Vermont Environmental Consortium

And

BRATTLEBORO REFORMER

September 18, 2007
The "P" Word: The Environmental Elephant in the Room
by
Daniel Hecht

It’s conspicuous by its absence. In all the environmental-related discussion taking place, it’s a word we seldom dare to speak: Population.

Two hundred years ago, the English economist Thomas Malthus asserted that human population will inevitably increase until it outgrows its resource base. More recently, population issues were once commonly discussed, peaking around the 1968 publication of Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb.

But today it’s as if some inadvertent conspiracy has eliminated population from discussion of natural resources, energy supply, global warming, and ecosystem preservation. Instead of useful data, a Google search of “population control” yields hundreds of hits debunking the need for limiting population, exposing the secret agendas of population organizations, and articles like “The Inherent Racism of Population Control.”

George Plumb, a resident of Washington and president of Vermonters for a Sustainable Population (VSP), is hardly a candidate for the role of evil, racist conspirator. He’s small, fine-boned, with a quiet voice and a sober, almost shy demeanor. A father of three, he’s active in his church and community.

George recalls the moment when it really hit him. He had grown up in a rural Massachusetts town before moving to Essex Junction in 1963. Two decades later, when he returned to his old home town, he found only sprawling subdivisions, malls, traffic. Gone were all the familiar, good places. It’s a too-familiar tale.

He co-founded VSP when the birth of his first grandchild caused him to have more concern for living beings: “My priority expanded from caring for myself to caring for my family and finally to caring for the whole world. And I saw lot of suffering there.” Overpopulation was an obvious cause.

A number of factors have caused the issue to fade from view. On the positive side, advances in commercial agriculture increased the Earth’s capacity to feed people, with new crop strains, technologies, and chemical fertilizers vastly improving yields. Massive irrigation programs, such as those in China, doubled the amount of land under cultivation. More recently, economists and social scientists showed that more efficient use of resources and high tech could reduce per capita consumption. Population could grow much more than Malthus anticipated.

Just as important were negative social reactions to attempts at regulating population. Tales of coercive abortions or sterilizations in China deeply offended our values. And religion abhorred family planning: In the Bible, God urged mankind to be fruitful and multiply, to “cover the Earth.” As religious traditionalists gained political power, the U.S. cut funding for population programs because of perceived links with abortion and concern that birth control led to promiscuity. For their part, secular liberals felt queasy about resonances with discredited ideas like eugenics and racist economic or immigration policies.

The issue was largely abandoned even by those who should have most embraced it, environmentalists. Why? Because there were plenty of other fights to take on; no sense inviting opposition to tough but ultimately less-contentious efforts such as preserving species or eliminating air pollution by associating them with a populationist agenda. Gotta pick your battles.

Today the net U.S. birthrate – number of births in excess of deaths -- produces relatively slow growth. But our population continues to swell due to another major factor: immigration.

Talk about hot potatoes! Immigration issues divide opinion paradoxically, with some on the right advocating for more because it means a growing economy and labor supply, some disliking it because of concerns for American cultural identity. On the left, some want to assure refuge for the world’s downtrodden and welcome cultural diversity, while others worry about the influx of disenfranchised cheap labor, pressure on social services systems, and, yes, the environmental burden.

So, given the issue’s sensitivity, what can we do about population?

VSP seeks to help Vermonters engage the issue. The first goal is public education – making sure people understand overpopulation’s environmental and social effects and the range of action options available. They also recommend support for family planning programs, nationally and internationally.

And, importantly, for better immigration policies that reduce the flow into our country. George stresses that immigration control should not be equated with racism or bigotry. It’s a matter of common sense. Could we live abundantly and happily with twice as many people here? Maybe. How about ten times as many, or a hundred? Clearly not. If we accept that there must be a limit at some level, where should it be?

So another item on the agenda must be research into what is truly sustainable. We need to determine what constitutes a viable population level – and what our criteria should be. Is the maximum number the land can possibly feed the only limiter, or should subjective aspects of quality of life – privacy, level of affluence, access to unspoiled natural lands – also be considered?

George and VSP don’t claim to know the answers to these questions, but they do assert the importance of asking them, and of giving the issue the rational, unbiased consideration it warrants.

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Vermonters for a Sustainable Population provides scores of useful links to population-related organizations and publications on its website, www.vspop.org.

Daniel Hecht is a novelist and executive director of Vermont Environmental Consortium. For more information on any Green Grapevine topic, contact vec@norwich.edu.

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