By Suzanne York, HowMany.org Rio de Janeiro — Some of the biggest names in the population and women’s empowerment movement weighed in at Rio+20 on successfully promoting these topics at the UN conference and beyond. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former president of Norway and now the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change who has been around
[continue reading…]
By Suzanne York, HowMany.org Rio de Janeiro — My first Rio+20 side event was titled “From Rio to Cairo to Rio…and Beyond”, but for me it was actually from San Francisco to Charlotte to Rio…and even beyond to Rio Centro, site of the UN Rio+20 conference, far from downtown.. So quite a trek just to get
[continue reading…]
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
[continue reading…]
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
[continue reading…]
By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, May 3, 2012 It’s getting down to the wire for preparations for Rio+20, the United Nations follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the past week or two, there have been several important developments regarding the issues of population growth, youth and reproductive health, human
[continue reading…]
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
[continue reading…]
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
[continue reading…]
By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, February 14, 2012 Is it possible to talk about sustainable development without talking about population, in a world of 7 billion people and growing? Apparently the policymakers involved with the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) conference (Rio+20) think so, from the dearth of the words “population growth” appearing in
[continue reading…]
By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, February 2, 2012 This past January 24th the Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved a progressive sustainability bill of rights, building on the Santa Monica City Sustainability Plan first established back in 1994. The resolution calls on the city to “recognize the rights of people, natural communities, and ecosystems to exist,
[continue reading…]
By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, January 17, 2012 photo: Creative Commons / Chin tin tin article.wn.com Some top thinkers recently gathered in Washington, DC to strategize on population, women’s rights and environment issues. Experts met at the Aspen Institute on January 12th to discuss “The Road to Rio: Climate Change, Population and Sustainability” and find
[continue reading…]