APPLY THE BRAKES

Dear Congressman/woman: (DRAFT)

Through a series of Acts, Congress has been the primary cause of the U.S. population soaring from just over 200 million on Earth Day 1970 to more than 300 million last year. This increase and our high level of consumption have taken a tremendous toll on our natural resources and those of the entire globe.

Congress and our society have a critical choice to make. We can continue on this path of unsustainable growth that will take us to 400 million and beyond by the middle of this century. Or we can do as two bi-partisan commissions appointed by Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton urged us to do: Stabilize our numbers at a sustainable level which is in balance with quality of life and our share of the earth�s resources.*

To protect and conserve our remaining natural resources, we urge you to act now to put us on a path to a sustainable United States population. We can do this by adopting legislation that will return our nation to historic levels of immigration of 250,000 per year while also encouraging voluntary reduction in reproduction rates and consumption per person.

Signed,

Lester Brown
Brock Evans
Dave Foreman
John Davis
Amy Gulick
Andy Kerr
George Wuerthner
Don Weeden

* President's Commission on Population Growth and the American Future, chaired by Nelson D. Rockefeller 3rd (1972) U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by Barbara Jordan (1996).