And even
if we could solve the technical problems presented by
immigration—what about the
amenity issue? Do we really want the
sprawl?
One
"solution" to water shortfall:
recycling, a strategy in the pipeline of some
southern California communities. But a serious drawback
is the health concern that
residual drugs and other undesired substances may
remain after treatment. Even purified sewage may contain
common contaminants like detergents, fragrances,
caffeine, estrogen and painkillers.
Droughts
come and go. They are a normal part of nature. But when
humans overpopulate a dry region like Arizona and expect
to have
lush greenery, at some point the
supply of water is not going to keep up with the
demand. If the
"permanent drought" predicted for the Southwest
is for real, then importing additional tens of millions
of people over the next few decades is terrible public
policy—with predictable results.
Another
disturbing marker: the U.S. is now a
food importer after being a food exporter for many
years. The U.S. has been the food supplier
to the world in
times of starvation—but
farmland is now being lost to soil degradation and
development.
Exploding
population growth, whether from legal or illegal
immigration, is causing some of America's best farmland
to be paved over. A
study in California found roughly 26 acres of
farmland were removed from production each day between
2002 and 2004.
In just two years, more than
18,800 acres of farmland in several San Joaquin Valley
counties became subdivisions, shopping malls or other
developments, setting a new state record for loss of
farmland, according to newly released state data. A
healthy real estate and construction market spurred
farmers in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Tulare and Merced
counties to sell 18,801 acres between June 2002 and June
2004. [San
Joaquin Farmland Disappearing At Record Rate
Associated Press, February14, 2007]
Food availability is an interesting topic. It’s part
environment and part national security. Being dependent
on a volatile and unfriendly global marketplace for food
puts us in just as precarious a position as
not having our own energy supply. The 800 pound
Chinese gorilla is about to make its presence known in
both areas.
Environmentalist Lester Brown has been warning for
years that food security is threatened by China,
which rapidly has become the
world’s largest wheat importer. It has quickly gone
from basket case to
powerful food buyer with the
cash in hand to purchase what it wants. The global
food market will likely feel the effects over the next
years.
Al Gore testified before House and Senate panels in
March to promote
climate change awareness and action. But as usual,
the discussion left out the real "root cause"—a
phrase which liberals love, for some reason—namely
explosive human population growth,
upsetting nature's restorative function.
Neither
Gore nor the
professional greenies like the
Sierra Club are willing to take on the topic of
immigration, or even population growth generally. Since
the Sierra Club renounced its bipartisan past to join up
with the
extreme left like MoveOn.org and George Soros, its
opinions have lost currency among the public as a whole.
Many Americans now regard the Sierra Club (rightly) as
irrelevant socialists in hiking boots.
As we say
in my home state of
Texas (April 21 is
San Jacinto Day!): when you're in a hole, stop
digging. America should not be encouraging massive
population growth through immigration, illegal
and legal.
Yet, many of the Democrats who were hanging on Al Gore's
every word have the worst immigration voting records,
e.g.
Sen Boxer with a recent grade of
D.
We know
there is some tiny awareness among the political elites
that there are numerical (and political) limits. In the
previous Congress, hurried changes were made to the
downright evil Senate
bill to reduce its expanded legal immigration from a
possible 200 million over 20 years to 66 million.
No one had
bothered to calculate the numbers until Robert
Rector of the Heritage Foundation did the Senators' work
for them.
From the
conservationist view, increased legal immigration is
just as bad as millions of illegals streaming through
open borders. The optimal number of immigrants vis a
vis environmental concerns is:
zero.
ZERO.
No more, nix, nada.
After bingeing
on population growth for decades, America needs a
diet. We are already hugely overpopulated, in terms of
sustaining natural resources for our own use and that of
future generations. Let's give it a rest.
Reportedly a recent pro-borders rally at
UC Santa Cruz included a young person who held a
sign reading "Redwoods
or
immigrants?"
That's
the bottom line. We can protect the remaining
natural glories of this American land—or we can live
increasingly regimented,
overcrowded lives
surrounded by pavement.
VDARE.COM's
Earth Day question: which is it to be?
Brenda Walker (email
her) lives
in Northern California and publishes two websites,
LimitsToGrowth.org and
ImmigrationsHumanCost.org.
She agrees with
Mark Twain's remark,
"Whiskey's for drinking; water's for fighting."
Here's to water!
