By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org How is this for a factoid about the state of the world today – the world loses or wastes a staggering 25 percent to 33 percent of the food it produces for consumption. This, despite 842 million people going hungry every day. This is according to according to the latest issue
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org One solution to easing the effects of global climate change is one that is not often heard – that of voluntary family planning. At a talk this week on “Condoms and Climate” given at the Commonwealth Club of California, Alan Weisman, author of Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Last week, the United Nations released a report that found that despite gains in reducing global poverty, growing inequalities will undo significant gains in health and longevity made over the past 20 years. According to the ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Report, the estimated 1 billion people living in the 50 to
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org This Valentine’s Day goes beyond love, with a global call to action to bring attention to violence against women, and justice for women, who have endured horrific pain due to gender. One Billion Rising, for the second year in a row, has galvanized people around the world to raise awareness by
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org It is the largest coral reef ecosystem on earth and one of the seven wonders of the natural world, but that isn’t enough to stop an effort to continue down the road of dirty fossil fuel energy. Last week, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMA) in Australia approved a
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Corporations, law, and governments often operate as if nature is something only to be exploited for its abundant resources.  Little thought is given to what this might mean for the global ecosystem, let alone for future generations. In mid-January, the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature hosted a thought-provoking conference in
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org A United Nations report titled Assessing Global Land Use: Balancing Consumption with Sustainable Supply highlights the pressing need to cope with changes in a growing and consuming world that is shifting quickly from the one we’ve known for decades. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the need to feed a
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The governor of California has declared that the state is experiencing a drought emergency and is urging water rationing.  Governor Jerry Brown called it “perhaps the worst drought that California has ever seen since records (began) about 100 years ago.” This came shortly after the release of a MIT study this
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Overconsumption, as most people are aware of, is having a tremendous effect on the planet.  But fewer think of this in terms of diet, where intensive meat and dairy production is also a strain on the environment. A new report – Meat Atlas – has just been published by Friends of
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Full coverage for birth control, as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), kicked in as Americans rang in the new year.  Contraception is now available for free from health insurance plans under the ACA. A key provision of the ACA requires employers with 50 or more workers to provide medical
[continue reading…]