Border fence at Border Field State Park, California. (photo: Jlantzy/flickr)

A California group latches onto climate change as latest vehicle to push anti-immigration agenda.

BC Upham at Triplepundit found a television commercial produced by a group called Californians for Population Stabilization that finally, FINALLY, acknowledges what scientists have been saying for some time now - climate change is real, and human behavior has had a significant impact on it.

Of course, they don't come out and say this directly, but they've apparently figured out which humans are responsible for climate change.

Immigrants.

[youtube width="480" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM0Gc-twtMU[/youtube]

Of course, the arguments made in the television ad are patently ridiculous. Even the vice president of the organization concedes that consumption is the true culprit here.   However - and seriously, this is directly from the guy who wrote the position paper for the organization -  " because high consumption is an integral part of our culture, diminishing it significantly will be a slow and difficult process."   That's right - we "native born" Americans don't really want to consume less, so rather than give up the SUV's and the McMansions, it's better to keep poor people in poor countries where they can't consume like we "real" Americans do.

Of course, this effort should serve as the latest signal to environmentalists that we are winning the communications fight on this issue.  The politicians who would most likely align themselves with this group also tend to be aligned with those who reject the science on climate change - putting those politicians in the awkward position of choosing between allies.   This is at least one conservative group that has decided to at least look like they're serious about climate change.  They won't be the last.  Ultimately they'll have the effect of convincing even more people that the question isn't whether climate change is real or man-made, but how it's addressed most effectively.