire did not join the lawsuit but would be pleased to see it succeed. She is trying an approach with the Forest Service to protect most of the forest land. Under the Bush plan, states electing not to file petitions for protections leave roadless areas open to some development. The administration is providing temporary protection for roadless areas while working with states to address lands in each state. An earlier lawsuit had overturned the Clinton protections. Oregon loggers suggested Kulongoski was motivated by politics and national forest decisions should be made locally. There is no drive to develop roadless lands, and about 24 million acres would remain undeveloped under local forest blueprints. The debate has grown into a symbolic choice over the last pristine places. The lawsuit contends the Bush administration illegally reversed the 2001 roadless safeguards without considering the environmental consequences. The Clinton administration justified the forest protections by saying they were needed to stop activities that pose risks to the social and ecological values of roadless lands. The Forest Service held public meetings and received over 1 million comments, most in favor of the protection. Environmental groups said they agreed with Kulongoski, but were disappointed he will not petition the administration to protect all roadless lands in Oregon.  rw    015098

Out on a Limb - Experts Sound An Alarm, Saying Development is Swallowing 30,000 Acres of Forest and Woodlands Annually in California .   June 07, 2005  
Sixty years after Edwards' father bought 520 acres of forest east of Sacramento, the son struggles to keep it from being overrun by homes. 30,000 acres of private forests and woodlands are swallowed by development each year. Experts predict that California will lose 1 million acres of forest and woodlands, 8% of its 12.2 million-acre total, to development by 2040. As housing prices rise, Californians are willing to pay more for home sites than the land is worth in timber. Private forest owners say they are tempted to sell to developers because log prices have dropped 38% to an average $292 per thousand board feet. The value of California's wood harvests has fallen from $1.1 billion in 1994 to $500 million last year. Some advocacy groups acknowledge that timber-cutting rules meant to protect forests, rivers and water are one factor conspiring to bring development and its pollution threats. More people moving into forests results in declining populations of birds and animals, new pests and tree diseases, more air pollution and watershed erosion. The harvest plans tell foresters where not to cut timber and some counties, have their own stricter rules. About 5.4 million acres of private forestland are in a Timberland Production Zone, in which an owner agrees not to sell for development for 10 years in exchange for property taxes based on timber value rather than residential value. But counties can allow large-lot parcel splits as long as the parcels remain a working forest. Rural residential zoning could allow anywhere from one home per acre to one home per 40 acres. Some new ideas include: promote "California Grown" wood, conservation easements that restrict logging while keeping forests free of development.  rw    013955
End of "Mountains, Desserts, Rivers, Wild Areas" section, 


Sustainability
U.S.: Upside of a Recession.   January 2010   News and Review, Sacramento California
Except for the 15.4 million Americans unemployed—up from 7.5 million two years ago—and the 7.1 million properties foreclosed since January 2008, the recession has done a ton of positive stuff.

The recession is good for the environment. It must be because the California Air Resources Board said so at a seven-hour hearing on diesel emissions standards in early December.

Air quality has improved because of the recession, a stagnant housing market sharply reduces the noxious fumes being belched into the atmosphere by cement mixers, heavy trucks and earth-moving equipment.

The closure of several major retailers, as well as numerous smaller businesses, reduces carbon-dioxide emissions. Empty, darkened retail space also reduces energy consumption and costs.

The recession has also been a boon for natural resources. If no houses are built, the land stays dirt and grass, nurturing a vast, circle-of-life ecosystem in which flora and fauna thrive.

Here's an air-quality-habitat conservation two-fer: demand is now reduced for a slew of products whose creation harms the environment. Consider this: If fewer houses are being built, there's less need for wood framing. Ergo, fewer trees are felled and continue to proudly stand, sequestering carbon dioxide. Where's the banner headline?

So when the naysayers prattle about the recession's horrors, recognize they are simply looking through the wrong end of the telescope.  rw   Karen Gaia says: another upside: people are having fewer children and immigrants are returning to their homeland. But there are environmental downsides overlooked: I can see people cutting down trees and poaching wildlife to survive. And degradation of the soil and overpumping of wells will continue until the population declines. Pesticides may be up if soil is poorer - to continue to feed the many mouths. 024282

Economic Scene: is Population Growth a Ponzi Scheme?.   August 17, 2009   Christian Science Monitor
Forty-five nations worry about the costs of supporting an aging society and the loss of national and economic power.

But notions that population growth is a boon for prosperity are "Ponzi demography," says Joseph Chamie, former director of the population division of the UN.

By 2050, countries as diverse as Cuba, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, and Russia will lose at least 10% of their people, the UN estimates.

In the rich, developed nations, the average age is rising at the fastest pace. Today they have 264 million aged 60 or over. By 2050, that number is expected to rise to 416 million.

By that time, the world's population should stabilize. Some nations are fighting back for families to have more children. The US is bucking the trend with its relatively high immigration rate.

Growth, for business, means a boost in the demand for products and also a surge in low- and high-skilled workers, which keep a lid on wages. Religious and ethnic groups want more immigrants of their own faith and ethnicity to raise their political and social clout. The military regards young immigrants as potential recruits.

But the public pays for a bigger population with more congestion on highways, more farmland turned into housing developments, more environmental damage, including the output of pollutants associated with climate change.

In the US, one costly question is whether insurance covers some 11 million illegal immigrants.

There are also costs for countries with stable or declining populations.

They will need to spend more looking after older citizens and, some industries, like housing, will shrink.

Raising the average retirement age does far more to increase the working population than increasing immigration levels. Industrial nations with large service industries have plenty of employment opportunities for seniors, as opposed to poor countries where many jobs, say planting crops, are hard work.

The costs of an aging but stable population would be more manageable than those of a population boom.

Does America need more than its current 309 million people? A stable or falling population, is a success.  rw 024170

Energy Use, CO2 Emission and Immigration.   July 26, 2009  
U.S. energy consumption and the resulting environmental impact of the production of greenhouse gasses has been steadily increasing in total amounts even though per capita consumption has been decreasing. U.S. energy consumption increased by about 34% from 1973 to 2007. Over this same period, per capita energy consumption decreased by 6.4%. The reason for the increase in energy consumption is due to the 43.1% increase in the U.S. population.

Between 1974 and 2007 legal immigration accounted for 31.5% of the U.S. population increase; adding illegal immigration and the children born

to the immigrants after their arrival, the share of population growth attributable to immigration is still higher. During this period, the entire 44.7% increase in residential energy use was entirely a factor of population growth.   Karen Gaia says: Why does the author overlook the large numbers of unintended pregnancies in the U.S.? If these were prevented or aborted, population growth would slow considerably, as it has in European countries where fertility rates are around 1.2 - 1.8. The article could just as well be named: "Energy Use, CO2 Emission and Immigration." 024093

U.S.: Hold Steady.   June 09, 2009   Earth Island Journal
If we don't stabilize population growth, life as we know it is unlikely to continue. With so many of us burning fossil fuels, gobbling up renewable resources, and generating toxic trash, our life support ecosystems are threatened.

In the central North Pacific Ocean gyre, swirling plastic fragments now outweigh plankton 46 to one. CO2 in the atmosphere is higher today than anytime in the past 650,000 years. Nearly one in four mammals is threatened with extinction, and worse - one in three amphibians and a quarter of all conifers. In many parts of the world, including the High Plains of North America, human water use exceeds annual average water replenishment; by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity, according to the UN. Unsustainable farming practices cause the destruction and abandonment of almost 30 million acres of arable land each year.

The number of humans is still increasing by 1.18% per year, or 80 million annually, the equivalent of nearly two Sudans, or three and a half Taiwans. Even though China is only growing by 0.5% annually, it is still growing by eight million people each year. The US, with a 1% population grow rate, increases by more than 2.9 million people annually,

the equivalent of almost four new San Franciscos.

Many argue that a decrease in human numbers would lead to a fiscal catastrophe, seeing that, in the last 200 years,

unprecedented economic growth has been accompanied by an equally unprecedented increase in world population. During the 1800s and 1900s, up to half of world economic growth was likely due to population growth; Georgetown University environmental historian John McNeill explains: "A big part of economic growth to date consists of population growth.

More hands, more work, more things produced."

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of economic success or failure, is the number of people multiplied by per capita income. Slow population growth, and economic growth will likely slow as well unless advances in productivity and spending increase at rates high enough to make up the difference. This perhaps explains why population policy is not a popular issue.

Instead We should be looking at per capita GDP, which corrects for population growth. While Japan's economy has been touted as 'bad', based on its national GDP it has actually enjoyed the biggest gain in average income among the big three rich economies. GDP is 'bad' only because its population is shrinking. Population decline may slow economic growth on a nationwide basis, "but it would not necessarily reduce per capita wealth or, indeed, per capita growth."

Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist at the American Enterprise Institute, suggests "an orderly and relatively slow reduction in population, and not a chaotic plunge in our numbers as a result of war, disease, a breakdown in healthcare systems, or natural catastrophe." What is necessary is to match low death rates with low birthrates.

Daniel O'Neill of the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy says: "t this point in history, having too many people, or too high a level of consumption, is much more likely to result in the end of economic progress, via ecological collapse, than having too few." The costs of economic growth in the U.S. began to exceed the benefits sometime in the late 1970s.

An economic "slowdown" that results from slowing and eliminating population growth is distinctly different from that caused by a credit crunch or the messy bursting of a speculative bubble. While it's true there will be fewer mouths to feed, there will also be fewer pairs of hands needing employment. In many poorer nations, having more children means increasing the supply of labor, and lowering wages.

Unfortunately,'GDP' does not differentiate between costs and benefits and we end up spending more money to fix the problems caused by population growth. The costs of mitigating the stress imposed by a ballooning population on roads, schools, parks, agricultural land, air and water quality, government services, and ecosystems add to the total pool of a country's economic transactions.

“Sure, population decline will slow down aggregate demand. On the other hand, it's going to increase the amount of resources per capita," Daly says.

While reducing population growth in an orderly fashion promises more economic good than ill, it will bring about social and economic challenges that even proponents of shrinking the population do not dismiss lightly. Of particular concern are the challenges associated with reducing the number of working age people relative to retirees.

If we have fewer people, we will be spared the problems caused by overpopulation, save on natural resources, and in the long run be more able to provide for the social security of our aging population. 023987

Interview with Albert Bartlett: "Arithmetic, Population, and Energy" – Puzzling Growth Rates.   January 15, 2009   GuruFocus.com
Albert Bartlet, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has given his lecture Arithmetic, Population, and Energy over 1,600 times since September, 1969. He says that people didn't understand the large numbers that result from steady growth rates.

The business of promoters, builders and architects is promoting growth. But growth doesn't pay for itself, not at the community level or national level. The more you grow the greater your debt load. Colorado has had decades of wild and largely uncontrolled growth and is now practically bankrupt.

People don't like the constant increases in taxes needed to pay the costs of growth and they vote for tax limitation measures. Then the growth promoters to find ways around these limitations, so the growth continues and the consequent problems escalate rapidly. This happens in California as well as in Colorado.

From a book "Better Not Bigger", Eben Fodor wrote that every new house built in Oregon costs the Oregon taxpayer something in the order of $25,000 in costs not paid by taxes on the construction of the home itself.

Utilities are now fighting for the right to tax customers for the costs of planning and construction. The investors should be required to bear these responsibilities, and when the plant was finished you could figure the cost into the rate system- so that the people that built it would be reimbursed. State regulators are allowing utilities to charge payers for planning costs- even if it isn't clear that the plants need to be built. This is a perpetual growth promoting situation.

Investors need to realize that there's a time to grow, but as some point, any further growth is detrimental.

In Bartlett's book titled, "The Essential Exponential for the Future of our Planet," overpopulation raises the number of constituents per elected official, making it harder for individuals to gain access to representatives and have a voice in politics. Also, overpopulation breeds more government regulation to cope with problems caused by population pressure.

In the 1990's the US population grew by 13.1%, while the number of members in the House of Representatives didn't grow at all; another way of saying that democracy declined by 13.1%.

With the number of constituents per representatives multipling, it's much easier as a politician to take your ideas from the lobbyist who has plenty of money.

The terms "sustainable" and "sustainability" are popularly used to describe "activities that are ecologically laudable," but unsustainable. How can the reader decide whether publications are seeking to illuminate or obfuscate?

Both smart growth and dumb growth destroy the environment. The only difference is that smart growth destroys the environment with good taste.

In Al Gore's book & film, "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore never mentions curbing population growth. This is a silent lie, very discouraging.

Those who profit from (uneconomic)growth will use their considerable resources to convince the community that the community should pay the costs of growth.

The Tragedy of the Commons relates to things like the world's fisheries a type of "commons". This is tragic for local fishermen who have lived off the oceans for centuries.

The economist, Kenneth Boulding, is known for saying "Anyone who thinks that steady growth can continue indefinitely, is either a madman or an economist."

Boulding's Three Laws are "The Dismal Theorem" : If the only ultimate check on the growth of population is misery, then the population will grow until it is miserable enough to stop its growth; "The Utterly Dismal Theorem" : any technical improvement can only relieve misery for a while, for so long as misery is the only check on population, the improvement will enable population to grow, and will soon enable more people to live in misery than before. The final result of improvements, therefore, is to increase the equilibrium population which is to increase the total sum of human misery; "The moderately cheerful form of the Dismal Theorem" : If something else, other than misery and starvation, can be found which will keep a prosperous population in check, the population does not have to grow until it is miserable and starves, and it can be stably prosperous.

The last US president that worried about population was Richard Nixon. He charted a major study called "The Rockefeller Commission Report." The conclusion was that they couldn't see any benefit to further population growth in the US. The study was put on the shelf and forgotten.

Bartlett says that Malthus presents population problems very clearly. Translated to today's problems, Malthus would read something like this: "Population growth has the potential to outstrip the growth in production of any of the resources that are necessary to sustain our population."

The notion of many is that science and technology will save us, so why worry about it? A state senator once said to Bartlett, "I'm not worried about running out of petroleum, you (pointing to me) scientists will figure out what ever we need." When asked what was the last new source of energy scientists found, he didn't have an answer. Innovation on the large scale required by our overpopulated society will take time and costs billions of dollars.

Newly created jobs in a community temporarily lowers the unemployment rate, but then people move into the community to restore the unemployment rate to its earlier higher value. For years, we have promoted an insane policy of exporting jobs and importing people. Any country that has to import people to do the work of the country is unsustainable.

Carrying capacity is a measure of how many people can be supported indefinitely. Sustainability requires that the size of the population be less than or equal to the carrying capacity of the ecosystem for the desired standard of living.

Social Security and such projects are Ponzi schemes. They depend on having more and more people paying every year or they collapse.

If you change fertility rates it can take 50-70 years before you see the full effects of a change in fertility. This is called population momentum which is a mismatch to our democracy. Politicians implement changes that benefit us in the short term over the long term.

David Pimentel, a global agricultural scientist at Cornell University says that a sustainable world population living at current US dietary level would consist of two billion people. Also, he suggests that a sustainable US population at current dietary levels would have to be around 130-150 million people, which is the population of the US around World War II.

The key is to make family planning available widely throughout the US and the world - with the goal that every child is a wanted child.

With increased growth you have to provide police, fire, schools, waste removal, clean water, and a variety of other infrastructure projects. These services aren't paid for by growth. Schools, for example, get their operating expenses from the taxes and to get capital expenses they have to issue bonds. Thus, all tax payers have to pay higher taxes to accommodate schools for new kids.

The solution is to tax growth, put a tax on real estate transactions and use this tax to fund new projects.

Economists think of infinite substitutability. They cite the shifting out of whale oil to petroleum or from wood to coal. We already know the substitutes that exist are very costly to access.

Growth never pays for itself. Now the federal government is paying for state schools, highways, sewage systems, bridges. This has happened because the local economy can't support local population growth.

But inflation is a tax on everyone; if the federal government issues bonds to pay for the consequences of growth (infrastructure, etc) this is likely to result in inflation. Looking at our national debt levels, the inflation could be very severe.

The US population growth rate is the highest of any industrial nation.   Karen Gaia says: Prof Bartlett is very good at stating the problem, but needs to expand on the solutions since many people are queasy about the China solution. Bartlett needs to tell how the U.S. lowered its fertility rate from 4.0 in the 1960s, to around 2 in the 1980s - all voluntarily, once modern contraception became available. 024299

U.S.: Secular Sign Posts: the View From 30,000 Feet.   November 12, 2008   Financial Sense
The core demographic for consumption is the age group entering their prime in terms of income. The distribution of consumer spending reflects a bell-shaped curve in which the middle-aged demographic represents the largest income brackets. As a rise in the rate of change in consumer spending increases with the higher earning income's relative population, so too does the stock market which reflects a rise in GDP. Japan's post WWII baby boom crested in 1990, and Japan's Nikkei 225 index peaked. Since the baby boom in 1990, Japan has suffered from a rising retiree population and a deceleration of consumption spending as the higher income earners retired and the lower income earners grew in relative numbers. The bottom of the Nikkei 225 also coincided with the trough in the relative population ratio of the 35-49 year old to 20-34 year old groups.

This ratio between the higher wage earner and spender (35-49) relative to the lower wage earner and spender (20-34) relating to aggregate consumption and stock prices has also played out in the U.S. . Peaks in the relative population demographic coinciding with peaks in real stock prices (S&P 500). Rising real stock prices are associated with rising relative population ratios of the higher wage earner relative to the lower wage earner.

While there is a positive relationship between productivity and relative population demographics, there is a negative relationship between productivity and inflation. We can infer that there is a negative relationship between inflation trends and relative demographic trends with productivity trends providing the associating link. We can look at what the future may hold. The relative demographic ratio peaked in 2000 and was coincident with the real S&P 500 peak, and does not bottom until 2015. The conclusion is that the secular bear market we entered back in 2000 will not likely end until roughly 2015, and the secular inflationary trend that began in 2003 will be in place until 2015 as well.  rw   Karen Gaia says: Unfortunately this time we have peak oil and depletion of resources to deal with. After the initial tightening of belts by consumers, population numbers will again catch up and resource depletion will continue. It is foolish to think that there is no end to resources and that throwing money at the problem will help. 023329

End of "Sustainability" section, 


Land and Agriculture
U.S.;: Family Feud Why Agribusiness Giants Are Facing Off Over Corn Ethanol.   May 24, 2007   Grist Magazine
The rapid price increase for corn, inspired by federal policies that encourage transforming corn into ethanol, is jacking up food prices and squeezing low-income people.

This has given rise to a "food vs. fuel" debate. You either support cheap corn, and a food supply that serves the poor, or you support the ethanol boom, whose goal is to "break our dependence on foreign oil."

A report by The Wall Street Journal outlines the growing rift within the agribiz lobby.

When corn was cheap and overproduced the entire agribusiness lobby rallied around the ethanol cause. But now that ethanol is taking food from feedlots, the community has grown less friendly. Tyson has been complaining about corn prices. Its CEO told the Wall Street Journal that elevated grain prices, linked to ethanol, would add $300 million to the company's costs this year.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association is raising its voice as well. It finds government intervention and the group has demanded an end to government tax credits for ethanol and a cut to the import tariff on foreign ethanol. They are demanding free markets and free trade. The growing rift in the agribiz lobby is concerning the politicians who cater to it. Presidential hopefuls feel compelled to favor the allegedly fuel that's going to free us from Middle East oil, but support for corn-based ethanol is starting to wane.

