Hong Kong’s first blog for SDG education news and announcements
Image by Como una Reina from Pixabay A good article in Eco-business points out the sheer scope and variety of jobs, and thus skills, required to drive economies towards being on a green footing. As much as the public may demand green services and as much as government policy may set green targets, if the skills are not in the workforce to deliver then progress will be slow, or at least slower than people want. This then raises an important question for the education sector. It is our experience that education in sustainability is severely lacking even in societies where public awareness of, and demand for action, on green issues is at its highest. These places are also those best placed to overhaul the teaching of sustainability in schools at all levels and thus have a fundamental impact on the future workforce demanding green skills for employment. But it is also an opportunity for those places with lower levels of educational coverage and quality to enact one of the bigge . . .
Image by from a photo by Pat Whelen Those involved in development have known for many years how the acquisition of debt through misplaced, misguided or corrupt development aid programmes can easily end up crippling emerging economies and very rapidly worsen the very situation they were aimed at alleviating. As early as 1996, the IMF introduced its Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) designation and set in a place a programme to put qualifying countries through a process of debt relief. This has not been without its critics, not least those who point out that the IMF itself is a product of the very systems and structures which created the debt in the first place and the politico-economic ideologies of both lenders and restructurers are identical and unlikely to lead to the transformative system change that may be necessary to make real progress. A new report joint produced by academics at Boston and SOAS now brings the question of debt sustainability into the modern era wi . . .
Image by Angela from Pixabay Where China’s food policies and climate goals meet (Eco-business) Snailfish: the ‘impossible’ fish that broke two deep sea records shows the importance of ocean exploration (The Conversation) Air pollution: how bad is particulate matter for your health? (The Guardian) Chilli Peppers, Coffee, Wine: How the Climate Crisis is Causing Food Shortages (greenqueen) Want to fix the climate? End debt traps (al Jazeera) Indo-Pacific corals more resilient to climate change than Atlantic corals (ScienceDaily) Financiers' move away from coal is accelerating, report says (reuters) Without a single euro changing hands, Irish nonprofit is helping to reinvent the grid (TechCrunch) Pressure builds on Council of Europe to put right to healthy environment in law (CHN) . . .
Two stories last week highlighted to me that not only do we have the real sustainability issues to deal with but that our own standard patterns of thinking also hinder our approaches to solutions and this is in itself another sustainability problem. First was John Kerry pointing out that relying on carbon capture technology is dangerous. Many people have been saying this for a long time – and for many good reasons. It is unproven, the net impact is unknown, it is expensive, who funds it (Why should consumers? Especially if they consume necessities and have no say in how those are produced and supplied)? And most importantly, why on earth rely on one thing? Panaceas don’t exist. Can humanity not learn from history or logic? And why does it take a high-profile person saying this to get it in the media? Second, scientists have found the most recent sea temperature data far exceeds what they thought was possible. Not likely, possible!!! Is this an anomaly? Why is it so high? . . .
Image by G.C. from Pixabay ‘Statistically impossible’ heat extremes are here (The Conversation) Use of antibiotics in farming ‘endangering human immune system’ (The Guardian) Indigenous leader from Brazil wins top environmental prize (Al Jazeera) Massive iceberg discharges during the last ice age had no impact on nearby Greenland, raising new questions about climate dynamics (ScienceDaily) EU agrees binding green fuel targets for aviation (Reuters) UniSieve’s filters use special crystals to reduce industrial emissions (TechCrunch) UN: World set to blow through 1.5C carbon budget in 10 years (CHN) Why having a corporate purpose can help companies to create value (Eco-business) . . .
Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay I liked this newsletter from Ryan Hagen who writes regularly on LinkedIn. He points out some interesting stats – like 42% of US emissions are determined by domestic decision-making. Goes to show that while we need governments to push regulation and policy, and even better we need corporates to take the initiative, we can actually have a huge impact through personal agency. He then lays out really nicely and clearly that we need to be better at: How we cook How we heat/cool the home How we heat water Transport Electricity supply. If we can nail these as a society then we can maybe drag government and corporates with us. . . .
Image by Gerald Lobenwein from Pixabay 2030 nature targets agreed in December may already be slipping out of reach (The Conversation) Climate change: multi-country media analysis shows scepticism of the basic science is dying out (The Conversation) National Geographic raises eyebrows with biodiversity tour of Asia and Africa by private jet (Eco-business) Record clean-power growth in 2023 to spark ‘new era’ of fossil fuel decline (Eco-business) World's climate plans make for a worrying read (Science Daily) Explainer: What is direct air capture and how can it fight climate change? (Reuters) China and Brazil to cooperate in stopping illegal trade fueling deforestation (CHN) Food Waste Makes Up 50% of Global Food Emissions, Study Finds (greenqueen) Volcanic microbe eats CO2 ‘astonishingly quickly’, say scientists (The Guardian) . . .
Image by Delynn Talley from Pixabay Last Saturday 22nd was of course Earth Day 2023. This is now an event that has finally permeated mainstream culture and consciousness. From the UN perspective, this was the 2nd Earth Day to occur in the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Ecosystem restoration is an interesting project as it intersects with so many other environmental, social and economic SDGs. But perhaps the biggest weakness is that the emphasis on Earth Day seems still to be on us as individuals to change our behaviour, and while that is super important and needs to happen, if it is only left to individuals then our efforts will be too slow and will hit barriers. We need governments and corporations to make clear policy changes so that individuals are capable of behaving in a way that does little or no damage and so that proactive steps are taken to fix what is damaged. . . .
