Overview: This agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and
prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognize
that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme
poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for
sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, acting in
collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are resolved to free
the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our
planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are
urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we
embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing
today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda. They
seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did
not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and
indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the
economic, social and environmental.
Directions: Please visit The Global Goals for Sustainable Development website below. Find 1-2 goals you would like to explore this year. Explain why your choices would be important to you. How do you see this playing out in the literature we read?
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs
Also, Check out Global Goals Week at: http://globalgoalsweek.org/
Also, Check out Global Goals Week at: http://globalgoalsweek.org/
I decided to select two sustainable goals for the 2018-2019 school year. Almost two years ago, I decided to become a vegan after watching a documentary called “Food Choices,” which inspired me to make the life change and read a series of books, scientific articles, and interviews about the food industry and its impact on not only animals, but the environment. Therefore, I want to focus on “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” I not only have switched to a vegan diet, but started to only wear clothing that is environmentally sound and cruelty free.
ReplyDeleteFurther, my work this year with Sustainable Global Goals and Teaching Global Classrooms extended from last year’s Fulbright program. With our class blog and new grading system, I am hoping to promote genuine learning and change the way we view school and testing. With the implementation of global initiatives to enrich our literature units, I hope students will feel the immediacy of literature and make the books more meaningful. Further, TGC hopes students will become global citizens who take action to the world’s needs. I look forward to taking action with all of you. Therefore, my other focus will be “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
I look forward to working with all of you this year!
Mr. P. ;)
Overall, I would like to focus on reducing inequalities. Unfortunately, many forms of inequality still exist today, and pose a major problem to how our society functions. People who have immigrated to our country, belong to LGBTQ groups, are of different races and ethnicities, practice religions other than Christianity, and so on are frequently mistreated in the present world. Of course, these actions are unjust and can often be extreme. For example, there have been countless reports of police brutality/shootings against innocent African American people. There is also a reoccurring and extremely closed-minded notion that all Muslim people are "terrorists", leading many to discriminate against them. Clearly, this is not the truth. The inequality that plagues today's society relates to the dangers of the Single Story, where our prejudiced and dim views lead us to label innocent people as threats. Nobody should have to leave their house afraid. Nobody should be kicked out of their families for loving who they love. And nobody should be beaten or killed on account of their race or religion.
ReplyDelete-Jill
DeleteLooking through this website, I was really interested in SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. There has recently been an uproar in popular media about the use of plastic straws, and other plastic products that are simply thrown in the trash. Much of this waste along with other trash has found its way into our oceans harming our marine life. I plan to avoid throwing away any plastic products such as drink cups or straws and to use solely reusable straws and coffee cups instead. These problems in the ocean are not limited to the effects of trash, but other negative effects produced by humans. As a vegetarian I do not eat fish, which helps to combat the consumption of fish, hopefully helping to decrease the amount of overfishing in the ocean. Though I’m not sure how to help I’d also like to explore SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. There are many issues present across the globe that affect every aspect of life. I hope to positively effect change in the realm of climate change and hope to do whatever I can though I’m not sure exactly what that would be.
ReplyDeleteMy choices towards this goal would be important to me because I know that what I do throughout my day has an effect on the rest of the world. How much time I spend with my lights on, charging my phone, how much food I eat, how much trash I produce, all have an effect on the rest of the world. In our literature, I could see there potentially being this same weight put on characters in stories. Though many people do not acknowledge it, all their actions have reactions, no matter the setting.
Two goals I chose from the list provided that I hope to work on are goal 4 to provide education and goal 16 to provide accountability and justice. While this idea is built upon a political predisposition, recent events such as controversy surrounding net neutrality, the Facebook data breach, and even local incidents like Columbia Gas have led me to want to further be involved in resolving the issue of accountability. Institutions which hold this power often neglect it, and the people who suffer then have little to do which can help. Establishing a preexisting accountability should help resolve issues like this prior to them occurring.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of providing education, knowing that education around the world with private education, public education, and alternative methods of teaching all being used, I'd hope that people get more unified access to this type of knowledge. Having the ability to pay for a private school seems like an irrational justification to give someone precedence in learning something while another student without the funds may be equally qualified and interested.