Legislators continue to aid ever-increasing ethanol use, but more of them are capping the amount of corn that can be used. The shine is off corn ethanol, and its explosive growth appears to have peaked.

The corn-based ethanol never had a shot at significantly reducing petroleum use. Its energy-saving potential is thin, if not imaginary. The backlash plays into Tyson and its peers, who hate ethanol because it interferes with feeding cheap corn to confined animals.

Last fall, U.S. farmers scrambled to plant corn anywhere they could and will likely harvest the largest corn crop in U.S. history.

If Congress pulls back support for ethanol, the corn price will tumble and will mean a windfall for feedlot operators, and will likely spur government commodity payments to corn growers under the farm bill.

In essence, we're being asked to choose between low-quality food and low-quality fuel. We should reject both.  rw   Karen Gaia says: if we hadn't produced so many people, there would be enough food and fuel for all. 021228

U.S.: We Don't Need 'Guest Workers'.   March 21, 2006   Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration
In 1964 Congress killed the seasonal Mexican laborers program despite warnings that its abolition would doom the tomato industry. Then scientists developed oblong tomatoes that could be harvested by machine and California's tomato output has risen fivefold. Now we're being warned again that we need unskilled laborers from Mexico and Central America to relieve U.S. "labor shortages." Guest workers would mainly legalize today's vast inflows of illegal immigrants, with the same consequence: We'd be importing poverty. They generally don't go home, assimilation is slow and the ranks of the poor are constantly replenished. Since 1980 the number of Hispanics with incomes below the government's poverty line has risen 162%, while the number of non-Hispanic whites in poverty rose 3% and blacks, 9.5%. What we have now is a policy of creating poverty in the US while relieving it in Mexico. It stresses local schools, hospitals and housing and feeds social tensions (witness the Minutemen). Some Americans get cheap landscaping services but if more mowed their own lawns it wouldn't be a tragedy. Among immigrant Mexican and Central American workers in 2004, only 7% had a college degree and nearly 60% lacked a high school diploma. Among native-born U.S. workers, 32% had a college degree and 6% did not have a high school diploma. The illegal immigrants represent only about 4.9% of the labor force. In no major occupation are they a majority. They're drawn here by wage differences, not labor "shortages." Most new illegal immigrants can get work by accepting wages below prevailing levels. Hardly anyone thinks that illegal immigrants will leave, but what would happen if illegal immigration stopped and wasn't replaced by guest workers? Some employers would raise wages to attract U.S. workers; others would find ways to minimize those costs. The number of native high school dropouts with jobs declined by 1.3 million from 2000 to 2005. Some lost jobs to immigrants and unemployment remains high for some groups. Business organizations support guest worker programs - they like cheap labor and ignore the consequences. Why do liberals support a program that worsens poverty and inequality? Poor immigrant workers hurt the wages of unskilled Americans. We've never tried a policy of real barriers and strict enforcement against companies that hire illegal immigrants. Until that's shown to be ineffective, we shouldn't adopt guest worker programs that add to serious social problems.  rw    016968
US Florida: Building Push Has All Signs of a War .   May 22, 2005  
Developers and one municipality want to shift Miami-Dade County's development boundary closer to the Everglades as developers have assembled land parcels outside the development zone. The debate over the urban boundary has competing factions: those who think of it as an immovable line that preserves the Everglades and the those who see a flexible line that should bend with a burgeoning population that needs affordable housing. Developers, whose bid to move the line was rejected two years ago, are again seeking approval. The city of Hialeah filed to move the line which would pave the way to build an industrial site on the Dade Landfill. 10 applications have been filed to move the urban development boundary line and the re-examination begins in April of every odd year. The line runs along the western and southern portions of the county and development outside is limited to one dwelling per five acres. Central to the debate is whether the county has enough land for future homes and businesses. Department of Planning and Zoning predicts enough land until at least 2020. But opponents said the county's stock of housing will be gone by 2011. Commissioners are awaiting the results of the $3 million South Miami-Dade Watershed Study, which includes land outside the UDB.  rw    013710
U.S.: Food and Population.   2005   Think Population
In the 1940s, Los Angeles County led the nation in farming income, now it leads the nation in population density. Elsewhere in California, about 50,000 acres of farmland vanish each year. Georgia, Ohio, and Texas each have had more than 150,000 acres of agricultural land consumed by development that is being stoked by population growth and the desire for more space. Average property lot sizes have doubled in the past two decades. According to a study by the American Farmland Trust, "Housing developments are encroaching on the rural West and could replace more than 24 million acres of ranchland by 2020. More food to feed more people suggests a need for more farmland and ranchland. Instead, both are disappearing rapidly.  rw    015685
U.S. is Slashing World Food Aid Contributions; Disasters, Emergencies Hit Amid Budget Deficits.   December 19, 2004   Baltimore Sun
Demands on the US food aid program is forcing the government to cancel food shipments and scale back donations. The US uses its agricultural riches to provide half, and sometimes more, of the aid to feed the world's hungry. But a threefold increase in emergency food demands this year, a U.S. deficit and tight budget restrictions are making it impossible for the US to fulfill its commitments with an estimated $650 million shortfall. The U.S. Agency for International Development USAID is diverting resources from long-term development programs, which address the health and food needs of people suffering chronic hunger. USAID has canceled or delayed food orders placed by humanitarian agencies including feeding vulnerable children, AIDS patients and health care for mothers and infants. Because of food aid shortfall, USAID postponed paying for 20 new projects and delayed payments for some existing programs. Food shipments might resume soon, but there may be cancellations or delays. Catholic Relief Services anticipates that the cuts will leave more than 1.5 million without food assistance and could leave 1.2 million children without schooling, 1.2 million mothers and infants without nutrition and 1.6 million farmers without farm tools. USAID has canceled shipments of 12,860 metric tons of food for Indonesia, Eritrea and Malawi. It delayed the 85,640 metric tons to a dozen programs in Africa and South and Central America. American cutbacks have forced Save the Children to put several programs on hold in Africa and slash its food operations in Tajikistan, Central Asia, by 50%. The UN has received more than 50% of its funds from the US and is bracing for cuts in financial support for its non-emergency operations. It is seeking donations from China, Russia and India. In southern Africa, the WFP's appeal for $171 million to feed 2.8 million people has generated only $11.5. Food stockpiles run out next month in Lesotho. There are less food aid resources in the US and huge demands because of Sudan. What makes this year's budget shortfall serious is its impact on development projects and no relief in sight. In the Bush administration's 2005 budget, $1.183 billion was allocated for Food for Peace with $468 million earmarked for emergencies and the rest for assistance. Earlier this month, after requests from Congress and the aid community, the administration released 200,000 metric tons of wheat from an emergency food reserve to meet increased demands in Sudan. USAID has a $650 million shortfall and with no clear indication of when or whether food shipments will resume, humanitarian agencies are making plans to lay off employees and to tell beneficiaries that they cannot expect assistance this year.  rw    012489
US California: Forest Service Announces 'forest with a Future' While Accelerating Logging in the Old Forest Areas .   January 26, 2004   Sierra Club release
The U.S. Forest Service announced revisions to the Sierra Nevada Framework - the recently developed plan to manage 11.5 million acres of California's Sierra Nevada forest lands. Environmentalists dubbed the revisions "No Tree Left Behind." The following inconsistencies exist. The Forest Service claims the plan will reduce the risk of fire by cutting large trees but logging can increase fire severity by leaving behind logging slash, while loss of canopy encourages the growth of brush and decreases humidity. The Forest Service Claims the plan will protect homes and communities but fails to address surface and ladder fuels. The Forest Service plan fails to recognize old growth and manages it as the rest of the forest. The plan nearly triples logging and allows 30 inch diameter trees to be cut. The Forest Service claims the plan protects meadows and streams but the revisions increase the risk of stream and meadow erosion. The Forest Service claims the plan reduces the risk to wildlife but increased logging and clear cutting will likely cause some species to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The Forest Service claims selling large trees can offset the cost of removing brush and smaller trees but timber sales may carry a great cost in the long-term. The Forest Service claims the plan was based on public input and scientific analysis but no public meetings have been held since fall of 2002, and it contains no information that would warrant an overhaul of the original Plan.  rw    009632
Sierra Forests: More Logging, Fewer Spotted Owls.   August 25, 2003   .californiawild.org
The U.S. Forest Service lists the California spotted owl and the northern goshawk as in need of protection. The same agency proposes logging of trees in known and occupied nest stands of these species, and to eliminate protection for old growth and mature forest stands in the Sierra Nevada. Trees up to two and a half feet in diameter can be logged. Old growth and mature forest stands on the 11.5 million acres of national forest in the Sierra Nevada will no longer be protected. Another proposal is to allow cattle grazing in protected meadows occupied by great gray owls, willow flycatchers, and Yosemite toads. These proposals are in the management plan for the Sierra released in June designed to triple timber harvest across the range and save communities from wildfire. But it has been determined that dense undergrowth fuel forest fires, and removal of the larger fire-resistant trees can increase fire risk. The designers of the plan claim revenues from logging will defray the expense of removing the brush that fuels the fires. The logged stands will require further removal of brush that sprouts when the shade of the large trees is removed. The plan will nearly triple timber harvest across the range, all under the pretext of saving communities from wildfire.  rw    007713
End of "Land and Agriculture" section, 


Sprawl
US Michigan: Detroit, Green City.   March 30, 2008   Michigan Citizen
Urban planners say the best way to turn an industrial city into a green city may be to just leave the city be.

At a presentation three areas were said to become the focal points for future development. The most important was population density and building up is a great way to minimize land waste.

Studies show walkable cities are the goal, so developing the city around pedestrian traffic is another way to gain more density. Mass transit is vital; Detroit is without a system.

Mass transit means that residents without cars could have a reliable ride to work, there would be fewer cars, and a reduced need for parking and a turnaround in air quality. Light-rail stations may help attract investors and mixed-use buildings that house both businesses and people. With people come density, more transit options and a boom for economic development.

Mixed-use buildings are efficient and have proved to be places people want to be. Parking lots are are seldom full, they absorb money and resources. Traditional development leads to lower density and greater infrastructure costs. These practices are not economically feasible. Population density is the key to a sustainable city.

The third aspect to sustaining a green city is reuse and preservation of buildings. The carbon footprint of demolition, waste transportation, and rebuilding is enormous. Building preservation and adaptive reuse are the best ways to employ sustainability.

The recent emphasis on being environmentally responsible and the financial benefits may spark investors to build green.

There is increasing evidence that green buildings cost less in the long run, mainly through better energy and water efficiency, but also by reducing waste, improving indoor air quality and through lower operation and maintenance costs. A change in lifestyle is necessary for green urbanism.  rw 022894

USA Today: Where Will Everybody Live?.   December 05, 2006   USA Today
The USA is growing faster than any other industrialized country in the world. The USA added 100 million people in the past 39 years and around 2040, the population will be past 400 million.

The USA trails only China and India in population. Space itself isn't the issue. But people want water in the desert, plentiful fuel to power long commutes, energy to cool and heat bigger houses and clean air and water. How and where they live could determine how well the nation and the environment will handle the added population.

People who work on smart growth development issues say there's no way we can continue over the next 40-odd years without severe consequences to the environment. We have to find different ways to reside on the land. Each American occupies almost 20% more developed land (housing, schools, stores, roads) than 20 years ago. The rate of land consumption is twice the rate of population growth.

The major growth patterns of the past 50 years are being challenged by changing demographics.

Americans are reconsidering traditional retirement paths. More are eyeing downtown condos, households are smaller and townhouses more appealing.

More immigrants are arriving, increasing mass transit ridership and carpooling in a country where driving alone still dominates.

The next 100 million people will create 73 million new jobs, about 70 million new homes and 100 billion square feet of non-residential space. Urban town centers that combine condos, shops and offices in pedestrian-friendly settings are sprouting in suburbia. Residential construction in downtown districts is on the rise. Areas are are investing billions in light-rail lines. It takes more money to heat and cool a big house, when you factor in the true cost including transportation and energy, Americans will change how they live.

Growth issues are manifesting themselves in traffic congestion, loss of open space and more water and air pollution.

The paper then goes on to describe in great detail some of the transit and building changes already under way.  rw   Ralph says: The article does not consider in any way the suply of water, power and food to the millions of new residents. 019667

Around D.C., a Cheaper House May Cost You; Longer Commutes Outweigh Savings of Living in Outer Suburbs.   October 11, 2006   Washington Post
A study of metropolitan areas found that the costs of one-way commutes of 12 to 15 miles cancel any savings on lower-priced homes.

People tend to focus on the price of a closer-in house compared to one in the outer suburbs, but they don't realize how much they're spending on commuting costs

The average cost of owning a Toyota Camry and driving it 15,000 miles a year works out to $7,967 according to AAA.

The study found that a lack of affordable housing in the Washington area and elsewhere forces low- to moderate-income families to live in outer suburbs where transportation costs are high.

Of the 20 fastest-growing counties in the US, 15 are located 30 miles or more from urban centers. Many communities have identified a lack of affordable housing as critical. We need to have regional solutions about both housing and transportation. Most people in the outer suburbs pay so much for transportation because they have to use their cars for nearly every errand.

The study noted that 62.1% of the U.S. metropolitan population lived in the suburbs in 1996, up from 55.1% in 1970.

The median national household income has been outpaced by housing and transportation costs. The data highlight a disconnect between where people live and work. A three-car family puts a lot of money into depreciating assets, instead of into mortgages and college educations.  rw 019012

US Georgia: Few Willing to Tackle Georgia's Most Pressing Issue - Growth.   March 28, 2006   Gwinnett Daily Post
The most terrifying but potentially most beneficial issue facing Georgia is population growth. Most politicians don't like to discuss the population explosion - it's too complex. Georgia is having trouble coping. The infrastructure, from health care and education to law enforcement and traffic control, is breaking down. No one dares speak the unspeakable but runaway growth may kill us if we don't deal with it. State Supreme Court Justice Harris Hines outlined the challenges "They're talking about making I-75 23 lanes wide in a few years in Cobb County, and in the next 20 years, Georgia will increase its population by 50%." The prison population has risen from 15,200 in 1983 to 46,900 in 2003. Recent estimates show growth is continuing at an even faster pace, with about 60% from new people moving into the state. Georgia, with 8.4 million people, has the ninth-largest population of any state. Georgia has 2.2 million, 28.7% blacks, highest of any state. Hispanics 13%, Asians 2.1%. The median age for all Georgians is 33.4 and will have one of the fastest rates of growth of the elderly. Georgia has low educational attainment and income. More than 21% did not graduate from high school. Among blacks, 27.5% failed to finish high school. Per capita income is $28,523, No. 25 in the country. From 1990 to 2002, 36% of all Georgia births were to unwed mothers, 25% of births to white women were to unwed mothers, and 66% of births to black women were to unwed mothers. Georgia has four problems, high school dropouts, diabetes, substance abuse and gambling. The lawmakers take bows for denying some state services to hordes of illegal aliens without inflicting much pain on the corporate employers who induced them to come here.  rw    016967
US Illinois: Chicago is 2nd City of Clog.   May 10, 2005   Chicago Tribune
Chicago is the No. 2 spot for roadway congestion. The analysis says it took drivers 57% more time to get to their destinations during peak travel times because of traffic congestion. The cost of to the regional economy is almost $4 billion or $1,000 per rush-hour commuter. Road construction and mass-transit services are failing to keep pace with population growth in suburban areas. The term "rush hour" has become meaningless in urban areas where workers must leave earlier in the morning and spend more time on the road later at night. The roadways handle traffic volumes beyond the system's capacity. Each driver in the Chicago region wasted 58 hours stuck in traffic in 2003, up from 55 hours in 2002, equivalent to spending about 1 1/2 workweeks a year sitting in traffic. Delays for the Chicagoland region exceeded 252 million hours in 2003. The cost was $4.3 billion in lost time and $151 million in excess fuel. The service provided by the CTA, Metra, Pace and the South Shore Line reduced annual delays by more than 94 million hours. CTA service reductions would have an effect similar to a major snowstorm. The growth in congestion is occurring at a rate that is unnoticeable to many people, resulting in commuters' routinely making accommodations and sacrifices in their lifestyles. Most experts agree that congestion will never be solved. It will only be kept within limits as the region's population increases. In the long term, major reforms will be needed in roadway construction, regional planning and land-use issues that determine where people live in relation to their jobs.  rw    013563
End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream.   April 18, 2004  
Since World War II North Americans have invested in a suburbia that promises space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. Suburbia has become the American Dream. But now serious questions emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. As global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply the consequences of inaction in the face of this crisis are enormous. As energy prices skyrocket, how will suburbia react? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done now, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia? For the DVD, send a money order for $24US or $30CAN, with your name and address to: Electric Wallpaper, c/o VisionTV, 80 Bond St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 1X2  rw    010340
Population: Local Growth Rates Among Tops in Maryland.   April 15, 2004   Washington Post
All three Southern Maryland counties rank among the fastest growing in the Washington region. In a one year period, Calvert County was one of the nation's leaders in population growth, with its population rising 3.9% to 84,110. Charles County recorded the second-fastest growth rate rising 3.3% to 133,049. St. Mary's grew 2.9% to 92,754. Calvert County is among the 100 fastest-growing counties up 12.8% from 74,563 people in 2000, the 83rd fastest-growing county in the US. A revision of local zoning regulations limits the total number of dwellings in the county to the 37,000, 8,400 more than exist now. But those revisions will need time before they affect population growth. The biggest increases were among school-age children: up 48.6% for ages 5 to 9; 71% for ages 10 to 14; up 54.6% for ages 15 to 19. In 2001, Commissioners enacted regulations that halted the creation of new subdivisions in Calvert. The restrictions are designed to stem development in communities where public schools are full, driven by the county's struggle to meet the costs of new schools. Calvert's school enrollment rose by 5,700 to more than 15,000 and required nine new schools plus the new Huntingtown High School. County commissioners moved to toughen the regulations that blocked developments if the county had not remedied school crowding within five years. The commissioners extended that period to seven years. The measures have restricted how many lots are created for residential construction.  rw    010381
End of "Sprawl" section, 


Water
Peak Water.   September 2009   TheBurningPlatform.com
Since the earth is 70% covered by water, and the water cycle replenishes water on a continuous basis, the idea of 'peak water' may seem strange for most people.

Glaciers are melting and oceans are rising, which means water will be more plentiful. But it is the location of the water that matters. Shortages in the wrong places could lead to food shortages, famine, and starvation in those regions, and effect the economic future of nations.

Many politicians have ignored resource issues for the last 30 years of debt- financed good times with relatively low prices for all natural resources and commodities.

Investment manager Jeremy Grantham says "We must prepare ourselves for waves of higher resource prices and periods of shortages unlike anything we have faced outside of wartime conditions."

