By Andy Kerr
Introduction
Anybody who wants Oregon to become another
California raise your hand!
Seeing none, the question is now on the table:
When do we stop growing to avoid becoming another
California?
The Los Angeles River and the Hudson River
were both once home to salmon. But their
respective regions grew too much for the salmon
to cope with.
In 1998, Governor John Kitzhaber said:
"If I had the power, I'd turn off the spigot
and keep Oregon as it is today." [1]
Amen.
What's causing the "the flow into the
spigot," and what is it doing to Oregon, and
how do we turn it off?
Endless
Growth
Population is increasing in the Pacific
Northwest at twice the national rate and 50% more
than global rates. [2]
Portland State University's Population Research
Center projects that by 2025, the state's
population will be 4.3 millionabout one
million more than now. [3]
That the equivalent of two more Portlands, or
about eight more Salems or Eugenes, twenty
Corvallises, fifteen more Beavertons or
twenty-eight more Bends.
Where do we put the next million? And the
million after that? And the million after that?
A 3% growth rate doubles our population in a
generation.
A 1% growth rate doubles our population in a
lifetime.
If Deschutes County's current rate of growth
of 4.8% continues, the population of the county
will double in 15 years, and that will double
again in another 15 years. [4]
Causes of Oregon's Population Increase
What is causing Oregon's population to
increase? Alan Durning and Christopher Crowther,
in their book Misplaced Blame: The Real Roots
of Population Growth, identified five root
causes. [5]
The first three are causes of so-called
"natural increase": births exceeding
deaths. Two-fifths of Oregon's population growth
is due to natural increase. [6]
1. Poverty. The first factor is child
poverty. Youth poverty is the single largest
cause of high birthrates in North America.
Outside of its poorest groups, Oregon does not
have a high birthrate. The middle and upper class
are at replacement levels. The poor do not seek
pregnancy but are less aggressive in preventing
it. They accept it when it happens because they
don't see other options as available to them.
Options such as college, career, etc. Parenting
is one of the few, and one of the more rewarding,
options potentially available to them. [7]
2. Sexual Abuse. The second root cause
of population growth in the Northwest is sexual
abuse. Victims of child sexual abuse often feel
that having a child will help heal from the
violation they have suffered. A child having a
child can also be a ticket out of an abusive
home. [8]
3. Inadequate Family Planning Services.
The third root cause of population growth is
inadequate family services. Ten percent of the
babies born in the Northwest are unwanted at
conception. They are accidents at a time when the
mother wanted no more children. [9]
Three-fifths of Oregon's population increase
is due to migration.
4. Subsidies to Domestic Growth. The
fourth factor identified in Misplaced Blame
is subsidies to domestic migration. [10] (I'll
address this root cause more later.)
5. Misguided Immigration Laws. The
fifth and final factor is misguided immigration
laws.
12% of Pacific Northwest immigration is from
other nations. 70% of US immigrants come to
California. Los Angeles is an immigrant-magnet
city; Portland, Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Salem,
and Medford-Ashland are all native-magnet cities.
Canada and the US ,with 1/20th of the world's
population, are home to one-fifth of the world's
living international immigrants. Up to 70% of the
US population increase in the next 50 years is
projected to come from immigrants and their
offspring. [11]
US immigrants can be divided into three major
categories:
- family reunifications;
- employment visas; and
- political refugees.
Family reunification is the reason for nearly
three-fifths of US immigration. Under recent
changes in US law, not only are spouses and minor
children eligible for reunification, but so are
the adult siblings of immigrant spouses.
The second category, about one-sixth of
immigration, is employment visas. This includes
highly skilled workers such as doctors and
engineers and the lowly skilled such as farm
workers. NAFTA and GATT are exporting US
manufacturing to the cheap labor. You can't move
farmland, so the cheap labor comes here. [12] High-tech
firms apparently don't want to locate in India
where there is a surplus of engineers.
The final one-sixth of US immigration is
political refugees. [13]
The United States ought to always be open to
political refugees. But we should equally ensure
that US government policies and the actions of
our corporations are not causing people in other
nations to become refugees.
Can we afford such a liberal policy of
extended family reunifications? This pool of
potential immigrants grows exponentially.
Can the source countries afford it?
Immigration to the US results in brain drain from
the developing world. 100% of the 50,000 Chinese
students that China sends to the US each year
swear they will go back to China after their
schooling. Up to 99% look for jobs in America
instead, [14]
thus doing a great disservice to fellow citizens.
Three quarters of all foreign medical students in
the United States do not return home. [15]
Immigrants are the potential leaders that ought
to be leading either reform movements or
revolutions in their native countries.
Allowing workers into this nation, corrodes
the prospects of both our poor and middle-class,
further diminishing the value of their labor. . [16]
Illegal immigration is one-fourth of all
immigration and must be stopped. But we should
spend equivalent resources on Europeans who fly
in and overstay their tourist visas as we are for
Latinos who walk or swim in without visas.
