BY JIM GREEN
Feigned concern for the environment has long been one of the arguments used by the far right to argue against immigration. But calls for zero population growth or reduced population levels, and for reduced or zero immigration, have also been common among some within in the environment movement.
To counter the environmental opportunism of racists (the "greening of hate") and the misguided arguments from some well-intentioned environmentalists, Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) has recently initiated a project on the environment and population.
FoEA's project covers four broad areas: population and immigration; consumption; the "ecological debt" owed to the Third World as a result of environmental plunder by the First World; and immigration and racism.
Rather than isolating population growth, FoEA argues that environmental problems need to be seen in a holistic context covering all levels of government, control of capital, patterns of development, equity between and within nations, and the "ownership of the infrastructure that drives consumption".
FoEA's short-term campaign objective is to see an end to mandatory detention of asylum seekers, an increase in foreign aid, and no reduction in the economic migrant quota in order to allow asylum seekers to stay in the country. FoEA also believes there is an onus on Australia to accept more people fleeing natural and human-induced natural disasters ("environmental refugees").
To further these goals, FoEA has circulated a sign-on letter to many environment groups. The letter states that signatories "recognise that land use patterns, and resource extraction, production and consumption (including greenhouse gas emissions) are the most significant drivers of environmental deterioration in Australia. Population growth, while a factor in environmental impact, should not be considered in isolation of these other issues. It is inappropriate to single out immigrants as a potential source of environmental degradation. As Australians, we need to get our own 'house in order' and not seek to blame others for our ecological problems."
The letter also calls on the federal government "to immediately end its policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and to move to community-based systems for hosting asylum seekers".
Although circulated widely amongst green organisations, the letter attracted a total of just 16 signatories. Cam Walker, FoEA's national liaison officer, told Green Left Weekly: "We have been disappointed at what has been an almost complete absence of the green movement in both the debate around treatment of asylum seekers and in terms of a progressive voice on population issues. Many prominent greens who have advocated positions on population have tended to concentrate on population and not the deeper issues of Australia's overconsumption of resources or our ecological debt to other nations."
Walker told GLW that FoEA has also received considerable volumes of mail from environmentalists who felt that population growth was the key issue rather than other concerns: "We've been called traitors to the movement by some people, but without a human rights and internationalist perspective, environmentalism focussed just on population growth is both unethical and will be ultimately futile."
Details on FoEA's environment and population project, and a good collection of articles on the topic, are on the internet at: <http://www.foe.org.au/nc/nc_enviro_pop.htm>.
From Green Left Weekly, March 6, 2002.
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