An ecological footprint measures how much land and
water area a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to
absorb its wastes. Most immigrants to the United States come from less
technologically advanced countries. Because of the lifestyles of those
countries, their people tend to consume less and produce less waste; that is,
they have a smaller ecological footprint.1
Per capita ecological footprint
increases when immigrants come to the United States
When immigrants come to the United States, they do
not maintain the traditional lifestyle of their home country. Rather, they
quickly adapt to the American lifestyle. As they do, they become greater
consumers and polluters; their individual ecological footprint increases. For
example, the carbon footprint of the average immigrant is 302 percent higher
than it would have been had s/he remained at home.
This does not justify the consumptive patterns of
Americans; however, it does indicate that that we can reduce the immediate
stress upon our environment by limiting immigration to the U.S.
Immigration → Overpopulation → Environmental
Degradation
The problem is not merely that immigrant’s
ecological footprint increases after they arrive in America although that fact
is troubling in itself. Immigration also causes overpopulation. Environment
degradation does not solely depend on per capita consumption and waste; it also
matters how many people there are. Simply stated:
(Environmental Degradation) = (Per Capita
Ecological Footprint) x (Population)
The more people there are in the United States, the
more we as a whole degrade the environment. This is the problem of population
growth, and immigration worsens it severely.
The Pew Research Center estimates that post 1970’s
immigrants and their children will constitute 82 percent of population growth
from 2005 to 2050.2 We can not manage our nation’s ecological
footprint unless we stabilize our population. But we cannot stabilize our
population without reducing annual immigration to a sustainable level. For the
sake of our environment, we need a moratorium on immigration.
What the environment
degradation factors mean
Methane Production. The gas methane contributes to the greenhouse effect, which is
increasing the world’s temperature.
Freshwater Consumption. We are depleting or polluting freshwater much faster than it is
being replaced. Mass immigration exacerbates the shortage of freshwater.
Industrial CO 2 Production. CO2 (carbon dioxide) is the primary gas that
contributes to the greenhouse effect. CO2 is perhaps our worst and most
immediate environmental danger, and immigrants triple their CO2 production by
coming to the United States.
Energy Consumption. Ninety-three percent of U.S. energy comes from a non-renewable
source, and each source degrades the environment in some way.3 The average immigrant more than triples his
energy consumption.
Cattle Production. While cattle production may seem benign, it is not. Cattle emit
methane, cause soil erosion, pollute streams, and require the conversion of
forest into rangeland. Immigration more than quintuples the average immigrant's
effect on the production of cattle.
Fertilizer Consumption. Although fertilizer increases short-term crop yields, it also
salts the earth, poisoning land and water systems. The average immigrant
increases his use of fertilizer by a factor of six upon arriving in America.
Fish Production. Nearly half of America’s native fish species are in danger of
extinction. On average, when people immigrate to the United States, their
contribution to the problem increases six fold.
* The average pre-immigration footprint was
calculated using the weighted average of the 10 countries with the largest
immigrant populations in America.
Note: These figures do not compare absolute
increases in consumption, which would be larger - they indicate the immigrants’
current footprint in America, compared to their past footprint in their home
country. They show that immigrants do 213 percent more damage to America’s
environment than they once did to their home county’s environment.
Footnotes and
endnotes
1.
Footprint
Basics Overview, Global Footprint Network, April 27, 2009.
2.
Jeffrey S.
Passel and D’Vera Cohn, U.S. Population Projections: 20052050, Pew
Research Center, February 11, 2008.
3.
Renewable
Energy Consumption and Electricity Preliminary 2007 Statistics, Table 1, United States Energy Information Administration,
May 2008
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