Immigration is a very divisive and sensitive
issue that nonetheless must be discussed. To
those who support generous immigration, I ask you
this: Why are you on the same side as Microsoft
and the other huge computer corporations and of
Archer Daniels Midland and the rest of the
agribusiness lobby? How can you support a policy
that helps ensure that our existing poor will
never be adequately valued for their labor?
To those who oppose immigration because of
racist and/or xenophobic reasons, I say to you:
Go to hell. The issue is immigration, not
immigrants.
I come to my support of immigration reform
from an ecological carrying-capacity perspective.
Be it a house, a block, a city, a watershed, a
state, a bioregion, a nation, a continent, or a
planet; all have a carrying capacity.
Growth Management Not Enough
Population is increasing in Oregon. This we
know. Our choice now is how muchif at
alldo we want to grow in the future.
A recent debate on expanding the Portland
Metro Urban Growth Boundary was a debate on how,
not whether, to growin both
population and land area. The choice was reduced
to two options: sprawl like Los Angeles or
densify like Los Angeles. (Yes, LA is more
densely populated than Portland.) The course
chosen by Metro was to do both. The option of not
growingor even slowing growthwas not
considered.
Ironically, surveys reveal that overpopulation
and becoming another California are the greatest
fears of Oregonians. [17]
Only 2% of Oregonians think the state's
population is "too small." 65% think
that we are "the right size."
Remarkably, 29% think our state's population is
already "too large." [18]
Growth is a race one loses the faster one
runs.
A quarter century ago, Governor Tom McCall was
worried about growth. He led the state to adopt a
critically acclaimed land use planning program.
McCall apparently hoped that planning could
adequately mitigate the impacts of growth. He
said in 1973:
Sagebrush subdivisions, coastal
condomania, and the ravenous rampage of
suburbia in the Willamette Valley all
threaten to mock Oregon's status as the
environmental model for the nation. [19]
Tomwherever you arewe have those
sagebrush subdivisions, coastal condomania and
the ravenous rampage of suburbia. But, I must
say, they are well planned. Rather than sprawl
dotting the landscape like poxes, instead the
sprawl is spreading like gangrene across the
land.
Planning alonein the face of population
increasecannot keep Oregon Oregon.
Oregonians should not be misled into believing
that planning is all we mustor cando
to maintain livability.
Oregon is on its way to becoming a
better-planned California; the Willamette Valley
another Puget Sound, and Portland a Los Angeles
with light rail (maybe).
Metro says:
We can all see the effects of rapid
growth on our highways, housing, shopping and
open spaces. But growth doesn't have to just
happen. (Metro) provides planning services...
so that we can maintain our livability while
planning for the next 50 years of growth.
[20]
"(M)aintain our livability" and
"50 years of growth"?
Pick one, and call me back.
"But growth doesn't have to just
happen" says Metro. I say: "But growth
just doesn't have to happen."
Like an adult human, Oregon has matured; any
further growth is either fat or cancer.
"'Smart growth' is an oxymoron,"
said my favorite billionaire Ted Turner.
"'Less-stupid Growth' would be a better
name," he said. Ted does have six children.
In response to a reporter's question he said: he
had all his children by the age of 30, he didn't
know any better, and "once they were here, I
couldn't shoot them." [21]
We could book our favorite fishing hole or
mountaintop through Ticketmaster, but is that the
Oregon we want to live in?
The planning establishment telling us that
Oregon is doing a better job of growth management
than anywhere else. The fact that
Portlandtoday or tomorrowisor
will bemore livable than Newark, Los
Angeles, Dallas, Mexico City, or Calcutta is of
little comfort. I am only interested in an Oregon
that is at least as good to live in 2040 as it is
today.
Slow growth is like being in an airplane that
is going to inevitably crash, but it takes a long
time. Smart growth is that you get to ride in
first class while the plane is going down.
The only smart growth is no growth.
Remember Isaiah 5:8:
Woe unto them that join house to house,
that lay field to field
till there be no place that they may be
placed
alone in the midst of the Earth
To those who believe that if Oregon simply did
better and more planning and growth management,
that livability can be maintained, I ask why they
believe we will do better in the next 25 years
than we did in the last quarter century. As that
great environmentalist Jeanne Kirkpatrick once
said, "history is a better guide than good
intentions."
The Environmental and Social Costs of
Population Growth in Oregon
But, you protest, Oregon's liability has
increased during the last 25 years. In some ways
it has. In many ways it has not. By some
measurements, per capita pollution has decreased.
But, we have more capitas. Portland's downtown
and many neighborhoods are in many ways more
livable than they were 25 years ago, but this is
in spite ofnot because ofpopulation
growth.