Comparing peak oil to peak water:

While oil is non-renewable and limited, it is replaceable by other more costly alternatives; water is renewable and relatively unlimited, but there is no substitute and it is only useful in the precise places.

Oil is finite, while water is literally finite, but nearly unlimited at a cost.

Long-distance transport of oil is economically viable while with water it is not.

If the world's population grows from 6.7 billion people to 7.5 billion by 2020 - a possible projection by the U.N., water use would increase by 40% to support the food requirements of the additional people. 1.8 billion people would be living in regions with extreme water scarcity.

Since the U.S. is an exporter of wheat, soybeans, rice and corn ($80 billion worth in 2008), drought or additional consumption in the areas where these crops are grown would have worldwide implications.

70% of the globe is covered by water, but most of it is saltwater. Desalinization can convert saltwater into freshwater, but it is only useful on coastlines and is 15 times more expensive than natural freshwater.

2% of the earth's water is considered freshwater, most of which is locked up in glaciers, permanent snow cover and in deep groundwater.

Challenges of freshwater:

* Uneven distribution on the planet

* Economic and physical constraints of tapping glacial water

* Contamination of supplies

* High distribution costs

Regional scarcity solutions are not easy:

* Reduce demand

* Move the demand to where water is available.

* Shift to costly sources, such as desalinization.

In the Southwest U.S., much of it desert, solutions are difficult. Lake Mead, the country's largest artificial body of water, which provides water to Arizona, California, Nevada and northern Mexico is dangerously depleted. Housing developments in this region have been stopped by lack of water.

On the Colorado River there is more water allocated than there is water, which is not a problem as long as some people are willing to sell their water. For example, Chevron leases water from its shale oil project to the city of Las Vegas for drinking water. The day may come when Chevron won't extend the lease.

Many areas are using ground water that will be used up entirely in just a few decades.

In the U.S., suburban sprawl, with its lawns and ponds, has put intense pressure on local water supplies. In drought years Maryland, Virginia and the District fight over the Potomac water - lawns sucking up 85% of the river's flow. 67 million more people are expected to inhabit the United States by 2030, making water shortages even more severe.

In the midwest, parts of the Ogallala Aquifer - the great underground reservoir stretching from Texas to South Dakota - has started to run dry. "When you go to your house and turn the shower on and there is no water, it's a serious situation'" a farmer says.

In the last 10 years there has been a steady erosion in the amount of grain grown per capita. With developing countries growing rapidly, the need for imports of grain could drive up the cost of food everywhere.

The Chinese are converting farmland to industrial uses, while at the same time demanding more meat and grains in their diet. The price spike in 2007 and 2008 is a sign of a costly future for consumers. According to the U.N. in 2008, global food reserves were at their lowest level in 30 years

We should call them peak cheap oil and peak cheap water, instead of just peak oil and peak water, because the cost of producing or supplying them will continue to rise.

Food shortages and skyrocketing commodity prices are inevitable, with peak water playing significant role. The evidence is before our eyes:

* Droughts in key farming belt areas

* Less snow pack in the mountains

* Contamination of freshwater sources by industrial waste

* Soil erosion

* Depletion of underground aquifers

* Higher oil prices, fertilizer costs, food transportion

* Bio-fuels as an energy source.

* Worldwide population growth

* Middle class enrichment of diets worldwide.

We know that peak oil is the more likely trigger for armed conflict. For example, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. was cutting off its oil supply. The Middle East, Russia, Brazil, Canada have the oil, while the United States, China, Europe, Japan need the oil. The struggle resulting from peak water is not yet on the radar screen, but is coming up. 024147

Our Water Supply, Down the Drain.   August 23, 2009   Washington Post
In the United States, we worry about oil shortages, water is another important limited natural resource, in many parts of the country.

In 2008, the nearly 5 million people in metro Atlanta came close to its principal water supply drying up. The lake may no longer be used as a municipal supply since Alabama and Florida are contending the use of the water.

Over 30 states are fighting with neighboring states over water.

In Florida lakes are drying up due to groundwater depletion from overpumping. Low river flows in the Catawba River in South Carolina prevented a paper company from discharging its wastewater, resulting workers being furloughed. North Carolina is fighting with South Caroline over the water in that river.

Fully loaded freighters cannot float in Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes. The Ipswich River near Boston was without water in five of the last eight years. In 2007, Orme, Tennessee, ran out of water altogether; it trucks in water from Alabama.

The amount of water is not the problem. It's population growth. California had a major drought in 1992, that hasn't stopped the state from adding 7 million people. Atlatnta Georgia sees 100,000 people added each year. The U.S. is expected to add 120 million people in the next four decades.

Suprisingly, some forms of renewable energy also present water problems. Refining one gallon of ethanol requires four gallons of water. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to grow enough corn to refine one gallon of ethanol.

Water shortages have been alleviated in the U.S. by diverting more from rivers, building dams or drilling groundwater wells, but now many of these rivers dry up each year. And we're pumping so much water from wells that the levels in aquifers are plummeting. We're running out of technological fixes.

Some dreamers are planning to get water from British Columbia or tow icebergs from Alaska, but they overlook the immense costs and significant environmental impacts of such grandiose proposals.

Solutions include desalination of ocean water, reuse of municipal waste and aggressive conservation strategies. Desalination and reclaiming waste water are both expensive, but aggressive conservation programs have reduced consumption dramatically.

But it's not enough. We need to pay for our water. 024144

The Drought: Ecologically, Perpetual Growth is Impossible Thing.   November 15, 2008   Journal-Constitution
Georgia's water supply is finite, it always will be. The quantity of water varies depending on rainfall, but there is data to have an excellent idea of averages and extremes.

Georgia's population represents a constantly growing demand on water supply and quality. During extreme droughts, the conflict between an ever-growing population and a finite water supply becomes obvious.

It should be obvious, at least to those caught up in the belief that a viable economy demands constant growth, even though rational thought, should logically lead to a contrary opinion.

Ecologists use the term "carrying capacity" to describe how many plants or animals a given piece of real estate might support. Farmers recognize the concept, knowing that the number of cows their pastures will support depends on the type and quality of the forage, availability of water, the acceptable growth rate and other factors.

The concept of carrying capacity is just as applicable to humans as to cows. In the US, mankind has artificially extended human carrying capacity while maintaining a high living standard by using stored energy reserves from eons past and perpetual growth and improved living standards have become basic expectations.

Georgia has long used state resources to promote economic growth, fueled by population growth, without considering the ultimate outcome.

Even while announcing a lawsuit aimed at forcing the more of a finite regional water supply to Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue was on a mission to attract more industry to the state.

The sole reason when we already have full employment is to attract more people. More people equal a larger GDP, for which groupthink demands a favorable view, regardless of the effect on quality of life.

Georgia's population is about 9.5 million. If growth rates of the past dozen years are maintained, population will double to about 19 million in just 26 years (2033) and double again to 38 million by 2059.

From an ecological perspective, it is imperative that we stop and determine what an optimum population might be. Instead, we continually ask ourselves to use less water, go further into debt, sit in longer traffic snarls and lower our living standard in various other ways so we can accommodate more people.

The ultimate irony was when Gov. Perdue asked everyone to pray for rain. Does he expect God to increase our water supply while the Governor does his best to increase demand?  rw 022324

Is Growth Over? California's Continuing Water Crisis May Mean the End of the State as We Have Known It.   July 20, 2008   Los Angeles Times
Arnold Schwarzenegger's order certifying that California is in a drought and directing state agencies to think what to do about it is only the latest sign that a way of life built on available water is coming to a close. The continuing water crisis raises the question of whether we are approaching the limits of growth in California.

California's economy and population exploded, fueled in large part by abundant water supplies. Snowmelt which historically has filled the state's major reservoirs has been shrinking steadily. California's rights to Colorado River water have been scaled back. Court orders aimed at protecting endangered fish have slashed water deliveries from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. Reduced rainfall has made it difficult to replenish groundwater basins.

Now, the situation is that the water agencies are beginning to give the public a taste of what lies ahead.

The largest water agency in the region and the principal supplier to the cities announced a 30% reduction in deliveries to agricultural customers. The agency adopted a plan that could result in similar cutbacks to urban consumers and rate hikes of up to 20%. Such steps alone will probably not make enough of a difference to avert a water-supply crisis. There is a finite amount of water in Southern California, and it has not increased since 1990. Major sectors of the state's economy such as agriculture and real estate development will soon face unimagined restrictions.

Environmental groups contending that many water-use practices violate the state's constitutional mandate that water be put to beneficial use to the maximum possible extent and that waste or unreasonable use be prevented.They object to pumping water from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to irrigate cotton and alfalfa, as well as lawns. These environmentalists plan to petition to permanently reduce Delta pumping that would affect every aspect of water use.

State laws require water agencies to document sufficient long-term supplies to support large developments. The Eastern Municipal Water District, the largest water agency in Riverside County, recently delayed approval of a huge industrial development because it couldn't guarantee water supplies. The state Supreme Court overturned approval of a major new planned community in the Sacramento area because the project's environmental impact report did not adequately address long-term water supplies.

Don't expect new homes to be built along a new golf course or the shores of a man-made lake. The appliances in the new homes will be low-flow, and the pavement outside permeable to help replenish groundwater. The Legislature is considering a requirement that all urban water agencies reduce their consumption by 20% within 12 years.

Agriculture is also feeling the sting of dwindling water supplies. Agencies throughout the state are pressing farmers to cut their water consumption by not growing water-intensive crops, investing in more efficient irrigation systems and even taking land out of agricultural use altogether.

Yet it is unrealistic to expect that California's population will stop growing.

The current shortage of water is largely the product of global warming. The easiest way to increase water supplies is conservation.

California is approaching the limits of growth. Those areas with limited local water supplies already are off-limits for development, and big users of water, such as agriculture, are cutting back.  rw   Ralph says: Natures resources are limited and it is time we limited the number of people using them. 023240

US California: Ammonia From Sacramento Waste Could Hurt Delta Ecosystem.   June 01, 2008   Sacramento Bee
Sacramento's regional sewage treatment plant discharges treated wastewater from nearly 1.4 million people into the Sacramento River without removing ammonia.

Two recent studies show that ammonia disrupts the food chain in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The discovery, if it holds up to further scientific review, illustrates how fixing the Delta will be a costly task. The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District estimates it needs as much as $1 billion to remove ammonia from the metro area's wastewater. It seems to interrupt a natural food production line that would otherwise yield abundant blooms of tiny aquatic animals to feed salmon, smelt and bass, but those species have been in steady decline.

The ammonia threat was illustrated when dozens of chinook salmon showed up dead in the San Joaquin River near Stockton's sewage outfall. Sacramento's effluent problem is slightly different, the threat is the enormous volume of ammonia-laced wastewater. The plant near Freeport each day releases about 146 million gallons of treated wastewater into the Sacramento River. The Sacramento River is traditionally considered the Delta's lifeblood, because it provides the vast majority of fresh water entering the estuary.

But Sacramento has been growing like gangbusters, and so the water's perhaps not quite clean as we thought.

The ammonia load in Sacramento's wastewater has more than doubled since 1985 due to rapid urbanization and the regional sewer agency is planning a major expansion that includes no ammonia controls.

Sewage officials estimate upgrading to filter out ammonia would cost $740 million. To remove excessive nitrates produced as a byproduct of that treatment would raise the cost to $1 billion.

District engineers estimate these steps would boost sewage rates in the region from $19.75 per month to $62.17.

Growth in Sacramento's ammonia output has coincided with a decline in diatoms, an important phytoplankton at the base of the food chain.

The volume of human wastewater may be starving Delta fish by shutting down food production.

Young fish eat small animals called zooplankton that in turn, feed on diatoms and other phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton require nutrients and enough sunlight to bloom in sufficient numbers. Nitrates are the favored nutrient. Ammonia is another.

Phytoplankton can't feed on nitrates when there is too much ammonia in the water. A toxic type of algae, has begun to replace more nutritious phytoplankton. So ammonia may also encourage the rise of harmful foods.

New studies are under way to confirm whether Sacramento's sewage is the true cause.

"If it's part of the problem, the river just could never handle that amount and reduce it. Sacramento's regional sewage plant uses a so-called "secondary" treatment process that has become outdated. Most other urban areas have upgraded to "tertiary" systems that add rigorous filtration steps.

Sacramento has been able to avoid this expense so far, Snyder said, because its wastewater is quickly diluted to legally acceptable levels by the strong flow of the Sacramento River.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled against the district on a number of points filed by many of the water agencies that divert drinking water from the Delta to serve more than 20 million people throughout California.

The court ruled that the Sacramento district "ignored a significant component of the environment" by failing to fully assess the additional nutrients pumped into the Delta in the region's wastewater.

The ammonia threat can be fixed if further research confirms it to be a danger.

But there is no fix for the predicted sea level rise that could overwhelm Delta levees, nor any practical way to remove foreign species invading the estuary.  rw   Karen Gaia says: how can people be so short-sighted! Duh! If you add more people, you have more impacts of varying sorts. Better to stabilize population by preventing unintended pregnancies in the first place. You can't put people back once they are born (or conceived according to some religions). 023040

U.S.: People Blamed for Water Woes in West.   February 09, 2008   Associated Press
Human activity is responsible for up to 60% of changes contributing to dwindling water supplies in the arid and growing West and those changes are likely to accelerate. This will add to calls for action from Western states competing for the precious resource to irrigate farms and quench the thirst of growing populations. Researchers studied climate changes in the West between 1950-1999 and noted that winter precipitation falls increasingly as rain rather than snow, and river flows decrease in summer, and warming is exacerbating dry summer conditions. They found that most changes in river flow, temperature and snow pack between 1950 and 1999 can be attributed to human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The changes differed significantly from trends due to natural fluctuations between wet and dry periods. The picture is quite grim and suggests the need for conservation, more water storage, and a slowdown on development in the desert Southwest.

The research "foretells of water shortages, lack of storage capability, transfers of water from agricultural to urban uses and other critical impacts."  rw 022697

Atlanta's Role in Drought is Scrutinized.   February 07, 2008   Los Angeles Times
With officials projecting that Atlanta could run out of water within three months, Georgia politicians have pleaded with the Army Corps of Engineers not to release more water from the reservoir as part of an effort to save two species of mussels 200 miles downriver.

Yet there is a growing sense that the metropolis itself is the problem. Atlanta's rapid growth, and its disregard for conservation, is straining the region's ecosystem.

The governors of Florida, Alabama and Georgia agreed to reduce by 16% the amount of water released from Lake Lanier, which would give some relief. But experts say the Southeast's struggles over water resources are far from over.

What has got to be on the table is Atlanta's unrestricted growth and cavalier attitude to water use. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wrote in a letter to President Bush that Florida's $134 million commercial seafood industry depended on the water and added that his state had acted responsibly in enacting water legislation. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley argued that downstream communities and a nuclear-power plant in his state required water, too.

Within Georgia the drought has brought to the fore long-simmering resentment against the booming capital of the New South. There is concern that Atlanta could slake its thirst on Augusta's water supplies. Atlanta is a greedy, poorly designed behemoth of a city incapable of hearing the word 'no' and dealing with it. They cannot bring themselves to tell their constituents that perhaps if they didn't have six bathrooms, it might ease the situation a bit.

While other cities have water-conservation measures, Atlanta, one of the country's fastest-growing metropolitan regions, has been particularly shortsighted.

Atlanta's population climbed to 4.1 million from 2.9 million. Its draw on the water increased to 420 million gallons a day from 320 million. For its drinking water, Atlanta relies almost entirely on Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre man-made reservoir in northern Georgia built in the 1950s.

Not surprisingly, developers and members of the business community rankle at suggestion that the state should introduce legislation to prohibit developers from building if no water is available.  rw   Karen Gaia says: several states do have legislation to prohibit developers from building if no water is available. However, counties often play a shell game with the water to make developers happy. If states where water is a problem were take a careful look at their water supply and were to act responsibly, there would be litttle or no more development allowed. 022685

End of "Water" section, 


Fossil Fuels
Environmentalists Concerned On Effects Of Huge TVA Coal Ash Spill.   December 25, 2008   The Chattanoogan
Environmentalists are expressing concern about the effects of a huge overflow of coal ash from a TVA facility near Harriman, Tn.

Concerns include any possible effect on the drinking water at Chattanooga.TVA officials have not yet responded to the situation. The Kingston spill is 40 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill. Approximately 525 million gallons of coal ash flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee River, the water supply for Chattanooga and millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Coal contains huge amounts of heavy metals, and when coal is burned, the nasty chemicals stick around, in higher concentrations. Coal slurry is toxic.

There has been a campaign for many years against coal sludge impoundment in Sundial, W.Va., which sits 150 feet above the Marsh Fork Elementary School, and holds 2.8 billion gallons. This disaster clearly demonstrates coal is not clean. There is no clean way to burn coal.

The toxic sludge destroyed 12 homes and has already resulted in a fish kill. This catastrophe has released toxins directly into tributaries of the Tennessee River.  rw 023483

US California: PG&E Plans Big Investment in Solar Power.   August 15, 2008   San Francisco Chronicle
PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) will buy 550 megawatts from OptiSolar, who would install thin-film solar panels on 9.5 square miles of ranchland in San Luis Obispo County and buy an additional 250 megawatts from SunPower Corp., that would use an additional 3.5 square miles of San Luis Obispo land.

The purchase could show that photovoltaic power can be affordably produced on a large, centralized scale and makes large-scale solar an increasingly large part of the energy in the West. California's utilities are under a state mandate to generate 20% of their energy from renewable sources.

PG&E received just 11.4% of its energy from renewable sources in 2007, while Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric got 15.7% and 5.2% of their power from renewables.

Together with the 800-megawatt deal, solar contracts would increase renewable energy to 24% of PG&E's portfolio by 2013. Solar power until now has been too expensive for utilities, costing about 40 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with 10 cents for natural gas and 12 cents for wind power. The contracts would not affect electricity rates paid by consumers.

OptiSolar and SunPower said they are able to offer a lower rate than traditional photovoltaic projects for a variety of reasons. Some experts cautioned that there are hurdles to cross before those 800 megawatts of power become a reality.

The plants will need approval from state and local government. Environmentalists will complain because of the amount of land involved. PG&E will have to develop transmission lines to move the power to its customers. And OptiSolar and SunPower will need to finance construction of all those solar cells.

PG&E has said the deals are contingent on Congress reauthorizing tax credits for renewable energy that are due to expire at the end of this year.  rw 023236

US California: Editorial: Climate Plan Must Focus on Fostering Auto Alternatives.   August 08, 2008   San Jose Mercury News
California'S 2006 global-warming law is designed to create environmental progress that can spread throughout the nation.

The law calls for reduced carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. That's the equivalent of taking nearly 30 million cars off California's roads. The draft envisions achieving less than 2% of the goal through policies that would encourage people to walk or take alternative forms of transportation.

Silicon Valley residents urge a more aggressive strategy.

