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The Global Population and Environment Program's mission is to protect the global environment and preserve natural resources for future generations by advancing global reproductive health and sustainable development initiatives.

Working with domestic and international coalition partners, we seek to increase universal access to voluntary family planning services and comprehensive sex education; advance women's and girls' basic rights, including access to health care, education and economic opportunity; promote youth leadership; and raise public awareness of wasteful resource consumption in the context of social and economic equity. Read more.

Join our nationwide campaign, the Population Justice Environmental Challenge, by signing our petition to renew U.S. global leadership on human rights, community health, gender equality and environmental protection. By working together as global citizens, we can create a world that is equitable, sustainable and just. Take Action Today!

Feature: Join the Nationwide Population Justice Environmental Challenge Book Tour!

Are you interested in hosting a presentation in your community or on your campus? This October 2009, the Sierra Club will be organizing a series of events around the country for our Nationwide Population Justice Environmental Challenge Booktour. The tour features a new book edited by Laurie Mazur and being published by Island Press, titled A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge. Sierra Club staff, contributing authors, as well as international youth leaders will be available for speaking events including workshops, forums, panel presentations, and leadership trainings. Email population@sierraclub.org to request a presentation today!

Feature: Learn about our International Youth Partnerships Study Tour to Guatemala and Belize!

In August 2009, our National Campus Organizer Cassie Gardener and two youth activist leaders traveled to Guatemala and Belize to build upon Sierra Club's successful collaboration with GOJoven youth leaders. The Sierra Club's Global Population and Environment Program has partnered with International Health Programs' Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program, GOJoven, since 2006 to bring Mesoamerican youth activists to campus forums across the United States.

These international youth leaders inspire and motivate U.S. based youth to take action through their compelling stories about real-life reproductive health and environmental challenges - some of which are complicated by U.S. policies. By participating in a GOJoven training and visiting ten local projects in rural, urban, forest and coastal regions, we witnessed first-hand the connections among population, sexual and reproductive health and rights, the environment, and youth empowerment. Find out more.

Our next study tour will be in November 2009 to India. Located in South Asia, India hosts extraordinary energy, environment and green development work. India also struggles with a range of development issues including poverty, natural resource degradation and rapid population growth. Read more and find out how to apply to be a study tour participant. Applications are due to Sandeep.Bathala@sierraclub.org by Wednesday, September 23, 2009.

Feature: Get Involved with our Nationwide Fellowship Program!

The Sierra Club Global Population and Environment's Nationwide Fellowship Program equips outstanding student activist leaders with continual training, resources and mentorship to implement self-designed campaigns that elevate population, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and environmental protection among youth audiences. Check out our application for the 2009-2010 school year, and read the biographies of our 2009 Fellows!

Feature: Check out our New Activist Resources!

The Sierra Club's Global Population and Environment Program is pleased to announce that we have new activist resources available!

·Our new 26-page Activist Guide provides you with information about how to create compelling messages linking population and the environment; work with the media; educate decision-makers; build coalitions with like-minded groups; and organize educational events, projects, and campaigns.

·We also have a new fact-sheet created in partnership with the Feminist Majority Foundation and the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) titled Breaking the Cycle: Women, Water and the Search for Equity.

·Finally, our 12-page fact-sheet, The Millennium Development Goals: 8 Steps for a Sustainable Future, includes helpful talking points, statistics, and ways that you CAN take action for sustainable development and global health solutions at home and abroad!

If you would like copies, please contact Audrey Brien.