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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.
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