Thank you for your generosity. As a supporter of Population Connection, you’re helping raise awareness and educate others on the pressing issues our world is facing due to rapid population growth. We are deeply grateful to you and appreciate your commitment to our mission!
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Rapid population growth threatens the quality of life for people everywhere. The global population is projected to hit 8 billion around the year 2023, depending on fertility rates over the next few years.
May 2022
- Our World of 7 Billion contest winners has been announced! Now in its 11th year, this contest encourages students to take a deeper dive into the vast connections between population dynamics and so many of today’s pressing global challenges. We received over 2,600 video submissions from middle and high school students around the world! You can check out the winning videos here!
- With the Roe v Wade decision on the horizon, our field team is gearing up to mobilize activists to fight louder than ever to protect abortion access in the US. Not only is reproductive health care an undeniable human right, but access to these services plays an essential role in alleviating rapid population growth. Stay updated on ways you can join the fight by visiting our sister organization’s website.
- Our spring Demography Series met for its third session, The Demographic Dividend. During the call, we were joined by 70 members and supporters to discuss how societies can harness the demographic dividend for socio-economic advancements by elevating the status of women and ensuring access to family planning services and educational opportunities. A recording of the session is available here!
April 2022
- Population Education recently released new lesson plans that are a natural fit for teaching the SDGs. Together, we can continue the upward trajectory of SDG awareness and nudge the world forward on a path toward sustainability. Learn more about PopEd’s new curriculum here.
- Our Population Studies for Higher Education Program held seven college presentations just this month! This program is an integral part of our mission by helping bring population studies back into the mainstream curriculum at colleges and universities.
- We had another memorable year celebrating Earth Day with engaging webinars, a film screening, and a panel discussion! Overall we engaged with over 350 members and supporters to raise awareness about how rapid population growth impacts environmental sustainability.
- Grappling with the leaked Supreme Court documents, we released a statement condemning this violation of human rights. Find more information here on how to contact Congress and demand the protection of reproductive rights.
March
- Alongside our sister organization, Population Connection Action Fund, we hosted our annual advocacy conference, Capitol Hill Days. With reproductive rights increasingly under attack, our guest speakers helped refine our activists’ skills and advocacy knowledge so they can continue the fight! Find recordings of sessions and conference recap here.
- This month we kicked off our Demography Series, with over 80 supporters in attendance at the first session! Running from March to June, we’re hearing from our Senior Analyst Hannah Evans for monthly educational sessions exploring the various ways in which human population trends and dynamics affect global sustainable development and environmental change. More infomation on the Demography Series is available here.
- In addition to new lesson plans, our Population Education team hosted two workshop sessions and an exhibit booth at the National Science Teachers Association in Houston. After two years of virtual networking, it was great to meet teachers face-to-face again and help shape the next generation of scholars to be population enthusiasts!
February 2022
- Population Education’s World of 7 Billion video contest closed last month, receiving nearly 2500 submissions! Winners will be announced on May 10th, 2022.
- As part of our Population Studies for Higher Education, Senior Analyst Hannah Evans presented to ten college classes, educating the next generation of professionals to work toward cost-effective, rights-based solutions to climate change.
- We hosted our President and CEO John Seager for a virtual presentation. His talk, Glaring Emissions: Linking Rapid Population Growth and Climate Change had 114 supporters in attendance! For more information on upcoming presentations, you can visit our Virtual Events page.
January 2022
- Population Education wrapped up their winter graduate course with nearly 30 students enrolled! The course Making the Population Connection focuses on teaching 6-12 educators how to make science and social studies education more engaging and fun for their students, the next generation of problem solvers. More details coming soon on their summer session.
- Dates for our annual joint advocacy event with our sister organization Population Connection Action Fund, Capitol Hill Day was announced. Join us from March 16th to March 21st as we bring activists and advocates from across the country and around the world to talk about global reproductive health, environmental, and population issues. Stay tuned for speaker line-ups!
- We hosted our first Page Turners meeting of the year with 65 members and supporters tuning in to discuss The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams.
Check Out Our Latest Publications!
Recent Blog Posts
China to Reach Peak Population in 2022
New UN Report: Global Population Growth and Sustainable Development
“Ideal Family Size” Does Not Equal Desired Fertility
People Should Make Their Own Childbearing Decisions, Without Interference From Public Figures
Single-Use Plastic Threatens Global Climate Goals
This Thanksgiving, Let’s Vow to Do Better by the First Americans
Quarterly Magazine
March 2022
In June, the Supreme Court is expected to rule in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that could overturn Roe v. Wade or degrade it to the point that it might as well be overturned. We discuss the case and the state of abortion in Mississippi with former board member and current Medical Director of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Sacheen Carr-Ellis, MD.
