Four Top-10 Lists

A Guide for Environmentally Concerned Organizations:
Putting Population In Your Programs

Four "Top-10" Lists Which Are Crucial To Your Success

1. Establishing The Population-Environment Connection
2. Why Population Has Remained An Unmentionable To Many Environmental Organizations
3. Why Incorporating Population Is Crucial To Your Success
4. How You Can Bring The Need For Population Stabilization Into The Mainstream Of Your Organization

List One: Establishing The Population-Environment Connection

Any cause without a population program is like mopping the floor with the water still turned on.

US population, now at over 260 million, currently grows by 3 million people each year, the equivalent of an additional California each decade. The Census Bureau notes that we could well have 1/2 billion people in the US by the middle of the next century if this growth is not halted. Because of our drastic environmental impact, the US is often considered the Earth's most overpopulated nation.

A few of the (mostly US) environmental symptoms which illustrate the futility of leaving population stabilization out of the equation:

1. Open Space: We are losing 1.5 million acres of farmland per year, mostly to development. 1.3 million acres of pavement are added each year (size of Delaware).
2. Waste: 70% of landfills have been closed since the late 1970s, 1/3 of the remaining will be filled by 1995.
3. Water: 35% of US sewage ends up in marine waters. 35 states are removing groundwater faster than it is replenished.
4. Air: In Eastern National Parks, average visual range is 20 miles, only 1/5 the natural average.
5. Species Diversity: Of 20,000 native plants, 4200 are threatened with extinction.
6. Automobiles: 70% of metropolitan rush hour traffic is now stop-and-go, up from 30% in 1983.
7. Food: 129 of 236 tracked fish species are being fished to the limit or beyond (harvested faster than they reproduce). One-third of shellfish beds have been closed because of water pollution.
8. Taxes and Debt: It is estimated that cleaning up hazardous waste sites will cost 750 billion dollars, 75% of the 1990 federal budget.
9. Health: 66% of Americans are at risk for respiratory problems because of air pollution.
10. Energy: Total energy use has increased by 1.1% per year since 1970 even with conservation.

List Two: Why Population Has Remained An Unmentionable To Many Environmental Organizations

Many environmental organizations downplay or completely avoid population issues. They do so for a variety of reasons, as listed below. In List Three, we expose the myths contained in these reasons. We believe that population issues are not at all tangential or irrelevant. On the contrary, they are of critical importance. Environmental groups must address them if they wish to succeed.

1. It's not important to our central cause and mission.
2. That's an issue for the population organizations.
3. Population is not a "politically correct" issue or it is a "personal issue".
4. It might upset a few of our members or discourage memberships.
5. We might lose revenue.
6. It's not critical to how we are judged as successful.
7. The time is not right.
8. Population stabilization is too tough a goal; it seems so intangible.
9. We don't really know enough about population and how it affects our central issues.
10. We have never dealt with population issues before.

List Three: Why Incorporating Population Is Crucial To Your Success

This list refutes the myths in List Two.

1. Rebuttal: Today, many environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society, have realized that they must consider the quality-of-life of our grandchildren as part of their mission. Each year, additional groups realize that "No matter what your cause, it's a lost cause without population stabilization."
2. Rebuttal: Alone, the population groups are too small a force to bring grass roots consensus and action. All organizations concerned with quality-of-life issues must become actively involved for anything of substance to happen.
3. Rebuttal: The same could have been said about race relations, condoms (for AIDS) or the environment itself only a few years ago. Widespread discussion of the issue will make it "PC".
4. Rebuttal: It will upset a few of your members. But, experience indicates that it will delight far more who have already seen that population growth is a significant force behind the other problems.
5. Rebuttal: Most major funding sources are in favor of dealing with population issues. For the few which are not, see the next section for some suggestions and steps.
6. Rebuttal: Is your organization considering its mission or only short term risk reduction in judging success? The reality is that such integrity issues must surface and be reconciled.
7. Rebuttal: With each group pushing for different action or legislation (save wildlife or open space or clean water or...) no one organization can get sufficient attention. With a unified message, every cause can win. Every week we wait delays the inevitable: we can't go on with a strategy which may win a few battles but ultimately lose the war.
8. Rebuttal: We will never have the money or resources to continue to remedy the symptoms. Stabilizing population is relatively simple and cheap -- we must only attain the political will to do it.
9. Rebuttal: Population Connection and many other organizations can help. We have materials that can establish the connections. We want to help you succeed at your mission.
10. Rebuttal: It's always tough for an individual or organization to incorporate a new facet into its programs. It's always nice to be judged a visionary just a bit down the line.

List Four: How You Can Bring The Need For Population Stabilization Into The Mainstream Of Your Organization

"No matter what your cause, it's a lost cause without population stabilization".

To stabilize population, the issue must go well beyond just the population organizations in order to become mainstream and grassroots. We must make open discussion of population issues "politically correct". For this to happen, every organization concerned with the quality-of-life of our children must actively address this issue.

This is a list of steps your organization might take to bring population issues into the mainstream of your activities. We suggest you start at the top and work down over a short but acceptable period of time.

1. Use the phrase "because of our population growth" liberally in all of your brochures, articles and conversations.
2. Have your organization visibly sign the "Priority Statement on Population". This is a simple document, already signed by many organization, acknowledging the important connection (available from Population Connection at 800/767-1956).
3. Include articles in your publications on population growth and its impact on your central issues (Population Connection has fact sheets on many of these).
4. Have speakers knowledgeable in population growth and its effects address your organization. (Population Connection can provide such speakers).
5. Ask your members what they think about the importance of (US) population growth on your direct issues. You will probably be surprised by their knowledge and concern.
6. Make certain that persons knowledgeable in population issues and the population-environment connection are on your staff and board of directors.
7. Ask your members to write or call Congress; have a postcard campaign.
8. Ask your members to write articles or letters to the editor on how local or national issues are symptoms of too many people.
9. Actively lobby for a US population policy to determine what our population should be and a plan to get it there over time.
10. Give population stabilization equal or greater visibility and action as compared to that you give to your "direct" causes (you will probably lose the others anyway if you don't).

December 21, 1995