I work as a National Organizer for the Sierra Club's Global Population and Environment Program, primarily with college students throughout the US. I'm an avid women's rights supporter, and am passionate about uniting social justice movements both in the U.S. and abroad. In my free time I like to read, paint and juggle. :)
Facebook
Flying into the tourist destination of Cancún for the International Climate Change Conference (COP 16) last Friday, the intense humidity, flashy sexualized billboards and too-close proximity to the white sandy beaches reminded me of how this city represents a microcosm of the intersections between global health challenges like population growth, gender inequity, globalization and climate change. For the past four years as a Sierra Club Global Population and Environment Program National Youth Organizer, I’ve partnered with the GoJoven Program in Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health, run by International Health Programs of the Public Health Institute funded by the Summit Foundation. Since 2004, GoJoven has trained youth leaders in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Quintana Roo Mexico—the four countries that border the Mesoamerican Reef System—to complete Leadership Action Plans that address high rates of unintended teen pregnancy and STIs in their communities. Here in Quintana Roo where tourism highly impacts local livelihoods, culture and natural resources, they also have one of the highest annual growth rates of 5.5% (mainly due to migration), and Mexico’s highest fertility rate of 2.3 children per woman. That’s why GoJoven youth leaders are selected from environmental, reproductive health, journalist, NGO and political fields to advance sexual and reproductive health and protect the environment in a synergistic, integrated way.
Over the summer, I interned with GoJoven in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for two months to strategize their involvement in COP 16 from November 29-December 10 in Cancún, Mexico. GoJoven leaders and I discussed the connections among sexual and reproductive health, gender and climate change here in Cancún, for example by advancing women’s status and rights and ensuring that all people have complete freedom to choose the number of their children, couples tend to choose smaller and healthier families. Together with promoting eco-friendly tourism and protecting the globally significant Mesoamerican reef and Sian Kaan biosphere reserve, this has a smaller impact on the environment. Considering Quintana Roo’s high vulnerability to climate change impacts such as lack of mangroves to protect their coasts from more intense and frequent hurricanes and sea level rise, coral reef bleaching which degrades their marine biodiversity and threatens their dependence on tourism for their livelihoods, and health problems like malaria and dengue fever which will be exacerbated by climate change, integrated development solutions are crucial for ensuring the region’s long-term sustainability.
At COP 16 we accredited six GoJoven youth leaders (some of whom are pictured here) to officially attend the conference and more than ten to attend and speak at unofficial side-events like the Conference of Youth and Kilmaforum, to advocate for integrated sexual and reproductive health and rights and climate change solutions using our Policy Statement. Even though I’m now back in the U.S., I’m proud to be a lifelong friend of GoJoven and part of this movement that is working toward a more just and sustainable future!
The 5th Annual One Voice: Reproductive Health and Population Summit just took place last weekend in Washington DC, during wh Advocates for Youth, Sierra Club and SIECUS partnered to train youth leaders to take action on sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equity and environmental protection. While I participated in and led this conference for four years as a Sierra Club Organizer, I always wondered: how do youth in the Global South see the connections among these issues, and what are they doing to take action?
For the past month I’ve attempted to learn the answer to this question, by interning for an organization called PHE-Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. PHE-Ethiopia is a coalition of over 30 organizations which advances integrated Population, Health and Environment (PHE) development approaches at policy and grassroots levels. The goal is to harmonize the relationship between people and nature, and holistically address Ethiopia’s combined challenges of high unmet need for family planning, land degradation, poverty and gender inequity.
Last week I traveled 8 hours south of Addis to the rural Bale region of Southeastern Ethiopia, to find out what’s being done. As in many parts of rural Ethiopia, there is a high unmet need for adolescent reproductive health services. Many girls marry at age 14, and many youth don’t know how to prevent HIV/AIDS. The majority of couples don’t use family planning services because they believe they must have “all the children that God sends them.” With large families and small land plots, people are increasingly forced to cut trees to feed and provide for their families. Many aren’t aware of the surrounding Bale Mountain National Park’s ecological significance, containing a watershed with rivers that flow to over 10 million people. If deforestation and impending climate change dry up these precious water supplies, drought and famine could lead to the displacement or death of millions of Ethiopian citizens.
