Air Pollution – Are Masks Here to Stay?
Climate change can be witnessed everywhere, from melting glaciers to extreme weather events. A major contributor to climate change is pollution. There are different types of pollution – water pollution, soil pollution, plastic pollution, light pollution, noise pollution, etc. In this blog, I will be focusing on one of the most common and deadly pollution out there, air pollution.  Â
Disheartening Stats About Air Pollution Â
There are so many diseases and illnesses that are caused by air pollution. In major cities, young children are developing severe respiratory diseases without smoking or any other such related activities. As per the report published by Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, death related to ambient air pollution counts for 40% of all pollution-related deaths. India and China account for nearly 30% and 24% of global deaths caused by outdoor air pollution. Air pollution is a major threat in developed countries like the UK and the USA as well. In the UK air pollution causes nearly 40 thousand premature death each year and costs the government approximately £40 billion each year. In the US, nearly 60% of their population lives in areas that have poor air quality. Do we want a future where we must buy indoor air-filled purified cans so that we can breathe safely outside?
Watch: Sustainable and Unsustainable Practices Around The Globe  Â
Air Pollution and Health Problems Â
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally ambient air pollution contributes (stats from the WHO found here)Â Â
- 29% of all deaths and disease from lung cancer Â
- 17% of all deaths and disease from an acute lower respiratory infection Â
- 24% of all deaths from stroke Â
- 25% of all deaths and disease from ischaemic heart disease Â
- 43% of all deaths and disease from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Â
These are scary numbers when you think about it. The air we need to breathe to live can also be extremely hazardous to our health.  Â
Air Pollution – Who’s Fault and How Do We Move Forward? Â
There is no doubt that humans are causing this unprecedented amount of air pollution. Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of us have had to stay inside. This meant fewer cars on the streets, polluting industries shut down and flights canceled. All of which have resulted in a clean blue sky. Many reports are coming out that showcase how much pollution levels have decreased in these last couple of months. Just go on social media, numerous posts are talking about how beautiful the sky looks. All this possible when there are not many human activities on earth. It is a sign that once the pandemic ends, we need to lead a more responsible consumption and production life. Otherwise, we risk everyone one of our future generations to have respiratory problems. Â
How do we reduce the negative impact of air pollution? To start, we need to stop cutting down our forests and trees, the natural reserve that provides us with so much clean air, while also removing toxic gases like carbon dioxide. Polluting industries need to start taking responsibility towards mother earth and start following much stricter environmental policies and guidelines. If they fail to act on their own, governments need to intervene and ensure strict punishments are served. If we want to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 – Climate Action, changes need to start happening now. Otherwise, we risk living most of our lives inside because the air outside is too toxic to breathe.  Â
Browse Our Courses to Know More About Our Free Sustainable Development Course
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World Malaria Day: Is Zero Malaria an Unattainable Goal?
Every day more than 1000 people die because of Malaria. It’s appalling how despite years of awareness campaigns, breakthroughs in malaria vaccine, and healthcare policies, malaria is still one of the deadliest diseases.
World malaria day, observed on 25th April each year, is perhaps the right time to take stock of things. What are the lessons we learned from our past? What are the plans we have for the future?
For those who are pretty green to this topic, here is a brief background.
What is Malaria?
Transmitted by mosquitoes, malaria is not only treatable but also a preventable infectious disease. It is the female anopheles mosquitoes that are the carriers of this disease. Once infected, the parasite spreads in the body through the bloodstream affecting the liver. If left untreated, malaria can cause jaundice, kidney failure, and even death.
Regarded as a disease of poverty and inequity, mostly poor women and children are affected by malaria.
World Malaria Day 2020: Zero Malaria Starts With Me
It is estimated that close to USD 6.4 billion will be needed each year to fight malaria. The theme of world malaria day this year is “zero malaria starts with meâ€. The basic idea of this theme is to make every individual proactive in the fight against this infectious disease. For any visible change to happen, communities must be empowered at the grassroots level. Whenever a campaign is targeted at the grassroots level the ownership has been quite high and results have been positive. At this point, when the Sub-Saharan countries are grappling with the corona pandemic as well – this theme makes a lot more sense.
