World Day, Women and.Wolves? What a little-known holiday has to do with contraceptives and wildlife

Leigh Moyer Population Organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity. Dog lover. Space enthusiast. Sometimes vegan.

Jul 11 2016 Today is Day, and while it might not be topping the list of most- beloved — or even vaguely-well- known — holidays, it’s one that affects all of us from women to wolves. Stay with me here: As human population grows (at Gray Wolf a rate of 227,000 people every photo credit: Copyright © 2014, Alan D. Wilson day), wildlife like wolves in- creasingly fi nd themselves more While the holiday isn’t listed in most calendars and defi - crowded out and pushed closer nitely isn’t a day off from work, it should be a reminder and closer to the brink of extinc- that the population problem still persists. Considering tion. we’ve added 2.2 billion people to the planet since World Population Day started, maybe it’s time for a bit more fan- Let’s break it down: fare around this holiday.

World Population Day Women On July 11, 1989, two years Both men and women play a role in human population after human population reached growth, but when it comes to reproductive decisions, 5 billion people and then kept women are disproportionately affected by a lack of em- growing, the United Nations powerment and access to healthcare. That can lead to started World Population Day to situations that are bad for women, families and the planet. raise awareness about issues sur- Many women don’t have access to the contraception or rounding . tools they want or need to make decisions about their reproductive futures. While the rate of unintended pregnancy has So, on World Population Day, am I saying that recently dropped in the United States, it’s still the growing number of humans on the planet incredibly high — the highest of any industri- are to blame for everything? Well, sort of. alized nation, with nearly half of all pregnan- Population growth is half of the story — the cies unintended. And more often than not, other half is . But as we the brunt of the blame and the consequences focus on population today, what I’m trying to of those pregnancies are borne by women. say is that we can only solve the problem as Meanwhile, lawmakers are doing everything long as we’re willing to talk about it. they can to restrict reproductive healthcare, including education and access to contracep- Because here’s the secret about World Popula- tion. When it comes to what’s best for women tion Day, women and wolves: There are solu- (and wildlife), that’s the opposite of what we tions that are good for people and the planet. want to do. I’m not going to say it’ll be easy, but it starts with common-sense solutions like access to Wolves family planning and reproductive health ser- As human numbers grow, we take up more vices, as well as education, opportunity and room and resources leaving less behind for equal rights for women and girls. If we, as wolves and other wildlife. More people environmentalists, join the movement for re- doesn’t just mean bigger cities and sprawling productive justice and , we can subdivisions, but more land needed to grow make sure there is enough room in the world food, timber and other materials like cotton for human and wildlife . for clothing. It also means more people who need water and energy. And as those needs grow, habitats shrink or get divided, freshwa- ter resources diminish and a continued reli- ance on fossil fuels pushes us toward a cli- mate crisis. These changes put immense stress on wildlife, making it harder for them to sur- vive. In fact, while human population doubled in the last fi fty years, wildlife populations have been cut in half. Many scientists believe we’ve entered the sixth mass extinction. You don’t need to ask a dinosaur to know that isn’t great news.

Despite this, most environmentalists are still letting World Population Day pass by unno- ticed. And that’s a big problem. We can fi ght to curb climate change, stop habitat loss and clean up , but until we tackle the root of the problem (that’s well… us), it’ll stay an uphill battle that we can’t win.