Leon Kolankiewicz: Overpopulation is biggest environmental threat washingtontimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtontimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Since 1982, Arizona developers have paved 1.1 million acres of natural habitat and farmland an area more than triple the size of Phoenix to clear way for the state s rapidly growing population. That s among the key findings of a new study on Arizona s environment published today by NumbersUSA. Arizona has experienced more urban sprawl than any state except Nevada, said Leon Kolankiewicz, an environmental planner and co-author of the study. As of 2017, there were almost 3,300 square miles of developed land in Arizona, a 114 percent increase since 1982. This sprawl which is overwhelmingly driven by rapid population growth, rather than increases in per-capita resource consumption is fragmenting habitats, exhausting water supplies, and exacerbating climate change.