The population of the United States reached 275 million in 1999 and is growing by approximately three million each year, over 57,000 weekly, the highest population growth rate of the developed countries of the world. For each person added to the U.S. population, about one acre of open land is lost through urbanization and degradation, causing a total yearly loss of about three million acres. Immigration is the leading cause of population growth in the Unites States.
Population is the leading cause of environmental degradation.
Legal and illegal immigration combined is too high for assimilation. The latest U.S. Census Bureau shows that immigration will add 90 million to the U.S. population and account for 70 percent of population growth within the next 50 years. If mass immigration continues, the population of the U.S. will exceed 400 million by 2050. The people of the United States and the Board of County Commissioners, County of Pitkin, State of Colorado, envision a country with a stable population, material and energy efficiency, a sustainable future, a healthy environment, clean air and water, ample open space, wilderness, abundant wildlife and social and civic cohesion in which the dignity of human life is enhanced and protected. The Board of County Commissioners recognizes the value of diversity and the contributions on immigrants since the arrival of the first settlers many centuries ago.