In 2000, the United Nations launched the Millennium Development Goals, which were to be met by 2015. Although there has been a great deal of progress, there is much left to be done.

Thus the UN last year implemented its new Sustainable Development Goals, set to be completed by 2030. There is a common thread that runs through most of the 17 SDGs and the MDGs:  family planning.

USAid Director of Population and Reproductive Health Ellen Starbird said at the recent International Family Planning Conference that “family planning was the ‘critical link’ to meet each of the 17 goals.” Some of the goals show a clear picture to the connection to family planning, although there are a few that would appear to have little or no connection.

The SDG objective of “responsible consumption and production” appears to be increasingly out of reach, with a population boom in developing nations that has been the product of poor family planning and that will directly lead to larger, less educated and resource-poor groups of people. The goals of fostering sustainable cities and communities, clean water and sanitation, quality education, decent work and economic growth, zero hunger, affordable and clean energy, climate action are all impacted by the current size, growth and age of the population.

Starbird looks to the energy crises in many impoverished nations and sees a huge effort to provide electricity to citizens. These countries are struggling to meet the energy needs of their growing populations, while also dealing with an immense number of young citizens being uneducated and without opportunities to find employment.

The lack of work and education are causally connected to poverty, another goal set by the United Nations, to end poverty on a global scale. Of the 17 goals, there are two in which a connection can easily be made to family planning—such as good health and wellbeing and gender equality. An Indonesian finance manager has seen the impact and importance of comprehensive family planning, as that country has dedicated 5 percent of its overall health-spending budget to family planning, which includes accessibility to long-term contraceptives and peer education programs.

As a global population, we are faced with many daunting challenges that the international community has acknowledged. All of the Sustainable Development Goals are important and deserve appropriate resources dedicated to them. It’s clear to see that by focusing on family planning disparities, a positive impact will be made on many of the other goals in the program.

As we enter a New Year, one in which homelessness will undoubtedly continue to be front and center in the Portland metro area, there’s a good opportunity to look at what it would cost to end homelessness once and for all:

Check out this infographic from ThinkProgress:

As it turns out, Americans spent just a little more on their holiday decorations this year than it would cost to end homelessness in the United States.

At a time when so many of us have so much, why is there still widespread poverty across the United States? Is it really bad decision-making and poor self-control that keeps people from moving into the middle class?

Quartz: “When considering poverty, our national conversation tends to overlook systemic causes. Instead, we often blame the poor for their poverty. Commentators echo the claim that people are poor because they have bad self-control and therefore make nearsighted choices. But psychology research says the opposite might be the case: poverty makes it hard for people to care about the future and forces them to live in the present.”

In his article, University of Oregon professor Elliot Berkman details the “permanent now” those in poverty must live in constantly, focusing attention on immediate needs like food, rent and utilities. Thus, he argues, “the traditional definition of self-control doesn’t make a lot of sense.”