Read: COVID-19 and its Impact on the Three Pillars of Sustainability
Robust Healthcare Systems Backed With Sustained Investments
Whether it is covid19 or the global fight against malaria – the one storyline which has emerged is the dire need to invest in healthcare systems that are strong and affordable.
The first goal of any healthcare system should be to build awareness around the disease and provide guidance on how it can be contained. For instance, in the case of malaria, the local healthcare bodies should engage the local communities and engage them in simple actions that will help prevent the spread of the infection. The very theme of this year’s malaria day of zero malaria starts with me is inspired by a pan-African movement that has its roots at the local level. Proactive local communities can easily gain political attention which will, in turn, lead to better healthcare policies, robust health systems, and eventually defeat the spread of malaria.
Watch: How to bring down the cost of healthcare?
So to answer the questions raised earlier – the future steps for malaria are:
- Raising awareness at the grassroots level
- Building stronger healthcare mechanisms
- Having sustainable investments in health technology
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Earth Day 2020 – SDG Plus Celebration
It was on this day, 50 years ago, people around the world came together to celebrate the first-ever Earth Day. Today, we celebrate it as the largest secular observance in the world, one that witnesses nearly 1 billion people engaging from across 190+ countries. Since Earth Day 2020 marks the momentous 50th anniversary, I thought we would take a trip down memory lane to explore the origin story of Earth Day. Plus, I will let you know how our community SDG Plus will be honoring this important day.Â
Origin Story of Earth Day Â
As the golden age of capitalism was coming to an end in the 1960s, cracks in the environmental and social pillars of sustainability were slowly starting to reveal itself. More and more people were worried about the rapid industrialization that was adding waste to our precious environment. In the west, the publication of Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring†in 1962 was a major turning point. Her book critiqued the chemical industry for spreading misinformation about pesticides and its impact on human and environmental health. In the east, an environmentalist and social activist by the name of Chandi Prasad Bhatt was slowly gaining momentum among the people of India. He was using non-violent protests to demand forest rights and the need to maintain ecological balance. Â
As the 60s was coming to a close, the world witnessed many people joining the ranks of Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Rachel Carson in organizing environmental and social movements around the world. We now refer to this period as the birth of sustainability movements. To capitalize on this momentum, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin had a plan. Gaylord Nelson was concerned about the rapid environmental degradation that was happening in the US, with the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill fresh in his memory. Inspired by the non-violent anti-war protests from young students, Nelson joined hands with Denis Hayes, a young activist. On April 22nd, Denis Hayes and Nelson urged students to non-violently protest the negative impacts of industrialization. They named their protest march as Earth Day. Earth Day caught the eye of national media, which in turn inspired 20 million Americans to participate!Â
Since then, Earth Day has become a global phenomenon, with nearly 1 billion people engaging from across 190+ countries to show support for environmental protection. It was on this day in 2016, the UN’s Paris Agreement was signed by more than 120 countries. They aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent climate change. Â
Earth Day 2020: Launch of SDG Plus CoursesÂ
Since Earth 2020 marks the 50th anniversary, we here at SDG Plus wanted to do something special. For the past couple of months, our team has been working passionately to produce “the story of sustainability†course for our community. Nearing its completion, the SDG Plus team thought why not release this course for free on this year’s Earth Day? Well, that is exactly what we are doing! We are super excited to bring this to you for free. All you have to do is simply click here and it will take you to our “The Story of Sustainability†course YouTube playlist. While you are there if you do like our course, consider subscribing to our channel, we would appreciate it! If you have any feedback for us or want us to cover a new topic on sustainability, simply leave a comment. Â
We believe our course will easily help you experience the world of sustainability. Meticulous research has been done to create the script for these courses. The courses have been animated so that we could bring it to life and make learning fun and engaging. All our episodes have a unique lesson to teach Â
- Birth of Modern Sustainability:Â Learn how we went from world war 2 to the birth of modern-day sustainability movements.
