http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=60741

Op-Ed: Urban Sprawl: More Isn't Always Merrier

2/8/2006 6:09:00 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Opinion Editor

Contact: Randy Alcorn of Californians for Population Stabilization, 805-564-6626 or randyalcorn@capsweb.org; Web: http://www.capsweb.org

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is an op-ed by Randy Alcorn of Californians for Population Stabilization on urban sprawl:

Op-Ed: Urban Sprawl: More Isn't Always Merrier

By Randy Alcorn

Last week I traveled to Phoenix. I have made this trip periodically over the past 25 years, and each time I do I am astounded and alarmed at the rapid, sprawling growth there. You can almost watch the tightly packed housing developments and strip malls spreading out across the desert floor -- like a geometric carpet of beige-colored Legos on a sweeping plain of kitty litter. The recently completed six-lane freeway circumnavigating Phoenix is already plagued by L.A.-like traffic, and a yellow-brown haze of industrial effluvia hangs over the valley.

The Valley of the Sun is a people-packer's paradise, the Wal- Mart of affordable housing, and a veritable warehouse of humanity. The same people-packing phenomenon can be observed at the western fringe of the great desert, in California where San Bernardino and Riverside counties are experiencing similar sprawl. Someday soon, these two tidal waves of human population may slam together at the Colorado River where they can squabble over what's left of the water supply.

Returning from that thirsty, teeming desert to the singular sanctuary of Santa Barbara is a starkly profound experience that prompts a certain desperate rededication to preserve this place and, by extension, the entire planet. While Santa Barbara may be the birthplace of ecological consciousness, it is certainly not immune from relentless people-packers who would sacrifice timeless beauty to satisfy immediate desires, and transmogrify this place into another oozing urban sore on the planet.

The continual caterwauling for "affordable" housing here provides a political subterfuge to justify more development that only will lead to even more population and the attendant degradation of this exceptional place. Housing here is already affordable. If it were not, houses would not be selling. There can never be enough housing for all the folks who want to live here. Build another 1,000 units, another 10,000 units and nothing is accomplished except increasing the wealth of a few people while diminishing the environment for everyone -- forever. To sustain the desirable ambience of a place requires capacity limits. Like occupancy limits for theaters and cruise ships, there are sound reasons for limiting population in Santa Barbara, the nation and the planet.

Thanks to unbridled immigration, the U.S. is now burdened with the third largest population on Earth. While most of Europe has declining population, the U.S. is the only "advanced" nation to have increasing population -- well above replacement levels. Yet, America's collective consciousness is one of frontiers with plenty of open spaces in which to stretch out and get away from the crowds. I'm not sure that Americans, like the Japanese, are gracefully adapting to the realities of population congestion and to living in close quarters. The impact of our burgeoning numbers quickly diminishes our civility. Notice how rudely we behave towards each other wherever we are jammed together. In crowded conditions, we easily become frustrated, interpreting others' behavior as rude, and often reacting in kind. Road rage is a common manifestation of this reciprocal frustration.

Globally, the glut of human population has mixed economic consequences. The billions of people on Earth living in abject poverty provide an ocean of eager, cheap labor that fuels the growing global economy. While globalization improves the economic status of some people, it erodes the economic status of America's working class and even its middle class.

In a protected economy, America's workers grew affluent, especially with collective bargaining. But, a surfeit of cheap foreign labor continues to out-compete or lure away American industry while a relentless influx of desperately poor immigrants lowers domestic wages for many entry-level and blue-collar jobs. The increasing amount of consumer debt incurred by Americans is indicative of a population living beyond its means. And, with dwindling opportunities to increase their incomes, many Americans may face painful adjustments in the near future.

Genuine free markets and the immutable laws of economics eventually will prevail to provide the most benefit for the most people -- given there are sufficient natural resources. But, how far and fast must the global economy expand to accommodate enough of the vast pool of cheap labor to drive up the wages of all workers globally, or to lower the costs of goods and services enough so Americans can sustain the comfortable lifestyles they have enjoyed these past decades? This uncertain economic flattening could be painful for many Americans who are watching their jobs disappear along with their pension funds. Meanwhile, as a burgeoning human population industrializes, the strain on dwindling natural resources and a fragile eco-system threatens all living creatures.

Some of my libertarian friends welcome increasing population and fiercely advocate open borders. They contend that a growing population affords more opportunity for human genius; more Einsteins, Ghandis, Shakespeares and Mozarts. They ignore the other side of the equation; more Hitlers, Stalins, Saddam Husseins and Jeffery Dahmers. They have faith in human intelligence and ingenuity to solve the many problems of reckless population growth -- faith of any kind can be such a hallucinogenic. Can we really breed our way out of the problems caused by our over-breeding?

The economies of Santa Barbara, the U.S., and the world will not collapse if the population decreases. People still will manufacture, build, farm and trade with each other. The ratio of geniuses to fools likely will remain the same. There can be and have been robust economies at much lower population levels than we now endure. That is good news, because at some point population growth is unsustainable. It already is detrimental.

Hearing people condemning abortion and birth control for the loss of millions of potential human beings, and proudly birthing litters of children, or preaching that some deity demands that we multiply like fruit flies, does nothing to diminish my suspicion that the ratio of geniuses to fools is heavily skewed toward the latter. If my libertarian friends are correct that more population provides more geniuses, why is there so much idiocy in the world?

In a finite, inter-dependent, eco-system, incessant human population growth is idiocy.

Randy Alcorn is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and can be reached at randyalcorn@capsweb.org

http://www.usnewswire.com/