PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS SHOULD EQUIP GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS DOMESTIC POPULATION GROWTH
- David Simcox
- March 1, 2009
- Forum Papers
- Forum Paper
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PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS SHOULD EQUIP GOVERNMENT TO ADDRESS DOMESTIC POPULATION GROWTH
An NPG Forum Paper
by David Simcox
March 2009
Since his election, President Obama has received wide-ranging advice from major environmental nonprofits and experts on dealing with neglected environmental and related energy issues. But their advice generally ignores the most critical environmental threat – U.S. population size and growth. NPG’s advice to Obama and the 111th Congress is to develop new permanent machinery to ensure domestic population gets due consideration in national policymaking and to raise the consciousness of Americans about the need to balance population size with resources. As a start, NPG recommends the creation of a network of senior population counselors in the White House and the cabinet-level agencies most concerned with environmental and resource issues. That network should be headed by a senior environmental scientist as Senior Advisor or Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Population and Sustainability. Congress should ensure continuing attention to domestic population by establishing standing committees on population, holding hearings, and appointing high-level population experts to Congressional research and fact-finding agencies.
Nothing gets people’s attention more than being elected President of the United States.
Major environmental organizations and experts have greeted Obama’s election and accession to office by showering him with an imposing array of recommendations and appeals on what he should now do as President to deal with the country’s grave environmental and related energy issues. For the most part the appeals are persuasive and technically sound and grounded in solid research. But they have little to say about the one environmental condition that either creates or complicates all other U.S. environmental and resource issues – U.S. population size and growth.
The most detailed and thorough cluster of policy recommendations is the “Transition to Green,” a late 2008 report by 29 top environmental nonprofits, led by such leading groups as Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, Wilderness Society, Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Two global population nonprofits also participated: Population Connection and Population Action International.1
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David Simcox is a former NPG Senior Advisor. From 1985 to 1992 he was executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. From 1956 to 1985, Simcox was a career diplomat of the U.S. Department of State, with service in diplomatic posts in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and in Washington. His diplomatic assignments involved formulation of policy for labor, population and migration issues in such countries as Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Brazil and the nations of Indo-China. Simcox is a frequent contributor on population, immigration and Latin American matters to national newspapers and periodicals and has testified on several occasions before congressional committees on immigration, labor and identification policies. He holds degrees from the University of Kentucky, American University and the National War College. Simcox is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and saw service in the Korean conflict. If you are affiliated with the media and would like to schedule an interview with David, please contact us at 703-370-9510.