While I don't believe there will be any massive differences as a result of this, I do believe these goals affect my view on literature to sympathize with people suffering from these types of dilemmas. Similarly, it may lead to interpreting stories from different point of views than people who are more focused on other aspects.
Oliver, I like how you pointed out an inequality in our education in terms of wealth. One of the statistics I saw on the website, said that children of the upper 20% are achieving greater proficiency in reading than the lowest 20%. This supports your point of how children with equal potential and interest, may not get equal opportunities. This is a pressing issue which we should focus on improving.
DeleteMy two goals for the 2018-2019 school year are goals 3 and 6. Sustainable development goal 3 ensures healthy lives ad promotes well being for all at all ages. The leading causes of death in the world are not from old age, but are from diseases. Whether its maternal or newborn health, infection diseases, or mental health, it seems that every year there is another health issue that seems to develop. Everyone has probably been affected by some kind of health issue and I feel that it is important to have the right resources in order to prevent or cure those issues. The characters in the books we read may either have or know someone with health related issues.
ReplyDeleteMy other goal is sustainable development goal 6, to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Access to clean water is essential to human health and to environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. Without access to clean water, people can die and the environment will suffer. When water is scarce, the people who have more money, usually will be able to afford it and then other people will be without. I think that from the books we read, someone will either not have access to clean water or won’t be able to afford it.
Two things I have been passionate about for as long as I can remember is aiding those in poverty and quality education for all. My impact has been more local due only to the reach and opportunity I have at this point in my life, but I think that is a really important place to start by helping out those around you on local scale. For me that has meant volunteering with and befriending those with disabilities and making sure they have a positive and impactful learning environment as goal 4 says, “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This has been something very close to my heart but I know there is an even larger need in areas outside of our country where the opportunity is not given. This needs to be changed, everyone deserves the opportunity to learn. Having as many educated people as possible would better our world as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThe second goal I will focus on is poverty. This is something that has hit close to home recently with lots of people in the Lawrence community struggling more than ever after the gas explosions. I think contributing to one’s community is the most important part of being an active citizen and hopefully i’ll be able to have made an impact somehow by the end of this year.
Poverty and Education are usually prevalent themes in literature we have already seen this in some of our read and daily poems and I would expect that to continue.
The goals I’d like to explore this year are goals 5 and 13, gender equality and climate action. I am extremely passionate about both of these themes and I believe that meeting both is crucial for the development t of the world. Achieving gender equality is important to me because I am a girl myself and I don’t want me or any other girl to be treated any less because of her gender. I don’t want women to have to fight for rights they should already have or to have to protects rights that are being threatened.
ReplyDeleteAnother goal that I am very passionate about is combatting climate change. It is crucial that humans take immediate action in this issue because it is one of the biggest if not the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. In my own life I have really made an effort to make changes that will lessen my impact on the environment. I now bike to school every day rather than driving and I am always trying to think of new ways I can my my life more environmentally friendly. In college I want to major in environmental science and go into a career involved in environmental protection.
I especially hope that some of the literature we read this year will address sexism and gender equality. I have found that in many pieces of classic literature women are portrayed by a series of negative stereotypes and their characters are often shallow and not major characters. I hope some of the books we read will have more strong female characters that don’t conform to negative stereotypes.
