CNN Interview with Ben Zuckerman

Zuckerman's CNN Interview

On August, 5, 2009, CNN's Casey Wian interviewed Professor Ben Zuckerman on Lou Dobbs Tonight.^1,2  From the interview transcript:

Ben Zuckerman is a UCLA professor and former board member of the Sierra Club. He says environmental groups have long ignored the threat of population growth.
 
PROF. BEN ZUCKERMAN, UCLA: The mainstream environmental movement has entirely dropped the ball on this issue. And I think that's really been a disaster for our country.
 
WIAN: He points to books advocating greener living.
 
ZUCKERMAN: They list literally hundreds of sort of trivial ways in which one can reduce one's environmental impact on the earth, but they don't even mention population.
 
WIAN: The Sierra Club declined to speak with us about the impact of population, as did other environmental groups.
 
The Oregon State researchers say it's important to continue efforts to reduce everyone's so-called carbon footprint, but they conclude that 'Clearly the potential savings from reduced reproduction are huge compared to the savings that can be achieved by changes in lifestyle.'
 
In other words, according to EPA figures, having a child in the United States, over time, theoretically produces the greenhouse gas equivalent of burning more than 1 million gallons of gasoline.
 
WIAN: UCLA's Zuckerman says the U.S. government could and should be doing more to encourage limited reproduction and population growth, including controlling immigration, educating the public about the impact of multiple child families, and perhaps even structuring child tax credits to reduce tax breaks for larger families."

 
 

Hit Piece on Zuckerman

In the August 7, 2009 blog rant "Lou Dobbs Show Cites Fear Mongering Anti-Immigrant Astronomist As Population Growth Expert", Andrea Christina Nill levels her sights on Ben Zuckerman for his concerned environmental position.³ (The piece was also posted on another blog site.)⁴ Nill claims that "The US Census Bureau meanwhile projects that the rate of US population growth decrease by 50% over the next six decades" - conveniently forgetting that mass immigration is driving United States population to double within the lifetimes of children born today, and that the U.S. population could possibly join India and China in the one billion club by the end of the century.^16,17,18,19

Not content to distort the facts, she continues:

Zuckerman is the former director of an anti-immigration group called Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America (now Alliance for a Sustainable USA) and led Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization. As a board member of the Sierra Club, Zuckerman tried to pass a resolution in 1998 that would have reversed the Clubs neutrality policy on immigration."

The truth is that while Ben Zuckerman has served on the boards of numerous environmental organizations, he has never been the director of Alliance for a Sustainable USA.  

The truth is also that Sierra Club policy had for years included mass immigration as a component of its long-standing environmental population policy. Then in 1996, Club management arbitrarily adopted a position of "neutrality" on immigration.¹³

In 2004, the Los Angeles Times uncovered the reason for the about-face: David Gelbaum, a super rich donor, had demanded the gag rule from the Sierra Club in exchange for huge donations. David Gelbaum was quoted in the article:

I did tell [Sierra Club Executive Director] Carl Pope in 1994 or 1995 that if they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never get a dollar from me."

In 1996 and again in 1998, the Club's leaders proved their loyalty to Gelbaum's position on immigration, first by enacting a policy of neutrality on immigration and then by aggressively opposing a referendum to overturn that policy. In 2000 and 2001, Gelbaum rewarded the Club with total donations to the Sierra Club Foundation exceeding $100 million. In 2004 and 2005, the Club's top leaders and management showed their gratitude by stifling dissent and vehemently opposing member efforts to return to traditional Sierra Club policy.¹³

These actions ultimately set the precedent for other mainstream environmental organizations to follow suit.¹⁶

Nill continues her rant: 

Zuckerman and his cronies then blatantly attempted a 'takeover' of the Sierra Club’s leadership by placing anti-immigrant candidates on the Club’s board ballot in 2004. The entire controversy subsided when Zuckerman’s candidates received less than 3% of all votes casted."

It should be noted that these "anti-immigrant" candidates included Frank Morris, Sr., former Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, biologist David Pimentel and former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm, co-founder of the NAACP at UC Berkeley in 1959.^13,20

Lamm made the following observation:

…the Sierra Club has been caught red-handed… The Sierra Club changed its position for two of the oldest and least justified reasons in history, political expediency, and money. The tragedy is that in doing so, they sold out one of the most important environmental issues of our time." ¹⁴

 

Nill then concludes with a stereotypical attack against environmentalist John Tanton:

Zuckerman currently serves as vice-president of Californians for Population Stabilizations board and sits on the Statistical Oversight Board of NumbersUSA. Both groups are financed by white-supremacist John Tanton, 'the puppet master of the modern anti-immigration movement' who Zuckerman has referred to as a ''great environmentalist'."

Regurgitating disinformation about dedicated environmentalists appears to be the norm for those whose ability to debate demographic issues never rises above a mediocre proclivity for ad hominem attack.  

You can read more about the orchestrated attacks on John Tanton, M.D. here.

Zuckerman and the Environmental Connection

Is it necessary to address United States population growth from an environmental perspective? Driven by mass immigration, United States population is projected to double within the lifetimes of children born today.^16,17,18,19 In the article "The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States", Philip Cafaro and Winthrop Staples III point out that

At the current level of 1.5 million immigrants per year, America’s population of 306 million is set to increase to over 700 million people by 2100. Recent “reform” proposals would actually increase immigration to over two million annually, which has the potential to nearly triple our population to over 850 million by the end of the century. Conversely, scaling back immigration to 200,000 per year would greatly reduce America’s population growth, according to studies by the U.S. Census Bureau.
 
