Sprawl - It's Too Many People

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Sprawl: It's Too Many People
Believe your eyes

 
 
car Freedom of the Open Road?
 

The automobile was once an American icon of freedom and independence. These days, a car is more like a cell in a gridlock prison.
 
In 1975, Americans averaged 41 percent of their peak-hour travel time driving under congested conditions. By 1994, that figure had increased to 68 percent.
 
Sprawl also means that Americans are driving further. In 1975, the average American drove 23 miles in traffic during peak hour. By 1994 that figure had reached 45 miles, a near doubling.
 
 
 

"Forging and maintaining a sustainable society is the critical challenge for this and all generations to come. In responding to that challenge, population will be the critical factor in determining whether or not we succeed in forging such a society."
 
        -- Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day


 
 
 

Loss of Farmland


 
Cornell Professor David Pimentel has studied the effects of population growth on American agriculture and food supply. He has concluded that U.S. crop and pasture land resources in 2050 will be reduced to about half their present levels on a per person basis and the U.S. will cease to be a grain exporter by 2025. Both the variety and amount of food will be restricted by availability and cost.
 
Future generations of Americans will likely have less animal protein in their diets and will be paying a higher percentage of their incomes for food. According to Professor Pimentel, Americans may eventually spend 30 to 50 percent of their incomes on food, a substantial increase over today's 15 percent.
 
 
 

Who We Are

SUSPS ® is a group of thousands of Sierra Club members working to return the organization to its traditional position that environmentalism must include responsible limits to population growth. We believe that conservationists must indeed think globally and act locally (in this case, nationally). We advocate a comprehensive population policy that leads to a sustainable America.


 

 
 

Information on Sprawl


The Sprawl Ballot Question


The Overlooked Factor in Sprawl


The Sprawl Ballot Question - Looking for the Root Cause


Facing the Future and Sprawl


StarWhat you can do to help


Sprawl and Population


Supporting statement (short)


Census Adjusted Upward


Supporting statement (long)


Sprawl: It's Too Many People


Sprawl resolutions passed by Club Chapters


www.SprawlCity.org shows
population-sprawl relationship


Frequently Asked Questions



Democracy in the Sierra Club?


 
 

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