Consider air quality. Even though Portland's
population has increased 50% since 1970the
passage of the Clean Air Actthe city's view
of Mount Hood is the best in a generation. Two
decades ago city haze was so bad the mountain
could be seen only 35% of the time on clear days.
Now it is visible more than twice as often. The
reason is technological improvements of
factories, wood stoves, and automobiles. But
technology has its limits. Planners estimate that
air quality will peak between 2001-2010 as
population overwhelms the technological gains. [22]
(Speaking of Mount Hood, the current Forest
Service effort to limit the use of the Mount Hood
Wilderness to protect legally required solitude
is but another manifestation of excessive
population.)
How about water quality? In the Portland
metropolitan area, where one-half of the state's
population lives, most residents drink unfiltered
water from the relatively pristine Bull Run
Watershed. Relatively little chlorine is needed
to treat the water.
Population growth is propelling plans to drink
from a watershed where over 70% of the state's
residents live [23]
and excrete. 93% of all Willamette River fish
have dioxin in their tissues. [24] Dioxin is
the most toxic man-made chemical that we know of.
[25] Since
1995, toxic chemical discharges into the
Willamette Basin have nearly doubled. [26] So much
for all that clean industry we've
attracted.
The intake for this new Wilsonville water
filtration plant would be just downstream from a
stretch of the river where up to 74% of the
squawfish have skeletal
deformitiesincluding 3-eyed fish. [27] The only
reason to drink from the Willamette is that the
region has "outgrown" the Bull Run
Watershed.
What about traffic? Planners have estimated
that to maintain the existing "quality of
traffic" and to accommodate the next 20
years of population increase in the Portland
area, $13.5 billion would have to be spent on
roads and other transportation. Such would
include, among other things, double decking all
the freeways. Planners estimate that perhaps $3.5
billion could be found, but only if the voters
approve a 2¢ per gallon increase in the gas tax each
year for the next 20 years. The voters
soundly defeated a modest 5¢ per gallon increase
in the state gas tax in 2000 by approximately an
8-1 margin. [28]
Rather than concluding that the accommodation
of such growth and maintaining livability were
incompatible, instead the planners lowered their,
and by our acquiesce, all of our expectations.
Since we can only reasonably expect about $2.3
billion to be available, you can count on
congestion levels increasing 685% over 1994
levels. [29]
What is intolerable traffic today will be
commonplace tomorrow. If you wanted to fully
maintain existing quality of traffic, we'd have
to raise the gas tax to $1.54 per gallon and
build lots of freeways. In any case, we'll have
24-hour traffic reports, even on weekends.
Eugene planner Eben Fodor, in his book, Better,
Not Bigger identified these factors, which
are detrimentally affected by growth:
- air quality;
- water quality;
- water quantity;
- quiet quality;
- mobility;
- fish and wildlife habitat;
- scenery and open space
- cost of housing;
- cost of living;
- freedom and democracy;
- crime
- less safety; and
- community. [30]
Consider the loss of democracy and freedom. As
there are more of us, each vote is worth less. As
there are more of us, we are closer together, and
therefore need more rules and regulations to
maintain a semblance of a civil society.
But you say, Oregon has the best land use laws
in the country. They have protected farmland,
forest, and other open spaces from development.
Urban growth boundaries protect us from sprawl.
Oh, really? As population grows, urban growth
boundaries are expanded to always have a 20-year
supply of developable land. [31] Any
person can see that at some pointin our
lifetimeswhere all the urban growth
boundaries in the Willamette Valley touch either
each other or public forestlands. Urban growth
boundaries are more accurately called urban
growth bungies.
In areas of population growth, the urban
growth "boundaries" also require
increased density. This is causing a political
backlash to land use planning. [32]
The Economic Costs of Population Growth in
Oregon
Despite the promises of developers and their
choruschambers of commerce, most government
officials, much of the media, etc.the
significant and rapid population increase of the
last two decades has not lowered taxes. In fact,
it has raised them as the cost of providing
services to new industry and residents far
exceeds any taxes they might pay.
Fodor, in his report, The Cost of Growth in
Oregon found that each new house costs the
taxpayers at least $33,000 in infrastructure
costs. [33]
Most of these costs are not paid by either the
developer or the new house owner. What does he
mean by "infrastructure?":
| schools |
sewers |
| storm drainage |
transportation system |
| water |
parks and recreation |
| fire |
library |
| police |
open space |
| general government
services |
electric power generation
and distribution |
| natural gas distribution,
and |
solid waste. [34] |
For every three new houses you see in Oregon,
you don't see a firefighter, police officer,
schoolteacher, or librarian.
In the name of jobs, taxpayers also subsidize
corporations.
Some evidence exists, and more research is
necessary, that most of these new jobs go to
people who don't already live in the area. [35]
Is anyone surprised that tax revolts closely
follow periods of population increase?