-Sarah
The goal I’d be most interested in exploring is Equitable Quality Education and lifelong opportunities for all. Education is the key to success in our society, as they say,“the more you know, the more you grow”. In the US, we are fortunate to have a strong public school system and resources available to us, however other nations are not as well off. In lesser developed countries, only 4 out of 10 children participated in pre-primary care. Giving children a strong foundation is integral for their success later in life, and starting from a young age is extremely beneficial. The Sub-Saharan and Southern Asia regions, should be especially focused on as they account for over 70% of the global out-of-school population in primary and secondary education. If these regions had adequate resources and a better learning environment, I believe their success would sky rocket.
ReplyDeleteI was instantly drawn to this Sustainable Development Goal in particular because have a deep connection and love of education. As we look forward to college, I plan to focus on studying education to become a teacher myself one day. It excites me that I can have my own classroom full of brains to enrich and better for the greater good. Furthermore, because of the extensive amount of time I spend with little kids, I get to see how smart they really are. I know that children in developing countries have the same-simple minded smartness, they just need more help to get them up to speed.
We’ve already begun to learn about inequalities certain groups have, through James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. One of the biggest issues within the education system right now, is children of the upper 20% are achieving greater proficiency in reading than the lowest 20%. This gap needs to be closed to insure an equal and prosperous education for all students, despite their backgrounds. By teaching children to love reading and learning, our world will become more informed overall and develop further and faster than we know it.
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ReplyDeleteI chose to focus on Sustainable Development Goal 2, which is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. As part of the Global Engagement program at the high school, I’m working on a project this year about the availability of gluten-free food for low-income individuals in the United States and the world. A gluten-free diet is the only treatment for those with Celiac Disease, which is approximately 1 in every 100 people. Gluten-free products are about four times more expensive than their counterparts, which is a burden for people who struggle to afford meals. This can lead to malnourishment from compromising quality and variety of food, which according to the Food Insecurity Experience Scale is considered “moderate food insecurity.” I’m grateful to be able to afford gluten-free food, but many are not able to access it because many food banks aren’t equipped to meet their needs. I hope that through my research I can raise awareness of this issue in the community and outside of it, and work towards a solution. Although it seems that this problem might not be the most life-threatening or immediate issue the UN is dealing with in regard to hunger, it is a side of hunger that my perspective allows me to notice and speak out about, similar to how Twyla and Roberta’s life experiences affect the needs they see in society.
ReplyDeleteAfter investigating the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, I have selected two areas that I would like to focus in on throughout the coming year. The first goal that I selected is Goal 14 - Life Below Water: “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.” Last year, my guidance counselor suggested that I take a class that I had never heard of before - Innovation Design Lab. At first I was skeptical of this recommendation, as science and engineering have never been my passions, but after a few classes, I realized how important and interdisciplinary this class was since the teachers and students were looking at critical issues with a global perspective. The main goal of the class was to research and develop ways to contribute and help achieve the United Nations’ Life Below Water goal. Over the course of the semester, I was lucky enough to work with an amazing team of students, and we were able to design and even develop many creative and original concepts that could be implemented on a global level.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to embrace the United Nations Goal 4 - Quality Education. Like Jessica, I too believe that “education is the key to success in our society.” It is our duty to ensure that generations to come are prepared to enter the world with an education that can guide them to obtain success throughout their lives. I am very grateful that I live in a country in which I am able to go to school and learn in an elite education system. This is an observation made with humility, not arrogance, because I am mindful that there are other nations that approach education differently and more successfully. On the other hand, there are developing and impoverished nations that struggle to educate their children. Consequently, there is still much work to be done to ensure parity across socioeconomic and geopolitical lines. I firmly believe that quality education for all will provide greater global connectivity. I look forward to continuing to explore these goals throughout the year.
I decided on one Global Goal for Sustainable Development for this school year. I decided to focus on Goal #2, Zero Hunger, which is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. For a few years I have been volunteering regularly at the Cor Unum Meal Center in Lawrence, which has become a very big part of my life. It has really inspired me not only to get more involved in community service, but to research more about hunger in urban settings. With the recent gas explosions and fires in Lawrence, Cor Unum has been forced to close its doors for two sit-down meals a day, which has not happened since September 30, 2006. With no power or gas, Cor Unum has been limited to giving out “to-go bag meals” at the scheduled breakfast and dinner times instead. Because of this crisis, I have been even more interested in the cause than I was already. This is really important to me because it is a major issue in our society today and hunger is also a common theme in literature. Many authors address problems such as hunger or poverty in novels to create a richer plotline and show many perspectives and struggles.