- Theories and Principles of Sustainability:Â Walk with us through time and discover how our ancestors have learned and practiced sustainability.
- Origin Story of Millennium Development Goals: Learn about the rise and fall of the UN’s first 21st-century resolution, the Millennium Development Goals.
- Origin Story of Sustainable Development Goals:Â Will the Sustainable Development Goals overcome the challenges that plagued the Millennium Development Goals?
- Sustainable and Unsustainable Practices Around the Globe:Â With our global natural resources depleting at an alarming rate, learn how we can address this dilemma.
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Is Responsible Consumption and Production a Myth?
We all want a world where we are surrounded by a beautiful environment. However, with the way we humans are conducting our activities, consuming earth resources and destroying our nature, will we able to afford such a setting in the future? In this blog, we will explore how SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production plays a vital role in achieving this future.  Â
What is Sustainable Consumption And Production? Â
There are some key factors which we all need to consider with regards to sustainable consumption and production:Â Â
- Environmentally friendly Â
- Socially responsible Â
- Economically viable  Â
Therefore, we can say that sustainable consumption and production means the utilization of energy and resource efficiency so that we can all have a better quality of life. It ensures that people, planet and profit are all positively impacted in the long run. Â
Challenges in Achieving SDG 12 Responsible Consumption And Production  Â
1. Unsustainable Consumption Patterns Â
Our world cities only occupy 3% of the Earth’s land but still account for 60-80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon consumption. This is largely the result of un-planned development, with more focus given to economic development and less focus is given to environmental development. If this is what responsible consumption is going to be in a developed world, we all will face serious repercussions. For a sustainable future, we need to consume and utilize resources in an efficient manner. Â
Read: Are the Top 5 Sustainable Countries in the World the Best We Have? Â
2. Exploitation of Natural Resources
If deforestation became a country, it would win the bronze medal in global carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e). Everyone knows how precious forests are, they provide immeasurable value to us. Nearly 1.6 billion people directly depend on its resources for their livelihoods. Forests are our greatest asset to combat climate change, reduce poverty levels, solve world hunger problems and countless other sustainable development goals. However, we are doing nothing to preserve this precious natural resource. Forest is losing 500 trees every second and they are home to nearly 80% of animal and plant species on earth.  Â
Read: International Day of Forests: Jadav Payeng’s Jungle Book Story  Â
On the other hand, about 70% of fresh water is consumed in agriculture and if we do not manage our water efficiently, water scarcity will become a serious threat. As many say world war III can happen for water. Â
3. Plastic Waste GenerationÂ
50 billion tons worth of plastic will be manufactured by the year 2050. Most of these plastics are single-use plastics. In 2016, the world generated about 242 million tonnes of plastic waste and is expected to go up to 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050. World banks estimate that overall waste generation could go up to 70% and currently, only 13.5 % is recycled. All this plastic waste is choking our animals and polluting our environment. If no action is taken to tackle plastic pollution, everything we touch will turn into plastic. Â
4. Energy Consumption
Coal power plants emit a lot of harmful gases and pollute our environment. There are many alternative green energy solutions available. However, they have some limitations. For example, solar energy can only be harnessed during sunlight or wind energy requires a good velocity of consistent wind. Regardless, the shift to renewable energy is needed. For comparison, to produce 1 unit of electricity, solar panels produce 50 times less greenhouse gas emissions than coal power plants.  Â
Read: Shedding Light on Solar Panels  Â
Act Now for Responsible Consumption and Production
To achieve the SDG goal 12 responsible consumption and production, a lot more effort is needed from all of us. We are also animals who co-exist with nature. Therefore, we need to respect our environment and understand our responsibilities as sustainable citizens. Do we want our next generation of children to fight a war for water or face serious health problems because the air they breathe is too toxic? No. However, it is not too late to save our planet. If we act now and start consuming and producing resources more responsibly, our future generation will have a beautiful planet to live in. Â Â Â
Browse Our Courses to Know More About Our Free Sustainable Development Course
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World Heritage Day 2020: Sustainable Development Edition