If all this growth has been so good and has
paid for itself, how come Oregon's State Park
System of 94,330 acres [36]
has added only one new parka mere 180
acressince 1971. [37]
During that time, our population has increased
50% and our once-heralded state park system has
increased in size 0.0019% (nineteen
ten-thousandths of one percent). The quality of
the park system has also decreased dramatically.
As the Governor's Task Force on Growth noted,
growth exacerbates government revenue problems;
it does not relieve them. [38]
Tax money that used to pay for existing
government services is being diverted to
subsidize growth. Popular government
servicessuch as librariesare
increasingly funded through voter-approved serial
levies and bond measures. Politicians know the
voters will approve such measures, but wouldn't
approve of their tax moneys going to subsidize
new industry and new residents.
It is not just our large cities that are
losing their quality of life, but the small towns
of Oregon as well. Amazingly, small businesses in
these towns seek growth, or at least they do
until the town grows enough for Wal-Mart to come
in and blow away the downtown.
The Taxpayer Costs of Population Growth in
Oregon
How are citizens and taxpayers affected by
these subsidies to growth? Fodor identified five:
- 1. Increased taxes;
- 2. increased financial debt (usually as
municipal bonds);
- 3. infrastructure debt (falling behind on
needed facilities to accommodate growth);
- 4. facility maintenance debt (diverting
maintenance funds to accommodate new
growth); and
- 5. reduction in public services (shorter
library hours). [39]
Yes, we Oregonians are paying to foul our own
nest.
It would be cheaper for local government to
buy up all the undeveloped land within their
borders to preventrather than
subsidizeits development. [40]
The End of
Growth
Some Oregon planners and politicians find
humoror at least ironyin the
following statements:
Oregonians hate sprawl. Oregonians hate
density. [41]
These attitudes are contradictory only if one
accepts the premise that growth is inevitable.
Growth is neither desirable nor inevitable.
Oregon can plan for no growth. Such can also be
the first choice of government as it already is
of its citizens. We can have a healthy economy
and a stable population. We need only to look to
Western Europe and Japan.
A member of the Governor's Task Force on
Growth, a developer from Ashland, said he
"could live with 2 million more people in
Oregon (or) "however many God wants to send
us." [42]
Lord knows we have enough people in Oregon
now.
The question is not "how many people can
we tolerate to stuff in our state," but
rather "what is Oregon's optimal
population?"
Will growth stop only when the quality of life
in Oregon is perceived to be no better than
elsewhere?
To answer what's bestwhat is an optimal
population for Oregon?we need to have a
statewide conversation where we decide on the
kind of Oregon we want.
How clean do we want our water and air?
How crowded do we want our classrooms and
roads?
Do we want enough salmon to eat? Do we want
salmon just hanging on? Do we want salmon at all?
Do we all want to ride the bus and live in
apartment buildings?
After we answer these and similar questions,
it is a simple matter for the planners to develop
models which tell us how many Oregonians we can
have and still have what we decide is a necessary
and desirable quality of life.
After plugging our assumptions and desires in
the model, what will we find?
That Oregon's present population of 3.3
million people is optimal? If so, we need to stop
so it doesn't become suboptimal.
Or that we've undershot Oregon's
optimal population? If so, we need to figure out
how to attain optimality as soon as possible.
Or that we've overshot Oregon's optimal
population? If so, we need to figure out how to
return to a sustainable level as soon as
possible.
Personally, I think we have overshot.
Scientists have estimated that if we want
everyone on Earth to have a Western
European/North American/Japanese standard of
living; and assuming easily obtainable efficiency
improvements in energy and materials use, leaving
room for nature and living off solar income, this
Earth can support about two billion
peoplethat works out to about 200 million
Americansin the long run. [43] We have
six, going on eight to twelve billion.
Astronomers are looking for other planets like
Earth, but they haven't found one yet, let alone
three more. And if they do, maybe they are
already full. Maybe those inhabitants are looking
for our planet for the very same reason. That
would actually explain a lot, wouldn't it?
Interpolating for Oregon, this means, about
one million people, not three million. We had one
million in my parents' lifetime. If everyone who
wants children limits themselves no more than
two, Oregon could be at one million in another
lifetime. No one has to leave early to achieve a
sustainable population.
Am I right? Who knows? Let's discuss it. We're
not even askinglet alone
answeringthis vital question.
Let us recognize and embrace limits now that
are optimal; not wait to have limits imposed
because we have no other choice.
Is the Problem Population or Consumption?
Some argue that the absolute level of
population is out of control and must be limited.
Others argue that the real issue is
consumptionespecially in the overdeveloped
United States. An average American consumes
twenty-four times the resources of the average
Bangladeshi. [44]
The American consumes way too much and the
Bangladeshi not enough.
