What was the Sierra Clubs 2001 position on population and what actions has it taken?
Sierra Club policy was adopted in 1970 that stated: “That we must find, encourage, and implement at the earliest possible time the necessary policies, attitudes, social standards, and actions that will, by voluntary and humane means consistent with human rights and individual conscience, bring about the stabilization of the population first of the United States and then of the world.” In fact, an October 1999 directive from Carl Pope stated “The Sierra Club Board of Directors recently clarified – not changed – its existing policy to state that the world and the U.S. should go beyond population stabilization to reduction…” But population will not be addressed if it is not discussed and presented to Sierra Club members as a legitimate issue. The sprawl ballot question simply required the premier campaign of the Sierra Club – the sprawl campaign – to include a realistic discussion about population growth as a component of sprawl in its materials.