You may be wondering, “what does heritage have anything to do with sustainable development?â€. With tomorrow being World Heritage Day, I thought this is the best time to answer this question. However, before we do that, we need to understand why heritage is important and what is the significance of having an entire day dedicated to celebrating it. Â
World Heritage Day’s Origin StoryÂ
Heritage plays a crucial role in helping us understand our ancestral history. It gives us insights into how our societies behaved in the past and how they have evolved over the years. In doing so, heritage has become the cornerstone of our cultural identity, highlighting our values and traditions. Utilising this rich heritage, we can explain why we are the way we are. Â
Most commonly, when people think of heritage, they think of historical sites and monuments like the Taj Mahal or the Sistine Chapel. Those are our tangible heritage sites, which largely consists of buildings and artefacts. There are two more types of heritage categories, the natural and the intangible. The natural heritage sites include our rivers, forests, native wildlife, birds and animals. The intangible heritage consists of our festivals, music, dance, folklore, knowledge, skills, etc. Â
Watch: Learn About India’s Traditional Art and The Nine Night Long Cultural CelebrationÂ
To recognise the importance of heritage, on April 18th, 1982 the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) proposed to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that the world should celebrate 18th April as International Day for Monuments and Sites, also known as World Heritage Day. UNESCO’s general assembly acknowledged this proposal in 1983, making this year the 37th anniversary of World Heritage Day. The day is to remind everyone about the diversity of cultural heritage that exists, the continued efforts needed to protect and preserve it and to draw awareness regarding its current state of vulnerability. Â
Sustainable Development: Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared ResponsibilityÂ
Now that we know why heritage is so precious to us, let us explore what role it plays with regards to sustainable development. We will begin by inspecting World Heritage Day 2020 theme. This year the theme emphasises on the concept of “Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibilityâ€. The idea is to showcase that everyone’s heritage is interconnected and that we share similar values and responsibilities when it comes to avoiding conflict and safeguarding for our environment. This is the core principle of sustainable development, that everything is interconnected, and only by working together can we achieve sustainability. Â
Aside from this year’s theme, conserving our heritage sites has an impact on all the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, social, and economic. Starting with the environmental pillar, a large portion of our heritage sites are natural heritage sites. Preserving these sites means protecting our biodiversity, strengthening our adaptability to climate change and natural disasters, preventing environmental degradation and exploitation of our natural resources. Heritage helps us recognise that humans have always co-existed with nature and not away from it. Â
Social development is at the heart of heritage conservation. The category of intangible heritage exists today because of the hard work from indigenous people and local communities in protecting cultural knowledge. They have passed this knowledge down to countless generations. Moreover, if heritage sites are maintained well by enhancing the quality of life and wellbeing around the site, it can potentially alleviate poverty and inequality. Finally, heritage sites are an important resource for economic development. They are a hotspot for tourism and if done right can generate additional jobs for the local community. Â
So, the answer to the question, “what does heritage have anything to do with sustainable development?â€, is everything. Apart from contributing to all the three pillars of sustainability, heritage sites provide intangible value to human well-being. Imagine a world without Machu Pichu, the Great Barrier Reef, Galápagos Islands, Serengeti National Park, Sundarbans, or the Ajanta Caves. How incredibly depressing would that be? Our culture and tradition of heritage gives us a sense of wonder, joy, and inspiration. Therefore, we must protect and preserve them. I am going to end this blog with a quote from Getano Lui, Jnr, who perfectly articulates the importance of heritage: “Maintaining one’s culture, values and traditions is beyond price.“Â
Browse Our Courses to Know More about Our Free Sustainable Development CourseÂ
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COVID-19 and It’s Impact On The 3 Pillars Of Sustainability
By the first week of April 2020, novel coronavirus (COVID-19) had spread to 209 countries around the world. This virus had originated from Wuhan, China. So far, it has infected 1.5 million people and has resulted in the deaths of 88,000 people. This prompted the WHO to declare coronavirus as a pandemic in early March.
