Why Women’s Economic Empowerment is Important

The passing of EO Wilson is one of those big events.  A person of immense accomplishments who remained grounded in humanity and humility.  His last book, “Half Earth,” built the case that humanity could avert the worst of the 6thgreat extinction, that is now underway by protecting half of the planet’s wild spaces. Status quo means we likely loose half of the earths species by the end of the century. The 30 X 30 campaign sets a goalpost on the route, 30 percent of the earth protected by 2030. Wilson had said,

Our species might just luck out, with enough dropping population, improved production, and shrinking ecological footprint that we can win the race to save the rest of life.

https://www.half-earthproject.org

When I read this, I realized Wilson had just put a big piece of my film into a sentence.  “Saving Walden’s World” shows the feasibility of doing what Wilson suggests, by taking viewers to places already far along that path… that is, having fewer, yet healthier and educated children, by using the most sustainable and appropriate technologies and shifting paradigms and daily life practices to ultimately lower our ecological footprints.

Wilson was keenly aware a needle was to be thread, if humanity is to come out the other side semi-unscathed.  Also, that humanity, as a social being doesn’t have to be this horrible creature that is destroying the only know planet that supports life.

Imagine…

the world’s wealthy consume less,

the poor exit poverty…

fewer yet healthier children are born,

easing the sixth extinction, hunger and climate change

A self-reinforcing cycle where all win.

In more detail:

1. Humans already well off work to unrig the system for those excluded.  And, those like myself who have the affluence and freedom to arrange their own daily life, take on the creative and enjoyable experiment of making a wonderful life with a small eco-footprint.

2. The freed resources are directed to those with too little. Poverty is eradicated.

Those historically not having enough food, shelter, education, healthcare, security, family planning… expand their ecological footprints slightly. Meanwhile, the genius of hyper-efficient localized micro-enterprise and organic farming multiplies opportunities while abolishing hunger and homelessness.

3. Smaller families result.  When young women have opportunities for free college and micro-enterprises, they will birth fewer yet healthier children later in life. Their families will be more stable, resourced and loving. Universal higher education, contraception, family planning and serious body autonomy are the key factors. Research shows that with legal safe abortion, there will be fewer abortions, fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer unplanned pregnancies, fewer teen pregnancies… We could pass a law that those men who irresponsibly or forcefully put their sperm where it doesn’t belong or is not welcome, go to jail.

4. The combination of smaller footprints by the wealthy and smaller families by the poor, could lead to EO Wilson’s Half-Earth in about a century. Instead of populations growing from 7 to 11 billion, it could, with just a half-child lower average fertility rate, decrease towards 3 to 4 billion over 100 years.  This lowering of the human populations will allow species-at-the-brink to recover. We filmed where this has already happened, by voluntary and compassionate simplicity, and in no way coerced or forced.  It is as simple as —  make life better for women. The key is to ensure wholesome and useful opportunities for young women to become educated and have opportunities to follow their passions – be it medicine, engineering, local organic food production and micro-enterprises. an

Saving Walden’s World takes viewers to locations 60 years ahead of this curve.  Cuba, Kerala and Slovenia have long-standing universal higher education, especially for women, universal child care, maternity leave, healthcare, contraception and family planning services.  Some argue that women are having small families because they are selfish, or because children are expensive.  What we discovered was women simply wanted quality over quantity.  Gender equality, equal pay, and basic human rights, which include being free from abusive men so that they can actuate their own life.