ReplyDeleteMany of the global goals are also goals that I feel we could implement in our own community. The first goal I picked was #10- sustainable development. This means that on a global scale, we are reducing inequality between countries. In our own country alone though, there has been many rallies and protests regarding race, gender, and LGBTQ. I know that the global goal is talking about the income inequality, and poverty of developing countries, but there are also many other places that we can see this. I think it is really important in our life today to look at this goal, because there is so much that we can be doing for other people. There are a lot of organizations that helps bring supplies to places with lower incomes, including towns in our own state, all the way to countries across the world. I want to focus on helping bring equality to people who can not get it themselves, even if that starts with small steps.
ReplyDeleteThe second goal I chose was #3- sustainable development, meaning ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. This is really important for children of all ages. Sometimes, the healthiest food is not always available, and so the cheaper, but less healthy option, is fast food, or very processed food. I think that schools and communities are trying to make healthier food accessible, but it is still not always possible. For example, a lot of schools have changed the breakfast and lunch menus around, to make it an option for everyone to have it. This is something that everyone can help with, no matter what the contribution.
I decided to focus on one goal for the 2018-2019 school year. When reading the different global goals, number four really grabbed my attention. The focal point is "To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all". As people who have always had the resources to attend school, education is something that I think we take for granted and don't think too much about. However, it is important to remember that not everyone is able to receive this kind of education across the world or even locally in the United States. I was surprised to read that "In 2014, about 2 in 3 children worldwide participated in pre-primary or primary education in the year prior to official entry age for primary school. However, in the least developed countries, the ratio was only 4 in 10." Although education has improved slightly since 2014, it still isn't close to be equitable or accessible in many places. Some of the reasons for this absence of equity include a lack of money, technology, trained teachers, and electricity. Although it takes a lot of time and work to solve massive goals such as this one, I think learning about the problem and thinking of ways we can help is a good first step.
ReplyDeletePaige, I totally agree with your point on us always taking our education for granted. While I always complain about the stresses of school to my friends, I know that I must take a step back in those moments and truly understand how blessed I am to even have the opportunity to go to school at all. Goal 4 is one I am very passionate as well, and I hope to do my part in making it accessible for all.
DeleteAfter looking through the website, I have decided that I would like to explore Sustainable Development Goals 3: Good Health and Well being. The issue of health is a major one as it terminates millions of lives ranging from newborn babies to the elderly. There is also a broad scope of disorders such as mental health, infectious diseases, and more, and there are epidemics that can arise spontaneously. After interning and volunteering at various hospitals, I understand the importance of staying healthy, and given that almost every individual will encounter some sort of health issue, it is paramount to be prepare to battle those infections and disorders.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the other goal I would like to focus on this year is sustainable development goal #4: education. Education, in my opinion, is the greatest power in the world as it has the ability to empower an individual to make immense impacts on the world. It the United States we are blessed to have a strong education system, however, in developing nations, the education system is quite weak. For instance, “In 6 of 24 sub-Saharan African countries with data, fewer than half of the students who finished their primary schooling had attained minimum proficiency levels in reading”. I believe if every child is educated properly, the world will see a significant reduction in the problem it faces today. Personally, education is very important to me as it has helped me become the person I am today, and I truly cherish it.
I believe both these goals will play out in the literature we read. In regards to health, I believe that we will face literature where a character is struck by a major illness, which will demonstrate the importance of health and well-being. In regards to education, we have already seen it in Toni Morrison’s short story as one of the protagonists in the novel was unable to read originally, but later gained the skill. I believe other authors will use education to demonstrate its importance and how certain systems are flawed.
