Tanton Network banned from Earth Times website
The Earth Times, an environment specific news agency, has taken a bold step and is attempting to remove all the content from its site that was added by anti-immigrant groups affiliated with John Tanton.
The Tanton Network is an array of anti-immigrant organizations founded or funded by white nationalist John Tanton. Well known as an advocate of racial eugenics, Tanton was nicknamed The Puppeteer for orchestrating the most powerful anti-immigrant movement in the United States. In his own words:
“I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.” – Dec. 10, 1993, letter to the late Garrett Hardin, a controversial ecology professor. Read more
The Anti-Immigrant Movement & Environmentalism Map
The Center for New Community just released a map titled, “The Anti-Immigrant Movement & Environmentalism.” This map tracks the anti-immigrant movement’s attempts to inject itself into discussions on population and the environment. The map folds out and is a tool for environmentalists who are taking a stand against bigotry by identifying anti-immigrant groups promoting hate.
Click here to see the full document in PDF Read more
Solutions to Climate Change Lie in Transcending Borders- Not Closing Them
Filed under: Ecopolitics, Immigration, International
by Martha Pskowski
Environmentalists and social justice advocates are linking struggles across borders to fight the transnational forces causing climate change. The work of global activists is countering arguments put forward by white nationalist groups that claim immigrants are an environmental threat.
The claims that immigrants are causing climate change are rooted in overpopulation arguments that disproportionally target people of color and the Global South.
The most recent U.N. climate talks in Cancún, Mexico, brought together thousands of activists from around the world. While some were accredited to enter the U.N. conference center, many more attended the concurrent independent gatherings of Klima forum and La Via Campesina. Largely ignored by the mainstream media, these independent gatherings made space for grassroots and indigenous perspectives and facilitated dialogue across traditional boundaries. Read more
Social Justice Movements Standing Strong Against Anti-Immigrant Inroads
The Population and Development Program at Hampshire University just released its January DifferenTakes journal. The journal looks at the anti-immigrant movement and the greening of hate. It includes a piece written by Imagine 2050 writer, Rebecca Poswolsky, titled, “Social Justice Movements Standing Strong Against Anti-Immigrant Inroads.”
The article begins with an excellent editor’s note by co-Editors Katie McKay Bryson and Betsy Hartmann of the Population and Development Program:
“January, 2011 has already proven a sobering transition into the new year and new decade. Continued political violence in Arizona, the state that entrenched discrimination against immigrants through legislation last year, and a concerted effort across fourteen states to attack the birthright citizenship guaranteed in the 14th Amendment leave many of us disheartened. Yet committed social justice activists and organizations across many different movements are standing strong against these challenges. This month, PopDev offers two companion pieces illuminating the political context of anti-immigrant scapegoating within the U.S., the growing resistance to this politics of hate and exclusion, and the road forward.” Read more
Climate Culprits Hide Behind Immigration and Overpopulation Fears
by Jesse Sanes
Those concerned with global warming must abandon population control as a relevant strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
Powerful actors are largely responsible for climate change: oil companies, coal giants, and industrial farming corporations. All of these profit directly from fossil fuel emissions.
These climate culprits are able to conceal themselves when groups point to population growth and immigrants as the main drivers of global warming. Read more
New Mexico conservation official compared environmentalists to communists
by Catherine Amelia Craig
In a 2009 radio appearance, Harrison “Jack ” Schmitt called environmental leaders “communists.”
Schmitt was a guest on Alex Jones’ radio show when he attributed today’s environmental movement’s politics to the fall of the Soviet Union.
Schmitt stated, “Because the great champion of the opponents of liberty, namely communism, had to find some other place to go and they basically went into the environmental movement. … They converted environmental activism to a political movement and some would say a religious movement.” Read more
New film uses anti-immigrant arguments to make a case for limiting growth
A new documentary film on overpopulation is set to be released in 2011. GrowthBusters bills itself as a film about creating a sustainable civilization by paving the path for a post-growth future.
The film’s creator, Dave Gardner, states that it is about limits to growth, water shortages, hunger, peak oil resources and species extinction. However, he focuses on growth with a specific agenda in mind by taking anti-immigrant positions on overpopulation and promoting theories that blames immigrants for “growth.”
For that reason the film is just the latest attempt to green bigotry and lure environmentalists to neo-Malthusian theories. Read more
International groups call for U.N. protocol on climate refugees
by Martha Pskowski
Credit: Piotr Fajfer / Oxfam International
The global community has issued a call for a new protocol on immigration, as climate change threatens developing countries, that the United Nations must heed.
At the recent climate talks in Cancún, the Equity and Justice Working Group of Bangladesh (EquityBD) and other groups drew attention to the problem of climate-induced migration.
