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Climate, Population, Food Collide; Birth Control Attacked in 2014
Close to Home: When Climate, Population and Food Collide. The shift from muscle power to energy from combustion of fossil fuels releases vast amounts of carbon that living organisms took from the atmosphere hundreds of millions of years ago. Energy stored in the coal, oil and gas of Earth’s crust powers large-scale industrialization, while the accompanying greenhouse gas emissions warm Earth’s climate. In many developing countries women commonly have more than five children — most too poor to buy enough food should prices rise. Meanwhile rapidly developing populous countries have burgeoning middle classes desirous of more animal protein, which requires three to 15 times its weight in feed.
Everything Changed for Birth Control in the United States in 2014. Last year the Supreme Court ruled a closely held company can deny birth control coverage to its employees because of the company’s religious beliefs — with no regard to the religious beliefs of its employees. The Hobby Lobby case, which centered on the IUD and the morning-after pill, set the bleak precedent that the “religious freedom” of a company’s owners trumps an employee’s right to choose a form of health care.