San Jose's land-use policies aim to create more neighborhoods that offer alternatives to the car, whether walking, biking or taking buses or trains. But reshaping communities that grew through sprawl takes years. The state needs to encourage this transformation. To make a difference in 10, 20 or 30 years, the air board needs to set aggressive goals now.  rw   Ralph says: As a boy I lived for years in a rural community with only bicycles for transport. It was a happy place to live. Karen Gaia says: if we don't want disaster, we must start getting people out of their cars now. Save the oil for critical things, because it will be some time before there are viable options. 023239

McCain Touts His Nuclear Plans at Reactor Site.   August 06, 2008   Los Angeles Times
John McCain supports nuclear power, which he argues must be part of America's energy future.

He toured the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant, a 1,100-megawatt boiling water reactor on the shores of Lake Erie.

A nearby reactor was decommissioned in 1975 after a partial fuel meltdown that caused no injuries.

But soaring prices have pushed energy to the top of voters' concerns, and the Arizona senator has focused his campaign efforts at highlighting his policies -- and criticizing Barack Obama.

Sen. Obama has said that expanding our nuclear power plants doesn't make sense for America. He also says no to nuclear storage and no to nuclear processing. "I could not disagree more." said McCain.

Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "supports safe and secure nuclear energy. . . . However, before an expansion of nuclear power is considered, Obama thinks key issues must be addressed, including: security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation."

McCain supports entombing spent fuel at Yucca Mountain, in the Nevada desert, while Obama opposes using the mountain facility.

McCain also has called for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, as is widely done in France and other countries. Obama says experts must first solve safety and security concerns.

The Energy Department on Tuesday released a report that concluded it would cost $96.2 billion to research, build and operate Yucca Mountain until it closes in 2133, a 38% increase from a 2001 estimate. Part of that increase is based on a projection that it would need to store 30% more nuclear waste, requiring a major expansion of the planned facility.

In his remarks to reporters, McCain again pledged to build 45 new nuclear plants by 2030, a sharp increase over the nation's 104 operating commercial reactors.

McCain has not explained how he would achieve that goal. Although the federal government already provides generous tax incentives and loan guarantees, no utility has begun construction on a new nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in western Pennsylvania in 1979 led to more federal regulations and local opposition.

Polls show the anti-nuclear fervor of the 1980s and 1990s has cooled considerably. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received 10 new license applications since September 2007, and officials said they expected to have 18 by the end of the year.

Detroit Edison, the owner and operator here, has made tentative plans to construct a third reactor nearby. But licensing and construction of a new nuclear power plant "could take as many as 11 years to complete."

A reporter asked McCain how he would build the new plants in only 22 years. "It can take five years to build a nuclear power plant. You can ask our folks here."  rw 023222

Coastal Governors Stand in the Way of Offshore Drilling, Even If Congress Approves it.   August 04, 2008   Grist Magazine
President Bush repeats his call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. Interior Secretary Kempthorne said that his department is laying the groundwork so offshore drilling in new areas could begin in three years.

But many of the untapped offshore areas would likely remain off-limits. GOP leaders all say that states should decide whether to open their shorelines to drilling. But many governors in coastal states are saying, "No, thanks!"

Some 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico were opened up to drilling two years ago, so Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi don't matter in this debate.

What's at stake is an estimated 18 billion barrels of oil off the coasts of other states.

Some 10 billion is in Californian waters, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants it left alone. Chances are slim that Arnie and other state lawmakers would permit drilling near their shores. Gov. Gregoire (D) and Oregon Gov. Kulongoski (D) want to fight for more offshore drilling.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) and North Carolina Gov. Easley (D) spoke against offshore drilling, citing the damage it could do to their states' tourism, real estate, and natural resources.

Maine Gov. Baldacci (D) and other political leaders say "no way," fearing for their state's fishing industry and environment. Massachusetts tried offshore drilling and found there wasn't much oil plus opposition to drilling is "fierce." Maryland's governor is opposed.

It's proved politically unpopular in Virginia. Florida Republicans have backed McCain's drilling call, and a number of Florida voters are shifting in the same direction. Public support for drilling has jumped from 50% to 60%. Most Democratic leaders in the state remain bitterly opposed.

About 57% of Americans would support drilling in places currently off limits if it would bring down gas prices.

Economists and energy experts say drilling wouldn't do a dang thing for prices in the short term, and very little in the long term.  rw 023219

Exxon�s Second-Quarter Earnings Set a Record.   August 01, 2008   New York Times*
Exxon Mobil reported the best quarterly profit ever for a corporation. Record earnings for Exxon have become routine as the surge of oil prices filled its coffers. The company's income for the second quarter rose 14%, to $11.68 billion, compared to the same period a year ago. Exxon's profits were nearly $90,000 a minute over the quarter, but it was less than Wall Street had expected. Exxon's shares fell 4.6%.

The disappointment from investors put pressure on Exxon Mobil's chief executive to search for new fields. The sell-off in Exxon stock continued a trend as oil and natural gas prices have fallen sharply from record levels. But problems surfaced in the company's report, a 10% drop in oil production and a 3% decline in natural gas production from the second quarter of 2007.

The production decrease was viewed with concern by energy analysts. "High commodity prices are driving the record earnings, not growth in production.

Crude oil prices in the second quarter averaged 91% higher than the same quarter in 2007. Natural gas prices averaged $10.80 for every thousand cubic feet, up 43% from a year ago. Exxon earned $10 billion in the quarter from exploration and production, up from $6 billion a year ago. But the company's $1.6 billion in profit from refining was less than half that in last year's quarter. Earnings from its chemical business of $687 million were down $326 million from last year.

The company intendeds to disburse $125 billion in capital spending over the next five years to produce more oil and natural gas.

Royal Dutch Shell, Eni and Repsol, three of Europe's largest oil companies, also reported strong profits. Shell reported its output had declined by 1.6%. Repsol's by nearly 20% percent. Shell, reported a 33% increase to $11.56 billion, from $8.67 billion in the period a year ago.

Oil companies are under pressure to find new reserves.

Adding together the output of all the major oil companies, this appears to be the fourth straight quarter of production declines. The total decline might exceed 600,000 barrels a day, reflecting the difficulties the oil companies had in gaining access to make up for the decline of mature fields.

Exxon's production tumbled because of Venezuela's expropriation of Exxon's assets last year, and declining production in many fields around the world.

Democrats in Congress were quick to criticize Exxon's profit. "Big Oil is plowing profits into stock buybacks instead of increasing production.

Exxon said oil companies needed the profits to search for more oil and gas and that Congress needs to give us access to those areas that are currently off limits to the industry.  rw 023216

U.S.: Funds for Highways Plummet As Drivers Cut Gasoline Use.   July 28, 2008   The Wall Street Journal
A report shows that over the past seven months, Americans have reduced their driving by more than 40 billion miles. The cutback furthers reducing oil consumption and curbing emissions. But it means consumers are paying less in fuel taxes, which finance highway and mass-transit systems. As a result, many such projects may have to be pared down or eliminated.

Surging costs for construction materials already are straining state and local transportation budgets and make it more expensive to maintain roads, bridges and rail networks.

About 25% of bridges in the U.S. are either "functionally obsolete" or "structurally deficient."

Moreover, the pavement is rated "not acceptable" on one of every seven miles of the nation's roads. About $225 billion a year is needed to meet the country's transportation infrastructure needs. Current spending is about 40% of that level.

On top of the gasoline tax, at 18.4 cents a gallon, the states charge their own gasoline taxes, which are typically slightly above the federal rate.

The administration is expected to project a deficit of $5 billion or more in the Highway Trust Fund for next year. The trust historically has run a surplus.

A memo estimates that the states will lose about $14 billion and 380,000 jobs if Congress doesn't act soon.

The House passed a bill targeting $8 billion for highway and mass-transit projects and it has a good chance of clearing the Senate. The House designated an additional $1 billion for bridge repair.

A debate is expected next year as Congress considers a six-year transportation bill that could authorize more than $400 billion in spending.

The goal would give states flexibility to set transportation spending, while making it easier for them to tap private-sector dollars. Also it asks Congress to loosen restrictions on new tolls on interstate highways.

A big question will be what to do about the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for the promises in each transportation bill and should a greater share of transportation dollars go to other nonhighway options.

An Oregon Democrat who is leading efforts to solve the "transportation funding crisis," is hoping the presidential candidates will offer their views.

Sen. Barack Obama, proposed a $60 billion national infrastructure bank that would fund projects that could improve transportation.

With driving down, the number of people riding Amtrak has risen 11% and mass-transit systems in many areas are experiencing ridership increases of 30% or more.

Mississippi is diverting money from new road improvement projects toward simple maintenance of existing roads.

Many consumers are altering their travel patterns, forcing auto makers to overhaul their plans and straining the capacity of many transit systems.  rw   Karen Gaia says: if we don't step up transportation alternatives, we are going to be caught in a transportation shortage when the demand grows again with population growth. Americans can cut back to some degree, but there will be a time in the near future when alternatives will be needed. 023207

End of "Fossil Fuels" section, 


Pollution and Global Warming
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone.   October 20, 2009   IntroToEppFall09.blogspot.com
As the population of the world grows, so does our demand for food and thus the need for large scale agriculture, which in turn demands fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides for crops and large confined animal facilities to raise livestock.

In the U.S., the runoff from farms along the Mississippi river of waste water and fertilizer, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, pour billions of pounds of excess nutrients into the Gulf of Mexico, creating a dead zone, where waters rich in mineral and organic nutrients promote the growth of algae, reducing the dissolved oxygen content and causing the extinction of fish and other marine life starting from the mouth of the Mississippi River and spanning sometimes all the way to the Texas border.

The Dead Zone was first recorded in the early 1970's. It originally occurred every two to three years, but now occurs annually, and over the past five years has covered 6,000 square miles.

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries that generate about $2.8 billion per year. Commercial fishermen are forced to fish elsewhere or stop altogether. Some species of HABs have been proven to cause negative health effects on humans. Advancements in science and management have been made, yet no real difference has been made to the size of the dead zones. 024311

US Oregon: Emission Goals Prove Elusive; as Population Grows, Caps on Greenhouse Gases Look Hard to Reach.   September 17, 2009   Portland Tribune
In Tualatin Oregon, the nation's first highway solar project has operated since 2008, but it may not be enough to meet future demand, due to population growth.

While the state of Oregon and the city of Portland have goals to reduce emissions believed to cause global warming, Portland General Electric says it needs to increase greenhouse gas emissions from its power plants to meet customer demand for additional energy during the next 20 years.

Environmentalists complain that PGE and the council are not trying hard enough to fight global warming, but the projections are consistent with what governments and utilities have experienced as they�ve tried to reduce greenhouse gases.

Portland was supposed to reduce emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2010. Emissions have fallen approximately 17% per capita since 2001, but due to population growth, the net reduction is likely to be 1 to 3% below 1990 levels � and some of that will be the result of the recession that curtailed driving, construction and employment.

Japan ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, promising to cut its emissions by 6% below 1990 levels. But Japan�s emissions are at a 16% above its reduction goals.

In its Draft Integrated Resource Plan, PGE predicted that population and job growth will increase electricity demand within its service district by 2.3% a year � or 20% by 2020. Some of the increases can be met by conservation, energy efficiency and new renewable energy resources, including wind and solar power.

To meet demand on peak days, PGE must increase its share of the power produced by the coal-burning plant in Boardman and build two new natural gas-powered plants.

The Sierra Club denounced the draft, but PGE must have reliable power sources to meet peak demands.

The population in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana is predicted to increase around 1% a year, driving up energy demand.

The draft estimates that conservation measures can meet only 85% of future demand growth.

The 2007 Legislature approved emission reduction goals 10% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 75% below 1990 levels by 2050. But the 2009 Legislature did not approve a cap-and-trade policy to help meet those goals.

The Portland City Council and Multnomah County commissioners want to cut emissions in the county 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. As currently written, it predicts that in the future, conservation and energy efficiency measures can more than overcome the effects of population growth. 024158

Artificial Sweeteners May Contaminate Water Downstream of Sewage Treatment Plants and Even Drinking Water.   June 18, 2009   Science Daily
Artificial sweeteners are not removed completely from waste water by sewage treatment plants, and contaminate waters downstream and may still be present in our drinking water. Four commonly used artificial sweeteners, acesulfame, saccharin, cyclamate, and sucralose were found to be present in German waste and surface water. Both traditional and soil aquifer treatments were examined. 024008
U.S.: Mines to Get Freer Hand to Dump Waste; New Rule Eases Water Protections.   October 20, 2008   Washington Post
The Interior Department is poised to issue a rule that will make it easier for mining companies to dump their waste near rivers and streams. This overhauls a 1983 regulation protecting water quality and marks a step over how companies should dispose of the rubble created. The rule will take effect after a 30-day review. For 25 years, the government has prohibited mining operators from dumping debris within 100 feet of any stream if the material harms the water quality or reduces its flow.

Mining companies have frequently disregarded the law. The revised rule calls on companies to avoid the 100-foot stream buffer zone "or show why avoidance is not possible."

The agency said the change would have a "slightly positive" effect on the environment "because it requires coal mining operations to minimize certain impacts. But the implications of this ruling are devastating.

Mountaintop-removal mining is used widely in West Virginia and Kentucky, and provides access to low-sulfur coal seams but generates large amounts of waste. President Clinton pushed to restrict dumping of mining waste but left office before enacting changes. The Bush administration has been seeking to rewrite the law.

EPA administrator Johnson must certify that the environmental impact statement is adequate. Environmental groups will fight the regulation in court.  rw   Karen Gaia says: when we were rich, we could afford to mitigate the impacts of population. Now that our economy is failing, we are even having trouble funding family planning. But there is a perceived need the coal because we are depleting oil and we haven't acted fast enough on renewables. 023299

U.S.: How Ike Scarred the Terrain; the Hurricane Ravaged the Texas Gulf Coast Two Weeks Ago, but the Damage it Did to Wildlife and Waterways Could Last Years.   September 30, 2008   Houston Chronicle
Migratory birds might not find refuge for a while on the Boliver peninsular. Hurricane Ike stripped the trees. Ike caused environmental damage to Southeast Texas, ripping through the barrier islands, washing debris into Galveston Bay and the Gulf, and imperiling animals, fish and plants by pouring saltwater into marshes.

The upper Texas coast is under stress because of development, rising seas and sinking land. This has led to the erosion of the shoreline, by as much as 10 feet each year. The dunes and marshes reduce the strength of wind and waves and without the buffer, storms can do more damage.

The recent development boom along the coast won't help because dams and levees are stealing much of the sediment that once replenished marshes and barrier beaches.

As a general rule, every mile or two of wetlands, or any other kind of land, will reduce a storm surge by a foot. The surge destroyed grasses for grazing cattle and other vegetation.

Up to 20 miles inland, post-Ike samples showed salt levels 25 parts per thousand in water that usually has no salinity. There is concern over the plight of a variety of birds that stop for a meal of fish along the upper Texas coast on their way south for the winter.

Among the rookeries on the Bolivar Peninsula, the Houston Audubon Society's sanctuaries are covered with debris from destroyed houses and boats.

Debris and untreated sewage in Galveston Bay and the bayous around Greater Houston are sucking the oxygen out of the water, leaving little or none for marine life.

The city of Houston estimated that as much as 5 million gallons, or 2 percent, of the sewage processed daily flowed into the bayous because of Ike-related power outages. While state and federal authorities have reported 2,221 spills of oil and other hazardous materials from Houston to Lake Charles, La., none of them is considered major.  rw 023278

U.S.: Top Story Northeast States' Regional Carbon Trading System Goes Live This Week.   September 24, 2008   Grist Magazine
Twenty-four states are working on cap-and-trade" along with four large Canadian provinces. The northeastern states' Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) offers a "modest" start. It requires a 10% reduction in emissions by power plants by 2019.

RGGI's supporters say the program will generate millions of dollars that the states have pledged to use to boost energy efficiency. And set a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

The program's western counterpart led by California and embracing seven states and four Canadian provinces, the initiative will require power plants and industries to cut emissions by 15% by 2020. In 2015, it will cover emissions from transportation, residential, and commercial fuel use.

An initial blueprint requires industry to start measuring their greenhouse-gas emissions in about two years. A program in the Midwest last year started planning a cap-and-trade program for six more states and Manitoba. These initiatives will bring pressure on the next U.S. president to create a uniform national cap-and-trade program.

RGGI say a chief achievement was the decision to auction off 100% of the allowances that power plants will need. Under the RGGI program, 223 power plants in the Northeast will have to buy allowances for all their C02 emissions. Power plants will have six years to stabilize emissions. The program applies to Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maryland.

Plants that do not meet the goals may be able to purchase "offsets" from projects that create carbon dioxide reductions. But the use of offsets will be restricted to 3.3 percent of a power plant's emissions. Energy consumption remained roughly flat in the Northeast, and carbon emissions from the power plants are expected to be about 9 percent below 2009.

The program requires $1.86 per ton for power plant emissions, which will encourage power producers and their larger customers to consider alternative power sources.

Customers will see their electricity bills rise by an amount that depends on the final price of the allowances.

Energy efficiency programs will be funded by the auctions and help consumers reduce their bills.

