Environmental Resolution on Over-Population

WHEREAS the population of the United States has tripled in the last 100 years, the world’s population has tripled in just the last 70 years, and both continue to rise, and

       WHEREAS Earth’s resources are finite and exhaustible, and

WHEREAS former Vice President Al Gore has warned that "For the first time our numbers threaten the ecological system that supports life as we know it" (a fact which he highlighted in his Academy Award winning film "An Inconvenient Truth"), and a conference of 1680 scientists, from 49 countries, including 104 Nobel Laureates issued its “Warning to Humanity” over a decade ago, urging population stabilization as a crucial part of a comprehensive plan to bring about sustainable human living,

THEREFORE be it resolved that we the members of the Santa Clara County Democratic Club strongly encourage and support efforts to achieve a sustainable population for both the United States and the world through the following actions that have been endorsed by Population Connection, a leading environmental group specializing in population issues:

· Increase public awareness of the population problem so families can make informed choices,

· Expand availability of and funding for both domestic and international women’s literacy programs which have proven to increase opportunities for women who then tend to have smaller families,

· Teach sex education programs that are accurate, comprehensive and age-appropriate (instead of teaching abstinence only),

· Reestablish funding for the United Nations Population Fund,

· Increase access and funding for domestic and international family planning services.