Residents of Bangladesh and other low-lying and island nations risk being displaced as sea levels rise due to climate change. As many as three in five Bangladeshis will have abandoned their homes by the year 2050 because of climate change, according to the British government’s Stern Report. Read more
Rep. Bachmann’s reckless rhetoric targets environmentalists
Signs at a Bachmann rally
In a 2009 interview on a conservative radio program, Michele Bachmann urged Minnesotans to become “armed and dangerous” against Obama’s energy tax bill to reduce carbon emissions.
According to the Huffington Post, when Bachmann was asked about the White House-backed cap-and-trade proposal to reduce carbon emissions, she told WWTC 1280 AM:
“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”
Center for Immigration Studies and the Arizona border
We have recently received requests from readers asking that we clarify details surrounding a group called Center for Immigration Studies and its activities in Arizona.
Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) was founded in 1985 as a project directly under the control of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The Washington, D.C.-based think tank portrays itself as a mainstream organization that studies the impact of immigration in the United States.
More accurately, CIS is part of the John Tanton Network, a web of controversial anti-immigrant organizations orchestrated by John Tanton, the founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
For many years the Tanton Network has used claims of environmental degradation to further its anti-immigrant agenda. The message from groups like Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is simple: more immigrants mean more pollution and fewer resources for the rest of us. Read more
Environmental population arguments take a new twist
Theories linking climate change to immigration are becoming increasingly popular. Anti-immigrant groups aren’t the only ones discussing this intersection. A recent article in Time Magazine also proposes a strong correlation between immigration, population and environmental impact. Even though the article in Time attempts to make a positive connection between migration and the environment, the premise is still deeply flawed.
A separate article by Robert Kunzig in the January issue of National Geographic magazine addresses population and competing philosophies around the number of people the planet can accommodate. The cover story is titled, “7 Billion: By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion. Can the planet take the strain?” The article takes on notions of the population control movement and the phobia around the population, “explosion.” Read more
Anti-immigrant organization creates another “environmental” front group
The anti-immigrant movement has added yet another pseudo-environmental front group to its ranks. John Tanton-tied organization Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) recently took credit for “successfully starting the Institute for a Sustainable America.”
Progressives for Immigration Reform is part of white nationalist John Tanton’s network of anti-immigrant groups. Tanton’s array of organizations, from lobbyists to grassroots mobilizers, work closely through spin-off groups like Progressives for Immigration Reform to reach out to left-leaning audiences. This is nothing new for the Network’s web of over two dozen organizations – meticulously nurtured for the last three decades by the same small circle of men. Read more
A day of action against false climate change negotiations
The climate negotiations taking place in Cancun, Mexico represent an exclusive dialogue around environmental issues. Many groups and organizations are taking a stand for more inclusive and real solutions to global environmental climate change. As a result, there will be a day of action on Tuesday, December 7 to address the “market-based” solutions that the Conference promotes.
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference is being held in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 to December 10, 2010. The conference serves as the meeting ground to follow-up on Kyoto Protocol commitments, aimed at addressing climate change. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference extended the mandates to further commitments of the Kyoto Protocol and long-term cooperative action under the Convention. Read more
Got Water? Immigrants Blamed for Water Shortages in the Southwest
By Martha Pskowski
The anti-immigrant movement, under groups like The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), blame immigrants and population levels in the American Southwest for lack of water and potential water shortages. We know droughts are becoming more frequent and are lasting longer. There are real causes for water shortages in the Southwest and equitable access to water is highly important. The anti-immigrant movement, however, has only one cause and one solution: blame immigrants.
In The Center for Immigration Studies’ new report, “Population, Immigration, and the Drying of the American Southwest,” the group asserts that the key to addressing water scarcity is immigration. According to CIS, immigration is causing the Southwest population to “explode” and making insatiable demands on “our” limited resources. CIS encourages its readers to take action and even claims that the government is “afraid” to address immigration. Read more
CAPS Seeds New Platform for Anti-Immigrant Voices
Photo from Its Getting Hot in Here
Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) recently created a new blog site. The website features several writers with controversial ties including Rick Oltman, Frosty Wooldridge, Michael Cutler and an overwhelming number of articles from Joe Guzzardi. Among other anti-immigrant connections, CAPS is listed as a state contact on Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) website, where it is misleadingly described as “an environmental activist organization that views immigration control as a key element of population stabilization.”