After the RGGI states have stabilized power sector carbon emissions, the cap will be reduced each year from 2015 through 2018.  rw 023259

End of "Pollution and Global Warming" section, 


Garbage
U.S.: As Landfills Close in Big Cities, Garbage Travels Farther.   July 12, 2005   USA Today
The trains from the Harlem River rail yard are filled with garbage and are part of an armada that performs a nearly constant exodus of waste from the nation's largest city. Each day, they carry 50,000 tons of trash from New York to landfills and incinerators in New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina. In 2003, nearly a quarter of all municipal trash crossed state lines for disposal Congressional Research Service. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now pushing to extend his city's trash, putting garbage on barges that could be shipped up and down the East Coast. The plan is fueling a fresh round of debate in places that could be potential destinations. At issue is the smell and the threat to the environment. New York transports more than 1,300 tons of garbage each day to Fox Township, Pa., 130 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Living near the landfill isn't bad because it's hard to smell or see from the street. But the landfill's protective liners won't hold up forever and 50, years from now, they'll be saying, 'What were those guys thinking, allowing this to be built in this community?. New York's new disposal plan is being watched in Virginia, which imported 7.8 million tons of garbage last year, up 67% from 1997. The issue has been contentious since laws to slow the importation of trash were struck down by the courts. Officials in the Portsmouth area are considering a port that could receive up to 2,500 tons of waste a day from New York with a fee for every ton brought in, generating $1 million per year, plus $7 million more if enough went to an existing incinerator. "We're rich," executive Keller said, noting the township has bought new police cars and fire trucks with trash tipping fees. "We have millions of dollars in the bank." The risks for these communities are few, said Mickey Flood, chief executive of IESI Corp., a Fort Worth company that owns landfills throughout the eastern part of the country. Standard landfills don't accept hazardous materials and waste is also transported in sealed containers that are designed to be leak-proof. All water that touches garbage is required to be treated for pollutants. Still, problems arise. In December 2003, two schools near a landfill in Pennsylvania temporarily shut down when an overwhelming stink made it impossible for students to concentrate. Investigators blamed decaying gypsum board and made adjustments to a system that extracts vapors and burns them off. "Transporting garbage so far away means that the people that generate it don't have to deal with it, and where is their incentive to create less of it?"  rw   Soon there will be no 'there' to ship waste to. 014570
U.S.: Closed Military Bases Can Leave Behind Pollution Problems.   March 29, 2005   Scripps Howard News Service
Only a small fraction of the site of the army's Fort Ord in California has been developed because of scarce and contaminated freshwater; the presence of endangered species; fear that development would increase sprawl and traffic; and unexploded munitions. With the Defense Department poised to release a new round of base-closures, possibly the largest number ever, the lesson from Fort Ord is that they can harbor environmental hurdles. While they may have a grand vision of what this property can become, the reality is that decades of working with weaponry and toxic substances has left the Defense Department with tracts of land that are unfit for most kinds of human habitation without costly environmental cleanup. Unexploded ordnance contaminates an estimated 10 million acres. There is not great technology for finding unexploded ordnance, people have to dig and walk the land using metal detectors. The Defense Department has spent nearly $12 billion on environmental cleanup at bases closed during previous closures. A third of the land at closed bases has yet to be converted to civilian control primarily because of contamination; there are still a lot of challenging environmental cleanup projects left. Some communities have had an easier time, and more than 10,000 people live and work in new communities on the former Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. In less desirable areas, finding replacements for the tax base generated by closed installations can be a struggle for local officials. In low-income neighborhoods bordering the former Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, nearly 300 purple crosses have been erected in front of homes where residents are afflicted with or have died of cancer. Residents want the Air Force to clean up a plume of toxic chemicals in the groundwater. Federal studies have found no link between pollution and local health problems but a recent study did not rule out the possibility.  rw    013342
Kentucky Sewage System Worst in Nation.   September 11, 2003   Lexington Herald-Leader
Kentucky is last in in national rankings on education, income, and now plumbing. 40% of Kentucky homes rely on septic tanks or "straight pipes" that discharge waste into streams and rivers. Ridding the state of "straight pipes" could cost $3 billion, but the main problem is lack of information to find these pipes. Eastern Kentucky PRIDE is a program that funds sewage treatment plants and sewer lines.  rw    007852
US Rhode Island: Locals Pour Energy Into Cleansing Water.   June 30, 2003   Washington Post
The Blackstone River in Rhode Island has suffered 200 years of pollution. Over the past 30 years volunteers hauled tons of trash from the river, more than two dozen dams were brought down, and fish species rose from 2 to 36. New parks have been built along the river's banks, old mills converted into housing, and plans prepared for riverside hotels and eateries. There are problems to be tackled of stormwater runoff, sewage drainage, toxic sediments, but Blackstone boosters aim to make the river safe for fishing and swimming by 2015.  rw    007161
End of "Garbage" section, 


Exploitation
 
End of "Exploitation" section, 
U.S. Population News of WOA!! World Population Awareness
U.S. Population News
August 13, 2010

What Drives U.S. Population Growth?.   December 23, 2002   Patrick Burns
Between 1990 and 2000, 33 million people were added to the U.S. population, 40% from immigration. 67% of future U.S. population growth will be due to immigrants and their progeny. Differential mortality and fertility rates between Canada and the U.S. can be attributed to the Canadian health care system as folks are more likely to seek treatment in that country than they are in the U.S. The Canadian government prevents drug company price-gouging, so more women in Canada are likely to be using the Pill which costs half as much as in the U.S. and is used much more often in that nation. The U.S. will add 140 million people by 2050. The fertility rate in the U.S. was higher than that of 70 other countries, including China, Korea, Thailand, Iran, Cuba, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

The population of illegal immigrants is larger than the population of many states. In 1980, the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy proposed a cap on immigrants of 425,000 per year. Some conservative senators thought the numbers were too high and opposed an amnesty for illegal immigrants. In 1986, an amnesty was passed without a cap on legal immigrants. Legal immigration is over twice the level called for in the above-cited amendment. Population growth makes other environmental problems harder to solve. 33 million more people requires over 12 million housing units, 15.8 million more passenger cars that will consume about 825 million barrels of oil a year, all of the recoverable oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in less than four years. Over 75 million acres of forest will be needed to supply 33 million people with paper and wood, an area larger than that protected under the forest conservation rule.  rw    005835

Can We Save California's Water?.   February 23, 2008   AlterNet
An effort is under way to save The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California's least-known environmental jewel, a unique ecological, economic and cultural resource. The Delta is also a source of drinking water for two-thirds of California's 37 million residents.

The Delta is in crisis. The levees providing flood protection and secure water supplies are crumbling. The complex system by which water is moved through the Delta is over-subscribed and under the jurisdiction of federal and state court judges.

Seismologists predict a one-in-three chance of a catastrophic earthquake in the next 50 years that would damage or destroy major portions of the levee system and revert the Delta to an inland salt sea. Federal experts warn that Sacramento is now the most flood-prone city in the nation, exceeding New Orleans.

There is agreement that the Delta is unsustainable and unacceptable. Political gridlock has prevented California's leaders from fashioning a solution, and those problems have mushroomed into a crisis as government leaders have failed to act.

Governor Schwarzenegger appointed a Delta Vision Task Force to develop an independent vision for the Delta. The seven-member group began its work last March, advised by expert scientists and a group of stakeholders reflecting every conceivable interest. The resulting Delta Vision, recommends state actions approved unanimously. but will not be universally popular. It speaks some harsh truths, notably, that each day brings California closer to a major disaster. Task Force members noted that "what the nation learned from New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina is the terrible price of waiting."

Protection of the Delta's ecosystem and a reliable water supply for California should be primary goals. Among recommendations sure to spark controversy:

Repairing the Delta is likely to require reduced water diversions -- or changes in the pattern and timing of diversions; New, coordinated water conveyance and storage facilities are needed. Conservation and water system efficiency are the cornerstones of better water management; Urbanization must be halted, and the landscape should be dominated by agricultural, environmental and recreational uses. The locally-dominated governing structure must be changed, in favor of a single authority.

The Task Force is embarking on fashioning a plan it has presented to California's political leaders. That promises to be equally daunting. But the future of the Delta, and those who depend on it, will require equally bold thinking and actions in 2008.  rw 022852

Gore Warns of Dangers of Sacrificing Science to Ideology.   November 03, 2006   Associated Press
America is inviting problems when it disregards science and reason in favor of ideology and power, Gore told a Planned Parenthood gatherin. He suggested the country's leaders had ignored warnings from generals who said invading Iraq with too small of a force invited disaster, and warnings from meteorologists before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

"I believe the climate crisis can only be solved by addressing the democracy crisis," he said. The event raised over $300,000 for Planned Parenthood.

Gore asserted that the opposition Planned Parenthood encounters comes because its foes set aside science, reason and logic.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life contends its positions are supported by science. It's a scientific fact that a unique human being begins life at conception, we believe life needs to be protected.

Planned Parenthood operates 23 clinics in Minnesota and two in South Dakota that serve nearly 60,000 patients per year.  rw 019337

