Although
the first Earth Day, observed on April 22, 1970, saw the start
of the successful "Stop at Two" campaign (an effort
to persuade American women to achieve replacement fertility levels)
major environmental organizations, most notably Zero Population
Growth and Sierra Club, abandoned the effort to achieve a stable
U.S. population.
While mainstream environmental groups like National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation produce excellent educational materials about environmental degradation and loss of wildlife habitat, and pay lip service to the impact of population growth on sprawl, they shy away from addressing the policy issue of too many people. One reason is a reluctance to deal with the abortion issue, the other is the fear of tackling the out-of-control immigration that is responsible for over 80% of U.S. population growth in the 1990s. Both issues are viewed as "politically incorrect".
In his book, Living Within Limits, Garrett Hardin states, "It is now known that the planners of Earth Day 1990 were under economic pressure to leave population out of the picture. When directors of philanthropic foundations and business concerns were solicited for financial support they let it be known that they would not look kindly on a population emphasis. Money talks, silence can be bought."
A more detailed analysis of this abandonment comes from Roy Beck and Leon Kolankiewicz in a chapter they wrote for the Journal of Policy History, (Vol.12, No. 1 2000, Pennsylvania State University Press), titled: "The Environmental Movement's Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization (1970-1998): A First Draft of History". See also "Forsaking Fundamentals: The Environmental Establishment Abandons U.S. Population Stabilization". (http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/forsaking/toc.html).
While ZPG (now renamed Population Connection) addresses teenage pregnancy and international family planning, and Sierra works on "smart-growth" sprawl and world population stabilization, they are not addressing the underlying cause of our myriad environmental and social problems in the U.S. -- too many people and irrational immigration policies..
We are not alone...Grassroots Patriots
Californians for Population Stabilization
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Center for American
Unity
Colorado Alliance
for Immigraion Reform
Controlgrowth.org
Federation
for American Immigration Reform
Floridians
for Immigration Enforcement
IllegalAliens
Midwest
Coalition to Reform Immigration
Negative Population
Growth
Numbers USA
Population
Media Center
Scientists and Environmentalists for
Population Stabilization
Sierrans for U.S.
Population Stabilization