Excessive population and consumption is a
global problem and a local problem.
The average American now consumes at least 122
pounds of raw material every day. [45]
Sustaining all of the current residents on
Earth at the average American lifestyle whole
require four more Earths. Eight more, if you want
to leave room for nature. [46]
The issue is partlybut not
entirelya matter of equity. If resource
consumption and resultant pollution continues to
rise, it won't make enough difference that
population is stabilized. Similarly, if recycling
doubles, nothing is gained if population also
doubles.
The problem is not population or
consumption. It is both.
Governor Kitzhaber is to be applauded for his
executive order on sustainability. [47] It is
bold and, hopefully, precedent setting. However,
one cannot reach sustainability just addressing
per capita consumption. One also must address the
absolute number of capitas.
No Linear Relationship Between Consumption
and Happiness
"Grow for the sake of growth is the
ideology of a cancer cell" said Edward
Abbey. [48]
It is also the ideology of developers.
At some point growth will stop. Why not stop
it now, before it's too late?
Most estimates project the global population
leveling off at around10 billion in the middle of
this century. When population levels off, what
happens to the growth economy then? And what
happened to our environment and elbowroom?
What kind of an economy do we have that
depends upon an ever-growing population and rate
of consumption?
From 1970 to 1996, the average house size in
the US went from 1,385 to 2,060 square feet, an
increase of 29%. [49]
At the same time, occupancy of the average house
has dropped 16%. [50]
From 1970 to 1979 in the Pacific Northwest,
population increased about 65% while households
increased 110%. [51]
A significant portion of this increase is due to
divorce.
In 1993, 9,400,000 Americans owned second or
more homes. [52]
1998, on any given night, 600,000 Americans were
homeless. [53]
In 1992, Americans were four and one-half
times richer than our great-grandparents were at
the beginning of the last century. [54] Were we
four and one-half times happier? Does that third
television, that third garage, that third
television make you three times happier than the
first?
The practice of thrift by our grandparents has
died out. The adage of "use it up, wear it
out, make it do or do without" has been
replaced with "Buy it up, toss it out, buy
some more, don't do without."
Do you want more stuff or do you want more
time? The average Oregonian is working 278 hours
more each yearseven 40-hour weeksthan
we did 20 years ago. [55]
American parents in 1991 spend 40% less time with
their children than they did in 1965. [56]
We have more shopping centers in America than
high schools. [57]
A result of global mass media is that we are
no longer trying to keep up with the Jones' next
door, but with the Gates'.
Sen. Avel Gordly asked, "At what point do
we question the whole notion of creating wealth
for the sake of having dollars and give that more
value than creating community?" [58]
When asked, Americans who reported being very
happy were no more numerous in 1991 than in 1957.
[59]
The Gross Domestic Product is going up. How
good is that? The GDP is merely a summing of
financial transactions. Hurricanes, HIV-AIDS, and
war all increase the GDP. (They also create
jobs.) The GDP has nearly tripled since 1950. [60]
Robert F. Kennedy, speaking in 1968 said:
We will find neither national purpose
nor personal satisfaction in a mere
continuation of economic progress, in an
endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot
measure national spirit by the Dow Jones
Average, nor national achievement by the
gross national product. For the gross
national product includes air pollution and
advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to
clear our highways of the carnage. It counts
special locks for our doors, and jails for
our people who break them. The gross national
product includes the destruction of the
redwoods, and the death of Lake Superior. It
grows with the production of napalm and
missiles and nuclear warheads.... It includes
Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the
broadcasting of television programs which
glorify violence to sell goods to our
children.
And if the gross national product
includes all of this, there is much that it
does not comprehend. It does not allow for
the health of our families, the quality of
their education or the joy of their play. It
is indifferent to the decency of our
factories and the safety of our streets
alike. It does not include the beauty of our
poetry or the strength of our marriages, the
intelligence of our public debate or the
integrity of public officials.... The gross
national product measures neither our wit nor
our courage, neither our wisdom nor our
learning, neither our compassion nor our
devotion to our country. It measures
everything, in short, except that which makes
life worthwhile; and it can tell us
everything about Americaexcept whether
we are proud to be Americans. [61]
A think tank called Redefining Progress has
developed The Genuine Progress Indicatorthe
"GPI"that assigns dollar values
to such things as crime, family breakdown,
underemployment, and the loss of species and
farmland reveals that GPI increased from 1950 to
1970, along with GDP. However, GPI has had a
steady decline since then. [62]
So have other indices of social welfare.
Oregon Well-Being Index tracked well with the
state GDP from 1980 to1992. Since then the state
GDP has risen dramatically, while the Well-Being
of Oregonians Index has remained nearly flat. The
projections are for an even larger disconnect. [63]
Finally, the Fordham Index of Social Health
gone down as GDP has risen. [64]
GDP may have once been a good way to measure
progress and well being, but it isn't any longer.
