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Sierra Club debates immigration hot potato
November 23, 1997
Web posted at: 8:50 p.m. EST (0150 GMT)SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Global population control has always been a popular concept with environmentalists.
Now some members of the Sierra Club, one of the oldest environmental groups in the United States, would like the group to take a tough stand on U.S. population growth by supporting limits on immigration.
Sierra Club members will be asked to decide early next year whether to bring immigration to the forefront of the environmental movement.
"So many of the environmental campaigns are not going to succeed if our population doubles to 500 million by the middle of the next century," said Rick Oberlink, a Sierra Club member.
CNN's Rusty Dornin reports
But if the Sierra Club votes to promote immigration control, some people fear it would appear racist and misguided.
A representative from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) said supporters of the proposal are "diverting attention from the real causes of problems in the environment -- fuel use, heavy automobile use."
"They are diverting attention to something that's not responsible, and that's immigration," said Mark Silverman of the ILRC.
According to some demographers, American population growth has been affected by higher birth rates among new immigrants.
"We have overall 25 percent more births in the country (than) we'd have without immigration. Most of the population growth in California and in the country is immigration-derived," said Meredith Burke, a demographer.
Sierra Club leaders fear a controversy over immigration could distort the club's mission.
"The Sierra Club was founded by John Muir who was basically just off the boat. So it's pretty strange for the Sierra Club to be in a debate questioning whether we should get involved in immigration control. That's something that's very uncomfortable for a lot of us," said Adam Werbach, Sierra Club president.
Supporters of immigration control say more Americans simply will contribute more pollution.
"We're not interested in the color of their skin. We're not interested in religion. We're not interested in the source countries. We're interested in the numbers. And we have to be if we're concerned about the environment here," Oberlink said.
Some demographers predict that worldwide population may increase for several decades but that it may decline after the year 2050.
Correspondent Rusty Dornin contributed to this report.
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