Florence Blondel is a leader whose impact far surpasses most of the work being done in sustainable development today, work that is being undone by policies that choose climate-destructive growth over fundamental justice for future generations.

Here Florence tells some of her story, and hints at a better future – one that is possible if we can all focus on what will best define the future: Liberating young women around the world.

Now listen to Florence:

Multiple studies have shown that choosing smaller families easily has the most impact on environmental crises like climate change. From Paul Hawken’s book Drawdown, to previous studies on climate change, population size has been shown to be the primary driver of the climate crisis That’s also the case for the downstream impacts of climate change like ocean acidification, and for other forms of ecocide, like the loss of biodiversity / mass extinction of other species. Thus, sustainable family planning is the most significant act that we can take to reduce our impact.

By 2100 world population could vary by billions of people, depending on whether the average woman in the world today has one child more or one child fewer in her lifetime. A simple statement from the Secretary General could have a huge impact on the direction we go.

Our current family planning systems provide no minimum standard of wellbeing for future children, allowing children to be born into failing state systems because their parents cannot care for them. That exacerbates inequity, and ensures rich kids stay rich and poor kids stay poor. The most effective way to improve child welfare and equity, at the same time, is through a cooperative family planning model pegged to the standard of a fair start in life for every child.

Take Action: Visit Florence’s website to learn more about her work: https://florenceblondel.com/