Sometimes One Has To Choose
As Americans, we are not used to having to
choose. We want it all, and often have gotten it
all. But if a city chooses to grow for the
supposed benefits such population increase has,
then that city will inevitably lose other values.
You can't have small-town values in a big city.
Consider the effort to bring a major league
baseball franchise to Portland. First, it is the
nature of the industry to play off city against
city to see which will give the franchise the
most to come or stay. Free stadiums, other tax
breaks, etc. Our taxes will have to go up if we
want to go out to the old ball game. Second, a
franchise needs a population base, larger than
Portland has now, to have an adequate fan base to
make the venture pay.
Name me a city with a major league baseball
franchise that doesn't also have major league tax
subsidies and major league congestion.
Sometimes you have to choose.
A Growth-Free Future
What would a growth-free future look like? We
need only to look to Japan and Europe to see that
an economy doesn't need population increase to be
healthy.
If population growth ended in Oregon, a whole
set of problems would be avoided, be truly be
solvable, or be alleviated, including:
- Not having to drink water out of
the Willamette River (3-eyed fish);
- Actually improving air quality
(regularly seeing the Cascade Peaks);
- Not having sprawl (nor
densification);
- Improving transportation
(alternatives to the car);
- Rebuilding our cities (o favor
people more than automobiles);
- Revitalizing our economic
infrastructure (roads, schools,
communications);
- Restoring our natural
infrastructure (bring back the salmon);
and
- Restructuring our economy to make
it energy and materials efficient (with
as much cold beer and hot showers as we
want);
- We'd have the resources to
directly address poverty and child abuse
(let's wage another war on poverty and
this time win it);
- We'd all work less (The US Senate
voted for the 30-hour week in 1933 [65]);
- We'd all have more time for
ourselves (Prozac and cocaine consumption
would decline);
- We'd all have more time for our
families (the problem of latch key kids
goes away); and
- We'd all have more time for our
communities (volunteering to help).
A few Oregonians are making quite a killing on
growth, some are making a living on growth, while
most Oregonians are paying for growth that is
killing the Oregon we love.
Economic progress based on appropriate
technological improvement, increased realization
of human potentials, and energy and materials
efficiency is fine and good. Economic growth that
depends on increased population and/or
consumption is not. Making our economy more
productive and efficient is desirableas is
the creation of meaningful work for all. Making
it more consumptive is not.
Conclusion
Do I have all the answers? Of course not. I
have some ideas and so do you. To come up with
the right answers, we first have to ask the right
questions. So far, we've been afraid to ask
ourselves questions like: "What is Oregon's
optimal population?" "Is growth
desirable? Is growth inevitable?
I hope by now that I've convinced you that the
Oregon we love like a car speeding toward a
cliff. While may disagree on the rate of speed,
or the distance left to the cliff, those are
details that in the end don't matter.
While I've hopefully convinced you that Oregon
must end growth, I haven't talked about how to
end growth in Oregon. That is the subject of
another talk: my 25
Actions to End Growth in Oregon speech. When people first
think of not driving the car over the cliff,
their first thought is that the only alternative
is to immediately run into a brick wall. Neither
alternative is attractive. Somewhere between the
cliff and the brick wall is a path toward
sustainability. But to find it and take it,
Oregon must first take its foot off the
accelerator.
25 years and 57 million less Americans and one
million less Oregonians ago, a Nixon commission
on population noted:
There would be no benefits to a growing
population, that the health of our economy
does not depend upon it, that the life of the
average citizen is not enhanced by it, that
democratic representation is diluted by it
and that most of our serious problems would
be easier to solve if we stopped growing. [66]
Governor Kitzhaber, try it. You might just
find that you do have the power to turn off the
spigot.
Any good cause is a lost cause if we don't
stabilize population at sustainable levels.
While we must plan for growth, let us also
haveas our first choicea plan not to
grow.
The only thing more radical than the end of
growth is continuing to grow.
Andy Kerr is founder and president of Alternatives to
Growth Oregon (503/222-0282), a
membership organization dedicated to bringing
about an end to population and consumption
growth, and to the promotion of true economic,
personal, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual
growth by supporting policies that move Oregon
toward sustainability. He is also president of
The Larch Company (the western larch has a
contrary nature as a deciduous conifer) and
writes on and agitates for the environment. He
lives in Oregon's Rogue Valley and may be reached
at . The views expressed are not necessarily
those of Alternatives to Growth Oregon.
