By Suzanne York. Mention the Congo, and it evokes thoughts of Conrad, King Leopold, diamonds, conflict, war, and also incredible biological diversity and culture. If there is anyplace on the face of the planet that seems to comprise the best and worst of humanity, it might just be the Democratic Republic of Congo. From its
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By Suzanne York, www.transition-earth.org. Amazing things can happen when local voices are heard. In a remote pocket of the island of Indonesian Borneo, a small organization is working with the local community to link the issues of human health and protecting a fragile environment in an effort to build a brighter future.  As the world recognizes
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By Suzanne York, www.transition-earth.org “We are the first generation with the knowledge of how our activities influence the Earth System, and thus the first generation with the power and the responsibility to change our relationship with the planet.” That statement was written in 2011 in a journal article by a group of some of the
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By Suzanne York. “Can the world get richer forever?” asks a recent article in the BBC News. If you ask a politician, mainstream economist or the 1%, the answer is likely to be “yes.”    As noted in the BBC piece, growth “is almost universally seen as a Good Thing.”  If you ask most environmentalists, scientists
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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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By Suzanne York. Changing the way we live, to better our lives or the environment, is not always an easy thing to do.  Yet often times simple changes can amount to big differences. Take eating less meat, for example.  Eating less meat probably has a greater impact than changing to energy-saving light bulbs. You don’t
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By Suzanne York. In a time of government budget cuts and austerity programs, family planning is a low-cost investment that yields big dividends.  And more importantly, it saves lives. Globally, there are 222 million women in developing counties who lack access to contraception.  Off these, 162 million women live in the world’s poorest countries. Barriers
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org It’s been a horrific year for women’s rights across the globe.   Just in the past couple of months there has been the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Nigeria, an “honor” killing of a pregnant woman in Pakistan, the rape and hanging of two teenage girls in India, and a
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By Suzanne York. Child marriage is a difficult issue that is complicated by culture and religion, and especially by poverty. It takes time and effort to change culture, but it is possible.  Ending poverty is something that many people, organizations, and governments have tried to end for decades, but the challenge is enormous.Yet the will
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The world is consuming resources at an unsustainable rate.  Reducing consumption is a sensitive and difficult subject to broach, but one that must take place if we want to keep a livable planet for future generations. It doesn’t have to be “all or nothing” or a call to return to a
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