Archive for January 2015

Is Word Getting Out that Population and Climate Change are Connected?

Jan 27th, 2015 | By
[image credit: nova.campusguides.com]

By Suzanne York. “In fact, person for person, reducing birth rates in industrialized nations has a bigger impact on greenhouse gas emissions because affluent people use more of the Earth’s resources and depend more heavily on fossil fuels.” Thus wrote the editorial board of the Los Angeles Timesover the weekend. Word is getting out that
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What Makes a Choice? (Part I)

Jan 21st, 2015 | By
[photo credit: Tammy Lang]

By Kimberly Absher, guest youth blogger, www.howmany.org. Promoting women’s health is my passion. My first exposure occurred in a community college class probably not titled Feminism 101, but it could have been. It blew my mind. I started volunteering at a YWCA day shelter for homeless and low-income women, set in an affluent corporate suburb
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Exceeding Earth’s Limits

Jan 20th, 2015 | By
Yanacocha gold mine in Cajamarca, Peru [photo credit: Jeffrey Bury, http://sciencenotes.ucsc.edu/2011/pages/gold/goldpic.html]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. The world is headed towards a “danger zone,” as it is passing a number of planetary boundaries that could destabilize the earth, according to yet another study by an international group of scientists. While your average citizen is probably not even aware of the concept of planetary boundaries, it should be a
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Approach to Family Planning: A Tale of Two Countries

Jan 14th, 2015 | By
[photo credit: www.huffingtonpost.com]

By Suzanne York. What is the role of government when it comes to having babies?  Should the goal be to empower women or promote economic growth? The government of Ethiopia announced earlier this week that it will try to lower its total fertility rate to 2.6 by the year 2020 from the current rate of
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Population is Complex, and That is a Good Thing

Jan 7th, 2015 | By
[photo credit: www.unmultimedia.org]

By Kimberly Absher, guest youth blogger, www.howmany.org Population is the proverbial elephant in the room of the world’s problems. Despite its massive importance in determining the fate of, well, everything, it is frequently ignored or glossed over. Meanwhile, 250,000 people are born every single day, many in resource-deprived areas. How do we change this? An
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Correcting a Past Mistake for the Sake of Women

Jan 5th, 2015 | By
photo: http://globaljoys.com]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Jesse Helms would undoubtedly turn over in his proverbial grave if he heard the New York Times advocating for changing the Helms Amendment to improve the lives of women in developing countries if it involves abortion. The Helms Amendment, first enacted in 1973, states that, “No foreign assistance funds may be
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