Issue 71: April 30, 2001

+== TIME OUT PROJECT ==+

On an issue that continues to divide the Sierra Club, an important ballot initiative was narrowly beaten back this month. The referendum would have forced Club leaders to stress population growth as a major factor in sprawl. (This would seem an obvious connection, but the sprawl/population issue is sensitive because immigration is by far the chief component of population growth in the United States.)

Proponents of the measure argued that the Club leadership has been downplaying population growth as a contributor to sprawl "for reasons of political correctness and fund-raising."

According to Fred Elbel of Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization (SUSPS), the group which sponsored the ballot initiative, the Sierra Club leadership used undemocratic tactics to defeat the referendum. Sierra management deleted about half the text of the initiative on the ballot itself in order to make it less likely to pass, and they made it known they expected local leaders to follow the official line. In spite of this, the ballot measure lost by only 54 to 46%.

It remains to be seen whether the Sierra Club bureaucracy, (which is increasingly involving the Club in non-environmental issues like drivers licenses for illegal aliens), will see this thin margin as evidence of growing dissastifaction within the grassroots membership.

To read the SUSPS press release on the ballot initiative: http://www.susps.org/sprawl/sbq_mediakit.html

More reading:

Mainstream environmental groups more interested in fundraising and lavish conferences than protecting the environment:
From the Sacramento Bee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental reporter, Tom Knudson (April 22)
http://www.sacbee.com/news/projects/environment/index02.html

Immigration a "public relations nightmare" for Sierra Club:
Newark Star-Ledger (April 26)
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/jersey/ledger/1310eb5.html

"The Sierra Club’s Web site is an exercise in intellectual cowardice."
Providence Journal editorial (April 18)
http://projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/opinion/05317151.htm

Sierra Club president says mass immigration to the U.S. can save Indonesian rainforests:
Las Vegas Sun (March 16)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2001/mar/16/511575172.html

+== TAKE POSITIVE ACTION ==+

In the April 26 Newark Star-Ledger piece "Sierra Club rejects population referendum" Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, defended the Club’s downplaying of population growth as a factor in sprawl. He argued that "while New Jersey saw modest population growth in the past two decades, sprawl intensified during that time."

But according to the Census Bureau, New Jersey has grown by more than 13% in the past two decades. The Garden State is already the most densely populated in the Union with over 1000 persons per square mile, and an environmentalist has no business calling a 13% growth rate "modest."

Sprawl is a major environmental and political issue in New Jersey, but how many residents know that much of the state’s overcrowded conditions were mandated by Congress? Between 1990 and 1997, the foreign-born population in New Jersey grew by a remarkable 25%, and foreign-born residents now account for more than 15% of New Jersey’s total population.

Regardless of these facts, Tittel said the local Sierra Club leadership strongly opposed the SUSPS referendum to connect population growth and sprawl. "There were definitely concerns about sounding anti-immigrant," he said. "New Jersey is a diverse state, and that has always been and always will be a strength of the state."

Note to Jeff Tittel: Advocating a reduction in immigration is no more "anti-immigrant" than family planning is "anti-child," and the only "diversity" that is an environmental issue is biodiversity.

Furthermore, New Jersey already enjoys more diversity than the average of our already very diverse country. Just how much diversity is necessary before the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club will act responsibly (but unprofitably?) and take an evironmental stand against one of the primary components of sprawl: population growth?

ProjectUSA supporters may contact Mr Tittel and inform him that if the Sierra Club continues to sacrifice our environment to political correctness and fundraising concerns, the Club will squander its honorable history and ensure its own marginalization as real environmentalists look elsewhere for meaningful and honest activism.

New Jersey office: 609-924-3141
Sierra Club Hdqtrs: 415-977-5500
media.team@sierraclub.org

+== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+

"No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up"

– Lily Tomlin

+==EMAIL OF THE WEEK==+

Opposing immigration is a bigoted and racist position, especially when espoused by a WASP such as yourselves. Go back to Western Europe if you prefer to live with a bunch of white people and do not value diversity.

Valerie Sulfaro, "PhD"
Harrisonburg, Virginia

Tags:   environmentalism · immigration · politically correct · population growth · Sierra Club · sprawlNo Comments