Introduction to Discussion

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Dear Sierra Club colleagues:
 
This concerns the population Ballot Initiative that appeared on the Club's 1998 National Ballot. The issue involved the immigration component of Sierra Club's U.S. population policy. Whatever your views on mass immigration and the environment, please take a few minutes to read these discussions. Why is this worthy of your time? Because many distinguished environmentalists both in and out of the Sierra Club support our position that U.S. population growth is one of the most pressing environmental issues of our age. Many committed, rank and file Sierrans agree. Some 2000 concerned people, a great majority of those approached, signed petitions recently to put the Club's population policy to a democratic vote of the entire membership.
 
There is a lot of misinformation about what the Ballot Initiative said. The Initiative called neither for a total stoppage of immigration into the United States nor a specific level of immigration, but simply for a Sierra Club policy that would support lower mass immigration rates in combination with lower birth rates so that U.S. population growth will not be endless.
 
Several articles are provided here so you may better be able to understand the important issues at stake. Environmental reasons for slowing rapid U.S. population growth are discussed in the piece, "Population Growth and the Environment." Some Club members, although recognizing these detrimental impacts, still are reluctant to support reduction of mass immigration for non-environmental reasons. Two contentions we have encountered are (1) the charge that it is "racist" to support lower levels of mass immigration and (2) passage of the Initiative would hurt the Sierra Club. We are confident that both of these contentions are wrong and we summarize the reasons in respective articles on these topics.
 
In summary, with environmental knowledge comes responsibility. Someone once said, "In the depths of history there have been instances where one moment committed a mistake... and centuries were punished."
 
Your consideration of this issue may be one such moment. Slowing U.S. population growth from all sources (including mass immigration) will yield benefits over the long term. Failure to do so will create centuries of problems. Your children and grandchildren will thank you for considering this issue fully.
 
-- SUSPS


 

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