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
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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
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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
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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
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org A new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that climate change is likely to put 40 percent more people worldwide at risk of absolute water scarcity, due to changes in rainfall and evaporation. Unsurprisingly, the study
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Alarmingly, food insecurity in Africa’s Sahel belt continues to worsen. This week the United Nations reported that 16 million people in the region are at risk of going hungry in the next year due to violent conflicts and rapid population growth. The Sahel encompasses a semiarid strip of land in Sub-Saharan
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org A recent report by scientists from the National Research Council states that climate change is occurring gradually over the century and that its worst effects can be avoided by keeping emissions below a critical threshold. Due to the burning of fossil fuels, industrial activity and deforestation, the scientists say the accelerating
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Can the world improve food security in the face of rising food prices, population growth, climate change, poverty, and gender inequality? New research in the journal Climatic Change found that a changing climate will likely push food prices up 20 to 40%, regardless of cuts to future carbon emissions.  As reported
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The headlines out of the Sahel region of Africa (and Sub-Saharan Africa) are not good, and are reflective of climate change, food insecurity, and poverty.  The situation highlights the need to invest in and empower women as one answer to these problems. The Food & Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Situation Update on
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The studies keep coming, and our society ignores them at its own peril.  This time, the issues are endangered species and loss of biodiversity. In June, scientists at Ohio State University warned that a still rapidly growing human population poses a threat to hundreds of mammal and bird species with extinction
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