South Carolina's population growth creates climate crisis, says environmental scientist - wpde.com

South Carolina's population growth creates climate crisis, says environmental scientist

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — South Carolina is growing, but not all growth is good.

At least that is what Leon Kolankiewicz, an environmental scientist with NumbersUSA and lead author of " From Sea to Sprawling Sea," an environmental impact study that explores how U.S. population growth has driven rural land loss across four decades, said.

"You are making it very difficult to achieve your climate goals by increasing the number of energy consumers," Kolankiewicz said in an interview with News 4. " It just doesn't work."

READ MORE: "South Carolina tabbed as one of the fastest-growing states by U.S. Census Bureau."

From 1982 to 2017, 35 years, South Carolina lost 2,126 square miles to what Kolankiewicz described as urban sprawl – the loss of rural land to urbanized development.

To put that loss in context, South Carolina ranked 11th out of the 49 states analyzed in the 35-year data set. However, the Palmetto State was only the 40th-largest state. Though only 10 states were smaller than South Carolina, it was 11th in the amount of sprawl that took away rural ecosystems.

Cumulative sprawl – the development since South Carolina became a state – adds up to 4,269 square miles. That is 16th place for what scientists consider a relatively small state. In the 35 years between 1982 and 2017, South Carolina sprawled as much as it did in its entire history previously.

"This pace of development, rural land loss, is accelerating," Kolankiewicz said. "So that, quite understandably, has a lot of South Carolinians concerned or even upset."

READ MORE: "Data shows people moving to SC in record numbers."

In 2023, the United States Census Bureau labeled South Carolina and Florida as two of the fastest-growing states.

South Carolina saw a 1.7% increase in population in that one year alone, making South Carolina the leader in the nation concerning its percentage growth from year to year.

Though politicians, including Gov. Henry McMaster, have praised South Carolina's population growth, and paraded it around as proof of a "booming" economy, environmentalists like Kolankiewicz are concerned that urban sprawl, brought about by an increase in population, can steer areas like the Palmetto State – and the United States – into an existential crisis.

"We face an issue of how human beings are going to live when there are 330 million of us in this country," Kolankiewicz said. "We can't keep doing that. It is unsustainable. You're robbing Peter to pay Paul."

READ MORE: "SC among states with the most pandemic population growth, according to Rent.com."

Losing rural lands to urban sprawl can cripple the environment, Kolankiewicz said.

Wildlife loses natural grazing land, farmers lose farmland and deforestation only adds to dramatic drops in air quality, Kolankiewicz explained.

In his study, he contends that even if the loss of habitat and farmland continues at the lower rate of the 2002 to 2017 period, the average destruction of 1,200 square miles per year across the United States would be unsustainable for a country that desires the continued capability of food independence and stewardship of the animal and plant life currently living within its borders.

"You can't have growth in any object or entity in a finite system," Kolankiewicz said. "Neither the United States, the biosphere, nor the world as a whole was growing in terms of resources to accommodate ever-increasing human demands."

READ MORE: "Census: Hispanics and Asians driving US growth, but South Carolina remains 2/3 white."

That leaves areas like South Carolina, Florida and Texas – areas that have seen tremendous growth in the last decade – with an inescapable question: What is the solution?

Kolankiewicz's answer: population stabilization and more efficient land usage.

He wants to see states attempt to control how many people migrate yearly to curb "uncontrolled exponential growth." He also wants low-density land usage to end, finding alternatives to mini-malls and single-family developments that use a lot of land and "additional resources."

Kolankiewicz desires an increased usage of electric vehicles in rural communities because they are so car-dependent. But more than anything, he would like to see the natural beauty of an area sustained for generations.

"I would like to see South Carolinians continue to live in rural areas, which means you have to be able to drive around more," he said. "But we can't have our cake and eat it too. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You gotta pay for it somehow."