Posted on 08/31/2006 7:03:11 AM PDT by A. Pole
WASHINGTON -- The United States, now at nearly 300 million people, is the only industrialized country that has experienced strong population growth in the last decade, creating concerns that the boom and Americans' huge appetites for food, water, and land will sharply erode the nation's natural resources in coming years, according to a report released yesterday.
The Northeast remains by far the most densely populated region of the nation, but it also had the slowest population growth in the country during the 1990s
[...]
In contrast, the South and the West were booming, creating new pressure on fragile environments and water sources.
For the first time, the report compared national and regional population trends with environmental indicators, highlighting stresses that growing populations are placing on nature, according to the report and outside analysts.
While some researchers focus on alarming fertility rates in poor countries, which grew by 16.3 percent from 1995 to 2005, the US population grew by 10.6 percent in that period, or 29 million people, the report noted. Europe during that time grew by 504,000 people, or less than 1 percent.
[...]
Americans consume like no other nation -- using three times the amount of water per capita than the world average and nearly 25 percent of the world's energy, despite having 5 percent of the global population; and producing five times more daily waste than the average in poor countries.
[...]
But the booming South and West regions show some of the most dramatic environmental stresses, according to the report. For example, the four fastest-growing states -- Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah -- all have areas of acute water shortages.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Nancy-Boy? I thought you were a chick!
That's easy to fix. Get rid of the misguided social service system that attempts to keep old folks alive forever. You can adjust the average age of the population downward by either adding more young people, or eliminating the older people.
Americans ARE dying off. It's the Third World that is replacing us. I'd rather have an underpopulated America full of weeds than just another overcrowded Third World cesspool.
You mean the Judeo-Christian-ISLAMIC God, don't you? Of the three sects, the Mohammadans are doing the best job of multiplying. So I guess you look at Indonesia and smile at His work?
Commentary was directed at the original article author, not the kind FR person who posted it.
We do consume too much so I recommend that we no longer buy newspapers. How many forests can we save if we all stop buying the Boston Globe, NYT, etc.
Oh please, the europeans and russians are trying to bribe their citizens with money, housing, and free nurses to try and encourage them to have more babies.
The fact our population is increasing means we're in a much healthier place than europe is.
Immigration is killing the land of the opportunity.
Stop all illegal immigration. Send back the illegals. End of problem.
This is an extremely important issue. At a time when
radical Islamic nations are having a population explosion,
the west is having 1.2 children per family. This is a
death wish. Additionally, the "running out of resources"
argument is a farce. Even the desert countries have figured out how to desalinate salt water.
The only reason that immigration and multi-culturalism are
such big problems today is because we have aborted 50
million babies that would have been working the fields
(prior to college), tending the landscapes, and serving
fries at McDonalds. When I was young, Americans (like
me) did this work. Now there are no Americans to do
this work. Folks, we are in deep trouble if we do not
start having more kids to stand up to the Evil in the
world and continue to make this country great.
For my part, my wife and I have 6 kids. I hope to have
six more (Lord willing). The Bible says our children
will "stand in the Gates and defend us from our enemies".
Who will join me in raising Godly children to
make this country great and stand up against Islamo-fascism? :-)
No, the fact that our population is growing means our political elites have decided to ignore the law and the desires of the people and flood our country with poor, ignorant, diseased Third World serfs for their own economic gain.
That's what happens when the population of one country invades and over runs the population of another country.
If you think the expanding Third World slums typified by Los Angeles and New York are "America," then I'd say you are the one who is a bit hazy on what America is.
We produce 5 million barrels of oil per day (down from nearly 11m in 72 and 9m in 82) and consume 20m+ today because we have the best bid for foreign produced oil. If we ever lose that bid than all these "growth is god" conservatives are gonna be holding the bag.
Agreed!
Despite all the empty rhetoric about alternative energy technologies, the simple fact is that nothing will ever be able to replace good ol' petroleum as a source of cheap, easy and concentrated energy.
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