Endorsements for Sierra Club elections
Issue 182: March 5, 2004

+== TIME-OUT PROJECT ==+

	Dick Lamm

To be an environmentalist is, essentially, to be moral. The environmentalist explicitly removes him or herself from the egotistic "center of the universe" and acknowledges the simple reality that the "other" ( the environment, the community, nature, future generations) exists, and is an end in itself.

Acting in accordance with such acknowledgement is the definition of morality.

Thus environmentalism is a moral cause. But, because morality is such a complex and intangible business, environmentalism (unlike, say, physics) is always going to be especially susceptible to the quirks of fashion, folly, and human ignorance.

Frank Morris

The current leadership of the country's largest environmental organization, the Sierra Club, is a good example of this danger, having failed in its duty to keep the Club true to its moral commitment to the environment and future generations.

Here's what happened: Back during the diversity-is-our-strength heyday of the 1980s and 1990s, the prevailing social climate made race and ethnicity the central arbiter of every question of human ethics, and the primary determinant of all moral values.

	David Pimentel

The leadership of the Sierra Club, perhaps understandably, succumbed to the zeitgeist and subordinated the Club's moral mission of protecting and preserving the environment to the moral mission of multiculturalism and diversity; it sacrificed the extremely important cause for which the Club was founded  fighting a trans-generational battle on behalf of nature  to the radical multicultural views then sweeping the country.

The most damaging result was the Club's 1996 declaration that it would discontinue its traditional and environmentally sensible opposition to mass immigration  the number one component by far of U.S. population growth. In response to criticism of the move by alarmed environmentalists, the leadership issued some vague pronouncements that the Club would henceforth fight overpopulation on a global scale  an enterprise that, for an American environmental club, is as futile as it is hubristic.

Kim McCoy

But even if it were true that a private association of concerned American environmentalists could have a significant impact on global environmental policies, the Club leadership employs a false dichotomy in presenting the population growth issue as an either/or, local vs. global, issue. There is nothing to prevent one from taking a principled position opposing the damage done by human population growth both globally and domestically.

In other words, it is possible to regret the obliteration of the silver-backed gorilla (a victim of Nigeria's poverty and the pressures of a 3.3 percent annual population growth rate) while simultaneously regretting the permanent obliteration of 70 percent of California's original vegetation (a victim of prosperity and the pressures of a 2.1 percent annual population growth rate).

	Robert van de Hoek

In explaining their abdication of the Club's responsibility to confront the number one cause  immigration  of a U.S. population growth rate that now exceeds that of China, Club President Carl Pope and the Club leadership have publicly stated they were motivated by an attempt to engineer the "diversity" of the Club's membership. In becoming neutral on mass immigration they hoped to entice more non-white non-Anglo people to join the Club!

In short, Carl Pope and the Sierra Club leadership have purposely and consciously subordinated the moral cause of environmentalism to the moral cause of ethnic and racial diversity.

So, while the Sierra Club impotently fritters away time and resources chasing the environmentally irrelevant goal of making white people a smaller percentage of the Club's membership, mass immigration will double the population of the United States within the lifetimes of today's children.

+== RELATED LINKS ==+

Supersize America: Does it make sense for environmentalists to want to limit immigration? (Grist Magazine)

A reality check for the Sierra Club (Denver Post)

The Environmental Movement's Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization (1970-1998): A First Draft of History (Roy Beck and Leon Kolankiewicz; .pdf file)

+== TAKE POSITIVE ACTION ==+

Sierra Club members will be receiving ballots in the mail within the next week or two on which to vote for candidates for the Board of Directors. We hope level-headed Sierra Club members will vote for nature by marking their ballots only for the following five candidates. (Here's a little mnemonic device incorporating the first letters of the last names of the candidates to help you remember which five to vote for:

Vote for:	Lamm	Morris	Pimentel	McCoy	and van de Hoek
Because:	Lots	More	People	Means	Violating de Habitat

Here is another way you can help  even if you're not a member of the Sierra Club: Most newspapers have an environmental reporter. Go on to your local newspaper's website, determine who the environmental reporter is and read over a few of his or her articles. If the reporter makes the connection between population growth and environmental degradation, send him or her an email of congratulations (especially if they connect the extra dot and include the role of immigration policy!). If they don't, send them a polite email asking them to become familiar with the connection.

+== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+

"Once you lose species, they will not return. It is ethically impermissible to let this happen on our watch."

Edward O. Wilson, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner

+== EMAIL OF THE WEEK ==+

When the Sierra Club election comes near, I look forward to your email letting ProjectUSA members know which candidates support immigration control and which don't.

As I am sure you are aware, many people (including myself) are politically aware, yet lack the time to keep up with the seemingly endless attacks on the fabric of our country. I rely on and support organizations including ProjectUSA to keep me informed, so the letters, phone calls, and contributions I make are focused and effective.

Jordan Lee
New York, NY

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