Sprawl - It's Too Many People - SUSPS - Sierra Club 2001 Population Sprawl Ballot Question

Sprawl - It's Too Many People

SUSPS

SUSPS Home Overview What You Can Do History Democracy Misc

Sprawl: It's Too Many People
Believe your eyes

car

Freedom of the Open Road?

The automobile was once an American icon of freedom and independence. These days, a car is more like a cell in a gridlock prison.

In 1975, Americans averaged 41 percent of their peak-hour travel time driving under congested conditions. By 1994, that figure had increased to 68 percent.

Sprawl also means that Americans are driving further. In 1975, the average American drove 23 miles in traffic during peak hour. By 1994 that figure had reached 45 miles, a near doubling.

"Forging and maintaining a sustainable society is the critical challenge for this and all generations to come. In responding to that challenge, population will be the critical factor in determining whether or not we succeed in forging such a society."

-- Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day

Loss of Farmland

Cornell Professor David Pimentel has studied the effects of population growth on American agriculture and food supply. He has concluded that U.S. crop and pasture land resources in 2050 will be reduced to about half their present levels on a per person basis and the U.S. will cease to be a grain exporter by 2025. Both the variety and amount of food will be restricted by availability and cost.

Future generations of Americans will likely have less animal protein in their diets and will be paying a higher percentage of their incomes for food. According to Professor Pimentel, Americans may eventually spend 30 to 50 percent of their incomes on food, a substantial increase over today's 15 percent.

Who We Are
SUSPS ^® is a group of thousands of Sierra Club members working to return the organization to its traditional position that environmentalism must include responsible limits to population growth. We believe that conservationists must indeed think globally and act locally (in this case, nationally). We advocate a comprehensive population policy that leads to a sustainable America.

*Information on Sprawl*	*The Sprawl Ballot Question*
The Overlooked Factor in Sprawl	The Sprawl Ballot Question - Looking for the Root Cause
Facing the Future and Sprawl	What you can do to help
Sprawl and Population	Supporting statement (short)
Census Adjusted Upward	Supporting statement (long)
Sprawl: It's Too Many People	Sprawl resolutions passed by Club Chapters
www.SprawlCity.org shows population-sprawl relationship	Frequently Asked Questions
	Democracy in the Sierra Club?

SUSPS Home Overview What You Can Do History Democracy Misc