Given the many issues that environmentalists must deal with and the contentious nature of immigration debates, it is understandable that many of us would prefer to avoid them. But the reality is that across the country, environmentalists are losing the battle to create a sustainable society and protect wild nature. Sprawl development destroys 2.2 million acres of wild lands and agricultural lands each year; over 1300 plant and animal species remain on the endangered species list, with more added each year; water shortages in the west and southeast are being used to justify new river-killing dams and reservoirs; and U.S. carbon emissions continue to rise. Obviously, we haven't figured out how to create a sustainable society with 300 million inhabitants. It’s not plausible to think we will be able to do so with two or three times as many people…
 
Americans must choose between sustainability and continued population growth. We cannot have both." ¹⁵

Thus it is not unreasonable for an informed environmentalist to be concerned about the relationship between immigration-driven U.S. population growth and environmental degradation. Indeed, it would be irresponsible not to be concerned.

Ben Zuckerman is an ardent environmentalist who is deeply concerned about the impact of our growing human population on our diminishing natural environment. He states:

Whether it is air pollution in the cities or sprawl in the suburbs, farmland conversion in the valleys or deforestation in the mountains, Americans are destroying the natural systems that keep us alive physically and spiritually. Each year we pave over an area about equal to the state of Delaware for more roads, housing developments, shopping malls and industry. For most resources including energy, per capita U.S. consumption has stabilized, but overall use is increasing, driven higher by continuing growth of the U.S. population…
 
If the U.S. continues to accept current levels of legal and illegal immigrants, then the U.S. population could double in 80 years… [but] the time required to halve our per capita energy consumption is unlikely to be less than 80 years. Thus, in the absence of better immigration laws, we can be pretty sure that the total U.S. ecological footprint will not be smaller in the year 2100 than it is in 2000 and it might be much bigger….
 
The unforgivable thing is that we know all of the above. But we refuse to do anything about it, falling back on our old faith in a limitless continent and open frontiers that will last forever." ¹²

About Ben Zuckerman

Ben Zuckerman is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT and Harvard. His major scientific interests have been the birth and death of stars and planetary systems. He has maintained a continuing interest in the question of the prevalence of life, especially intelligent life, in the Universe and since the mid-1970s regularly taught a course on "Life in the Universe". He also developed and taught a UCLA Honors course entitled "The 21st Century: Society, Environment, Ethics". He has co-edited six books including, "Extraterrestrials, Where Are They?" Cambridge University Press 1995, "The Origin and Evolution of the Universe" Jones & Bartlett 1996, and "Human Population and the Environmental Crisis" Jones & Bartlett 1995.^5,6

His discoveries include the first images of extrasolar planets orbiting around brown dwarfs and around stars (other than the Sun) and the first reasonably good evidence for rocky planets orbiting an old extrasolar star.^5,6

Professor Zuckerman believes that if astronomy is to have a viable future then people must confront the declining environmental health of the world. Unfortunately, major U.S. environmental organizations too often react to symptoms of environmental decline rather than to underlying causes.⁵

An ardent environmentalist, Zuckerman has been a Sierra Club member for over 40 years. He served on the Sierra Club Board of Directors from 2002-2005.¹⁰ He has served on the board of Californians for Population Stabilization since 1999.⁷ He served on the board of Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America.⁹ He has served on the board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society continuously since 2002 and is a member of the Statistical oversight Board of NumbersUSA.^8,11 

Case Study - Zuckerman - References

[1] Transcript, interview with Prof. Ben Zuckerman, UCLA, Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN (August 5, 2009)

[2] Video, interview with Prof. Ben Zuckerman, UCLA, Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN (August 5, 2009)

[3] "Lou Dobbs Show Cites Fear Mongering Anti-Immigrant Astronomist As Population Growth Expert", by Andrea Christina Nill (August 7, 2009)

[4] "Lou Dobbs Show Cites Fear Mongering Anti-Immigrant Astronomer As Population Growth Expert", by Andrea Nill (August 6, 2009)

[5] Ben Zuckerman, Ph.D., UCLA Faculty
(website visited August 10, 2009)

[6] Ben Zuckerman Astronomy page
(website visited August 10, 2009)

[7] "Board of Directors", Californians for Population Stabilization
(website visited August, 2009)

[8] "Statistical Oversight", NumbersUSA, Sourcewatch
(website visited August, 2009)

[9] Alliance for a Sustainable USA
(website visited August, 10 2009)

[10] "Ben Zuckerman is elected to the Sierra Club Board of Directors on April 24, 2002", SUSPS (April 24, 2002)
and
Sierra Club Yearly Election Results

[11] Board of Directors, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
(website visited August 10, 2009)

[12] "Population and Environment", by Ben Zuckerman, posted on the American Reform Party website (undated)

[13] SUSPS
(website visited August 10, 2009)

[14] "For Sale: The Policies of the Sierra Club", By Richard D. Lamm, former Governor of Colorado, The Social Contract (Fall, 2006)

[15] "The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States", by Philip Cafaro and Winthrop Staples III, Center for Immigration Studies (June, 2009)

[16] "Forsaking Fundamentals: The Environmental Establishment Abandons U.S. Population Stabilization"
By Leon Kolankiewicz and Roy Beck, Center for Immigration Studies (April, 2001)

[17] "Our Lost Future", NumbersUSA.com

[18] "Where does the Census Bureau say we're heading by 2050?" NumbersUSA.com

[19] "Annual Projections of the Total Resident Population as of July 1: Middle, Lowest, Highest, and Zero International Migration Series, 1999 to 2100", U.S. Census Bureau
and
U.S. Census Bureau population projections
(website visited July, 2009)

[20] Sierra Democracy
(website visited August 10, 2009)