CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) has launched a statewide college competition for the California Population Awareness Awards (CAPA). Through the CAPA Awards, CAPS aims to increase awareness among college students of the state’s rapid population growth and to encourage students to explore the sources and implications of continuing growth.
California’s population has nearly doubled in only about 40 years, and projections point to more growth – the state adds about one person a minute, or nearly half a million each year. In 1910, California was relatively wide open with not quite 2.4 million people. Fast forward 100 years, and nearly 39 million people called California home in 2010. Projections indicate a population of potentially 60 million by 2050.
“The students in our institutions of higher learning are very important to how California evolves,†said Marilyn Brant Chandler DeYoung, CAPS Chairman of the Board. “They can and will influence the future of the state, the country and the world.
“Unfortunately, unlike during the 1960s and 1970s when population growth was widely discussed, in more recent decades, it’s become politically incorrect to discuss the implications of overpopulation. So much of the younger demographic is unaware of how rapid population growth has impacted California’s economy, our environment, our public schools, health care facilities, prisons, highways, wetlands, biodiversity, water resources, energy consumption and state and national parks – virtually every aspect of life. With the CAPA Awards competition, CAPS hopes to get the overpopulation issue back on people’s ‘radar screens.’â€
To enter the CAPA Awards competition, students in California colleges and universities may submit an original short video or radio spot, write an Op-Ed, or design a Facebook initiative or Twitter campaign that focuses on the causes of overpopulation in California and its effects on the environment, wildlife and quality of human life and the future benefits that a sustainable population would bring.
The top award is $5,000 in the video category. A winning entry in the radio category will garner a $3,000 award. The Op-Ed, Facebook and Twitter categories each have an available $1,500 award. Additionally, the first 100 qualified entries will be entered in a random drawing for an iPad 2 (three will be given away).
The CAPA Awards college competition is open to all students enrolled at least half-time in a university or college (state or private), a community college, or a trade or career-based school located in California who are at least 18 years of age by the time of the competition submissions deadline.
Complete information for awards submission is at http://www.capaawards.com. Submission deadline is November 30, 2011.
About CAPS
CAPS (http://www.capsweb.org) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1986 that works to preserve California’s future through the stabilization of our state’s human population. Since nearly all of California’s runaway population growth now comes from immigration, CAPS focuses largely on this issue. The organization sponsors public and media awareness campaigns, works with lawmakers to promote more responsible policies, conducts research and has a growing network of member-activists who are concerned about the impacts of overpopulation.
