Houston Floods Worsened by Population Growth

NPG
June 9, 2016
NPG Commentary
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A recent news story from the Associated Press described how “…the nation’s 4^th-largest city is being overwhelmed with more frequent and more destructive floods.” The AP story explains: “The worsening floods aren’t simple acts of nature or just costly local concerns.”

NPG has long held that population growth leads to increased development, emissions, and pollution – which has been shown to contribute to overall climate change and more extreme weather patterns. It seems the AP agrees with NPG: “Extreme downpours have doubled in frequency… in part because of global warming.”

“The other main culprit is unrestrained

development… Metro Houston… has added

more than a million people since 1992.”

Another recent headline proclaimed “Houston No. 2 on population-growth list…” – but growth in the Lonestar State isn’t limited to just Houston. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, four Texas Metro Areas collectively added approximately 412,000 people in the last year alone – with the entire state growing by nearly half a million people over the same period.

Recent Census records show that 5 of the nation’s 11 fastest-growing cities are in Texas. But the Orlando (FL) Metro area and coastal South Carolina were hot on Texas’ heels for growth – those areas also dominated the list of “fastest-growing” in the nation.

NPG has long held that population growth creates a domino effect, worsening climate change and adding to extreme weather patterns. Like the AP article, we have also drawn the link between population growth, climate change, and increased strain on our nation’s overburdened infrastructure.

As we have recently seen in Houston, the consequences of U.S. population growth are all around us – and they are continuing to grow more severe. We must act NOW to slow, halt, and eventually reverse our growth – until we reach a much smaller, truly sustainable size. With your help, we will continue to advocate policies which work to reduce U.S. population size and growth.