Spring Events to Honor Women and Earth
Written by Natalie Widel, Director of Digital Marketing | Published: June 8, 2026
March
We celebrated International Women’s Day by hosting a webinar with Women for Conservation (W4C), our Colombian Global Partner. Founded in 2019, W4C works with communities in biodiversity hotspots to empower women as environmental leaders and stewards of sustainable livelihoods. Since 2020, the organization has conducted 68 workshops and reached close to 3,000 participants — mostly women and children — through training in nature guiding, conservation, sustainable crafts, children’s environmental education, and reproductive health.
Population Connection Senior Analyst Hannah Evans hosted the webinar and shared photos and stories from her visit (with Digital Media Manager Florence Blondel) to W4C in November 2025. Mother-daughter duo Sara Inés Lara, Founder and President of W4C, and Isabella Cortés Lara, Executive Director of W4C, also gave an overview of some of the organization’s programs and their importance to their local communities.
April
We celebrated “Earth Month” with a slew of activities supported by members and supporters like YOU!
Members tabled at Earth Day events in New York City, Pensacola, Florida, and Galena, Illinois — reaching hundreds of people in their local communities with materials and information making the links between population growth, climate change, resource depletion, and other environmental challenges.
Over 200 people joined us for two virtual events:
- an official side event to the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development (CPD59)[1], featuring author, retired journalist, and new Population Connection board member Robert Engelman
- a presentation by Population Connection President and CEO John Seager about the still-relevant themes in our 2016 book, The Good Crisis: How Population Stabilization Can Foster a Healthy US Economy
May
Every other month, Population Connection members and supporters meet via Zoom to discuss a book or long-form publication and how the ideas presented relate to population issues. During our May meeting, we discussed Becoming Earth: A Journey Through the Hidden Wonders That Bring Our Planet to Life by Ferris Jabr.
In this book, Jabr introduces readers to a diverse cast of fascinating people who have devoted themselves to the work of understanding the planet’s wondrous ecology and self-stabilizing processes. Through evocative narrative, he shows us how Earth became the planet we know and love, and how human activity is rapidly changing it. He challenges us to see how we can all help determine what kind of Earth we will leave our descendants to inherit.
June
Our popular Summer Photo Contest is now in its fifth year, and YOU are invited to submit an entry! Winning photos will be published in the September issue of this magazine, featured on our website throughout the year, and used in other Population Connection digital and print publications. Learn more and enter the contest at popconnect.org/photo-contest-2026. The deadline for entries is World Population Day — July 11!
If you haven’t attended our virtual events, we hope you’ll be inspired to join us in the future. You can find recaps of the events featured here as well as see what we have in store for the coming months here.
[1] Florence Blondel attended CPD59 in person from April 13–17. She expertly delivered two oral statements, one in collaboration with Population Institute, and spoke with many influential demographers and population professionals. Find recordings of her statements, along with our presubmitted written statement, here.
Email Natalie at nwidel@populationconnection.org