The coronavirus has raised many questions all over the world on whether developed countries were prepared for such an outbreak. It is a genuine worry when countries like the USA, Switzerland, and Italy who have invested 18%, 12% and 8% of their GDP respectively in healthcare, have been brought their knees by the coronavirus. Let us explore what has been the economic, social and environmental impact of the coronavirus in the world has been and if there are any lessons to be learned. Â
Read: How Sustainable are Our Cities in the Face of Coronavirus?
About COVID-19
Before we start, let us understand what coronavirus is. As per the CDC (Centre for Disease and Control), there are 7 types of coronavirus. The first type of coronavirus was found in humans in the 1960s. Coronavirus or COVID–19 is one of them and has proved to be most contagious. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease – COVID-19 is caused by a virus that mainly affects the respiratory system. Â
The first case of the corona was discovered in November 2019 and by the 8th of April 2020, nearly 1.5 million people have been infected by this disease. This illustrates how fast the virus can spread in such a small time frame. What makes it contagious is that an infected person can spread the disease well before he/she shows or has any symptoms. Â
Economical Impact of CoronavirusÂ
Economic thought leaders have already acknowledged that COVID-19 will have more economic damage than the 2008 housing financial crisis. COVID-19 has caused an almost universal lockdown of global economies. This will surely affect global growth as well as the individual country’s GDP. Depending on how prepared each country was for the outbreak, their path to recovery will be that much faster. It could take anywhere between several months or even years to recover from this. According to the United Nations, the global economy could shrink by 1%. Combined with this, world trade is expected to fall by 13 to 32% in 2020 due to disruptions in economic activity. International Labor Organization (ILO) has also predicted that 25 million will lose their jobs because of COVID-19, affecting the informal working sector and micro and medium enterprise the worst. All of this is pointing to the fact that our economy was never ready for such an outbreak. This begs the question, is our economic model outdated and requires a reform similar to the one that happened after world war 2?Â
Watch: Unemployment: Are We Prepared for the Next Crisis?
Social Impact of COVID-19
Coronavirus has placed a high demand on PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), N95 masks, and ventilators. Countries and governments all over the world have been fighting to buy these. In times of crisis, we can witness how humanity rears its ugly head. However, we also need to remember the heroes. For example, Cuba sending its doctors to Italy to fight the pandemic. In a time of crisis, it is important that we help each other out and not fight among ourselves for resources. This is the message we need to send to our future generations. COVID-19 has also highlighted the need for universal health care. With so many people getting infected, many of them can’t even afford the treatment for the virus. What makes this worse is that when you realize many of these people are the ones who are out there making sure we still have access to our essential services. These are people in our grocery stores, delivery personnel, guards, etc. Our unsung heroes.Â
Watch: Dr. Devi Shetty on Quality of Healthcare and Cost of Healthcare
Environmental Impact of Coronavirus
Since most of the world has gone into some form of a lockdown, many non-essential industries have been shut down. There are lesser vehicles on the road. All of this has led to decreased air pollution levels.  Hence, many people have reported seeing a cleaner sky. However, these are only short-term effects. Similar trends were observed during the 2008 housing financial crisis, with a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. The question we need to ask is, what will happen if all industries open again? Will they start working at double or triple the speed to recover the economic losses?Â
COVID-19 and Lessons To Be Learned
In all that we have discussed today, it is evident that the global governing system and economic system need to be more robust and policies need to be in place to protect the most vulnerable. If we are to build a sustainable world and achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030, we need to act now. If anything, coronavirus has shown the whole world that there are major gaps and flaws in our economic and healthcare systems. Something hopefully our leaders and global organizations can learn from and fix it before it is too late. Â
Browse Our Courses to Know More about Our Free Sustainable Development CourseÂ
