SierraScape March 2015 - August 2015
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by Dane Kamin
Population and Environment Chair
Eastern Missouri Group
The link between people and climate change is undeniable. The Population and Environment Committee gets the word out on how individuals can have a big impact on the environment while doing something that will directly help themselves at the same time!
The plan: People decide when to have a child based on when it is right for them emotionally, financially, career timing etc. Once a person has their plan, they figure out a way they are comfortable with to keep to the plan. Since 50% of all pregnancies in the U.S. and 40% of the pregnancies globally are unintended, the reduction in population growth would be dramatic.
Fewer people means reducing greenhouse gases and global warming, less ocean and forest destruction, preserving natural resources for future generations and slowing species extinction.
According to the United Nations, if women's need for family planning and health care was met globally, the effect on carbon emissions would be the same as replacing all coal plants with solar power... or doubling the fuel economy of every car.
Population is a critical part of the solution.
In the past, many of the committee members have attended the activist training sponsored by the national Sierra Club Population and Environment group. We have developed flyers about the benefits of planning the number and timing of children and handed them out at a number of environmental functions. One of our members, Kay Pinner, has even published a book recently that touches on a number of environmental issues including population. The book, The Greatest Moment in Human History, is available on Amazon.
One of our next projects will be to reach out to young adults with this message. We need your help to reach them in social media and in person. Since young adults are more receptive when they are approached by others around their same age, we are especially excited about adding some younger volunteers to our group to help us craft the discussion and help deliver the message. We also need someone who is familiar with social media. Do you have any other ideas on how to reach young adults? Join our group and let us know your ideas.
What are your ideas about family size? Are you interested in making sure women have access to women's' health care facilities? Do you have other ideas on how we can slow down the population growth? We would love to hear from you! Please drop me (DaneKamin) a line at SeeABetterFuture@gmail.com or call me at 314-822-3943.