Hong Kong’s first blog for SDG education news and announcements
Sustainability (or lack of) in the news around the world this week: EPA finds production of PFAs emitting more GHGs than thought (Toxic-Free Future) Drought coupled with covid and poverty threatens starvation in Kenya (The Guardian) Calls begin for fossil fuel companies to fix their damage (The Guardian) Literacy better taught in school than not (The Conversation) White privilege: what it is, what it means and why understanding it matters (The Conversation) Alvin Wong, YCI Member, in the news (Learning Planet) Climate action at the General Assembly week (UN) Climate change: World now sees twice as many days over 50C (BBC) . . .
One of the core parts of the UN Action Campaign for the SDGs is the Act4SDGs Global Week which in 2021 runs 17-28 September. ITS Young Changemaker Incubator projects submitted 8 actions in 2020 and another 7 in 2021. The UN SDG Action Campaign joins committed individuals, organizations and growing SDG networks to channel the power of people to act on the Goals – and inspire others to do the same. You can see all the key elements at the sdgactioncampaign site. . . .
Saturday saw a fantastic day of celebrating Youth Ambassadorship in the Asia-Pacific region. Hosted virtually by UNITAR, and in-person in Hong Kong by Howden Insurance, the event brought together business and youth leaders to showcase Youth Ambassadorship for sustainable futures under the umbrella of the SDGs. The event also marked the official announcement of The ITS Education Asia Foundation being set up as an official not-for-profit organizer and provider of sustainability and SDG education for Hong Kong and the wider region. . . .
The UN has reported on statistics which show that although extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in our global heating crisis, and although this means growing economic losses, deaths are actually reducing. With better early warning systems making information available earlier to more places, plus more countries having implemented disaster management planning, deaths have reduced globally from 50,000+ per year in the 1970s to less than 20,000 today. As climatic disasters make up over half of all natural disasters, 45% of deaths and 75% of costs, they are a major area for us to work towards mitigating and yet another reason why we should be working to stop global heating. . . .
Climeworks has announced the opening of their latest carbon capture facility. It is called Orca and is located in Iceland. The geo-tech will extract 4000 tons of carbon dioxide per year which is the largest in the world so far. The plant mineralises the gas which can then be stored underground (where is most probably came from). Follow the link to see the timeline reporting of its build and launch. . . .
A new report has come out which has calculated how much fossil fuel needs to stay in the ground in order for us to have a chance of hitting emissions reduction targets. Unsurprisingly to anyone who has studied the climate crisis, the analysis shows that the vast majority of fossil fuels, must remain unextracted if the Paris targets are to remain possible. Of course there are many other factors to global heating, especially deforestation for agriculture, which is why this report is so shocking. Keeping 90% of coal and about 60% of oil and gas in the ground is necessary only to have a 50% chance of slowing the process down. For SDG students, it is also important to note the report does not call for all fossil fuel extraction to stop immediately which recognises the immense complexity of our energy needs, supply capacities, business needs, job prospects and so on which all have to be balanced against the environment. You can see a summary in The Guardian. . . .
The large hadron collider at CERN was started up on 10th September 2008. In 2021, CERN has focused on a year of environmental awareness. They are focusing on emissions, energy, waste, water and radiation from the facility and providing a good example of how we can balance our need for activities (such as advancing scientific knowledge) with an awareness of their impacts and most importantly concrete action to minimize or eliminate those impacts. . . .
Today is International Literacy Day 2021. There are over 750 million non-literate young people and adults which is why SDG 4, Target 6 is “By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy”. Not being literate broadly means you have not had access to at least a full, quality primary schooling. The 2030 Agenda seeks to get everyone through not just primary but secondary education as well. There are many legacy issues surrounding more elderly people who never had schooling opportunities back in the 20th century, as well as more modern problems around equality. Gender discrimination is still a problem in achieving literacy for all. Since 2020, Covid has also caused huge disruption and the most vulnerable have suffered the most. Literacy is essential for fair treatment of individuals as well as the foundation of prosperous societies which benefit all their members. . . .
