Hong Kong’s first blog for SDG education news and announcements
Christy is in Year 11 at Victoria Shanghai Academy. She is the Founder and Leader of the Global Service Leaders group at VSA which advocates for and suggests pragmatic solutions to the school management about improvements that move the school towards a variety of the SDGs. Prior to be selected to the YAC, Christy was involved with the ITSF when she graduated our Youth Ambassador Asia-Pacific Programme 2022, winning the award for Inclusion. Outside of ITS and VSA, Christy also volunteers with HandsOn HK and sits on the Youth Empowered Student Advisory Council. Here she helps communicate with NGOs in Hong Kong to facilitate HK youth participating in volunteer activities tackling environmental, social and economic issues faced by a wide variety of community groups across the territory. . . .
Image by Vali Greceanu from Pixabay To any climate activist the answer to the headline is an obvious: Yes!! Aviation accounts for 1.9% of all greenhouse gas emissions; 2.5% of CO2 emissions; and 3.5% of all radiation forcing – the actual impact on global heating. Not only this but the emissions from aviation have grown exponentially since the mid-20th century. They have quadrupled in volume since 1966 and increased as a share of global emissions (Our world in data). Taking flights is one of the early uses of new discretionary income as people earn more, so there are billions of new airline passengers potentially waiting to start flying. And yet there is no tax on jet fuel. Petrol and diesel for road travel are taxed heavily, often over 50%. This raises much needed revenue for government (although we can argue that the cost of allowing ICEs far outweigh the amount gained). The reasons exit because of the international nature of so much air travel. As soon as agre . . .
Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay Conservation success lies with governments, not NGOs (Mongabay) India, Japan launch $600m fund for low carbon emission projects (Nikkei Asia) Tech Giants Team Up for Green Data Innovation Hub (GreenCitizen) The city that went green to keep cool (FuturePlanet) Gene editing offers chickens some protection against bird flu (reuters) UN puts climate ‘course correction’ on Cop28 negotiating table (CHN) Food Waste Needs a Rebrand: From Trash to Treasure, Overcoming The Issue’s Image Problem (greenqueen) Microplastics detected in clouds hanging atop two Japanese mountains (Guardian) What you should (and shouldn’t) do with all of your old phone chargers and other e-waste (The Conversation) . . .
Quinton, is a student at Li Po Chun UWC in Hong Kong. He is interested in all things biology - but especially environmental conservation and regenerative medicine. His current biology-related and environment-related experience includes conducting research at various universities in Hong Kong, participating in Hong Kong AFCD reef check and coral watch biodiversity surveys, as well as interning at multiple sustainability and environment related startups and NGOs. In addition, he founded his own initiative called Music for Joy which brings music activities to young people who would otherwise not have access to them. . . .
Image by Igor Ovsyannykov from Pixabay Last week was the 2023 observance of World Habitat Day. Surprisingly for some, the theme was Resilient Urban Economies. But this masks the fact that urban areas are habitats too. Human habitats. Since its inception in 1986, WHD has always been about how we shelter ourselves. The themes run between the more economic-social aspect of ensuring adequate shelter for all, and the more environmental aspect of making our towns and cities places that not only do not damage the environment – the hinterland or more generally e.g. air, water and light pollution – but can actually be designed to enhance it. . . .
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay UN Initiative Aims to Hold Companies Accountable for SDG Commitments (IISD) Return of the wolf to Nepal’s Himalayas may threaten snow leopards (Mongabay) Drought-hit Thailand turns to cloud seeding to offset El Nino (Nikkei Asia) Global Strategies Aim to Reduce Virgin Plastic Use Significantly by 2040 (GreenCitizen) The ‘Green’ Future of Furniture Is a Sofa Stuffed With Seaweed (Wired) From poachers to protectors: In the ‘Guilin of Thailand’, locals lead efforts to conserve ancient rainforest (CNA) The ancient Sri Lankan 'tank cascades' tackling drought (FuturePlanet) Net-zero: it’s not just where you end up, but how you get there that matters (HannahRitchie) Two-dimensional compounds can capture carbon from the air (ScienceDaily) . . .
Hana is in Year 11 at West Island School. Through ESF, she has experience being a policy director with the ESF Sustainability Alliance which is part of the overall strategy approach within ESF to guide sustainability across its 22 schools in Hong Kong. This is of major importance when you consider even the very basic ideas of building maintenance, energy use, school transport, feeding students, classroom materials, cleaning policies and so on. In addition, Hana has been actively involved with Hands on HK (volunteering), Sunshine Action (hunger & homelessness) and the 24hr Race (anti-slavery). Elected Co-Chair for 2023-24, she supported Natalie in organizing the YAC event for International Youth Day and will now be the lead organizer for the YAC event for the International Day of Education 2024. . . .
Image by UN Photo/Joao Araujo Pinto At the UN General Assembly last week, leaders turned their attention to some of the most urgent issues of our time as highlighted in the past couple of years - the climate crisis, development finance, preventing future pandemics. UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ addressed leaders at the Climate Ambition Summit: “The future of humanity is in your hands,” the Secretary-General told them, warning that the world must accelerate its climate action efforts. “We can still build a world of clear air, green jobs, and affordable clean power for all.” In a meeting on pandemic preparedness, global leaders reached a historic agreement to strengthen international cooperation to help avoid a repeat of the devastating health and socio-economic impacts caused by COVID-19 and ensure the world is better prepared for future pandemics. At a high-level meeting on financing for development, leaders also discussed in . . .
