Sustainability and me

 Sustainability and me 

History of sustainability

 After researching sustainability and its history, I have learned many things. I have learned that sustainability first became a major concern with industrial communities around the 18th century. During this period, there were many advancements like factory-type jobs. But as technology got better many people no longer needed to do these types of jobs since machines could get it done quicker and more efficiently. But that increased the rate of smoke being admitted into the air. Many areas of the country were being destroyed to build cities. This accumulation of smoke from cities and factories caused fish to die and pollution to move into water sources like streams or rivers. Due to there being no regulations, the amount of emissions found in the environment began to increase. This caused the first environmental protection group to form. This group was known as “The Society for the Protection of Birds.” This was the first-ever environmental protection group. Their main goal was to try and protect the earth and its resources. The U.S. also started t0 try and protect national parks. In the 20th century, In England, around 1952, there were over 12,000 people who died and 10,000 people who got sick due to air pollution. This caused the clean air act to be created. the clean air act is defined as “The Act introduced a number of measures to reduce air pollution.” (Clean Air Act 1956,2021.) A book known as “Silent spring” soon came out after these events and was published in 1962. This book changed the way people thought about the environment. Until this book came out, many people thought sustainability was only about protecting the environment. They never even thought about how the smoke in the sky could be affecting their health. Her book also caused more regulations that were put on companies releasing fumes into the air. The clean water act controlled how much pollution was released into bodies of water. Her book caused the formation of EDF, also known as the environmental defense fund. The environmental defense fund is still around today. Their mission is to preserve the environment. The first earth day was April 22, 1970. It involved a protest against polluting the earth; like earth day, another big event occurred in the 1970’s. This event was the creation of the NRDC was formed in the 1970’s in was created by a group of scientists concerned about how much we were using up environmental resources. The United Nations summit occurred in 1972. This summit discussed essential issues in which they talked about pollution, pesticides, and more. More importantly, they had talked about the Minamata Disaster. In which over a thousand people had passed away because mercury was added to the water. The Endangered Species Act was created in 1973. It was created to protect and maintain the habitat of endangered species like plants and fish. The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resource Planning Act was created in 1974. It was created to protect forest resources and make sure these resources are not used up too quickly. In the 1980’s another problem people had faced was climate change. It is the change in the earth’s climate over a long period of time. In 2000 the 8 MDGs were created, and In 2015 the United Nations created the seventeen SDG’s after they signed the Paris agreement 

  

The 17 SDGs 

The 17 SDGs were goals created from the eight MDG's to protect the planet and everything on it further. 

The first goal is "No poverty." The purpose of this goal is to end all poverty by 2030. 

The second goal is known as "zero hunger." The purpose of this goal is o make sure everyone on the planet does not go hungry and has access to food and nutrition whenever they need it. 

The third goal is "good health and wellbeing." the purpose of this goal is to make sure everyone, no matter what age, is as healthy as they can be. 

The fourth-goal is "quality education." The purpose of this goal is to make sure everyone on the planet gets an equal and quality education. 

The fifth-goal is "gender equality." The purpose of this goal is to make sure women and girls get the same opportunities as men. 

The sixth-goal is "clean water and sanitation." The purpose of this goal is to make sure clean water is available and make sure every person has the opportunity to have good hygiene habits. 

The seventh-goal is "affordable and clean energy." The purpose of this goal is to make sure everyone on the planet has some form of electricity. 

The eight-goal is "economic growth and decent work." This goal aims to try and make sure a job is available to every person no matter their background. 

The ninth goal is "industry, innovation, and infrastructure." The purpose of this goal is to look at new ways of doing business which could lead to better ways for trucks to deliver food, trains to move people, and for electric and water companies to deliver electricity and water to third world countries.

The tenth goal is "reduced inequalities." This goal aims to give people the same opportunities in their own country and other countries. 

The eleventh goal is "sustainable cities and communities." The purpose of this goal is to make sure everyone has a roof over their head, and no one goes homeless. 

 The twelfth goal is "responsible consumption and production." This goal aims to make people realize that we should not use up resources that can't grow back. 

The thirteenth goal is climate action. The purpose of this goal is to convince people to take quick action against climate change to save the planet.

The fourteenth goal is life below water. The purpose of this goal is to protect the world's oceans and the things living in them. 

 The fifteenth goal is life on land. This goal aims to manage the forest and protect the forest's resources and the plants and animals living in it.

The sixteenth goal is "peace, justice and strong institutions." The purpose of this goal is to make sure that everyone, no matter what their background, has the same rights when it comes to the justice system and that every person has the same chance to get into the college of their dreams. 

The last goal is "partnership for the goals." This goal aims to create strong global partnerships to make sure goals 1-16 get completed promptly.

If I had enough time to teach the students, I would go in-depth to give my students a better understanding of all of the goals and why they are important and necessary to protect the planet.