By Suzanne York, Transition Earth. (A longer version of this article was originally written for the online magazine, ReImagining, published by the Chicago Wisdom Project) Lately it seems as if the entire world is veering wildly off course. From climate change to species extinctions to rising inequality, many people – not to mention nature – are crying out
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By Candela Vázquez Asenjo, youth blogger, Transition Earth (Read Part I here) Global population growth today stands at approximately 7.4 billion people, due to hit nearly 10 billion in the next few decades. Though an increasing human population poses a threat to healthy and flourishing communities and ecosystems, especially in developing countries, it is a
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By Suzanne York. We live in an increasingly urbanized world. The growth of megacities – urban areas with a population of over 10 million – is a reflection of the rapid pace of urbanization in countries across the world. In 1990, there were 10 megacities across the globe. By 2030, the number is expected to
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By Suzanne York. In what is sadly a sign of things to come for many places, Bolivia has declared a state of emergency, as it endures its worst drought in 25 years. The Andean glaciers that for centuries have supplied water to La Paz and its sprawling neighbor El Alto – one of the poorest
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By Suzanne York. The prediction is so shocking that it is difficult to comprehend – our world is on track to lose two-thirds of wild animals by 2020. The Living Planet Report 2016, by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Zoological Society of London, reports that animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with losses on
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By Suzanne York. It’s official, more or less – we have entered the Anthropocene epoch, a time when humanity’s impact on the planet is so transformational that it’s pushed the world into a new geological period. “New Age of Man” An international working group, after seven years of deliberation, voted unanimously (with one abstention) at
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By Suzanne York. One elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory. Perhaps it is appropriate that World Elephant Day (August 12) follows Earth Overshoot Day, the date when humanity exceeds the carrying capacity of the planet. This is because human beings are doing a good job of wiping wild elephants off the face
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By Suzanne York. If you are a parent or a teacher, you might be excused for occasionally thinking that there are too many young people. But it’s true that there are a lot of young men and women living right now, as noted in a recent op-ed in the New York Times by Somini Sengupta,
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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. The outrage over the killing of Cecil the lion from Zimbabwe is palpable. Sadly, this lion is just one of many species of animals killed by trophy hunters (as well as poachers). Yet would people be outraged if they knew that wild habitat for almost all species in Africa – and the
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