Julie Kinnaird | September 24, 2019
Recently all eyes have been on Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and several other formidable youth who are demanding action around climate change. The timing coincides with the meeting of the United National General Assembly (UNGA) where world leaders convene to discuss challenges and solutions for improving the lives of all on our planet. There are five critical summits being hosted this week at the United Nations in New York City. Front and center are the discussions on climate change, which was addressed at the Youth Climate Summit and the Climate Action Summit. Other critical issues being discussed this week focus on health care, inequality, poverty and more though the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development and the SAMOA Path-way Midterm Review.
In 2015 almost 200 countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals to guide what must be done to improve the health and well-being of the world’s population. Because today’s global problems call for global solutions, the 17 interconnected Global Goals are a universal call to action and a roadmap for all stakeholders to work together to end poverty and hunger, expand access to health and education, stamp out inequality, and more while creating a just and peaceful world and protecting our planet from environmental degradation. The goal to achieve all 17 goals is 2030. To see what leaders are discussing this week at the SDG Summit and for the latest facts and figures on each goal, visit the SDG Summit Overview.
To raise awareness and rally support of the Sustainable Development Goals September 20-30 has also been identified as the Global Week to Act for SDGs (#Act4SDGs), a call to action for individuals and organizations across the world to accelerate action for the global goals. Through an online campaign and network of activities and events thousands of cities across the globe are highlighting the actions they are taking in support of the goals. Everyone is encouraged to join the campaign to bring attention and action for achieving the global goals and improving health and well-being of all.
Want to learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals and how you can introduce the global goals in your classroom? Join us on October 16-17 in Chapel Hill for World View’s K-12 Global Education Symposium, The Sustainable Development Goals: Classroom Connections. During this day and half program, we will explore the 17 global goals and several strategies for introducing the global goals in curriculum. To see the full agenda of topics we will be discussing visit the Global Education Symposium website.