FAIR is a hate group founded by white nationalist John Tanton. Tanton has a history of advocating for racial eugenics, the pseudo-scientific study of racial supremacy. CAPS has additional ties to white supremacy that are undeniable. Its media director, Rick Oltman, was identified in a Council of Conservative Citizens’ (CofCC) newsletter as a member. CofCC is a descendant of the old White Citizens Council. CofCC’s statement of principles reads: Read more
Sierra Club Exhibits Photos of the U.S. Mexico Border
The Sierra Club is hosting a photo exhibit to document the negative impact the border wall has on the biodiversity and ecology of the U.S./Mexico border region. In addition to the devastating human effects along the border, this event is intended to raise awareness about the huge environmental disasters caused by the border wall. The traveling photo exhibit is called the “Continental Divide” and will begin on Nov 2 at the Cabot Lodge Millsaps in Jackson, Mississippi.
Showcasing some of the most diverse landscapes on the continent, The International League of Conservation Photographers aim to bring international attention to the immense environmental harm caused to border regions as a result of the wall.
According to the Sierra Club’s press release:
“Over 600 miles of border wall have been built from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, fragmenting endangered species habitat, causing erosion and flooding, tearing apart fragile ecosystems found within Wilderness Areas and Wildlife Refuges; National Monuments and National Forests; and have contributed to the deaths of thousands of migrants.” Read more
Seven White Men Discuss U.S. Population Stabilization and the Environment
Yesterday, Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR) held “The First National Conference on Immigration, 
Conservation and the Environment” at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. from 8:30AM until 4:30PM. The panel included seven white male panelists. Not one woman and not one person of color spoke on the panel. Shocking? In a less then packed room, about fifty congregated to hear these, “experts” on immigration, conservation and the environment.
Why did the private, invitation-only conference host seven white male panelists and not a single voice from those most impacted by conversations around population control?
PFIR’s all day conference focused on topics that included “U.S. population stabilization;” “the population taboo;” “the impact of immigration on population size;” and “how U.S. immigration policy impedes the economic progress of developing nations and sustainability of other species.” If these panelists had their way, there would be serious consequences on the freedoms and rights of women of color globally. Not only were no women on the panel, but one of the two dozen women in the room was escorted out of the National Press Club by security. Read more
Negative Population Growth is Recruiting Environmentalists
The anti-immigrant movement is attempting inroads into the environmental movement yet again. This time, Negative Population Growth (NPG) has taken up the torch. NPG is campaigning for both a National Population Policy and a “sustainable society.” NPG begins its open letter to environmentalists, “It’s a proven fact in politics that there’s power in numbers.” According to NPG, this message is being spread, “to hundreds of environmental groups throughout the U.S. – both large and small – inviting them to join us in co-sponsoring a set of powerful media ads to get members of Congress, policymakers, and other elected leaders focused on the critical need for a National Population Policy.” So why are environmentalists being recruited to pushing for a National Population Policy?
Not surprisingly, white nationalist John Tanton, the architect of the modern day anti-immigrant movement, has helped NPG channel environmental concerns into bigotry and racism. Tanton launched Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and U.S. Inc. 30 years ago. From there, he has seeded most of today’s anti-immigration groups, including Negative Population Growth (NPG), Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
Cross-Post: Stand against the “Greening of Hate” for the Movement we Believe In
Filed under: Ecopolitics, Immigration, Politics
Martha Pskowski is a student from Hampshire College.
Wednesday, September 22, I attended a meeting at Hampshire College of Western Massachusetts environmental 
organizers hosted by the Center for New Community of Chicago. Rebecca Poswolsky of CNC presented to the group about the rising trend of anti-immigration rhetoric being pushed into the environmental movement. Videos and advertisements portrayed the messaging of anti-immigration groups vying for an environmental audience.
In one, a line of men in sweatshirts and jeans, baseball caps pulled down, snakes through desert brush in the hidden camera footage. The voice-over in this Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) film describes the actions of the “illegal aliens,” “They walk, but some get tired. A few sit and snack. Likely the snack packages will become litter… … more people, more paths, more trash.” Read more
Cross- Post: Is Immigration a Green Issue?
Sami Grover wrote a great article for Treehugger highlighting the issues explored in Center for New Community’s new video, The Green War on Immigrants
TreeHugger is a blog about environmentalism, not racism, ethnicity or immigration.
Yet from holocaust deniers at the Copenhagen climate talks to the sometimes xenophobic undertones of energy independence debate, there are times when these subjects collide. When David posted about a Yale essay that claimed open immigration and sustainability were incompatible, one commenter rejected his post as “poorly disguised racism”. Now activists from both sides of the immigration debate are stepping up to win the hearts and minds of environmentalists.Created by the Center for New Community, the video below is part of a new campaign to ask environmental groups to reject racism and anti-immigration sentiment, and to continue to fight the root causes of environmental destruction. It is, they say, a response to an organized effort by anti-immigration organizations like the Weeden Foundation that is aiming to steer the green movement towards an explicitly anti-immigration stance.
Read more
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