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The Pueblo Chieftain

Prevent urban sprawl with immigration reform

By Glen Colton

TheUnitedStateslosesafootballfieldofnaturallandevery30seconds. Not to erosion or rising sea levels. But to a different kind of deluge -- a flood of people moving to theUnitedStates.

Since 1996, the U.S.populationhas skyrocketed from 270 million people to 330 million, primarily due to migration from other countries. That figure could eclipse 440 million by 2065 if current trends continue. Nearly 90 percent of thegrowthwill come from immigration, according to Pew Research.

Asourpopulationexplodes, so does the demand for new buildings, roads, and cropland. Unless we humanely reduce future immigration levels, overdevelopment will irrevocably destroyouropen spaces.

Cities can only hold so many people before developers expand into surrounding areas. This buildout, known as "urban sprawl," has already destroyed vast swaths of countryside. The continentalUnitedStateslost 24 million acres ofnaturallandto development between 2001 and 2017.

At this rate, "a South Dakota-sized expanse of forests, wetlands, and wild places in the continentalUnitedStateswill disappear by 2050," according to the Center for American Progress.

Developers swallow up farmland too. Between 1992 and 2012, they converted 31 million acres of agriculturalland-- the equivalent of all the farmland in Iowa -- into subdivisions, office parks, roads, and other man-made structures. By 2050, there will be a mere 0.7 acres of farmland per U.S. resident. That's a 63 percent decrease from the level in 1980.

When developers cannibalize former farmland, it leaves farmers with two environmentally damaging options.

They can either raze more open spaces -- including existing forests and unplanted fields -- and turn it into viable new cropland. Or they can boost yields on existing plots of farmland by using more pesticides and fertilizers, which ultimately polluteourwaterways and the food we eat.

Rapidpopulationgrowthalso causes terrible traffic congestion. As people get pushed further away from city centers, they're forced to drive longer distances and sit in traffic for hours on end. In 1980 -- when the country had 100 million fewer people -- the average American spent 20 hours a year stuck in traffic jams. Now, the average American spends 54 hours a year -- more than a full weekend -- dealing with congestion.

This congestion isn't merely annoying -- it's poisoningourplanet. The longer people sit in traffic and idle their cars, the more emissions they generate. Sprawling urban areas are responsible for 80 percent of thegrowthin vehicular carbon emissions since 1980. Those emissions -- which account for 28 percent of total fossil fuel emissions in theUnitedStates-- exacerbate climate change, which threatens to devastate much of the planet via floods, wildfires, storms, and droughts in the coming decades.

Fortunately, there's still time to prevent this environmental catastrophe. More than 11,000 scientists recently warned that "the worldpopulationmust be stabilized . . . [to lessen] greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss."

Americans are already embracing sustainability and choosing to have fewer children. Ifpopulationgrowthwere driven solely by birthrates, the U.S.populationwould barely budge in the coming decades.

Unfortunately, Congress hasn't held up its end of the bargain. Since lawmakers expanded annual immigration levels in 1965, immigrants and their descendants have accounted for 55 percent ofpopulationgrowth. America's foreign-bornpopulationhas more than quadrupled over the last five decades. Today, more than 45 million immigrants live here. And in the coming decades, immigration will cause nearly all of the projectedgrowthin the U.S.population.

The vast majority of immigrants are good people. They'reourfriends and neighbors.

But it's possible -- in fact, it's essential -- for environmentalists to welcome the immigrants already here while pushing for humane limits on future migration. It's the only way to protectouropen spaces from overdevelopment.

Curbing overall immigration levels needn't be a partisan issue. Sixty-three percent of Americans, including 53 percent of Democrats, support cutting annual legal migration to less than 500,000, according to a Harvard/Harris poll. Currently, the government admits about 1.1 million new immigrants each year.

The American public is already trying to stabilize thepopulationand protect the environment. It's time forourleaders to follow suit.

Glen Colton is an environmentalist and long term sustainability activist who lives in fast growing Fort Collins, Colorado.

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