Date:__________________

To _______________________,

I am sending you the enclosed because it should be time for “would be”  environmentalists to stop avoiding the central reason for environmental deterioration in the US and the disproportionate contribution to global warming by the US.  The problem for is that our growth which is mostly through “economic opportunity” immigration is seen as an untouchable subject because most immigrants are not from Europe.  Thus, racial and ethnic consciousness stops us from dealing with the central cause of US environmental degradation, which is population growth.

        As Gaylord Nelson the founder of Earth Day said, “Environmental degradation is not an issue of race.  It is an issue of PEOPLE.”  In your literature you make no allusion to US population growth as an issue negating or at least complicating your work.  Please revise your mission statement and your focus to acknowledge this.  It is time.  In the US we simply cannot continue our rapid environmental degeneration.   And all those concerned with global warming and the environment must insist that the elected officials we send to Washington DC revise our immigration policies so we stop taking in 1.2 million people per year.  A million less than that from all sources should result in population stabilization.  To lead the world towards population stabilization we must stabilize our own.  We must uncouple prosperity from ever more people needing ever more goods, services, and housing.

         According to the study released in 2019 we lost 3 billion birds since 1970.  We also lost trillions of insects, a source of food for birds.   Each year billions of insects if not trillions are splatted on vehicle grills, windshields and bumpers.  If you look at the front of your cars and trucks, what do you see?  Birds except for Magpies don’t yet seem to be pecking those billions of insect carcasses from the front of vehicles. 

          But with the pandemic road kills are down.  It is as if we have 100 million less people.  Yah!

          According the World Almanac ( yes, they still print them) for each 1000 people in the US there are 808 vehicles.  That means if we continue our growth rate from 1970 of 25,000,000 additional Americans every 10 years, in those 10 years we add 20,000,000 fume spewing, bug killing, tire grinding, road kill causing, atmosphere heating vehicles.  And your group would continue to be mute on growth?  And as some know, the rubber in tires can have 80 different chemicals which after being ground off tires flow into water ways.

         Portland, Oregon has a density of 4895 people per square mile.  Thus, each time Portland added that many people, one square mile of open space, farmland, forest land, or wild life habitat has been consumed.  Granted Portland is increasing its density with more enlightened land use laws than most places.  Nevertheless, it is sprawling and has become a traffic snarled movement limiting city.  

          Most states do not have statutes that might serve to limit sprawl.  Below are a few other density per square mile numbers meaning every time that many people have been added to each given city, one square mile of open land in some form has been urbanized.  And urbanization from growth means more vehicles, exponential traffic increases, more pesticides, more bird killing cats, more garbage and more of a disproportionate contribution to global warming.

Albuquerque, New Mexico                        2992

Baton Rouge, Louisiana                             2564

Charlotte, North Carolina                          2846

Dallas, Texas                                      3960

El Paso, Texas                                     2653 

Glendale, Arizona                                  4215

Henderson, Nevada                                  2964 

Irvine, California                                 4309

Jacksonville, Florida                              1209                                           

And so on through the alphabet.  Smaller cities have less density. 

         So what this means is that since 1970 as we added 130,000,000 million people to the US, using a density of 3500 people per square mile, we urbanized no less than 37,000 square miles which is greater than 36,000+ square mile Indiana.  And environmental groups are mute on growth?  And people wonder why we lost 3 billion birds and why other animal species are threatened with extinction?

          Plus, with ever more people, the water rights and hunting and fishing rights of Native Americans are continually eroded.  Why isn’t that discussed by you? 

          Thus, please go through the catharsis of becoming a US ZPG organization rather than thinking and saying “ Stopping growth isn’t our focus, interest, concern, job, or mission.”   Yes it is unless you want to remain in a self defeating comfortable state of denial.

        The wording to be placed somewhere in every publication you mail is simple.  “We at “NO LONGER PART OF THE PROBLEM” _________________________understand that our MISSION AND GOALS are made more difficult by Congress allowing continued population growth in the US.”

         Ultimately your members and all Americans will thank you.

Brent Thompson ( But anyone can send such a letter or use this one by “whiting out” Brent’s name.