US Alabama: Population Growth Outstrips Fire Departments.   February 06, 2006  
Fire departments are growing to provide services in Shelby County, where the population has nearly doubled since 1990. Pelham and Helena will spend more than $1 million to pay salaries and buy gear for two new fire stations. Calera has added a third station, but didn't get a federal grant to pay the $500,000 to hire 10 to 13 firefighters. Almost 7,800 new homes will have been built including 3,315 new single-family dwellings. Chief of the Shelby Fire Department, said fire departments are drained as the population expands. But almost all others outside Alabama's largest cities fall short of national standards that say a fire department will be within 1.5 miles of a built-up area and that 90% of the time the team responding within four minutes include four trained firefighters. Impact fees and developers can bring money for a station, but city revenues or outside grants, would have to pay for personnel and gear. The Chief of Columbiana's volunteer fire department said that we have 30 volunteers, and as long as we have no money, we'll stay that way. The North Shelby department has 26 full-time and 12 part-time staffers, a number not within the national staffing standard. Fire departments try to turn to options that won't add a burdensome cost. Wider use of mutual-aid agreements allows other cities to respond to emergencies near jurisdictional lines.  rw    016372
Infant Mortality on the Rise in Texas; in Travis County, Rate Increased by 33 Percent From 2000 to 2003 .   November 12, 2005   Statesman
Almost 2,500 Texas babies died before their first birthdays in 2003, a 17% increase since 2000. More than 377,000 were born in Texas in 2003; a mortality rate of 6.6 per 1,000 births, compared with 5.8 in 2000. An important factor is the mother's access to prenatal care. About 30% of babies born to black or Hispanic mothers receive little or no prenatal care. Research has shown that with more prenatal visits early on, mothers have better nutrition, can better monitor their babies' growth and can keep at bay some of the problems that happen during pregnancy. Causes include birth defects, prematurity, sudden infant death syndrome and accidents, but it's hard to know why infant mortality is becoming more common. Texas cut maternity coverage for some patients on Medicaid, but experts caution against linking such cuts to the rise in infant mortality. One factor is the increasing number of multiple births, which have become more common because of in-vitro fertilization. That means that more babies are born prematurely. The high incidence of infant mortality among African Americans follows nationwide trends. Too many African American babies are being born too soon and doctors aren't sure why. The Texas March of Dimes launched an initiative to increase awareness of premature births among African American women, who are twice as likely to deliver prematurely than white women. Premature birth is the leading cause. The report found more than one in five children, 1.3 million, live below the federal poverty level. The report shows improving conditions for Texas teenagers: The dropout rate declined by 46% from 2000 to 2004 and the birth rate declined by 10% from 2000 to 2003. The rate of violent deaths was down by 33% from 1990 to 2003.  rw    015620
U.S.: We Talk Up Women's Rights but Won't Ratify Equality Amendment?.   November 15, 2005   Herald-Tribune (US)
72% of U.S. citizens believe the Equal Rights Amendment is a part of our Constitution; however, the required 38 states never ratified the ERA. The amendment was proposed in 1923, but it wasn't until 1943 that Congress provided "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification." On March 22, 1972, the proposed amendment was sent to all states for ratification. By 1982, 35 states had ratified the amendment but 38 is the number needed and we are three states short. Last May 6, concurrent resolutions supporting ratification of the ERA died in both the Florida Senate and House of Representatives. Because both resolutions died in committee, neither made it to the floor. But all is not lost we must become engaged and call, fax, write or e-mail our representatives and senators, and let them know we support the ERA being a part of our Constitution.  rw    015643
Women's Rights Fading in U.S.?.   August 26, 2005   Detroit Free Press
In 1920, U.S. women won the right to vote but other rights are in peril. The right to birth control and abortion is under ceaseless attack by religious conservatives. Roe v. Wade has been chipped at by parental-notification and consent laws, 24-hour waiting periods and other requirements. Two-thirds of states deny abortion coverage to needy women. Abortion providers are found in only 13% of counties nationwide. Since 1993, antiabortion zealots have killed seven abortion physicians, clinic workers and volunteers as part of the campaign against abortion rights. Foes of abortion are targeting the right to contraception. Efforts to make emergency contraception available over-the-counter nationwide have stalled. A majority of states do not require insurance companies to cover contraception. As a senior legal adviser to President Ronald Reagan, Roberts once endorsed a controversial service for aborted fetuses as "an entirely appropriate means of calling attention to the abortion tragedy." The lack of women's status and value is clear from the Democratic capitulation on Roberts' nomination. Senators should be objecting to Roberts on the basis that his appointment would ensure only one female justice on a court of nine. The Canadian Supreme Court, has four women justices out of nine. Why should U.S. women, be so underrepresented on our nation's high court?  rw    015063
U.S.: 1 in 20.   August 17, 2005   Washington Post
In the US, 1 out of every 1,000 people are HIV-positive. In the capital, it's closer to 1 in 20 - an estimate calculated using a formula based on national trends. If the District were a country, it would rank 11th in the world in between Mozambique (1 in 14) and Tanzania (1 in 23). Few statistics are available on the number of HIV cases in the District. The city's HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) does report AIDS cases, but it has not yet published information about HIV infections and how they were transmitted. HAA ought to have at least three years' worth of HIV data. Why not release it? Part of the problem is staffing shortages. New leadership should direct resources to existing clinics where same-day HIV tests should be offered; to public schools so youth can receive information on how to prevent the spread of the disease; and to treatment providers in need of assistance in navigating the complicated grant process. The District's failure to produce data as well as the mismanagement of programs put funding, and lives at risk.  rw    014952
U.S.: All for Want of a Few Veggies.   June 09, 2005   Portland Tribune
A Bay Area-based group called SustainLane was set to rank Portland the No. 1 city in sustainability practices. But new information emerged, and San Francisco is 1st, and Portland is 2nd. Portland, San Francisco and other cities are achieving things that are incredible in environmental protection and renewable energy. Saltzman said that whether Portland is No. 1 or No. 2, he’s glad to see other cities follow Portland’s sustainability with economic development. SustainLane, a for-profit group that specializes in gathering information on sustainable practices, collected data from 20 public and private organizations for the survey. It ranked 25 cities in 12 of transportation, air quality, drinking water quality, food and agriculture, land use, zoning, planning, green building, energy, solid waste, city innovation and knowledge base. Berkeley took third place and Seattle fourth. Portland and San Francisco are in a class by themselves. SustainLane launched a Web site that targets Portland and other West Coast cities with resources and community discussions on things such as how to build a greenhouse and thoughts on owning a hybrid Toyota Prius.  rw    013970
Family Planning Losing, Anti-Abortion Gaining.   May 19, 2005   San Antonio Express-News (US)
Almost $5 million will be cut from health services and given to groups that counsel women against abortion in Texas. Another $20 million will be diverted from family planning programs. The shift was criticized as shortsighted by family planning groups that said the $100 million their programs receive every two years is enough to serve only 25 percent of eligible women. Lawmakers hate abortion but are creating an environment where it will happen. Romberg criticized shifting $5 million to crisis pregnancy centers, while family planning programs offer contraceptive services as well as diagnose diabetes, cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. Proponents of the funding shift said crisis pregnancy centers could provide services for women who don't want an abortion. Those centers offer counseling for women who want to carry their baby to term. The budget move came before the Senate approved a measure requiring pregnant teenagers to obtain their parents' written consent to have an abortion. On the family planning side, the loss of $2.5 million a year will mean 3%, will not be able to receive those services. Federally qualified health centers offer family planning services, but shifting $20 million from current providers to those centers will put existing clinics in danger of closing down or cutting back their services. The centers draw down a high federal match to serve patients in medically underserved areas.  rw    013728
Requested Sterilization Often Not Performed.   March 31, 2005   Reuters Health
Only about half the women who desire sterilization following delivery undergo the procedure. The findings are based on a study of 712 women who desired postpartum sterilization between March 2002 and November 2003. 327 of the women did not undergo the operation. In addition to young age and African American race, a sterilization request in the second trimester rather than in the first or third, and a vaginal delivery rather than a C-section, were also factors that predicted sterilization would not be performed.  rw    013362
U.S. Leads in Sexually Transmitted Disease Rate.   February 08, 2005   HealthDay News
Early death and disability attributed to risky sexual behavior are three times higher in the U.S. than other developed nations. This precludes the AIDS in many African countries. American men die as a result of having a sexually transmitted disease, but more cases are reported in American women. A survey found that half of all deaths in the U.S. in 1990 were attributable to nine factors that included sexual behavior that accounted for 30,000 deaths. The new study doesn't provided a complete picture, given that STD's are associated with infertility, psychological trauma and stigma. Also factored in were premature deaths and "disability adjusted life years" (DALYs), indicating years cut short by premature death and loss of healthy living years as a result of disability. In 1998, sexual behavior accounted for about 20 million adverse health consequences, equivalent to more than 7,500 per 100,000 people and 29,782 deaths 1.3% of all deaths. Sixty-two% of "adverse health consequences" and 57% of "disability adjusted life years" were among women. Curable infections and their consequences accounted for more than half of these health problems. Viral infections mostly HIV accounted for almost all deaths among men and women. 66% more men than women died due to STD's but if HIVS were not considered, then 89% of deaths attributed to sexual behavior would have been among women. HIVS was the leading cause of death among men, while cervical cancer and HIV were the leading causes of death among women. Everybody is having sex in the world, but some places have a low HIV prevalence. Not everybody is getting tested for HIV. The consequences of "sexual behavior are totally preventable, if you have protected or safe sex, you are not going to have these.  rw    012786
Make Research on Black Infant Deaths a Top Priority; State and Federal Governments Must Cooperate to Find Causes and Remedies for High Mortality Rate.   December 21, 2004   Detroit News
State and federal officials need to expedite programs to reduce the infant mortality rate among black families which is higher than whites, and studies are underway to determine why. For every 1,000 black children born in suburban Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, 19 will not survive their first year. The comparable figure for whites is 5. The problem is a complex knot of social and economic factors. In Pontiac, a quarter of the population is poor, while black families in Southfield have higher incomes. But African-American infants die at high rates in both cities. A federal grant and 10-year contracts totaling more than $100 million, are supporting infant mortality studies, but a lot is already known, thanks to previous work. Stresses during pregnancy including being poor, contribute to the problem, compounded with the pregnancy being unintended. Of 1,600 women who gave birth in 1996, 44% were unintended. Black infants die at high rates in Southfield, even though black there have incomes better than the regional average. Other factors including cultural differences and matters of assimilation. New studies should determine the precise causes and develop effective solutions.  rw    012503
More Women Opting Against Birth Control.   January 04, 2005   Washington Post
Buried in the government's latest analysis of contraceptive use was that the number of women who had sex in the previous three months - but did not use birth control - rose from 5.2% in 1995 to 7.4% in 2002. That means 11% are at risk of unintended pregnancy. The increase is significant and that merits further study. Although unintended pregnancies can be welcome surprises, the danger from a public health and societal standpoint is that many of the women are financially or psychologically unprepared for parenthood. Half of all unintended pregnancies occur among the more than 95% of women who used contraception. That means the other half of unintended pregnancies came from the population not using birth control. The pill is the popular choice, followed by sterilization. Preliminary information found a slight increase in the birth rate in 2003, most notably in women older than 30. Because the number of uninsured has increased, these women might find the cost of contraceptives burdensome as since 2001, the number of uninsured Americans has risen by 4 million. It is unconscionable that women have a co-pay of $20 or $25 a month for contraceptives and men are getting off scot-free. Drug companies "have cut way back" on free samples. Many physicians put partial blame on federally funded abstinence-only education that prohibit discussion of contraceptives. Women don't want to use birth control because of the side effects and a lot of men refuse to use a condom. A growing number of women, especially teenagers, are using condoms with another form of contraception. This suggests they are concerned about preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.  rw    012547
USA in a Fragile State of Health, Report Says Obesity, Infant Mortality Slow Progress Since 2000.   November 08, 2004   USA Today
After 15 years of improvements, progress in health in the US has stalled. Obesity and infant mortality are the primary problems. An analysis of indicators reveals that healthy strides are slowing. Driven partly by smoking-reduction programs, the nation became 17% healthier since 1990, but since 2000, improvements leveled off, rising only 0.2% each year. The growth in obesity is up 97% since 1990 and threatens the nation's health. Nearly 23% of the population has a body mass index of 30 or higher, which is 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. But while the effect of excess weight is largely still to come, the infant mortality rate is a trauma being felt now. More than 75 infants die each day and are a sad reminder that the nation is not as healthy. The USA ranks 29th in the world in infant mortality directly related to mothers having access to both prenatal and pediatric care. But other maternal factors include obesity, smoking, infection and stress. The healthiest states and their percentage above the norm: Minnesota, 25%; New Hampshire, 23.9%; Vermont, 22.8%; Hawaii, 17.7%; and Utah, 17.6%. The least healthy and their percentage below the norm: Arkansas, -12.1%; South Carolina, -12.9%; Tennessee, -13.1%; Mississippi, -20.2%; and Louisiana, -21.3%. With rising rates of obesity and higher infant mortality rates, three problems are slowing health progress. *Percentage of people without health insurance. * Declining high school graduation rates. * Increased child poverty.  rw    012098
Coming Soon: The Vanishing Work Force.   August 29, 2004   Urban Institute
Half the workers who maintain the grid at Duquesne electric utility will be eligible to retire by the end of the decade. Half the 6,500 nurses at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will hit 55 in the next seven years. At Westinghouse, which maintains nuclear power generators, the average age of engineers is the late 40's. A declining and aging population places at risk the stability of the work force and opportunities for economic progress. Older workers may have to stay on longer than planned. Pittsburgh has surplus workers, with an unemployment rate that jumped to 5.7% from 4.2% three years ago. Their power industry has shed 40% of jobs in the last 10 years. Yet more than 16% of Pittsburgh's population is over 65. By 2012, Pennsylvania could face a shortage of 125,000 workers. This is an example of a drama unfolding across the nation. Those from 16 to 54 will have grown by six million from 2002 to 2012 but the 55-and-over will have expanded by 18 million. By 2030, 55 and older will be 37% of the adult population, 15% today. 13% more people will retire from 2003 to 2008 than in the previous five years. Some companies are scrambling to secure tomorrow's work force. Duquesne Light set up a program to train new line workers. The University of Pittsburgh is trying to recruit new nurses and retain veterans. The restaurant industry is lobbying for easier immigration. Many companies are outsourcing jobs. To deal with the aging of America's labor force, workers will probably have to work longer. Alan Greenspan suggested that Social Security and Medicare benefits be curtailed to keep workers on the job longer. The aging of the work force has more to do with a decline in the production of young people. The fertility rate dropped from 3.5 children per woman in the mid-1950's to about 2 in the 1970's. Aging is not just an American issue. By the time America's median age reaches 40, half of all Italians will be over 52. The US has drawn new immigrants who accounted for 47% of the increase in the labor force from 1990 to 2000. Yet the poor countries are getting older, too - by 2050, Mexico's median age will rise to 42. The expansion of the labor force will be 0.6% a year over the first half of the 21st century, from 1.6% in the second half of the 20th. In 2000, there were five people aged 20 to 64 for each person 65 or older. By 2030, the ratio will be less than 3 to 1. An economist at the University of Pennsylvania contends that unemployment leaves a big pool of workers and the abundance of baby-boomer labor wasn't so great for workers. Hourly earnings in fell by more than 15% from the early 1970's to the mid-1990's. If labor markets tighten, wages will rise and productivity accelerate, sustaining economic growth. Higher wages may draw older people into the job market. A 1998 study found that the rise in the dependency ratio could shrink US living standards by 10% by 2050. Our older people are staying on longer because they can't afford to retire. Over the past 50 years, corporate and federal policies have encouraged workers to retire as early as possible. Pension plans had favored early retirement. In 1950, 87% of men 55 to 64 and 46% over 65 were working. By 2000, this had dropped, to 67% and 17%. Employers could make it easier for older workers to stay, through flexible schedules and phased retirement. The government should offer Medicare as primary insurance to the elderly employed and readjust rules to allow employers to offer older workers sliding scales of benefits for part-time or occasional work. Rising medical premiums are rough on employers, but make it harder for people to leave before Medicare kicks in at 65. According to the 2004 Retirement Confidence Survey, barely 36% of workers are confident that they will have enough money to take care of basic expenses during retirement and those who expect to retire before 65 has dropped to 37% from 495 a decade ago. We are living longer but people haven't saved enough to afford the lifestyle we want, so are staying longer in the work force.  rw   Unfortunately, there is a price to be paid for baby-booms, unless they are managed correctly. Adding more people to take care of the boomers will only create the same problems later, only worse because resources can only be stretched so far. 011386
Administration Backs Off Clean Water Act.   December 17, 2003   Los Angeles Times
EPA announced that the administration would not revise the 1972 Clean Water Act since many urged the administration to abandon it. The construction industry warned it would have a negative effect on builders. The EPA had announced they were proposing a rule that would redefine which streams, lakes and wetlands would be protected after a Supreme Court ruling limiting federal jurisdiction over isolated, nonnavigable, intrastate waterways and wetlands that were protected because migratory birds use them. The EPA received 133,000 comments most urging them not to go forward. State and federal officials estimated that up to 20 million acres of wetlands could have lost protection. In the majority of the cases, the courts have taken a narrow view of the ruling, finding that even some drainage ditches should be granted protection. Construction industry officials said that without a new rule the Corps would inconsistently apply the Supreme Court ruling. But the Supreme Court may have more to say as it has been asked to hear four cases on the subject.  rw    009419
Average Age of First Birth Reaches Record High of 25, CDC Report Says.   December 18, 2003   Reuters
The average age at which a woman has her first child rose from 21.4 in 1970 to 25.1 in 2002. The teen birth rate declined 30% since 1992 to 43 births per 1,000 females. The birth rate among black teens decreased from 114.8 births per 1,000 females in 1991 to 66.6 per 1,000 in 2002, a drop of more than 40%. The drop in teen pregnancy is linked to public health awareness campaigns. There were mild concerns about the rise in the number of women giving birth to their first child in their 30s and 40s; being the highest in more than 30 years. Women who give birth after age 35 have a higher risk of birth defects and other complications.  rw    009425
Government Admits Role in Klamath Fish Die-off.   November 19, 2003   Oregonian, The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service admits that low river levels caused migrating salmon to succumb to disease in warm, stagnant water with depleted flows from the Upper Klamath Basin when the administration gave farmers a full allocation of water. This underscores the competing water demands of wildlife and agriculture. A biologist said it was the combination of a large salmon run, warm weather and low rainfall that turned deadly. Bush officials never doubted that more water might have aided fish. More water from the Trinity River in Northern California would also feed into the Klamath River if it were not diverted to California's Central Valley. The administration won permission to direct more water down the Trinity into the Klamath if needed to avert another die-off. Protections for fish in Upper Klamath Lake and River left little water for farms during the drought of 2001. Flows fell to low levels in September 2002, and were 41% below average since 1960. Flows from the Trinity River into the Klamath were near their historical norm. Warm water temperatures may have put the fish under extra stress together with slow-moving water created conditions for disease. Fish and Wildlife estimated the fish death toll at 34,056, 98% of which were salmon, of which 98% percent were chinook, and 1% coho.  rw    009295
Percentage of Childless U.S. Women Up Since 1976, Census Bureau Report Says.   October 24, 2003   San Jose Mercury News
The percentage of U.S. women of childbearing age who have not had children has increased since 1976. 44% of women of 15 to 44 were childless in 2002. 18% of women 40 to 44 were childless, compared with 10% in 1976. Women 40 to 44 had 1.9 children in 2002, less than the 1976 average of 3.1. 71% of childless U.S. women 15 to 44 were in the labor force in 2002. 54.6% of women with children under age one were in the work force in 2002, down from 58.7% in 1998. Delaying childbearing can sometimes result in no childbearing. The decline may also be linked to increased access to contraceptives. Women in the work force are delaying childbearing, and some are no longer able to get pregnant when they decide to have children. 60% of all births in the year ending June 2002 were to non-Hispanic white women, 20% to Hispanic women, 15% to black women and 5% to Asian or Pacific Islander women. * 33% of all births in 2002 were to unmarried women, a percentage that is constant since 1998. 8% of all births were to women in "cohabiting unions." * 89% of births to teenagers were to unmarried teens, while 12% of women between ages 30 and 44 giving birth in 2002 were unmarried.  rw    008689
Proposal Plots to Drain Florida's Water Wealth.   August 24, 2003   St. Petersburg Times
A proposal to create a statewide water commission with the power to drain water from rural counties and pipe it to metropolitan areas has drawn thumbs-down reactions from rural counties. The proposal came via a group of business leaders that advises the governor who approves their membership and the issues it studies. They named a Clearwater developer to head a task force to look at Florida's future water needs that includes developers, agricultural interests and newspaper publishers. They recommend Gov. Bush to make water as important as protecting the environment. The proposed commission, including seven members appointed by the governor, would identify water-rich areas and consider a statewide distribution system. Water belongs to the public in Florida and changing that could provide big profits for the private sector. Now, five water management districts regulate how much water is pumped and who pumps it. Utilities can charge to deliver it. The commission would oversee the water districts, settle distribution disputes and plan to meet future needs. The task force recommends encouraging private water development on state-owned land that could find favor with a governor determined to give private companies every opportunity to profit. Draining rural areas to support growth elsewhere is a no-win proposition for everyone but developers.  rw    007869
US Montana: Montana Teen Pregnancy Rate Drops More Than 30% Over Past 20 Years.   August 07, 2003   Billings Gazette
Montana's teen pregnancy rate dropped 32.6% from 1981 to 2000, twice the national rate. The state's teen birth rate also dropped 26.4% and the teen abortion rate 44.3%. Teenagers are waiting longer to start sexual activity, having sex less frequently and using contraception more often. However, the declining rates are still among the highest in the developed world. State schools, community centers and public health programs should continue to offer sex education that emphasizes abstinence and also teaches teenagers about responsible decision making and contraception.  rw    007647
The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization   June 2003   Harper's Magazine
006967
US Wisconsin: Sturgeon Warning.   May 22, 2003   Grist Magazine
There are more sturgeon in and around Lake Winnebago than anywhere on the planet. In the 1970s and '80s management and lake cleanup set the stage for a rebound of the Winnebago sturgeon. The success attracted potential poachers, and wardens couldn't adequately protect the species. In 1987, the state asked for volunteers, and the Sturgeon Guard was born. Volunteer guards are fed a meal at Fish Camp, issued a cell phone, and sent to spawning hot spots. During spawning season, the fish are oblivious to anything else. Lake Winnebago sturgeon spawn upstream in the Wolf and Embarass rivers, to locate rocky shoals suitable for mating. The males swim in small packs, the females arrive and release eggs; the males release sperm. Most eggs are scarfed up by turtles and fish.  rw    006718
US Colorado: High and Dry.   April 29, 2003   Grist Magazine
Colorado is suffering a three-year drought. The average snowpack was half of normal, and streams the lowest in 100 years. The majority of the water comes from the Western Slope of the Rockies and the drought is responsible for development constraints, wildfires, declining tourism, and some of the state's $900 million deficit. Municiple officials say there is no way around building new reservoirs and diversion pipelines. Environmentalists claim this could cost billions and wreak havoc on rivers and forests; they claim the needs can met through reduced consumption. The state government believes that the long-term issue is storage, because they can't store all the water they are entitled to. Enough to supply 2 million families flow out of the state, much of the lost water leaves through the Colorado River and is used by Arizona and California. State officials and developers are backing the Colorado Aqueduct Return Project, that entails building a 200-mile long pipeline to pump Colorado River water to the Front Range to be recycled. The river would then carry a stream of used water to farms and towns on the Western Slope. The pipeline would cost at least $5 billion. To West Slope communities and environmentalists, the project is absurd. The legislature approved $500,000 for a study, but the project could be derailed due to its price and environmental impact. A state bond issue exists for water projects and cities can purchase existing rights from farmers for less money than any new development. The lack of provisions such as requiring that conservation measures be considered before any new development may encourage towns to build dams and reservoirs. Colorado's environmental organizations promote "Smart Storage" and "Smart Supply" instead of new development and say conservation goals can meet Front Range water needs over the next 40 years. But the legislature balked at conservation. Agriculture accounts for 85% of water use and bills to enable the sharing of agricultural water with thirsty cities are in the state legislature.  rw    006606
US New Jersey: Sprawl: Water Regulation to Face Legal Battle.   April 27, 2003   Star-Ledger
Gov. James E. McGreevey announced a curb on development around 15 bodies of water, including nine reservoirs, but it will have to survive a court of law. Builders are challenging. Both sides agree that the stakes of the expected court battle are enormous. If builders lose, McGreevey could give teeth to the "smart-growth" map he unveiled in January. The new rule designated nine reservoirs and six streams as Category One (C1)water bodies and nothing can be discharged into them that worsens the water quality. This would make subdivisions, more difficult to build. The state will propose C1 status for 40 more bodies of water. If C1 becomes widespread it can wipe out all available land for development. Builders have been successful in court battles at thwarting the water quality regulations, including strict septic tank and wetlands rules. Land-use planning has been the province of the Department of Community Affairs which expects a challenge from builders. Builders could also challenge each designation. Barring some procedural mistake by the DEP, builders would have to show that the rule is "arbitrary and capricious" to have it overturned.  rw    006604
U.S.: Tougher Rules Unveiled for Diesel Emissions.   April 16, 2003   Washington Post
Diesel-powered off-road machines will be subject to stricter EPA emissions standards, cutting emissions by 95%. The tougher rules are expected to prevent 9,600 premature deaths per year and save billions of dollars in medical expenses and lost productivity. Refineries will have to cut the sulfur content to 500 ppm in 2007 and 15 ppm in 2010. Once the fuel standards are in place, the EPA will phase in tougher soot and nitrogen oxide standards for diesel engine manufacturers between 2008 and 2014.  rw    006516
North America: Jobs Move Offshore as Firms Continue to Economize.   April 14, 2003   New Haven Register
In India, the amount of software and back-office services performed for companies outside India is expected to reach $54 billion by 2008. The Indian market for the same services is expected to reach just $15 billion. The software and technology services are a high foreign-exchange earner. That represents many new jobs in India and fewer in the United States. Offshore outsourcing save companies 25% to 50% A recent report by Foote Partners LLC in New Canaan said up to 45% of information-technology workers in the United States and Canada will be replaced by contractors, consultants, offshore technicians and part-time workers by 2005.  rw 006503
Denver Limits Lawn Watering for 1.2 Million Customers .   April 17, 2003   Associated Press
Denver has restricted outdoor watering. The rules allow residents to water two hours twice a week. The Water Board has imposed surcharges on residents who use excess water. Commercial users and city parks must reduce water consumption to 70% of 2001 usage. Golf courses must cut consumption in half. Denver's reservoirs were at 44% capacity Wednesday. Levels could increase to 79% percent by July 1 with runoff from the snowpack, if spring precipitation is average. The estimate is 66% if this spring is dry.  rw    006531

"Let us in all our lands -- including this land-face forthrightly the multiplying problems of our multiplying populations, and seek answers to this most profound challenge to the future of the world."
Lyndon Johnson, 1965 006476
US Michigan: Growth: 400,000 New Homes Needed by 2030.   March 04, 2003   PRNewswire
The population of southeast Michigan will reach 5.5 million by 2030, a growth rate of 1/2% per year, says the Southeast Michigan Council of Government (SEMCOG). This will demand 400,000 additional residences in the seven county area in the next 30 years. This will strain the resources of available housing. Buildable land is 38% of total acreage. The demand is getting attention in Lansing. There is too much infrastructure for housing of one unit or fewer per acre, water, sewer and electricity costs increase with large lot zoning. Remodeling or rebuilding of older homes will be necessary to provide accessibility as the population ages. A regional government would alleviate difficulties in dealing with different set of requirements in different areas. The current population and the local government must plan for growth.  rw    005785
  April 2003   Richard M. Nixon, 1969
"In 1917 the total number of Americans passed 100 million, after three full centuries of steady growth. �I believe that many of our present social problems may be related to the fact that we have had only fifty years in which to accommodate the second hundred million Americans . . ." 006455
  Ronald Reagan, 1974
Our country and state have a special obligation to work toward the stabilization of our own population so as to credibly lead other parts of the world toward population stabilization. 006404
U.S.: Immigrants in the United States � 2002: A Snapshot of America�s Foreign-Born Population.   March 15, 2003   Center for Immigration Studies
A record number of legal and illegal immigrants arrived in the U.S. this year. 33.1 million legal and illegal immigrants live in the U.S. 2 million more since the last census. This new report provides a detailed look at the nation�s immigrant (or foreign-born) population, including entrepreneurship, health insurance coverage, poverty, and welfare use for each state.  rw    005821
Wetlands Need Plenty of Help, Cash.   March 13, 2003   The Advocate Online (Baton Rouge Louisiana)
Louisiana's coastline can only be restored to a maintainable level with $14 billion in federal aid. Wetlands devastation in the state can be traced back to decisions on control of the flooding of the Mississippi River and to aid oil and gas projects in the region said Karen Gautreaux, chair of the state's wetlands restoration panel and executive assistant to the Governor. The state benefited from those decisions, but cannot deal with the problems. The administration and Congress have to be made aware that Louisiana's coastal losses affect defense and the economy for the country. Backers hope to see federal funding get through Congress in 2004 with a commitment to spend that much over time.  rw    005880
Arizona Senate Passes Bill Requiring Medical Centers to Offer Emergency Contraception to Sexual Assault Survivors.   March 26, 2003   Manchester Union Leader
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US Pennsylvania: Snow Salt, Debris Could Harm Rivers.   February 20, 2003   Associated Press
Snow salt, debris could harm rivers. Stone flies just beginning to emerge in Pennsylvania�s rivers could be threatened by the salts used to melt snow along the state�s roadways. These organisms are part of the food chain in the streams. They break down leaves, provide organic matter, and part of the food chain for a lot of our game fish. With little space to pile snow, Philadelphia decided to dump it into the rivers as a last resort.  rw    005662
US New York: Highlands Area Needs More Protection.   February 20, 2003   New York Times*
The York-New Jersey Highlands is worthy of protection from overdevelopment, but less than half is protected. Its population increased by 11% from 1990 to 2000, and 100,000 acres face development. The government has not said how much should be taken out of private hands for preservation, and who should pay for it. The Highlands Coalition proposed saving 180,000 acres in New York and New Jersey at a cost of $750 million. At the same time, Congress provided only $7 million to save 25,000 acres. Several Congressional representatives made it a requirement in budget appropriations that the secretaries of agriculture and the interior come up with recommendations about how to preserve the highlands. Those recommendations may be made public soon. There is an awareness of too much development, and there is now more talk in many quarters, about how to save the Highlands.  rw    005670
US Georgia: Schools Deluged by Residential Projects.   February 27, 2003   Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Georgia reports a tidal wave of residential development that leaves no provision for neighborhood schools. When developments are planned, schools for some reason are left out and create a tough situation for the school system. The most recent example is the 1,250-home residential and commercial development in Holly Springs. School officials point to a rise in surrounding property values making it hard to buy land for a neighborhood school. The developer agreed to donate $920,000 but it's only enough to purchase portable units for the estimated 970 students. An elementary school costs $12 million. Holly Springs city manager said another elementary school would exacerbate the congestion. School officials plan to purchase 21 portable units. The current schools have been ruled out because of crowding. A septic field prevents any additional portables at one school. Students could attend schools miles away from their homes. Other developments include more than 400 new homes in Woodstock and a 1,200-home development in south Cherokee. Woodstock middle and high schools are over capacity and could become candidates for double sessions. This is a race with the growth. Once the economy improves, it will get worse.  rw    005720
U.S.: Alien species: A Slow Motion Explosion.   1999  
According to a report by the federal government, exotic weeds, pests and

