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Population Report
Edition II,
Spring 2008
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Program Updates
We're coming to the West Coast!
We're pleased to announce that as of August 1, our Campus Organizer Cassie Gardener will be transferring to Los Angeles to continue her work with the Global Population and Environment Program. This is an exciting step for our program, as we'll be able to continue our campus work nationally, while providing more support in states like California, Oregon and Washington with a lower carbon footprint. Having worked for the Pop program for two years, Cassie is thrilled to move closer to her family, and continue building a national movement of empowered youth leaders to speak out on behalf of population, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and environmental issues from a justice perspective. Please contact her if you live on the West Coast and would like to become more of an active leader for population and environment issues!
A Recap of Spring Events and Looking Ahead
Our busy Spring of collaborative events and trainings around the country has finally come to an end, and it's time to report out on all of our amazing successes! Scroll down to see what events took place, and contact us if you'd like to find out more ways to get involved locally or request a presentation in the future.
Minneapolis World Water Day Events, March 25-26
In honor of World Water Day, March 22nd, we collaborated with GOJoven of International Health Programs, the Millennium Campaign, and Think Outside the Bottle to organize two campus forums at the University of Minnesota and Macalister College. Both focused on global population and water scarcity issues and featured presentations by Cecilia Cortez Santiago, a GOJoven youth leader from Mexico who is fighting to ensure that all people in her community have access to clean drinking water. These forums received front page coverage in the Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota's newspaper, which reaches thousands of students and the broader community.
Indiana AID Global Health Conference, March 29-30
Campus Organizer Cassie Gardener was a featured speaker at a conference organized by Americans for Democracy (AID) entitled "Mobilizing and Engaging Communities for Global Health" in Bloomington, IN. The summit addressed how young people can play an active and important role in global health issues locally, nationally and globally, and trained them to take action on current policies promoting global health. We also participated in a rally to tell Senator Lugar that he holds the keys to stopping global HIV/AIDS, and specifically that international family planning is a critical component of HIV/AIDS prevention worldwide.
The One Voice: Reproductive Health and Population Summit, April 11-14
From April 11-14th, Sierra Club, along with Advocates for Youth, Feminist Majority Foundation, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), held our third annual One Voice: Reproductive Health and Population Summit in Washington, DC! The Summit attracted over 50 youth and adult activists from across the U.S.
Educational workshops and seminars included topics such as the links between population and the environment from a justice framework, politics of sex education, international family planning, how climate change is affected by population growth, and HIV/AIDS. Participants gained organizing and advocacy skills necessary to be effective leaders on their campuses and in their communities.
Energized and well versed on the issues, participants charged up to Capitol Hill the following Monday morning to talk with decision-makers about why increasing funding to $1 billion for international family planning programs is critical to saving women's lives, improving community health, and ensuring a more sustainable environmental future. They also advocated in support of the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act for evidence-based, medically accurate comprehensive sexuality education that will provide young people with the information they need to protect themselves and make informed, healthy decisions.
If you are interested in attending the One Voice Summit next spring, contact Cassie Gardener.
Take Action Today for Families Around the World!
You can take action even if you didn't attend the One Voice Summit! Click here to send a message to your decision-makers. Tell them that one of the most effective ways to improve the quality of life of families around the world and ensure a more sustainable environmental future is to invest in voluntary family planning programs. By increasing funding for international family planning programs to $ 1 billion in FY 2009, the United States can help bring an end to the rise of poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, and gender inequality that comes with poor health care and rapid population growth.
Earth Day Events in Upstate New York, April 22-24
To celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, our Campus Campaign had a series of events in upstate New York at SUNY Fredonia, the University of Buffalo, and Cornell University. We partnered with the Women's Student Union as part of SUNY Fredonia's Earth Week--during which Ralph Nader was a featured speaker-- to show the film NOVA: The World in Balance, and give an interactive "Reproductive Health and Environment" presentation. It was a huge success! 60 people attended, and an article was written up about the event in the Observer Today, a local Fredonia newspaper. We also had terrific "Reproductive Health and Environment" presentations at the University of Buffalo and Cornell, sponsored by UB Green and One Voice Summit youth activist Kimberly Schroder, respectively.
California Student Leadership Training, April 26-27
As a follow-up to our successful California Tour which we conducted in November of 2007, during late April we partnered with Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte and local organizations in the California Valley to host a Green-Pink California Youth Leadership Training in Fresno. The summit provided youth with all of the information and skills they need to be effective leaders for interconnected reproductive health and environment issues, especially in critical areas where pollution caused by agricultural industries intersects with high rates of unintended teen pregnancy and lack of support for family planning information and services. We look forward to continuing our work in California, to mobilize a network of youth leaders who will carry out action plans for reproductive health and environment issues on their campuses and in their communities.
Population, Health & the Environment: Making the Critical Links, April 26
Sierra Club, Audubon, the Izaak Walton League of America, and Americans for UNFPA, joined together to host a community forum titled Population, Health & the Environment: Making the Critical Links at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center in Pasadena, CA. A panel of experts, including Bob Gillespie, President of Population Communication, Lynne Gaffikin, President of Evaluation and Research Technologies for Health (EARTH), Kurt Leuschner, Associate Professor of Natural Resources, College of the Desert, and Jane Roberts, co-founder of 34 Million Friends, discussed how population growth affects climate change, water access, biodiversity protection, public health, and forest preservation. Over 40 people attended the panel and learned about ways to take action both locally and globally.
Washington and Oregon State Events
Sunday, May 18th marked the closing of our GreenPink: Washington partnership, a year-long project among Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and One By One. After evaluating our efforts, we found that we far exceeded our goals in training 12 student advocates to become leaders on women's rights, reproductive justice, and environmental protection worldwide. Throughout the year, advocates held 15 events reaching 200 people, raised more than $3,000 to fight obstetric fistula worldwide, and exposed nearly 4,000 people to our coalition's vision, that women with voice and choice protect the earth, and access equals power.
While in the Pacific Northwest, Campus Organizer Cassie Gardener completed a series of 3 events in Portland, Oregon May 19-21. Working alongside population activist Ramona Rex, she gave a presentation on the "Philippines Population, Health and Environment Study Tour" for the local Sierra Club Group. She also worked with One Voice Summit youth activist Shabina Shariff to put on two "Reproductive Health and Environment" presentations at Portland Community College and Portland State University, partnering with the Women's Center. Stay tuned for more updates on activism in Washington State and Oregon!
Population and Environment Workshop and Advocacy Training, June 1-3
From June 1-3, Sierra Club, Audubon, and the Izaak Walton League of America co-organized an activist training on population and environment issues in Washington, DC. Of the 40 participants from states across the country, a handful were activists who had previously participated in international field study tours to visit Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) projects in Ethiopia, the Philippines, Madagascar, Guatemala, and Ecuador. The training provided them and the other activists with an opportunity to take a more in-depth look at the connections among population growth, global health, natural resource consumption and sustainable development.
During the training, participants heard from experts from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Watch Institute, among others. They learned how to be more effective advocates - in their communities and on Capitol Hill - for voluntary international family planning programs that are integrating poverty alleviation and resources conservation with reproductive health education and services.
By the close of the training, activists had visited close to 60 offices on Capitol Hill, bringing with them the message to increase international family planning funding to $ 1 billion in FY 2009.
Tell at least five friends
about the Population Report and get them involved with Sierra Club's Global Population and Environment Program.
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