By Suzanne York, May 15, 2012 A full agenda was on tap here at the first main day of the Degrowth in the Americas conference. Below is some of what was discussed at the morning session, which set the stage for this week-long event. It kicked off with a showing of the film Journey of
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, May 14, 2012   People and the Planet a report by the U.K.’s Royal Society, does not break any new ground, but it does a good job of putting some important and overlooked issues back on the international agenda.     Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, says in the
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By Suzanne York, May 11, 2012 If you think there is one issue that could gain bi-partisan support in the U.S. Congress, ending child marriage would likely be near the top of the list. Not only would a little bi-partisanship be good for the country, but preventing girls from marrying too young would improve lives.
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, May 3, 2012   It’s getting down to the wire for preparations for Rio+20, the United Nations follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the past week or two, there have been several important developments regarding the issues of population growth, youth and reproductive health, human
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, April 25, 2012 The Aspen Institute continued its series exploring living in a world of 7 billion people with an event this past April 18th, in a session called “A Long Walk to Water: Women, Population and Access to Safe Water.” As society grapples with a population projected to hit over
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, April 18, 2012   In her TED talk in early April, Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation mentioned that if the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in India were its own country, it would be the fifth largest in the world, with over 200 million people. And in this populated land,
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, April 17, 2012 Many people are familiar with the mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle” and it has never been more important than now. A group called Business Degree has created an infographic called “The Secret Life of Garbage” detailing the amount of waste created in the United States and China. A few
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, April 9, 2012 Happiness is back in the news, at least at the United Nations. If you paid close attention, you were reminded that the UN unanimously adopted a resolution last year based on the concept of Gross National Happiness. Officially called UN Resolution 65/309, “Happiness: towards a holistic approach to
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, April 3, 2012   Recent negotiations in New York City to prepare a document and agenda for the upcoming Rio+20 conference ended on a discouraging note. Civil society organizations sent an open letter to the secretary general for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), citing frustration with the process
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, April 2, 2012   It’s very hard to comprehend that here we are in the 21st century, living in a supposedly advanced and democratic nation, and there is a huge debate about women’s rights – namely women’s access to and use of contraceptives in the United States. As a Generation X’er,
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