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Agenda 21 – A Prequel to The Sustainable Development Goals
Have you ever wonder why the United Nations (UN) calls the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the Agenda 2030? Well, get in for a mildly adventurous ride through recent history to find out!  Â
Our story starts in Stockholm in 1972. After nearly 10 years of environmental and social movements around the world, the United Nations finally acknowledged all these concerns at the Stockholm conference in 1972. Known as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, it led to the UN setting up environmental ministries around the world and establishing the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The Stockholm Conference became the central catalyst for creating Â
- The Brundtland Commission Â
- Agenda 21Â
- Millennium Development Goals; and Â
- Sustainable Development Goals Â
To Know More About These 4 UN Programs, Browse Our CoursesÂ
Pre-Agenda 21 – The Brundtland Era (1983-1987)Â
After the dust had settled from UN’s Stockholm conference, everything almost went back to normal. The conference almost felt like a fan service, an act to simply please the environmental and social movement audience. While some of these challenges and issues were being addressed by the newly formed UNEP team, it was nowhere near good enough. Countries were still predominantly focusing on economic growth instead of environmental and social development. As the global public frustration of the UN’s inadequacy started bubbling up again, the UN created the Brundtland Commission in 1983 to Â
- Save the environment and natural resources; and Â
- Prevent the deterioration of economic and social development Â
What a smash hit this was. The commission produced an iconic report in 1987 called the “Our Common Future†where they popularised the term ’sustainable development’. It was the first report to clearly articulate why sustainable development is critical and how world nations can achieve sustainable development. Â
Agenda 21 – First Global Goal on Sustainable DevelopmentÂ
The Brundtland Commission wanted to end on a high note, so they immediately dissolved after publishing their report “Our Common Future”. However, the UN was not ready to give up the momentum that they had just gained. They wanted to turn this sustainable development buzz into something more meaningful. Thus in 1989, the UN set out on a long journey to build on the success of Brundtland’s report. After 3 years of writing, drafting, consultation and negotiation, the UN finally created an action plan known as the Agenda 21. Â
Thrilled with their hard work, the proud UN presented the Agenda 21 in Rio de Janeiro on the 13th June of 1992. Agenda 21 was a non-binding action plan for countries to execute sustainable development at a local, national and international level. It was called the Agenda 21 because the UN assembly wanted to achieve its sustainable development targets by 2021. The 351-page action plan was divided into 4 sections (source)Â
- SECTION I: Social and Economic DimensionsÂ
- SECTION II: Conservation and Management of Resources for DevelopmentÂ
- SECTION III: Strengthening the Role of Major GroupsÂ
- SECTION IV: Means of ImplementationÂ
Post-Agenda 21Â Â
Agenda 21 was off to a great start; it received a truly great reception from the UN’s member countries. 178 governments voted to adopt the UN’s first global plan. However, its implementation was not smooth at all. In fact, it ran into many roadblocks: Â
- Since it was a non-binding action plan, many governments failed to take it seriously. Â
- Due to lack of funding, the UN Task Managers could not effectively monitor the implementation of the action plan overseas Â
- Global problems were starting to pile up – consumption inequality, financial crisis and the HIV/AIDs pandemic was running rampant. Â
The world was just not ready to accept sustainable development, yet. The UN realised that they might need to address immediate development concerns such as hunger, poverty, education and HIV/AIDs first. So, Agenda 21 was eventually put on a back burner. However, Agenda 21 never truly went away. It was always part of UN’s global conference of Rio+5 (1997), Rio+10 (2002) and Rio+20 (2012). Â
Finally, in 2012, the UN decided that enough was enough. The world needed sustainable development whether it liked it or not. Climate change related issues were starting to become a serious threat. The UN would turn to their first action plan one last time. They would go on to use the foundation of Agenda 21 to modify its goal, agenda and deadline. The world would come to know this “Agenda 2030″ as the SDGs.Â
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This World Health Day Support Nurses and Midwives
With the world engulfed in the cloud of coronavirus, the theme of supporting nurses and midwives this world health day is rather thought-provoking.