Two of the sustainable development goals really stuck out to me. Firstly was Goal 4, Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This was noticeable to me personally because I have long-term experience with volunteer teaching work. My mom is a teacher at Salemwood, a Malden public primary school. “South Sudanese Enrichment for Families,” is a program that helps families recently moved from Sudan to Massachusetts to learn English. There is an after school volunteer program at Salemwood, branching from this program. When I volunteer, I help teach young children/babies English, and my mom helps women further develop their English skills and grammar. This goal is important to me personally because it’s something that I believe can be progressed greatly with efforts from people worldwide, having participated in small-scale examples of such that I’ve viewed to be very beneficial to families. Many systems in society like that of education are extremely flawed, but can be greatly improved when minds come together to help others.
ReplyDeleteThe second sustainable goal that I am intrigued by is Goal 15, Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” While I’m not vegan, I have been vegetarian for about 7 years now, starting when I was around 10. This is another topic that is personal to me, as many members of both my immediate and extended family are either vegan or vegetarian. The food industry is extremely corrupt and heartless in the way they treat their animals. Furthermore, with the current trajectory, our resource consumption on Earth is not sustainable. It is extremely important to be mindful even with smaller scale things, such as being mindful of your own footprint with recycling, short showers, etc.
Being mindful in all aspects of life is crucial, branching out from global goals and into works of literature. Oliver made a good point which I really liked: Awareness regarding literature “may lead to interpreting stories from different point of views than people who are more focused on other aspects.” I agree that some of the goals on the site may be themes in literature, and being aware of this may help readers to further understand the situations of a character, and sympathize with them. Awareness in real life could help works of fiction to feel more real.
After visiting the website on The Global Goals for Sustaining Development, multiple goals stuck out to me. However, the most prominent goal for me was Goal 4, Quality Education. Like many above me have also mentioned, education is something that is incredibly important to me and I am very passionate about improving the quality of education for all. A moment in my life I consider to be very significant in the discovery of my goals in life is when I watched a documentary on the state of education for women in several countries in Africa, with Mozambique being focused on in particular. Most of the girls in Mozambique have dropped out of school by the age of 14. While this is certainly for the purpose of helping out at home for some, the documentary revealed that, a lot of the time, it is due to sexual harassment by teachers at school. This is an incredibly prevalent issue in the area that is widely ignored. At the very least, I believe that a child should be given the right to a good education, which these girls do not have, which is unacceptable in my opinion. I would love to help resolve this issue at some point in my life, although it is obviously a very global issue, so I hope to at the very least to better understand the issue better and educate myself on my own resources this year.
ReplyDeleteThe other goal I have is definitely Goal 5, Gender Equality. Somewhat relating to my points mentioned in the paragraph prior, women are continuously at a disadvantage in the workplace, school, and life in general. A massive issue in gender equality is the lack of women sticking up for themselves for fear of retribution from their male counterparts. For instance, many of the young girls in Mozambique choose to simply drop out of school as opposed to going into school where their abusers are. In order to solve this issue, I hope to be a help in, “the empowerment of women and girls,” as an increase in women’s confidence may be one of the best ways to solve this issue.
One of the goals I would like to focus on this year is Goal 4: Quality Education. In a culture that stigmatizes not pursuing the path of college, despite the expenses and limited opportunities for many, I would like to see education more accessible to all, but also see a change in the way we define education. I feel like our culture expects people to attend four year colleges and beyond yet education is highly varied in quality and the price for college education is startlingly high. I believe education is important and everyone should have the opportunity to pursue the education they want. We live in a system that stresses the idea of equality of opportunity. While I don’t feel this ideology is practiced in many cases, I think making education a more equal playing field is a first step to improving the opportunities of life for all.
