Being a girl in any patriarchal society is tough. But living in a place where girls are married off as teenagers, are expected to have 7+ kids, and are regularly beaten and expected to keep mum about it? That’s damn hard. In the northwestern region of Pakistan, this is women’s daily bread. The worst thing?
Reshaping Gender Norms in Pakistan Read More »
Imagine that you were a 14-year old girl, and instead of chatting with friends or monitoring Instagram, you’d be married off to an elderly man and expected to run a household. Imagine that you gave birth to your first child, a cute baby girl, and instead of receiving cheerful reactions, people would start crying and
The Catalyst for Change in Pakistan: Women’s Empowerment Read More »
Read my article on Sierra, which features the work of environmental leaders Stuart Pimm, Richard Heinberg and Florence Blondel, and get inspired by their tips on staying optimistic in the midst of the climate and extinction crises.
How Leading US Conservationists Manage to Hold On to Hope (Sierra magazine) Read More »
800,000 native trees. This is how many seeds of hope conservationists from Brazilian nonprofit REGUA have planted on degraded lands in the Atlantic Forest over the last two decades – one of the biologically richest forests in the world. And that’s not all! The dedicated team managed to buy land that once used to be a
800,000 Seeds of Hope Planted in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Read More »
When Micaela Locke looks back at the history of Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu (REGUA), she does it with a proud smile on her face. Thanks to the smart decision of her grandfather and an English donor, this former farm escaped the fate of many other abandoned rural places – namely, transformation into factories or a
How Brazilian Conservationists Turned an Old Farm Into a Huge Buzzing Nature Reserve Read More »
There’s been a lot of talk about reproductive rights lately – and for good reason. Hard-fought freedoms are under fire around the world, from the U.S. to Poland, Niger, and Pakistan. If that fires you up, read this conversation with Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins about how you can join the fight. Nabeeha, you’re the president and
Why empowering every single woman in the world matters to all of us Read More »
Being able to make decisions about when or whether to have children is among the most fundamental human rights. Yet when it comes to women and their bodies, suddenly so many people – complete strangers – feel they have the right to tell women what to do, like, “Contraceptive use is against our religion! “Abortion is
Should a Vocal Minority Dictate Women’s Futures? Read More »
Madagascar is home to more than 200,000 species, and it’s estimated that 80% are found nowhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, many species on this island are critically threatened, including the bamboo lemur and Madagascar pochard. To save these animals from extinction, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust launched a partnership with the organization Marie Stopes. By improving
What Conservationists in Madagascar Know Better Than Anyone Read More »
If you want to be successful in any field, it’s a good idea to use every opportunity to meet people, learn from each other and cooperate. This doesn’t apply just to business but also conservation. Because as we all know, reinventing the wheel when you don’t have to is so ineffective! On the other hand,
Madagascar: Conservation Works Best Alongside Reproductive Advocacy Read More »
What started as a student adventure in a tropical mountain fruit farm in Venezuela became a lifelong mission of empowering rural women! Read the fascinating life story of Steven Bloomstein, co-founder of Turimiquire Foundation, an organization that has helped 70,000 women with family planning and reached over 80,000 people with workshops about reproductive health. Before
A Lesson From Venezuela: Empowering Women in 4 Steps Read More »