Wasn the 2001 Sprawl Ballot Question an Immigration Ballot Question in disguise?
Not at all. It was what it was – an attempt bring the issue of population back into the environmental mainstream. We intended to bring the Sierra Club to a more truly environmental position in its expensive anti-sprawl campaign which emphasizes “smart growth” without addressing the root cause of sprawl. While we regard some elements of “smart growth” as valuable (e.g., increased public transit, re-use of urban brownfields, etc.), this sort of planning can only slow – not solve – the problem, given our high level of population growth. For example, California’s population is now growing at a faster rate than that of Bangladesh (1.7 vs. 1.6 percent, respectively). At this rate, California’s population will double in approximately 41 years. The report Sprawl in California shows that population growth is a very much related to sprawl in that state. Consider the Club’s 1999 policy: “The Sierra Club advocates reductions in the population of the United States…”. This policy goes way beyond e
