By Suzanne York, HowMany.org In less than a month the world, or at least the environmentally-inclined members of the world, will be in the throes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), or Rio+20. Despite the official summit focus on the green economy and sustainable development, there are many groups and individuals working
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, May 30, 2012 During a week spent ensconced in the depths of the concept of degrowth at the Degrowth in the Americas conference, it was encouraging to find that population issues were interwoven  into plenaries and workshops throughout the week.  The issue is often viewed as taboo and/or the elephant in
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Editor’s note: This interview with was originally published by Antoinette Siu at Wiser.org on May 24, 2012. Are you going to Rio? Do you have specific expectations? Hear from Suzanne York, from Howmany.org on what someone like her might expect from Rio. Antoinette: What will you be focusing on and looking to get out of Rio? Suzanne
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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, 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 Kelly White, July 21, 2011                         Photo: somewhereintheworldtoday Projecting population growth is not an exact science, so when the United Nations chose October 31, 2011, Halloween, as the day that world population will surpass 7 billion, one has to wonder as to why
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