ReplyDeleteAnother Goal I chose was 14: Life Below Water. I think we are at a point in the environment where we can still make a change, and I would especially like to see a change in the ways the world’s oceans are treated. Pollution and human negligence is hurting one of the life sources on earth, not only of humans, but of the many species whom call the ocean home. It is not only the pollution that concerns me, but the loss of value and kindness that we show towards the ocean. Our generation has grown up watching the deterioration of the ocean, from the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef to the massive increase in plastics in the ocean. If change is possible, I would like to see a reverse of this negative state in my lifetime. As a problem that is entirely born of humans, I believe it is possible for us to reverse these effects on our oceans and have a greater respect for our environment.
Themes of environmentalism and education come up in literature often and writers will use metaphors or symbolism to encourage change within systems and actions we might not initially deem negative. Perhaps some of the literature we read this year will focus on these issues.
Audrey G
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ReplyDeleteThe Global Goal that is most important to me is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This goal directly correlates with what I want to do for my capstone presentation which is the importance of equal education across the globe. Everyone deserves the same opportunities in life. Often times, people are restricted on things like education and work because of what environment they are from. My mom and grandmother are teachers so I have always valued the importance of quality education. It is sad to think that money or an environment has the ability to determine a person’s future. Being lucky enough to live in a part of the country where great education is a given, we become blind to the privilege solid education is. We also take for granted the quality of teaching we have at our disposal. I believe these kind of resources and technology should be available across the world for people of all backgrounds and all communities because quality education should not be out of reach to anyone.
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ReplyDeleteEducation has always been something I have put enormous value on, but this year in particular the college admissions process has forced me to put a lot of consideration into the topic of quality education. As such, one of my areas of focus is Goal 4, Quality Education. For the last few years I have also been volunteering at the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club, where I work in the homework help room. At the Boys and Girls Club some of their primary goals are to keep kids in school, and make sure kids are learning at the pace they should be, even if they are not meeting that goal with formal education alone. These issues of kids not remaining in school and not being taught what they need to are also identified in the Sustainable Development Goals, along with that statistics that there is a 21% drop in attendance from primary to upper secondary education worldwide, and that in some sub-saharan countries less than half of primary school graduates are proficient in reading or math. Seeing the same thing play out to a much smaller, but still unacceptable, effect one town over, in one of the wealthiest states in one of the most privileged countries in the world has given these numbers life in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteSustainability goal 8, to Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, is another goal of mine. I think this goal is an essential aspect of success with any other goal, including education. A poor, corrupt, or unfair economy can force children out of classrooms and into factories, or inflict poverty upon millions, or deprive people of food they can’t pay for, but desperately need. I could go all the way down the list. As oliver mentioned in regard to Goal 16, I think accountability is crucial to making progress with this goal. As consumers and voters, we can be a greater check against large corporations than many of us think. Throwing money at problems will never make them go away, but a truly fair and strong economy is almost universally profitable.
These topics have made some appearances in the literature we have examined in this class so far, but I found them to be prevalent in the literature of my american history class last year. There have been many issues with our country, but America has undeniably been a progressive trailblazer educationally and economically. . Ready primary source articles on republican child-raising or on the views of Horace Mann may not have been fun, but they provided excellent examples of improving quality and accessibility of education. Similarly, the House of Burgesses in Virginia was making economic policy more democratic 45 years before “no taxation without representation” was popularized. 400 years later, we may be reading literature about these issues from the internet, but the need to take action with paper and quill or blog posts is still there.
