There are some great laws on the books to protect wildlife. They include, The Migratory Bird Act of 1918, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the North American Wetland’s Act 1989. There are also some iconic species which have been painstakingly saved by tireless wildlife biologists and volunteers who took advantage of the legal requirements to protect wetlands, and endangered species. But overall, these laws are palpably insufficient. Even with great laws in place they are becoming what I call, ‘legally extinct’ As the December 9, 2022 New York Times article said in its title, “Animals are Running Out of Places to live”. There is a reason they are running out of room, we can’t just keep trying to put up fences, we have to start decreasing the demand.
The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) latest report is a sobering truckload of ice water poured over the heads of any optimistic thinkers about the future of wildlife, both locally and globally. On page 12 of The World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2022 reports that 69% of Wildlife populations have decreased significantly since 1970 after studying 32,000 species. These laws in place are doing so poorly to protect wildlife, not only because of the loopholes developers are always seeking, but because they don’t address our overall human footprint which must include our total number of feet.
At 8 billion and growing by 81 million per year on a limited thin layer of life supporting biosphere, 332 million of which live in the US, we are forcing wildlife off the planet. Climate instability does of course account for some of the demise of wildlife. Polar bears do desperately need ever shrinking ice flows from which to hunt for seals. But it is even more difficult for a wolf, mountain lion or ocelot to hunt in a shopping center or housing development. It is even more difficult for salmon to swim upstream to spawn in a river that has been dammed to create a water supply for ever growing cities.
These population statistics need to be repeated over and over by those who have the microphone and especially by wildlife organizations. We need them to find their collective spines and tell the truth about how we need address the true crime of overpopulation for it is a ubiquitous and destructive force, like DDT was in its day. It has its name on the earth moving equipment and has our stamp of approval to run free in the world. In their silence these supposed protectors of wildlife have blood on their hands for they will not throw their weight behind a message of the need to stop growing and start de-growing our human numbers. I would bet the bank even in a year where we hit the 8 billion mark, that no one reading this could find any reference to overpopulation in their magazine subscriptions to National Wildlife, Audubon and Sierra Club among others.
Human population growth happens in two ways: from total fertility rates ( TFR) , births over deaths or from immigration. In general, developed nations are growing from immigration and underdeveloped nations are growing from high TFR’s. As in the medical field, environmental issues also need the right remedy for the right infection. If you have a cough, you need cough syrup, not a blood transfusion. If you have a rash, you need a salve, not an oxygen mask. If we want to see wildlife numbers go up instead of down we have to put the fight in the right place. The right solution to growth also has to be country specific. No wildlife biologist worth his/her weight in salt would attempt to save a non-local specie. A Minnesota based biologist can work on wolves, fishers, Peregrine falcons or Trumpeter swans. They would not think of personally trying to save lemurs in Madagascar. We can barely promote and challenge laws in the US to conform to our need to protect wildlife, we certainly have no hope of changing them on the other side of the world.
Along with laws intended to protect wildlife, all laws promoting growth must also be tackled as a crime against wildlife. Growth inspires both density and sprawl. Density requires hidden sprawl because the more people living in high rises still requires the plowing of land to provide them with food. The PEW Research Center states that 88% of future growth in the US is going to be from immigration if everything remains the same. That is on top of a population already seriously overpopulated as evidenced by scarcity of everything from water to open space. Climate change-caused droughts are already causing scarcity issues particularly in the West. Couple that with more people entering the US needing water and only disaster will be on the menu, while also taking a toll on wildlife. Wildlife need water too.
When many including the Ecological Footprint Network have determined that the US is a severe state of overshoot, it’s time to look at our attitudes and laws regarding immigration and recognize that current policies and lack of enforcement are having a devastating impact on wild lands and the wildlife that live there. While there are laws on the books to prevent some avenues of mass immigration, the enforcement is flimsy at best. This is fueled by a thundercloud of fervor over unexamined fears of racism as the only motive to stop this current reality of US growth.
Welcoming masses of people to the US often without proper vetting and paperwork, is like having a party at a mansion on a large plot of land with 500 party favors, 500 food items and 500 beverages and allowing the guestlist to grow by the thousands because you didn’t want the uncomfortable task of telling guests that you are full. Tending to your current guests with a focus on having adequate supplies is to be commended. Instead, because you are afraid of showing that you don’t care, you open the door to more suffering, when a much-needed act of tough love is required.
To make sure we aren’t aiding and abetting the legal extinction of wildlife, wildlife laws must expand to include the real culprit: overpopulation and the growth it inspires. We must put the most guilty party on trial. Working to restrict mass immigration will do more to prevent extinction of the species we say we care about than crafting any new protection laws. It’s time to stop overwhelming their habitats so we can truly protect the land in a way that matters to the future of all things wild and wonderful.
Just in case wildlife isn’t your thing, keep in mind that the human journey off the cliff isn’t far behind. The mantra we are all connected is not just a new age saying it is a biological reality. As Albert Einstein reportedly said, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.”