Radio Interviews
There are some clear advantages to the recent decline in U.S. births and the challenges that slower population growth may pose can be successfully addressed by disrupting the status quo when it comes to our investment in future generations of workers and tax-payers.
John Seager, President and CEO of Population Connection, has been interviewed by radio stations around the country this summer on the topic of lower fertility and slower population growth in the United States.
“We are not the people who will sit back and do nothing. We have to do something. You have to make an effort in this world, and it’s a way to feel a little bit better about the future, too,” says Middy. They want to encourage everyone to volunteer their time, advising: “The key is never [to] minimize your contribution no matter how small it appears.” Paula Grande and Middy Streeter, Population Connection Volunteers
2021 Overview
2021 At a Glance
3,000,000
Young people inspired to think critically about our world’s population challenges via Population Education lesson plans
1,204
Legislator connections by 389 advocates during our virtual Capitol Hill Days, a joint program with Population Connection Action Fund
1,300+
Members and supporters who have RSVP’d or attended at least one virtual event
Check out our Year at a Glance page to learn more about all we accomplished in 2021. These achievements were made possible with your support!
2021 Highlights
- PopEd set a new record this summer, presenting at over 150 AP Institutes for high school teachers. They are poised to reach 3 million students in the 2021/2022 school year!
- Work to get more media attention for population dynamics led to a NY Times LTE, LTE in The Hill on World Population Day, and a spot on PBS “Great Decisions” that will air early next year.
- Membership Relations hosted three virtual events and engaged with over 500 members and supporters to commemorate World Population Day and Earth Overshoot Day.
- This year’s World of 7 Billion contest just launched. Last year Population Education received over 2,000 video submissions from students across 44 countries!
- In early August, 30 teachers wrapped up Population Education’s summer grad course Making the Population Connection: Exploring the Human-Environmental Nexus in Today’s Middle and High School Classroom.
- We had over 90 individuals tune in for one of the two Membership Relations events held this month. Events included a presentation with the Director of Gender & Social Inclusion at WWF.
- Population Education’s biannual evaluation received high marks. Among experienced
educators, 97% rated the online workshop materials as Excellent or Good. - For World Contraception Day and Safe Abortion Day, our field team organized sessions for their activists to contact members of congress.
- Membership Relations hosted their third book club meeting on The Human Tide by Paul Morland. In addition, they hosted Dr. Andrew-Essien, Professor at the University of Calabar for her presentation Clash of Tempos: Making Sense of Ecological Balance Today for Tomorrow.
- This month Population Education hosted over 130 workshops/webinars! In addition, new units focusing on land use, agriculture, and food security for middle school and high school went live for teachers in October.
- The Field Team’s incredible group of over 200 activists sent nearly 400 emails to their legislators imploring them to protect funding for essential reproductive health care services.
- In commemoration of Indigenous People’s Day, we hosted a virtual presentation with Dr. Kyle Whyte, Willis Pack Professor at the University of Michigan and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Over 60 members and supporters tuned in for Professor Whyte’s talk.
- Our exclusive Halloween social media content garnered 2,197 impressions on Twitter, empowering new audiences to fight for reproductive rights.
- President and CEO John Seager is continuing his radio interviews and writing LTEs that detail the critical role family planning plays in addressing rapid population growth. He even had a recent opinion piece published in The Washington Post!
- Our Senior Analyst Hannah Evans was a (virtual) guest speaker at seven university classes this month! Learn more about the topics of her talk here.
- Our final Book Club meeting of 2021 brought together 27 supporters to discuss The New Climate War by Michael E. Mann. We started hosting our “Page Turners” book club just this year and are thrilled with the meaningful conversations we were able to be a part of. Five meetings and hundreds of pages later, we’ve had 76 members and supporters tune in for one or more of our meetings.
- We partnered with Youth Advocates Ghana for a Twitter event to talk about SRHR services in Ghanaian communities. We received 12.6 thousand impressions, with 471 individuals engaging with one of our posts!
- As part of our Population Studies for Higher Education Program, Senior Analyst Hannah Evans gave virtual presentations at St. Cloud Tech College and Kalamazoo Community College.
- We had 65 members and supporters tune in for our final virtual event, Year in Review with Population Connection. We hosted senior staff members to share organizational highlights from 2021.