World Health Day: A Brief Understanding
Since it came into effect in 1950, the world health day is celebrated every year on the 7th of April. It is to have a conversation around or build awareness around some specific health concern or theme that this the day is commemorated for. Often the importance of the theme is not limited to this day alone; rather it lingers on to for the entire year – with activists, change-makers, and policy creators working on bringing visible positive change in the society based on the yearly theme.Â
This year, being the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the WHO has chosen to honor and support nurses and midwives on the world health day. With ‘universal healthcare’ being the main focus of the WHO, the need to build and reinforce the nurses and midwives community is highly critical.Â
Read: World Tuberculosis Day – Washing Your Troubles AwayÂ
Support to Nurses and Midwives in the Times of CoronavirusÂ
While the coronavirus pandemic has uncovered the pitfalls in the health systems and administrative policies of the world; it has also brought to the forefront the grit and dedication of the medical communities – especially the nurses and midwives. Pan-national infections like COVID-19 have highlighted the need to have a bigger and stronger medical team., particularly that of nurses and midwives. According to WHO, the world needs nearly six million nurses. This means that not only should more people be encouraged to pursue an education in nursing and midwifery take up nursing and midwifery as their education; but that this career path should be attractive enough for one to come forward and pursue it.Â
Today as the world grapples with the soaring number of coronavirus infected cases, the nursing community has become more relevant. The outbreak has also highlighted how without the nursing community the concept of treatment and care would be rather incomplete. It is in times like these that the civil society should give much-needed respect to the nurses who are tirelessly serving them.Â
What will happen once we overcome this pandemic? Do we have to wait for another pandemic to bring back the focus on this section of the medical community? Rather, it is time to act now and bring the much-needed change in perspective towards nursing and midwifery.Â
Many might think that providing more representation to the nursing staff in the leadership role will pave the path for a better future. If you think about it, this would be like running even before one learns to walk. If we intend to support the nurses and midwives, we need to get the basic foundation right. This will mean building frameworks through which they can overcome the socio-economic and professional barriers. Once these barriers are demolished, every nurse and midwife will get the power to make a full-fledged individual contribution towards universal healthcare.Â
Coronavirus has also underlined the need to:Â
- Aid nurses and midwives in health promotion and disease preventionÂ
- Bring nurses and midwives to the forefront of primary healthcare servicesÂ
- Most of all, to invest in nursing and midwifery leadershipÂ
The medical community is well-known for its commitment to duty and service to mankind. The nurses and midwives, often seen on the lower rung of the medical workforce, play a highly critical role in patient healthcare. It is time that global organizations and world leaders invest in enhancing and improving the working conditions of nurses and midwives world over. Â
Browse Our Courses to Know More about Our Free Sustainable Development CourseÂ
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Rethinking Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Industry, innovation, and infrastructure are key driving forces behind economic growth and development. With nearly 55% of the global population living in cities, making good progress in this sustainable development goal (SDG) will be crucial. With only 10 years left to achieve it, let us see how far we have come and whether we need to radically change our approach to cross the finish line. Â
Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – How Did It All Start?Â
Majority of what we are now referring to as SDG 9 started with the industrial revolution, which occurred between 1700 and 1900. The countries that took part in this revolution saw their economy grow at a very fast pace. However, during this time, the problem of inequality became severe. This industrialization created a big gap between the rich and poor. A problem that was never solved and has grown to become a serious threat to modern-day society. Â
Read: No Poverty, No Problem?Â
Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – Current State of Affairs
Since the industrial revolution, the world currently has developed more than 64 million km of road, 4 million km of railways and 1.2 million km of internet cables. And yet, still many parts of the globe remain underdeveloped and do not have access to basic amenities (stats from United Nations Development Programme): Â
- 2.3 billion have no access to basic sanitationÂ
- More than 4 billion do not have internet Â
- 2.6 billion people don’t have access to electricity Â
- 50% of the population don’t have access to basic health care servicesÂ
- 50% don’t have access to basic educationÂ
Even though global GDP has grown from 1.3 trillion dollars from 1960 to 85.4 trillion US dollars in 2018, it is evident that this wealth of development has not been distributed equally. It is even more mind-boggling when you realize that world cities only occupy 3% of the Earth’s land but still account for 60-80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon consumption. Is this the type of industry, innovation, and infrastructure we are aspiring to be?Â
Watch: Unemployment – Are We Prepared for the Next Crisis?
