By Suzanne York. It’s obvious that people all over the world have not just been inconvenienced by COVID-19, but many lives have been turned upside down and put at great risk due to a number of factors. Education is one such important sector where students are struggling to adjust.  It’s hard enough in the developed
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By Suzanne York. Imagine being a small-scale farmer in a developing country, trying to grow crops in challenging conditions that farmers have faced for generations.  Then increasingly severe climate impacts really start to throw things out of whack.  Droughts, floods, and erratic weather conditions threaten livelihoods and the ability to provide adequate amounts of food
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By Suzanne York. At first glance, the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on global warming may not seem to have much to do with the International Day of the Girl, observed on October 11th. But climate change has a lot to do with girls, and especially the rights of girls. For one
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By Suzanne York. As the world recognizes International Women’s Day this March 8th, there is no shortage of important issues affecting women that should be brought to the table. As movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have brought little discussed problems to the forefront, there is reason, at long last, to feel hope that “society”
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By Suzanne York. Recently released United Nations projections reflect a world where the population is still growing. By 2050, there may be close to 10 billion people on the planet. The choices we make today will determine if we reach that milestone or go higher or possibly lower. The Family Planning Solution With that in
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org An unsettling article in the New York Times recently highlighted how the world is failing to protect and educate youth, especially girls.  At the same time, the article underscores how important education is for adults too, in order to help them protect children. The piece – Struggling to Keep Afghan Girl
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The number of American teenagers getting pregnant is at an historic low.  While this is good news, the U.S. teen birth rate is still highest in the industrialized world. Rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion have declined dramatically in the United States since their peak in the early 1990s.  According
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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 If there was ever an issue that should galvanize the international community to take action – no matter politics or religion – child marriage has to be near the top of the list.  One in three girls in the developing world is married by age eighteen. The United Nations states that
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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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