Two goals on the sustainable development website that I thought were extremely relevant and important were Goal 10: Reducing Inequalities as well as Goal 13: Climate Action. Especially since the 2016 election, I have been trying to educate myself on many of the inequalities that people face in our country. I think today people often times tend to focus on issues that affect only them, which is why many problems in our country and around the world concerning inequalities aren’t being solved. For example, a lot women are trying to fight the gender pay gap without realizing that on average black men, hispanic men, and others actually earn less than white women. Similarly, unless they are Native Americans, almost everyone living in the United States is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants, yet many still support policies like building a wall or the travel ban. I think it is extremely important to give underrepresented people a voice in politics and media in order to combat inequality as well as teach others about issues they may not think about. Inequality derives from a single story of fear or stereotypes, much of which could be avoided if we take the time to learn about one another.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue I am passionate about is climate action. SInce the preindustrial period, the global temperature has gone up 1.1 degrees Centigrade. This may not sound like a lot but it is affecting things like our food and water sources, natural disasters, endangered species, and the existence of humans in general. Those in developing countries are in the worst shape with no way to fight any floods or droughts that global warming may cause. It is easy to ignore climate change since, from the everyday perspective everything seems fine, but when you stop and think about the 1.6 million people dead from natural disasters in just 25 years, the rising water levels that could flood and destroy our cities, and the danger faced by many of the poorest and most vulnerable people, it is not hard to realize just how important it is to take action.
After looking at the Sustainable Development Goals, the two that jumped out at me the most were goals 3 and 5. Goal 3 is focused on promoting good health and well-being for all. I am drawn to this goal because of my love for sports and activity. I am an avid tennis player and I feel like the best version of myself after being on the court for a few hours. Obesity is one of the most prevalent diseases in the country and I feel like there is more that we, as a society, should be doing to combat it. To do a small part in working to achieve this goal, I volunteer with the middle school tennis team. I feel like a key to getting kids to get active is making it a fun and enjoyable experience.
ReplyDeleteGoal 5 is focused on gender equality; a fight that I believe is a critical step towards a better world. For a long time, I have been an advocate for closing the pay gap between men and women. As a young woman, it baffles and saddens me that in such a progressive and equal country women are still making less than men for doing the same jobs. I hope that in our literature we can read some written by strong female leaders or read writings about them. How some of them shaped society is incredible and it would be great to explore.
We live in the country deemed “The Land of the Free” and yet women only recently were urged to speak up about their sexual assault story, forever being told to stay silent. Even after the #MeToo movement, women were still accused of being liars because their accusations seemed “out of the blue” having waited so long to share their story. The wait was due to the fear instilled by society. If women living in the land of the free are being abused, how can women who have no rights in developing countries ever expect to be liberated? This issue is extremely prevalent globally and everyone should be educated about the women who are sexually assaulted, mutilated, and forced into marriages everyday. I volunteer at a homeless shelter for mothers of domestic violence and abuse. I volunteer with the children of these mothers and it is heartbreaking to see how abusive relationships can put families into these situations. Fortunately, this shelter is targeted to help these women get back on their feet so that when they eventually move out, they will be living a sustainable lifestyle. I want to incorporate Sustainability Goal 5 into our curriculum as a way of having a better understanding of the issue and figure out what our part can be to help in all of this. I hope that the literature we read will address some of these issues to better people’s understandings of the severity of this issue.
ReplyDeleteBeing healthy can be debated the most important sustainable development goal, without proper education and treatment for physical and mental health, there will not be enough people that can be consistently working in the developing society. A rising global health could equal a rising in the global economy - healthy people means efficient workers. So I chose to focus on “Sustainable Development Goal: 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well being for all ages”. Mental health is something I see as a very overlooked topic, people know what it is but how important it could be. I would love seeing more resources and education on this type of gray area that is just as important than physical health.
ReplyDeleteGoal 11 is focusing on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Having a safe environment can only support all other developments of society, especially including health and education. Air pollutions is a gradual but deadly threat to a lot of people’s health, “In 2014, 9 of 10 people who live in cities were breathing air that did not comply with the safety standard set by WHO”. It’s important that diseases are prevented when there is a promotions of well being to all ages. I’m hoping the books we read have some projection of the importance of health, especially mental health and how it should not be overlooked due to some beliefs that it isn’t as crucial as physical health.