Acknowledgements
An invaluable compilation of many of the unfun
facts cited herein comes from All Consuming
Passion: Waking Up from the American Dream
(1998, 3rd edition), produced by the New Road Map
Foundation and Northwest
Environment Watch, both of Seattle. For the
convenience of the reader, their original sources
are cited herein. (All Consuming Passion
is available for $1 from the Simple Living
Network 800/318-5725; also available in
bulk.). Also available online at: http://www.sni.net/ecofuture/pk/pkar9506.html
I also wish to acknowledge the following in
helping me gather other unfun facts for this
talk: Sarah Bidwell, Alternatives to Growth
Oregon, Portland; Tom Coffee, City of Lake
Oswego; Alan Thein Durning, Northwest Environment
Watch; Eben Fodor, Fodor and Associates; Scott
Jones, Ecotopia Project; Jeff Rogers,
Alternatives to Growth Oregon; Mathis
Wackernagel, Redefining Progress; and Boyd
Wilcox, National Optimum Population Commission.
Any errors in fact, logic or reasoning are solely
mine.
Footnotes
[1]Kitzhaber
sets up panel to scrutinize growth," Oregonian,
April 7, 1998.
[2]Durning,
Alan Thein and Christopher D. Crowther. 1997. Misplaced
Blame: The Real Roots of Population Growth.
Seattle: Northwest Environment Watch. 9.
[3]"Next
25 years to bring huge growth for Oregon."
The Associated Press. January 3, 2000.
[4]__________.
2000. "County Population Estimates for July
1, 1999 and Population Change for July 1, 1998 to
July 1, 1999 (CO-99-1)." Washington, DC:
U.S. Census Bureau.
(http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/county/co-99-1/99C1_41.txt)
[5]Durning
and Crowther, 9.
[6]Durning
and Crowther, 23.
[7]Durning
and Crowther. 11-42.
[8]Durning
and Crowther. 43-51.
[9]Durning
and Crowther. 52-56.
[10]Durning
and Crowther. 57-67.
[11]Durning
and Crowther. 68-75.
[12]Durning
and Crowther. 71.
[13]Durning
and Crowther. 72.
[14]"Chinese
families pay big money for U.S. student
visas" Knight-Ridder Tribune News Service,
April 25, 2000.
[15]Durning
and Crowther, 73.
[16]
Lind, Michael. 1998. Hiring From Within:
Immigration in the '80s redistributed more than
$100 billion a year away from working Americans
to the wealthy. Mother Jones. July/August. xx-xx.
(http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JA98/lind.html)
[17]_____________.
1993. Oregon Values and Beliefs Summary.
Portland: Oregon Business Council. 29.
[18]"Survey
shows Oregonians don't support growth." The
Associated Press, January 14, 2000.
[19]McCall,
Tom. 8 January 1973. Speech to Oregon Legislature
quoted in Brent Walth, Fire at Eden's Gate:
Tom McCall & The Oregon Story. 1994.
Portland: Oregon Historical Society. 356.
[20]http://www.metro-region.org/growth/gms.html
(as of August 6, 2000).
[21]Soto,
Lucy. September 12, 1998. "Turner describes
Atlanta as 'hellhole.'" Atlanta
Journal-Constitution.
[22]Suo,
Steve. 1998. "A Hazy Future For A Clear
View." Portland: The Oregonian.
September 20.
[23]Haberman,
Rita, Joe Coffman, Mary Lou Soscia, Patricia
Benner and Don Francis. 1997. Floods and
Floodplains: Willamette Riverkeeper's State of
the Willamette 1997. Portland: Willamette
Riverkeeper. 3.
[24]Haberman,
et al., 11.
[25]Weiss,
Laura. 2000. Zero Tolerance: Persistent
Poisons in Oregon, Source and Solutions.
Portland: Oregon Environmental Council
(www.orcouncil.org). 6.
[26]Grossman,
Elizabeth, Joe Coffman, Cathy Torici, Rosemary
Furfey and Mary Lou Soscia, 2000. Under the
Surface: Willamette Riverkeeper's State of
the Willamette 2000. Portland: Willamette
Riverkeeper. 23.
[27]Francis,
Don and Rita Haberman. 1998.Our Future, Our
Choice: Willamette Riverkeeper's State of the
Willamette 1998. Portland: Willamette
Riverkeeper. 13.
[28]
http:///www.sos.state.or.us/elections/may162000/results.htm
[29]_____________.
1999. 1999 Regional Transportation Plan.
Portland: Metro. Table 5.2.
[30]Fodor,
Eben. 1999. Better Not Bigger: How to Take
Control of Urban Growth and Improve Your
Community. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society
Publishers. 87.
[31]Oregon
Revised Statutes 197.296
[32]Nokes,
R. Gregory. 2000. "Property rights group
says it may sue Metro over measure."
Portland: The Oregonian. August 26.
[33]Fodor,
Eben. 1998. The Cost of Growth in Oregon.
Eugene: Fodor and Associates. 2.
[34]
Fodor, 1998. 10
[35]Fodor,
1999, 64-65.
