The Other Soil Erosion: Long-Term Erosion of Our Productive Farmland Base from U.S. Population Growth

Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version The Other Soil Erosion: Long-Term Erosion of Our Productive Farmland Base from U.S. Population Growth  Introduction – Appreciating the Land That Feeds Us In the new century, sustainable agriculture has become a buzzword of sorts, and fresh, healthy (preferably organic), locally-grown food is an ideal if not a mantra. In the Mid-Atlantic …

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A Geomoment of Affluence Between Two Austere Eras

During most of human history austerity has been the norm. Only recently have some segments of world population enjoyed an affluent life. But these are very unusual times, far from the norm. It now appears human history can be broken into three distinct eras. First, the long march from the millennia of the hunter-gatherer economy to the time of the beginning and then widespread use of fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources….

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The President’s Column: NPG Statement on Population

We believe that the optimum rate of population growth is negative.

We believe that the optimum rate of population growth for the United States (and for the world) is negative, until such time as the scale of economic activity – and its environmental effects – is reduced to a level that would be sustainable indefinitely. We are convinced that if present rates of population …

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FOOD SECURITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

New NPG Forum Paper: Population Pressures on Soils Threaten Food Security
Analysis of human population growth and agricultural trends shows another vital natural resource is disappearing: fertile soil for food production.
After a January 2015 article in the journal Geology revealed that human activity is eroding soil “100 times faster” than …

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Why We Need A Smaller U.S. Population And How We Can Achieve It (An NPG Position Paper)

Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version This paper was originally published in July 1992, some 22 years ago when our population was 256 million. In that short space of time our population, now 320 million, increased by 64 million, an astonishing 25% growth in a little over two decades, or roughly 30 million per decade. The problem is …

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State of the Union Address: Touting More Growth with More People

Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version State of the Union Address:  Touting More Growth with More People An NPG Forum Paper by David Simcox February 2015 INTRODUCTION The President’s annual laundry-listing State of the Union address on January 20, 2015 has already been parsed and probed for advantages and potential traps by major media, political think tanks, interest …

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Foreign-Born Population Keeps Rising: Immigration Trumps Critical Need for U.S. Population Reduction

Census projections proclaim that, with Americans’ fertility falling and deaths soon to begin rising, immigration – not natural increase – will become the principal driver of U.S. population growth by the early 2030s.
That transition in our population dynamics may come even sooner, barring serious reductions in U.S. immigration intake…

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More Nonsense on Inexhaustible Resources from The Wall Street Journal

Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version More Nonsense on Inexhaustible Resources from The Wall Street Journal Over the years – even over the decades, long before it was absorbed into the Murdoch Empire – the inimitable Wall Street Journal has been a reliable source of baloney on the subject of prospects for infinite growth on a finite planet. …

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