Environmental Concerns

Piedmont Sprawl Study

The southern Piedmont (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia) is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States. The result is rapidly vanishing open spaces.

Population growth in the region is driving sprawl, causing 86% of the loss of open space from 1982 to 2012. Per capita land consumption is responsible for the other 14%.

Local, state, and national policies are responsible for attracting new residents to the Piedmont, and immigration policy plays a large role, as 40% of population growth in the southern Piedmont is due to new immigrants and their children.

Environmental Endorsements of U.S. Population Stabilization

Population is rarely connected to sustainability, but as population increases, we all see our schools get more full, our roads more crowded, and our open spaces destroyed to make room for new development. Notable environmentalists from a wide array of political affiliations have, over the years, endorsed U.S. population stabilization from an environmental perspective, including former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter and former Senator and Earth Day father Gaylord Nelson.