A dramatic drop in Brazil’s fertility rate over the past four decades is due in part to a national addiction to soap operas, a new study suggests.

Unrealistically small families portrayed in the hugely popular soapies seems to be the main factor in the effect put forward this month by researchers working for the London-based Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

For full article, visit:
http://afp.google.com/article

Shelburne, VT - On April 22nd, Population Media Center (PMC) will celebrate Earth Day. PMC is an international nonprofit organization that strives to bring about the stabilization of human population numbers at a level that can be sustained by the world’s natural resources, in order to improve the well-being of people around the world and lessen the harmful impact of humanity on the earth’s environment. PMC uses entertainment-education strategies, like serialized dramas on radio and television that encourage positive social and health behaviors, such as the use of family planning and the empowerment of women.

Please join us in celebrating Earth Day on April 22nd. William Ryerson, President and Founder of Population Media Center will be available for interviews.

Population and Environment
Currently, there is a great deal of concern in the media, government, business, and general public regarding the issue of global warming. However, the impact of rapid human population growth on global warming is often overlooked. Decreasing consumption levels will not be enough if the human population continues to rise. The United Nations Population Division estimates that by the year 2050 the world population will reach 9.2 billion, with most of this increase occurring in the developing world. It is estimated that by 2050 over 50% of carbon emissions will come from developing nations. Not only does population growth significantly contribute to an increase in carbon emissions, but it creates a strain on other resources such as water, food, and energy.

Make the Link Between Population and Environment
For more information about population and environmental issues, PMC’s founder and president, William Ryerson, will be available for interviews. Mr. Ryerson has a four decade history of working in the fields of population and reproductive health. As a graduate student, he was Founder and first Chairperson of the Yale Chapter of Zero Population Growth (ZPG). He also served on the Executive Committee of ZPG, as Eastern Vice President and Secretary of the national organization. In 1970, he was featured in Life Magazine’s Earth Day issue organizing student activities on the Yale campus for the first Earth Day.

During the last two decades, he has been working to adapt the Sabido methodology of entertainment-education for behavior change on family planning and family size issues to various cultural settings worldwide. He has also been involved in the design of research to measure the effects of such projects in a number of countries, one of which has led to a series of publications regarding a serialized radio drama in Tanzania and its effects on HIV/AIDS avoidance and family planning use. He received a B.A. in Biology (Magna Cum Laude) from Amherst College and an M.Phil. in Biology from Yale University (with specialization in Ecology and Evolution). He served as Director of the Population Institute’s Youth and Student Division, Development Director of Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania, Associate Director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and Executive Vice President of Population Communications International before founding Population Media Center. Mr. Ryerson is listed in several editions of Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the East. In 2006, he was awarded the Nafis Sadik Prize for Courage from the Rotarian Action Group on Population and Development.

The January 2008 issue of Population Reports carries a feature article on Population Media Center’s Ethiopian radio serial Yeken Kignit (“Looking Over One’s Daily Life”). The publication can be found at http://www.infoforhealth.org/pr/j56/j56.pdf.

Many thanks to NaHyun Cho, who authored the article.

Two of PMC programs were featured in the January/February 2008 edition of Mother Jones magazine, Gugar Goge and Ashreat Al Amal.

Read the article, “As the World Learns.”

Below is an article on PMC’s work. It appeared in the winter 2008 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

For full article, download:

Population Media Center 2008 Smart Soaps (PDF, 172 KB)

Shelburne, VT – On Saturday, November 18th William Ryerson, President of the Population Media Center (PMC) will participate on a panel at the International Emmy World® Television Festival in New York City. The panel will focus on socially responsible television. Ryerson will speak on the panel along with other industry leaders.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – On August 1, 2007, thirty religious leaders from the Afar region, and representatives from the Islamic Affairs Bureau and the Women’s Affairs Bureau created and signed a declaration to end the practice of female circumcision (also called female genital mutilation or FGM). The declaration was one of the end results of a workshop Population Media Center (PMC) held on July 31st and August 1st to discuss the issue of female circumcision and what religious leaders can do to help eradicate the practice.
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Hanoi, Vietnam – The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) in co-operation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has announced that it will provide $770,000 for a three-year, social content radio serial drama project in Vietnam. The drama will be created using the Sabido methodology, a highly effective entertainment education technique that PMC has implemented in thirteen countries worldwide. The serial drama will address issues relating to reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.

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Shelburne, Vermont, USA - June, 2005 - Population Media Center won one of three prizes in an online contest held by Changemakers calling for the best programs in combating trafficking in persons. The contest was held by the Ashoka Foundation through its website initiative Changemakers.net. The Ashoka Foundation exists to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated and to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world. Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka to build the world’s first global online “open source” community that competes to surface the best social solutions and aims to collaborate, to refine, enrich, and implement those solutions.

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On June 13th 2006 William Ryerson, President of the Population Media Center (PMC) received the Nafis Sadik Prize for Courage at the Annual General Meeting of the Rotarian Action Group on Population and Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. The award recognized Ryerson’s 35 year dedication to the field of reproductive health. The prize is named after the previous Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Nafis Sadik, a national of Pakistan. In addition the Rotarian Action Group on Population and Development named Ryerson a Paul Harris Fellow.

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