Positively Life-Changing Stories Today, Intergenerational Climate Benefits Tomorrow

Abstract Today, popular entertainment is purposefully creating a more sustainable world. Locally produced radio and video series, created from applied theories of social learning and social cognition, feature relatable characters, familiar communities, and dramatically unfolding plots. Constructed to improve human health and human rights, these stories also offer audiences liberating information, alternative perspectives, and confidence to enact meaningful change in their own lives. Unrestricted access to family planning and universal girls’ education is instrumental in realizing the full human rights of women and girls around the world. Moreover, by destigmatizing voluntary family planning, correcting misinformation about the safety and efficacy of modern contraception, and strengthening social acceptance and support of girls’ education, the long arc of human population size is influenced toward a smaller, more sustainably scaled civilization in the future. This relatively smaller human presence on the planet offers many potential alleviations of human-induced environmental stress, including scaling down the basic human need for, and propensity to emit, greenhouse gas emissions in the future.