What is unsustainable population growth?
April 27, 2025
author
Published by Eric Ruark
by Henry Barbaro
One of the four pillars upon which NumbersUSA was built is the recommendations of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, established by President Bill Clinton in 1993. In the executive summary of its final report, the Council stated that “reducing immigration levels is a necessary part of population stabilization and the drive toward sustainability.”
But what is “sustainable,” and what do we mean when referring to “unsustainable” growth. As one of the most often-used – and perhaps abused or misunderstood – words in today’s environmental vernacular, the connotation of “sustainable” refers to an activity that supposedly can continue indefinitely. In addition, Dr. Al Bartlett, an internationally-recognized advocate for population stabilization, provides a thorough examination of the term “sustainability” in his 2011 paper, “The Meaning of Sustainability.”
Sustainability defined
The United Nations provides a clear and concise definition of sustainability — “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainability has come to mean continual environmental stewardship, where natural resources are managed and conserved for the distant future.
This begs the question – do we need to conserve our natural resources so that they are available for future generations forever, even if said resources are not renewable? Certainly not a realistic target for any scientific forecast model.
Many centuries ago, the Iroquois Indians developed the “seventh generation” principle, which states that the decisions made today (should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. Assuming 25 years per generation, seven generations is about 175 years. A long time, but a meaningful guideline for determining whether a practice is truly “sustainable.”
Can population growth be sustainable?
https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/what-is-unsustainable-population-growth/