diseases cause more damage in the U.S. than forest fires, tornadoes,

flooding, earthquakes and mudslides. 2,000 alien plant species have been

introduced. Non-native animal species cause an annual $123 billion worth of

damage to crops, range land and waterways. Weeds consume 4,600 acres of

wildlife habitat on public lands a day. The main mode of transport is by

ships: 40,000 gallons of foreign ballast water are dumped into U.S. harbors

each minute 005623

US California: Growth Imperils State's Food Output .   October 1997   Sacramento Bee
3% of California's land in cultivation are lost annually to erosion, salinization, homes and industry (amounting to a 50% loss in 20 years).   Note: California produces a lot of food exported to the rest of the world. 005633
Water Pollution in the US .   1998   NEETF/Roper national survey
3 out of 4 people do not know that the

leading cause of water pollution is water running off from farm land,

parking lots, city streets and lawns. 005589

US Massachusetts: On the Road to Cleaner Air: School Vehicles Retrofitted to Reduce Diesel Emissions.   February 16, 2003   The Boston Globe;
Boston public school buses are having their mufflers replaced with new filtration systems that eliminate up to 90% of diesel emissions, in response to a February 2002 study that looked at children's exposure to diesel exhaust from school buses. The EPA has launched a push for the use of pollution control and low-sulfur diesel fuel and has dedicated $1.4 million won in an April settlement with Waste Management of Massachusetts. 100 Boston school buses are being outfitted with particulate filters. 200 buses at the Readville yard are running on ultra-low sulfur fuel. Together this will eliminate 540 pounds of diesel particulate matter, 2,480 pounds of hydrocarbons, and 17,380 tons of carbon monoxide in Boston each year. The work is being targeted to the most polluted areas of Boston. Nationally, 600,000 school buses carry 24 million children to school daily. Children annually spend 3 billion hours on school buses, but the majority run on diesel fuel. Diesel exhaust contains 40 pollutants, including particles of carbon toxic gases. People with existing heart or lung disease, asthma, or other respiratory problems are most sensitive, but children are susceptible because they breathe 50% more air per pound of body weight than adults. Each retrofitting costs $9,000 and takes two days.  rw    005567
  2000   Sierra Club Planet
  • More than 90% of America's native prairies have been lost to cultivation.
  • More than half of the wetlands have been drained or developed; the nation continues to lose more than 100,000 acres of wetlands per year.
  • One million acres of farmland a year are lost to development. 005553
  • US California: Move to Bigger Class Sizes to Get a Second Look.   November 13, 2002   Los Angeles Times
    The Los Angeles Board of Education will focus on reducing class sizes to an average of 37 students. The school board had voted to increase class sizes by two students in grades four through 12 to save $48 million. 42% middle and high school classes have 30 students or more. Many criticized the move and two dozen parents, teachers and students voiced support for smaller classes. Supt. Roy Romer defended the increase, as the only way to afford a 3% pay increase for teachers and to create 6,500 seats in the high schools and 11,500 in middle schools. A reduction of class size depends on the ability to hire teachers and build schools. The voters approved a $3.35-billion bond to pay for 80 new schools. Until completed many schools will have overcrowding.  rw    005015
    U.S. Population Growth and the Environment.   November 07, 2002   Patrick Burns
    33.1 million immigrants live in the United States. This means 15.8 million more passenger cars and 825 million barrels of oil a year, equal to all of the recoverable oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in 4 years. The newcomers will consume 2.26 billion cubic feet of wood per year, over 75 million acres of forest. Immigration and births to immigrants will account for 67% of population growth between 2000 and 2050, and the population will grow by 125 million people over the next 50 years to over 570 million by 2050. If all immigration ended, the population would grow to over 326 million by 2050, and 377 million people by 2100. Even with no immigration, population growth does not stop in the next 100 years. The U.S. fertility rate of 2.1 is the highest in the industrialized world. In Canada the rate is now 1.5, because more women in Canada use the contraceptive pill than in the U.S. If the U.S. lowered the cost of the pill and improved access to contraception, U.S. fertility would decline. Women in Canada and the U.S. want the same number of children, and fertility rates were the same in 1975. If U.S. birth rates fell to Canadian levels, U.S. population growth would slow and eventually stop. U.S. residents are using less land per capita than 30 years ago as productivity and efficiency improve. We are growing more food per acre today and the "wildlife footprint" of the average American has got smaller. As productivity-per-acre has gone up, the U.S. has allowed marginal lands to return to forest or conservation. We are using less grazing land per capita than 20 years ago due to changes in the way we raise cattle. We are using less forest per capita than we did 20 years ago as modern mills waste less wood and forest managers acquire more expertise. U.S. oil consumption has declined from 31 barrels per person per year in 1978 to 25 barrels today. Population growth undermines conservation and land protection but progress is being made. We have more forest than 30 years ago, cleaner air and water, despite the addition of 100 million people. But every step we take in land conservation is eroded or negated by rapid domestic population growth. While we reduced per capita oil consumption by 25% between 1978 and 2000, the population grew by the same amount. While we see real gains in conservation we also see increased habitat loss. Increased forest fragmentation combined with intensive mowing of hayfields, has resulted in a decline in deep-forest nesting and grassland-nesting birds. Humans have benefited, birds have been the loser. How many Americans? Once you decide on a number or goal for the future, fertility and immigration are largely mathematical.  rw    005111
    In a First, U.S. Puts Limits on California's Thirst - Commentary.   January 2003   Patrick Burns
    California's, population grew by more than 4.2 million between 1990 and 2000, 60% from direct immigration. The addition of 2,405,430 immigrants between 1990 and 2000 represents 58.5% of the growth but misses illegal immigrants. The primary consumer of water in California is agriculture and industry. Much agricultural water is wasted. Farmers pay about $70 for every acre-foot of water. Higher prices encourage investments in irrigation systems and a change in crop selection. It will cost $300 per acre-foot in Utah to deliver water to farmers and will produce crops worth about $30, but cost farmers $8. Farmers use more water than they would if market forces were allowed to guide the use of water. On a national level, we are using LESS water today than we did 20 years ago. While the population of the U.S. increased more than 16% between 1980 and 1995, water consumption declined 10%. Even a slight increase in the price of water or energy results in pressure to conserve water. The primary consumers are irrigation and industry, both have curtailed their water usage. Increased consumption is evident in the public supply and livestock. Population growth across the nation needs to be brought under control. population growth in the American West is a problem -- a huge problem. Arizona's population growth rate compares to Pakistan, Tanzania, and Honduras while Colorado's is similar to that of Ghana, El Salvador, and the Philippines.    005211
    U.S. Women Waiting Longer to Have First Child.   December 11, 2002   Reuters Health
    U.S. women on average wait until 25 to have their first child. The average age at first delivery in 1970 was 21.4 years, compared to 24.9 years in 2000. The rise is attributed to the increase in the number of women attending college and in the labor force. The number of women who finished college in 2000 is three times higher than in 1970 and the number of women working outside of the home increased nearly 40%. A decline in teen births, delays in marriage, the use of birth control and an increase in women in their 30s and 40s having children have affected the average age at first delivery. This varied regionally, women in Arkansas and Mississippi giving birth for the first time at 22, in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey at 27. Minority women should be provided them with the same opportunities that other groups enjoy if we want them to postpone childbearing.  rw    005062
    U.S.: No Child Left Behind.   December 10, 2002   Population Resource Center
    More than 11 million children in the U.S. live in poverty, more than a third under the age of six. The welfare rolls have declined more than 50%, child poverty to about 16%. But indications are that the gains overshadow the distress of hundreds of thousands of families who are worse off. For example the requirement that mothers of small children work, with no increase in the support for childcare.  rw    004936
    Court Blocks Offshore Oil Leases in Calif.; U.S. Appeals Judges Uphold State's Right to Prevent Drilling in Federal Waters.   December 03, 2002   The Washington Post
    A federal appeals court blocked an attempt to revive old oil leases off the California. The judges gave California broad power to prevent any new exploration or drilling in waters near the coastline. This has become a political issue in California, whose residents oppose more drilling. The leases were signed before the ban on oil drilling and are the last hope oil companies have to expand operations near Santa Barbara that has significant quantities of oil. Administration officials say they went to court because they do not believe California should have a role in deciding whether leases, which have expired several times, should be extended while political debate continues. The issue is that extending the life of these leases didn't have any effect on the coastline the oil industry, contends. Only a few new rigs would be necessary, operated to protect marine life and beaches. About two dozen oil rigs in place before the ban on drilling, operate off the California coast. For the past year, environmental groups have been waging a fierce campaign to nullify the old leases and guarantee that no more drilling occurs. An accident in 1969 spewed 3 million gallons of oil.  rw    004873
    U.S.: Do We Need Growth?.   November 2002   In Growth We Trust - Edwin Stennett
    No matter how smart the growth or how good the planning, a rapid increase in population can overwhelm a community's best efforts.. Smart Growth strategies - redevelopment, in-fill, public transit, mixed use development, and green space - are not sufficient. Oregon, for example, is forced to grow urban growth boundaries to accomodate population growth.

    VANISHED OPEN SPACE = Population X per capita Developed Land. 63% of the 47% increase of the greater Washington (D.C.) area between 1982 and 1997 was due to population growth. Reducing per capita land use alone will not accomodate the increase of the 1.6 million people expected in the Washington area in the next 25 years.

    TRAFFIC CONGESTION = Population X per capita VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled). The Washington area Metrorail sees 650,000 Metrorail trips per day while the number of vehicle trips per day is 15.6 million - which will grow by 5.5 million over the next twenty years. Congested lane miles are projected to increase from 7.1% in 1998 to 10-12% in 2025.

    WATER DEMAND = Population X per capita Water Consumption. South Florida's Everglades is buckling under pressure from pollution and water diversions to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. According to a spokesperson for Everglades National Park, the stressed out system "could ecologically fail within the next 20 years."

    SEWAGE: Plant and animal-killing nitrogen discharged from municipal sewage treatment plants has declined with nitrogen reduction techonology (NRT), but population growth will soon reverse the NRT gains. In the Chesapeake Bay, "If no further actions are taken, we anticipate increased discharges after 2010 due to population growth."

    While the national population grows rapidly, curbing sprawl in one region pushes sprawl into other regions. The Census Bureau says we may reach 571 million by 2100. A stable U.S. population can be achieved through a modest reduction in U.S. fertility - by attaining fertility rates of other industrialized countries. (I.e. Norway-1.85 Spain-1.15). Even keeping current immigration levels!

    ECONOMIC GROWTH . Comparing 13 faster growing areas to 13 slower growing areas showed a big difference in the rate of job growth, but a negligible difference in the unemployment rate. The more jobs lured into an urban area, the more people will move in to fill them, increasing congestion, and decreasing quality of life for those that live there. Population growth increases total economic growth but not per capita economic growth. In a study of 15 western European countries with relatively low population growth, compared to the U.S., with high population growth, the per capita Gross Domestic Product was not shown to significantly correlate to population growth.

    Restraining the Growth Machine. Metropolitan area population growth can be slowed by ending subsidies that promote local population growth. Unfortunately the land speculators, developers, and real estate brokers profit from local growth are rich and powerful.

    � .Restrain new business recruitment � .Make development pay its way � .Elect public officials whose campaign funding is not dominated by Growth Machine money

    Slowing National Population Growth: � .Decrease the number of dropouts � .Reduce poverty � .Family planning services for low-income women � .Educating and influencing attitudes of teens and young women 004846

    U.S.: Education: Move to Bigger Class Sizes to Get a Second Look.   November 2002   Los Angeles Times
    Having classroom sizes of up to 50 students, the Los Angeles Board of Education agreed to study class sizes and will focus on reducing them to 37 students. In March they voted to increase classes by two students as part of a $450-million budget cut. But many claim this harms the quality of education. Forty-two% of the district's middle and high school classes now have 30 students or more. Parents, teachers and students support smaller classes, but Supt. Roy Romer said this was the only way the district could afford a 3% pay increase for teachers. The larger classes created badly needed seats in the middle and high schools. Smaller classes depend upon the ability to hire more teachers and build schools. Until new schools are completed in 2005, many will be overcrowded.  rw    004631
    U.S.: When Will the School Enrollment Bubble Burst?.   September 2002   New York Times*
    New Jersey's public school enrollment is soaring and with no increase in state aid, property tax bills are putting the problems in sharp relief. The state estimated the number of public school students at 1,367,431, a jump of more than 30,000 from the 2001-2 school year and up more than 300,000 from 1989. In July 1998, the Department of Education predicted enrollment would peak in the 2003-4 school years with 1,196,939 students and that by 2007, that number would drop to about 1.1 million. Those projections are not holding. It's going up 20,000 to 30,000 students a year. The biggest factor is immigration. Between 1990 and 2000, the state saw a net gain of 400,000 immigrants. Some districts have seen their numbers rise because of housing developments, a turnover of homes to families with children, and movement out of New York and Philadelphia. Most growth in the suburbs comes from people selling their homes to families with school-age children. High school enrollment should peak in 2007 or 2008 and then begin to level off or slightly decline. In 2001, $970 million in school bond issues was approved by voters for school projects. It leaves the burden to the local community. In Greenwich Township voters approved an addition on a school under construction. The district is attracting parents who work in the pharmaceutical and software industries as well as those commuting to Manhattan. It's a horrendous, overwhelming situation for the local taxpayer. Many districts have had to reduce the number of teachers, resulting in larger classes. When a district has a good reputation, people want to be there. There is also a need to upgrade facilities to keep up with technology. Districts going through enrollment increases find that the biggest battle is over money for buildings and teachers. We promise a free public education to all who show up at our door, but we've been given too short a time to be responsive.  rw    004623
    Why Continuous Development? (LTE).   November 14, 2002   Ralph Woodgate
    We are seeing a growing opposition to the steadily increasing development of every vacant open space in our county. Yet it appears impossible to do more than slow down the growth of houses, factories and stores.

    I sometimes feel that I must be rather stupid as I cannot agree with, or understand, the reasons usually given for this continuous development. It is certainly not the wishes of the majority of the residents.

    The facts as I see them are simple. ---

    a.. We are told that we need development in Putnam County to provide employment for our people and to help reduce the taxes. b.. For this reason we offer every inducement to companies to locate in our county. c.. We then need more people to work in the new factories, stores and other businesses. d.. We then have to provide more homes to house these families. e.. But almost every family has at least one child of school age and every new student in our schools increases the property taxes. f.. We also have to pay to rebuild roads and other facilities to serve the growing population. g.. Therefore we need more development in Putnam County to help reduce the taxes. In the 20 years that I have lived in Southeast there has been almost continuous development and still the taxes have increased around 300%, largely because of the increasing population of school students. So development increases our taxes, adds to our pollution, increases the traffic and takes away our natural open spaces. The residents pay for all of this via the loss of their rural environment and their taxes both present and future.

    The developers gain most and should reward the public for loosing much of their way of life. I propose that one third of the property involved in every development, or the equivalent, should be handed over to the people as public open spaces. 004553