Resolving Industry, Innovation, and InfrastructureÂ
Our world may have advanced a lot in terms of technology and infrastructure, but still, a large portion of our population doesn’t have access to basic amenities. To make things worse, the world’s richest 1% own half of the world’s wealth, stifling any meaningful progress. These facts are all screaming to let us know that we need to rethink how industry, innovation, and infrastructure needs to be developed. If we want to achieve this SDG 9 and other SDGs that are connected to this, development and resources need to be distributed evenly. Moreover, a lot more funds are required in research to build sustainable infrastructure, that is both economical and environmentally friendly. After all, nearly 70% of the earth’s population will be living in cities by 2050. Finally, if the top 1% richest people in the world and corporate companies invest heavily in sectors like education, health, and renewable energies, we will be able to achieve universal sustainable development in no time. Â
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- Published in Blogs
On Tomorrow’s Menu – Lab Grown Meat
If I told you to draw a room that accurately represents the number of mammals living in the world, what would you do? Like me, you might draw a couple of elephants, a few lions, some monkeys and maybe even a human. Unfortunately, we are both incredibly mistaken. We needed to draw a lot more cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens because out of all the mammals in the world, 60% are livestock and 36% are human! This is the outcome of large-scale unsustainable industrialized animal factory farms. Let us find out how unsustainable this system is and whether there is some way we can fix this.  Â
Read: Into the Wild
Industrialized Agricultural Systems – Story of Unsustainable Food Production
A study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2007 revealed that our agricultural practices was occupying 38% of the world’s land area and were responsible for 70% of global freshwater consumption. When this report first came out, people were both surprised and confused. Firstly, how can humans use so much land for food production and yet continues to struggle with global hunger problems? People started delving deeper to find out why this was the case. What they found out was even more alarming:Â
- 33% of agricultural land is used for livestock feed productionÂ
- Only 55% of the world’s crop is being used to feed humansÂ
Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations tried to set the record straight by saying that “86% of livestock feed is not suitable for human consumptionâ€. However, it still does not justify the fact that still a large portion of land is dedicated to livestock feed production. You may argue saying that, in the end, it is we who eat these animals. This is a good argument, but we are doing this in the most inhumane way possible. This livestock is not biologically designed to eat these crops. So, to prevent them from getting infected and ill, tons of antibiotics are used on these poor animals. Ignoring the obvious animal rights concerns, this has a major impact on our health and environment. In the end, not only are we highly inefficient in using our agricultural lands to produce food, but we are also doing it in the most unethical way imaginable. How do we overcome these challenges and promote sustainable farming practices? Â
Lab-Grown Meat the Way Forward For Sustainable Agriculture Â
Lab-Grown meat or cultured meat has come a long way. In August 2013, the world’s first lab-grown burger was cooked and eaten in London. Back then, it did not look or taste like a burger and it cost $280,000 to make. However, technology has come a long way. It can now produce meat that is biologically identical while being able to look and taste the same. Companies like Mosa Meat and Biotech Foods could even potentially bring us burgers for $10 by 2021! That means we can eat all the meat we want without straining the environment and the animals. Â
However, we need to take this with a grain of salt. A lot of these companies have not made their scientific data available for independent researchers to review. This means we do not know how much water and electricity will require to produce. Therefore, we are still unaware of how environmentally friendly this will be. Nevertheless, it is a promising sustainable agricultural future that we can all look forward to with hope.Â
- Published in Fact-On!