Dear HCN,
Michelle
Nijhuis sounds generous when she writes: “I can’t say I
deserve the many benefits of living here more than the people in
line do” (HCN, 12/23/02: Holding open the door to the good life up
north). But as she helps the Mexican government encourage illegal
immigration into the United States, by providing matriculas
(identity cards), we need to ask: Just what is she being generous
with? The answers, among other things, are wide-open spaces,
wildlife habitat and economic opportunities for working-class
Americans.
According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, at
current levels of immigration, the U.S. population will climb by
115 to 120 million between 2000 and 2050, to approximately 395-400
million people. Two-thirds of that increase will be due to
post-2000 immigrants and their descendants.
All those
people are going to need food, housing, jobs, recreational
opportunities, etc. That means more pollution and greenhouse
emissions, less habitat for wildlife, more crowding on scenic
trails and on highways. In short, everything that we
environmentalists oppose.
Endless population growth, like
endless economic growth, is not compatible with a strong
environmentalism. Left-wing cornucopianism, ultimately, is no more
sustainable than right-wing cornucopianism.
Philip
Cafaro
Fort Collins, Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Real environmentalists don’t support immigration.
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