In a recent letter, Benjamin Gadberry lambasted Republican politicians for denying the science of climate change (“Bad business to ignore climate change,” Dec. 29).
I would like to highlight an ecological crisis that is roundly ignored: the link between mass immigration and climate change.
Tragically, environmentalists are now the deniers. Influential organizations such as the Sierra Club have neglected the overpopulation crisis, even going as far as endorsing increased legal immigration and amnesty for millions of illegal residents.
Presently, the United States admits 1 million new immigrants annually; immigration accounts for nearly 80 percent of our rapid population boom.
America’s explosive population will worsen our ecological footprint. Here’s why:
By 2050, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the United States will add 122 million new people, bringing its population to 440 million. How will we sustain this burgeoning populace?
First, our nation will experience urban sprawl on unprecedented scales. Tens of millions of new single-family homes, apartment complexes and gated communities will be constructed to house 122 million new residents.
Hundreds of thousands of new big-box stores, fast-food franchises, strip malls and other commercial buildings will be constructed in order to clothe, nourish and entertain this colossal population.
Additionally, hundreds of millions of acres of parking lots will be laid to accommodate these new dwellings and commercial facilities. Millions of new cars will hit the roads to oblige the American desire for personal transportation. This will require the laying of millions of miles of new roads.
Vast swaths of open space, farmland, wetlands and forests will be lost forever to the ever encroaching population. Water shortages, which already plague vast regions of the country, will only become more acute.
Unsustainable population growth directly impacts the climate. Immigration impact denial is equally dangerous as climate change denial.
Benjamin Holmes
Pittston
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