[36]
____________. 2000. Facts Kit: May October
2000. Salem: Oregon Parks and Recreation
Department. 11.
(http://www.prd.state.or.us/images/pdf/facts_kit.pdf)
[37]The
Associated Press. 2000. "Whalen Island will
be new park." Portland: The Oregonian.
August 10.
[38]____________.
1999. Growth and Its Impacts on Oregon: A
Report From Governor Kitzhaber's Task Force on
Growth in Oregon. Salem: State of Oregon.
6-1.
[39]Fodor,
1998. 3.
[40]Fodor,
1999. 134.
[41]
Fodor, Eben. 1999. "Growing Better, Not
Bigger." Portland: Oregon Planners
Journal. July/August. 7
[42]Nokes,
R. Gregory. 1998. "If You Can't Agree About
Oregon Growth, Try A Subcommittee."
Portland: The Oregonian. December 8.
[43]Pimentel,
D., R. Harman, M. Pacenza, J. Pecarsky, and M.
Pimentel. 1994. Natural Resources and an
Optimum Human Population. Population and
Environment 15: 347-369.
[44]Wackernagel,
M., Larry Onisto, Alejandro Callejas Linares, Ina
Susana López Falfán, Jesus Méndez García, Ana
Isabel Suárez Guerrero, Ma. Guadalupe Suárez
Guerrero. 1997. Ecological Footprints of
Nations: How Much Nature Do They Use? How Much
Nature Do They Have? San Jose, Costa Rica:
Earth Council. (Distributed by the International
Council for Local Environmental Initiatives,
Toronto.)
(www.rprogress.org/resources/nip/ef_nations_table_acres.html)
[45]Ryan,
John C. and Alan Thein Durning. 1997. Stuff:
The Secret Lives of Everyday Things. Seattle:
Northwest Environment Watch. Also: Ryan, John C.
1997. Over Our Heads: A Local Look at Global
Climate. Seattle: Northwest Environment
Watch.
[46]Run
numbers yourself at
www.rprogress.org/resources/nip/ef/ef_household_calculator.html.
[47]Kitzhaber,
John. 2000. Development of a State Strategy
Promoting Sustainability in Internal State
Government Operations. Salem: State of Oregon.
Executive Order EO-00-07. May 17.
[48]Abbey,
Edward. 1985. A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
(Vox Clamantis in Deserto): Notes From a
Secret Journal. New York: St. Martin's
Griffin. 98.
[49]Durning,
Alan Thein. "Redesigning the Forest
Economy," in Lester R. Brown, et al., State
of the World 1994. New York. W.W. Norton
& Co. 36.
[50]__________,
1985, Statistical Abstract of the United
States. Washington, DC: US Bureau of Census.
[51]Durning,
Alan Thein. 2000. Personal Communication (email).
August 10.
[52]__________.
1993. Current Housing Reports: Supplement to
the American Housing Survey for the United States
in 1993. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of
Census.
[53]
Cuomo, Andrew. 1998. Testimony of HUD Secretary
before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
VA, HUD and Independent Agencies. March 12.
(available at www.hud.gov)
[54]Durning,
Alan Thein. 1992. How Much Is Enough? The
Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 23.
[55]Thompson,
Jeff and Michael Leachman. 2000. Prosperity in
Perspective: The State of Working Oregon, 2000.
Silverton, OR: Oregon Center for Public Policy.
3.
[56]Mattox,
William R., Jr. 1991. "The Parent
Trap." Policy Review. No. 55, Winter.
6.
[57]Durning,
Alan. 1991. "Asking How Much Is Enough"
in State of the World 1991. Lester Brown,
et al. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 163.
[58]Hunsberger,
Brent. 1998. "For Richer; For Whiter Series:
Legacy on the Line (4th of 5 parts). Portland: The
Oregonian, December 16.
[59]Durning,
Alan. 156.
[60]Cobb,
Clifford. Gary Sue Goodman and Mathis
Wackernagel. 2000. Why Bigger Isn't Better:
The Genuine Progress Indicator1999 Update.
Oakland: Redefining Progress. (web version not
paginated) (Available at
www.rprogress.org/progsum/nip/gpi/gpi_main.html.)
[61]Kennedy,
Robert F. 1968. Speech at University of Kansas.
March 18.
[62]Cobb,
et al. (web version not paginated)
[63]Kissler,
Gerald R. and Karmen N. Fore. 2000. To Improve
the Well-Being of Oregonians: Public Policy for a
Changing Economic and Social Context.
Portland: The Agility Group. 8. (Available at
www.econ.state.or.us/opb.)
[64]Miringoff,
Marc L. 1998. 1998 Index of Social Health.
Tarrytown, New York: Fordham Institute for
Innovation in Social Policy. 9.
[65]Schor.
74-75
[66]Commission
on Population Growth and the American Future.
1972. Population and the American Future.
Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
110.
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