    California's Central Valley.   November 11, 2002   National Public Radio
    The 400-mile-long Central Valley in California is a fertile pocket of land between the coastal mountains and the Sierra Nevada that supplies one-quarter of the food America eats. Families looking for lower-cost housing are moving there and fields are making way for subdivisions. As the population of the valley's cities grows and agriculture shrinks, the valley's new urban centers are pushing for a share in the economic success of the coast. Farmers have been exempted from clean air and clean water standards but now, the state is going to bring them into compliance. Farmers spray a third of all pesticides sold in the nation. If they have to cut back, the prices of crops grown in the valley will be more expensive. When Central Valley big farms "go organic," it cuts down California water pollution, and provides a testbed for large-scale organic farming. Estimates claim that 50% to 90% of the valley's farm laborers are illegal immigrants whose lack of mobility impedes their assimilation. Workers are subject to sub-minimum wages and dangerous working conditions. Immigrants are forcing the state to come to terms with diversity.  rw    004508
    US Colorado: A Clear-cut Drought Solution? Logging Urged to Boost Runoff, but Eco-Groups Object.   November 2002   Denver Post
    Colorado's population is growing fast and water conservation is a major issue. [Colorado's population growth rate is 2.3% a year -- equal to that of Ghana and El Salvador, and faster than that of the Philippines.] The latest proposal is for swathes of forests to be cut to boost water flow, although no one is talking about slowing population growth. It is claimed that enough water to supply a million families could be created by thinning trees on federal and state land. This has been studied but never as broadly as advocated. Managing forests to mitigate wildfire and increase water yields is said to hold promise. Environmentalists says it will increase flooding and degrade streams. Removing trees allows more snow to fall to the ground, where it runs off into streams and rivers during the spring. Some researchers complain that Colorado has too many trees that intercept snow which would otherwise melt every spring. But those studies show that removing tree cover produces extra water when it's not needed. "The link between logging for fire mitigation and logging for water is a false one," said environmental hydrologist Dan Luecke of Boulder. Most of the research on this has been done in Fraser, where water yield from the 714-acre Fool Creek watershed has been monitored for 60 years. Foresters removed 40 percent of the watershed's trees 1956, with a 40% increase in water flow. After four decades, half of the increase can still be measured. Flows increased most during wet years, and almost none during droughts which means the surplus water has to be stored, and the high-flow resulted in scouring of the stream channel. The only large-scale demonstration was on the Coon Creek watershed in southern Wyoming. Twenty-four% of the watershed was removed in the 1990s, producing a 17% increase in flow. It was calculated that 185,000 acre-feet of water a year could be created by cutting half the 1.1 million acres of forest in the North Platte watershed over 120 years. Clear-cutting would reduce the habitat of the threatened lynx and other species. Many scientists doubt that logging for water would be as successful in other parts of Colorado. In the 1970s, Richard Gaudagno discovered that deep snow collected in the spruce-fir stands, while the open ski runs were scoured almost bare by the winds - the opposite of what was found in the Fraser study. Removing trees causes erosion, which clogs streams with sediment and stifles habitat for fish and aquatic insects. Many environmentalists think economics will be the idea's undoing as it is too expensive to build roads and log on steep slopes. There has been no planning for the state's water future, and the population is growing fast. The supply is finite and will have to be used more efficiently.  rw   [Trees gather water vapor in their branches and allow water to hop-scotch inland. Without trees, inland regions become arid.] 004501
    U.S: Judge Delays Minnow Ruling.   September 09, 2002   Albuquerque Tribune
    Judge James Parker wants to review more information before making a decision on releasing Albuquerque-owned water to protect the Rio Grande silvery minnow. Some stretches of the Rio Grande are within days of running dry unless the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation releases city-owned water. Environmental groups want Parker to order the release of about 325,848 gallons of water. City officials argue that they can't spare this water, stored in northern New Mexico reservoirs. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez said he wasn't confident City Hall will win this water war. Parker's decision could define how much control City Hall has over San Juan-Chama river water that the city is counting on for its $198 million project to divert water for residents by 2005. Chavez said the city cannot offer more water for the minnow but without the water from northern New Mexico reservoirs, the minnow has little chance of surviving. Chavez turned down a request for 20,000 acre-feet of Albuquerque water for the minnow. Since 1996, the city has provided more than 200,000 acre feet of San Juan-Chama water to preserve the minnow's habitat, The city is opposed to the forced release of river water. Taxpayers have paid out about $45 million to buy the river water rights.  rw    004007
    New Report Warns U.S., Canada Face Tough Environmental Choices.   August 2002   U.S. Newswire
    The USA and Canada's improvement to their environment has come at the expense of global effects. Each citizen consumes nine times more gasoline than any other person in the world. With 5% of the world's population, both countries account for 25.8% of emissions of carbon dioxide. The two countries have reduced by 71% the chemicals discharged into the Great Lakes. About 13% of their land area is set aside as protected areas. Over 70% of Canada's wetlands are protected. Sulphur dioxide emissions in the USA have declined 31% from 2000. Both countries reduced CFC consumption to nearly zero. However Canada and the U.S. face challenges before North America is on a sustainable development path. Soil and wetland losses outpace the gains, the region's aquifers are being depleted. Both countries need changes toward more fuel-efficient technologies, and to curb urban sprawl.  rw    003804
    2002 Spike in Air Pollution Reverses Downward Trend.   October 13, 2002   Los Angeles Times
    California experienced a downturn in air-quality improvement this year, with pollution in areas unaccustomed to smog. Urban communities had cleaner air, but inland areas got smoggier. No one knows if this is an aberration or the beginning of a trend. Population growth and sprawl may be eating up gains in pollution prevention but long-term indicators show that California is cleaner, due to strict regulations.  rw    004224
    U.S.: Air Pollution Fatalities Now Exceed Traffic Fatalities by 3 to 1.   September 17, 2002   Earth Policy Institute
    U.S. air pollution deaths equal those from breast and prostate cancer. Air pollutants include carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates primarily from fossil fuels. When people inhale particulates and ozone at concentrations found in urban areas, their arteries become constricted, reducing blood flow to the heart. No "safe" level of pollution exists. Exposure to current levels of ozone and particulates affect death rates, hospitalizations and medical visits and take a toll on the economy. The costs of air pollution argue for raising taxes on fuels to encourage efficient use, a shift to clean energy sources, and the adoption of pollution controls. The solutions to urban air pollution are not difficult. Individuals can reduce car usage and use more fuel-efficient cars. Planning can redirect funding to mass transit options. Countries can shift electricity generation to wind and solar power and redefine safety to include decreasing air pollution.  rw    004203
    U.S.: Coal Ash: a Big Unknown - Some Fear Toxic Threat in Power Plant Waste.   September 2002   Louisville Courier-Journal
    Coal-fired power plants produce more than 100 million tons of ash annually, 70% ends up in landfills. Environmental leaders question the extent to which toxic heavy metals in coal ash threaten groundwater. The regulations are inconsistent. Tests in Pines Indiana have shown that wells contain high boron levels that can damage the stomach, liver, kidneys and brain. Industry leaders say the fear of heavy metals is out of proportion. Critics suggest that coal ash must be treated with caution. The EPA said there were 11 cases of pollution from coal waste in the U.S., none in Kentucky or Indiana. Each state sets its own rules for disposal. Indiana granted "beneficial reuses" of ash exemption from environmental laws. In Kentucky, power plants must report how much ash goes to beneficial uses and identify them, but these regulations are loose and ash was dumped on rural land. It has been recommended that power plants declare their construction fill plans. The EPA wants the ash tested for toxicity, and its placement designed to minimize contact with water. The EPA came close to classifying ash for landfills as hazardous but the decision was reversed after industry lobbying. EPA officials intend to propose a national rule on ash disposal in 2004. Indiana approved the state's groundwater protection standards. The DNR will seek a per-ton charge to raise money for future environmental cleanups if they're needed. The standards also may force restrictions on ash ponds. The coal industry will likely fight any tax on ash disposal.  rw    004111
    California Smart Growth Bill.   September 05, 2002  
    AB 857, a bill that promotes infill development, more compact suburban growth, and protection of the most valuable natural and agricultural resources, is on the governor's desk. The bill would also encourage efficient development patterns in areas to the extent infill development is not possible and would ensure state consistency with priorities and a conflict (between state agenceies) resolution process. The building industry opposes the bill. The bill is needed to handle the projected 12 million increase in population in California for the next 20 years. Statutorily required land use priorities have not been update in 24 years, during which time California's population growth has grown 11 million. Citizens are already choking on air pollution, fed up with traffic and distressed about declining quality of life. 003983
    U.S.: Sprawl Adds to Drought.   August 29, 2002   Los Angeles Times
    A report says that sprawl is worsening water supply problems. Development in Atlanta produces around 133 billion gallons of polluted runoff that would otherwise be filtered through the soil to recharge aquifers, streams and lakes. The report claims to show the magnitude of the problem and urges the Geological Survey to embark on a thorough study. Drought experts said that development exacerbated water shortages, but the extent was impossible to quantify. 40% of the country is suffering drought, especially the East Coast and Southwest. In arid regions, where much water comes from snowmelt, covering the ground with roads and buildings, decreases the reabsorption of rainwater which is important because ground water can seep into depleted bodies of water. The report said the problem can be mitigated if new road building is curtailed and open spaces--such as farms and forests--are preserved. They also urge the adoption of techniques to facilitate the absorption of storm water. The construction industry called the report a blatant effort by environmental groups to increase regulations on development as modern developments use sophisticated strategies to avoid the perils of runoff.  rw    003919
    U.S.: Oceans' Woes Growing Deeper.   September 2002   Seattle Times
    Since the last presidential commission's report in early 1969, pressures have increased on coastal areas that are home to half the nation's population. The new commission, half way through a three year plan says that about 40,000 acres of coastal wetlands that provide habitats for three-fourths of U.S. commercial fish catches are disappearing each year. 40% of U.S. fish stocks are depleted or overfished. Ballast water from ships is spreading invasive alien species. There is a need to consolidate federal and state policies. Fishers and corporations, face a patchwork of authorities and regulations. More than 140 federal laws are administered by 20 agencies, there has to be a national ocean-policy-coordinating body. Ocean pollution is increasing and coastal management is overwhelmed. Fish stocks continue to be depleted, and the advice of scientists ignored at the expense of fisheries. Not enough study has been given to the interaction between oceans and climate change. The independently financed Pew Oceans Commission, has been looking at a need to consider marine ecosystems and ocean life as a whole, rather than focusing just on fish.  rw    004075
    California USA: New Water Law Makes Work for the Maytag Man.   September 12, 2002   Christian Science Monitor
    Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill requiring water efficiency in clothes washers. Water conservation in California and the West is serious. Neighboring states want a bigger share of the Colorado River water that California has taken for over a decade. That transfer could alter the variety of fruits and vegetables on US dinner tables. The state has overbuilt for the available water. Those in water-rich northern counties gripe at the cost of new washers, but officials say the cost will be made up in five years through lower water bills. They remind residents that savings are possible, as shown in the 1990s, when a drought led to conservation steps and Californians cut water by 20%,equivalent of not having to build another reservoir. Supporters say the washers' savings could supply 6,000 households for a year. The bill was pushed forward because of federal energy standards to save electricity and the time was ripe for designs to save water, too. The savings of energy and water would be about $48 per machine per year.  rw    004016
    Differing Demography of United States, Western Europe.   August 24, 2002   The Economist;
    The United States is becoming younger, while Europe's population is aging. Between 1960 and 1985, the U.S. rate dropped to 1.8 births per woman. In the 1990s the rate rose to just below 2.1 births per woman - possibly because of "higher-than-average fertility" among immigrants and the U.S. "economic boom,". Europe's women average fewer than 1.4 births in their lifetime.  rw    003947
    U.S.: California: White House Accepts Water Ruling: More Could Flow to Central Valley Farmers, Less to Fish and Wildlife.   August 27, 2002   San Francisco Chronicle
    The Bush administration has made a series of decisions that threaten the environment - more logging in national forests to wildfire hazard, pushed for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supported weakening standards on arsenic in drinking water and resisted imposing a federal ban on oil drilling off the California coast. Now the administration supports a ruling by a federal court judge which may provide more water to Central Valley agriculture at the expense fish and wildlife in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Delta system. The 1992 Central Valley Water Project Improvement Act, which provides 800,000 acre-feet of water annually for bay/Delta fisheries, was challenged by the Westlands Water District, a 600,000-acre irrigation district in the western San Joaquin Valley, which said the rules for environmental water releases was unfair. 003924


    Cities, States, Regions
    California Congresswoman Lois Capps on Birth Control.   December 2008   Bill Denneen / Lois Capps
    Letter to constituant from Congresswoman Lois Capps:

    Thank you for contacting me regarding your concern for the high cost of birth control. I appreciate hearing from you regarding this important issue.

    You will be pleased to know we are in complete agreement. I am a proud co-sponsor of the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (H.R. 4054) which would allow drug companies to again offer college clinics and safety net healthcare providers a significantly discounted rate on birth control purchases. As you know, this reduced price allowed providers to offer low cost birth control to their patients who often cannot afford to pay full price for contraceptives.

    H.R. 4054 corrects a provision in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that went into effect this year that mistakenly prevented drug companies from continuing to offer discounted birth control.

    As a result, many college clinics can no longer afford to provide birth control to their students. For student health centers and other clinics that still offer birth control, the prices have increased astronomically from an average of $5 to nearly $50 per month. I am very concerned the increased costs have made it more difficult for many women to obtain safe and effective birth control.

    I firmly believe that students should NOT (edited) have to pay such a steep price for a bureaucratic oversight. Women who can't afford birth control should not be made to suffer the consequences of an unintended pregnancy. I hope this bill moves quickly through the legislative process so we restore access to safe, effective and affordable birth control for women across the country. 024262

    California's Status as Wildlife State Threatened by Growing Population.   March 31, 2008   Los Angeles Daily News
    California boasts more species than found nowhere else. This biodiversity is stressed by the state's enormous population and further threatened by continuing population growth.

    California's biological diversity arises from the varied landscapes and climates found on the geologically active western edge of the North American continent. California is also the state with the most imperiled wildlife.

    When overpopulation and biodiversity collide, biodiversity invariably suffers. More than 800 species in the state are now at risk. The major stresses impacting California's wildlife and habitats, include water management, invasive species, overgrazing, recreational pressures and climate change. Increasing housing, services, transportation, and other infrastructure place ever-greater demands on the state's land, water, and other natural resources.

    California's population will swell to 60 million by 2050.

    The spread of Homo sapiens is riding roughshod over hundreds of other life forms that have made California their home for eons.

    On the Central Coast, urbanized acreage expanded about 20%. Crowded and costly coastal areas have forced development inland, in areas once dominated by agriculture and large ranches.

    You don't have a conservation policy unless you have a population policy.

    Successive bipartisan commissions all recommended that the US needs to stabilize its population and control immigration or forfeit its environment, including landscape and wildlife.

    Even with conservation planning, growth and development will eliminate important habitats.

    If Californians allow the state's population to hit 60 million in 2050, a large number of endangered species will have vanished forever.  rw 022912

    U.S.: Envisioning a Sustainable Chesapeake.   February 17, 2008   Annapolis Capital
    It's been most inspiring to see discussions begin to address the future of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay.

    They prompt us to ask: "What does a sustainable Chesapeake really mean?"

    My vision is built upon a balanced, vibrant ecosystem teeming with fish, shellfish, underwater grasses and clear, healthy waters. But to be truly sustainable, the Chesapeake ecosystem needs to exist while also supporting the region's human population.

    Creating a sustainable Chesapeake will not be easy. But as we look around the state, we're seeing more and more positive steps being taken.

    Recently, the Maryland Commission on Climate Change made recommendations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving energy throughout the state. These actions will require that we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% within the next 12 years.

    An initiative was introduced that will seek to instill a sense of environmental stewardship among the 28,000 students graduating each year. It will also foster research and prepare the new "green" workforce.

    By changing our own actions, each of us has the ability to reduce our impact on the bay and the planet.

    As long as the region's population continues to grow, and we develop lands faster than needed to accommodate that growth, we make it more difficult to maintain the sustainability equation.

    We have struggled more than 20 years to reduce the amount of pollution flowing into the bay and we are still far from where we need to be. Another 10, 20 or 30 years of pollution-fighting efforts will still not be enough. Bay restoration efforts will be needed in perpetuity.

    We need to manage for sustainability by remaining aware of what will cross our path in the future.  rw   Karen Gaia says: The way things are going, we will be forced to reduce our greenhouse gases because we have passed peak oil, meaning our consumption of oil will be reduced. 022746

    US Florida;: An Economy Tied to Growth.   December 09, 2007   Sarasota Herald-Tribune
    How strong is Florida's economy?

    Despite the decline in home values, the rise in gas prices, the weak dollar, visitors are coming to Southwest Florida. Construction boomed from 2003 to 2006, and home prices in Florida rose 60%. Now there's a glut of unoccupied dwellings.

    It is anybody's guess when that industry will recover and help other sectors of an economy tied to population growth.

    Tourism has long been a mainstay of the state's economy. Why are people coming?

    At the top of the list is the weak dollar, which tends to draw Canadians and Europeans.

    Florida is transitioning from being a low-cost state to a higher-cost state, the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation Inc. said. The cost of living in Southwest Florida is comparable to the cost of living in Toronto. That explains why so many local residents are heading for points north.

    Florida's population increased by about 320,000 residents in 2006, down from the pace of 2004 and 2005. Most of the decrease was in domestic migration. Florida continued to attract residents from the Northeast and the Midwest, but Florida became a net exporter of residents to other Southern states."

    The state's population, increased by 2.1 million people between 2000 and 2006.

    Factors causing some people to leave include high housing costs, rising property tax bills, difficulty obtaining insurance, the threat of hurricanes and recent job losses caused by the downturn in the construction industry.

    Good progress has been made in the past three years to strengthen the state's economy. At stake are the State's most vital current and future interests and the livability and sustainability of its communities.

    Floridians value the environment. The business community and politicians must do the same.

    Florida must continue to develop a diversified economic base. Local business and political leaders should draw research and development companies or, in some other form, companies that can diversify the local and state economies.  rw 022385

    Georgia Governor, Corps Differ Over Extent of Water Emergency.   October 2007   CNN.com
    Georgia Gov. declared a water emergency in north Georgia on Saturday as its water resources dwindled to a dangerously low level. But an Army Corps of Engineers official denied there is a crisis.

    The Gov asked for President Bush's help in easing regulations that require the state to send water to Alabama and Florida and to declare 85 counties as federal disaster areas.

    He blasted rules governing the water supplies, noting that if the state got rains, it could not by law conserve those, but must release 3.2 billion gallons a day downstream.

    The Army Corps of Engineers said if there were nine months without rain, water supplies still would be adequate. The corps, releases 5,000 feet of water per second from the dam between Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River.

    The figure was based on a Florida hydroelectric power plant's needs, as well as concern for endangered species in the river. Georgia filed a motion to require the Army Corps of Engineers to restrict water flows from the lake and other Georgia reservoirs. The corps said it needs 120 days to review its water policies, according to Perdue.

    Rainfall is far below normal for this time of year.

    Lake Lanier levels have dropped to a historically low and is hurting businesses and scaring away tourists.

    A new biological review of endangered species needs will end in November to see if water requirements can be reduced. Georgia, Alabama and Florida have been wrangling over how to allocate water from the Chattahoochee watershed as metro Atlanta's population has doubled since 1980. Georgia has imposed a ban on outdoor water use by homeowners in the region.  rw 021977

    Development of 50-Year State Water Plan Discussed.   July 20, 2007   Norman Transcript website
    The Oklahoma Legislature was motivated to update the state's 1995 water plan because of dwindling reservoirs and aquifers.

    The goal is to provide a safe and dependable water supply for all Oklahomans, while improving the economy and protecting the environment.

    The water plan is expected to consider population growth, future water needs, competing water interests, vulnerability to drought and flooding, environmental protection and economic development.

    Surface water is considered to be publicly owned and subject to appropriation by the OWRB for “beneficial use.”

    Groundwater is considered private property that belongs to the overlying surface owner.

    Since 1973, water wells have increased tenfold. Laws were written to encourage Oklahoma to use water to thrive and grow.

    Public water supplies are the primary user of surface water or reservoirs, with irrigation for agricultural uses the biggest user of groundwater.

    All of Oklahoma's aquifers dropped several feet from 2001 to 2006, as a result of drought.

    The Arbuckle-Simpson and Blaine aquifers dropped more than 21 feet and almost 10 feet, respectively, during that period, but respond very quickly to drought or to rain. Oklahoma had a population of about 3.5 million in 2000. That's projected by to increase by 38% by 2060.

    Current Oklahoma law allows the OWRB to issue groundwater use permits based on an assumed 20-year lifetime for the aquifer, which is unsustainable. It was recommended to transfer water from the Kiamichi River in southeastern Oklahoma.

    Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said the state water plan has to emphasize conservation. Destructive competition will happen if there is not funding assistance.

    Norman environmental specialist Debbie Smith said she would like the state to require communities that receive financial assistance to develop a water conservation plan. Everybody knows that water conservation is the cheapest way to get more water.

    But if there is no sustainability, it's not going to work, There should be no ownership of water.

    Americans as a whole do not have any idea of the value of water.  rw 021615

    US New York;: Proponents Tout Legislation on Sex Education; Healthy Teens Act Aims Funds at Public School Programs on Safe Sex.   March 27, 2007   Times Union (US)
    The Healthy Teens Act, a bill before the NY Legislature, would establish a fund for school districts that teach abstinence and explain how to use birth control.

    The federal government offers $13 million for abstinence-only programs but no money for teaching teenagers how to have safe sex. In New York, HIV education is mandatory, but sex education is not.

    There are scattered schools that do a reasonable job. New York could spend $10 to $20 million a year without wasting a nickel. Eligible programs would not be allowed to promote a religious view, although moral, ethical and religious beliefs could be discussed.

    The programs would teach that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but would not ignore the fact that teenagers have sex.

    The bill supports sex education about abstinence, but understands that you need to address the needs of teenagers who are not abstaining. Comprehensive sex education delays teenagers from becoming sexually active. Giving kids complete information about contraception, STDs, and pregnancy risk, helps them protect themselves.

    Federally funded abstinence programs don't do the job. For example, when talking about condoms, the abstinence programs are only allowed to talk about their failure rates.

    Teenagers need to know how to use birth control, and how to make responsible decisions.  rw 020718

    End of "Cities, States, Regions" section,