July 3, 2007

 1.  Vermonters for a Sustainable Population (VSP) advocates the stabilization of the Vermont, U.S., and global populations at a level that is in balance with all of our natural resources and meets the needs of the those populations without endangering the needs of future generations and ecological integrity.

 2.  Although the size and growth of the human population is a global issue, VSP recognizes that each country must decide for itself what population level is sustainable. The U.S should be a leader and a role model in achieving a sustainable population. Therefore, the most effective role for VSP is to advocate for the adoption of U.S. policies that will achieve a sustainable population in this country and that encourage other countries to do the same. Current U.S. policies result in continued population growth both domestically and internationally. Policies should be adopted to achieve stabile and sustainable population levels through:

A. Supporting family planning information and services so the national average of children per couple is no greater than two (2.1 is replacement level). Thoughtful, planned childbearing should be a responsibility of both men and women.

B. Setting the immigration level so it equals permanent emigration on an annual basis.

C. Providing more foreign aid to developing countries so that they may develop their economies and improve education, especially for girls and women. Our foreign aid should include substantial support for family planning information and services.
D. Revising international trade agreements and redirecting our foreign aid so that foreign workers will not want to come to the U.S to find work.

E. Eliminate tax and welfare policies that encourage large families.

F. The U.S. should transition from a continuous economic expansion model, which depends on an ever growing population and ever greater consumption of natural resources and is unsustainable, to an ecological model that is called a steady-state economy.

3.  Because tax, foreign trade and aid, and immigration policies are decided at the federal level Vermont has little influence over its population size. However, there are still things that Vermont can do to help keep Vermont a rural, un-crowded and beautiful state. These include:

A. Vermont environmental organizations should publicly acknowledge the impact of population growth on their mission.

B. Schools and colleges should include education about population growth and its impact on the environment as an element of their curriculums.

C. Strong environmental regulations must be maintained.

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[ 1 ] VSP welcome input on these positions and they will be updated periodically to reflect changing needs and the input of our members and the public.

[ 2 ] VSP believes a sustainable population as one that produces no lasting environmental degradation. Because the impacts of human activities are a product of both the number of people and the lifestyles of those people, the size of a sustainable population depends on the choices made by its members. VSP supports efforts to reduce the impact of our society by encouraging more sustainable lifestyles. However, VSP believes that such changes promise at best only a partial remedy, and that our current level of population growth will fully negate any advantages that a more conscientious lifestyle could provide. Furthermore, while some argue that population growth poses no threat because lifestyle changes will reduce our society’s ecological footprint, such changes are not yet in practice, and the assumption that they will be achieved does not justify avoiding the difficult issue of U.S. population growth. The important immediate goal is to stabilize our population size so that it is not growing. Then we can begin to figure out what population level is sustainable.

[ 3 ] An economic theory, put forth by Herman Daly in response to geophysicist M. K. Hubbert’s predictions of the limits of the fossil fuel supply, which regards the notion of economic growth in a finite world as inherently unsustainable. A steady-state economy, which exists within our ecosystems and is similarly finite, non-growing and materially closed (no matter enters or leaves). A steady-state economy assumes that natural resources are finite, and that our goal must be to use them as efficiently as possible.