Hong Kong’s first blog for SDG education news and announcements
One of the great problems sustainability faces is that is it not taught in mainstream curriculums. The UK is a good case study of how governments have a tendency to conservatism and a resistance to change that the grassroots can often find frustrating. You can read an excellent overview of educational research from the UK published in The Conversation which has established the desire for government to drive sustainability much harder in schools. The UK government policy can be seen here. . . .
In late April, The UN Economic and Social Council annual Youth Forum took place virtually. The 2022 theme was: COVID-19 Recovery: Youth Taking Action for a Sustainable Future. This recognized that the pandemic has not only been a problem in its own right, but has had immensely damaging impacts on many of the already lagging paths to achieving the 2030 Agenda. There was also focus on the SDGs scheduled for review in 2022 – 4, 5, 14, 15 & 17. The full outline of the aims of the forum can be accessed here. The Presidential Statement of policy recommendations should be released soon. . . .
Our Ocean Conference Closes with USD 16.35 Billion in Pledges (IISD) A Global Partnership Yields Results: Local Change and Official Recognition for Civil Society Data (IISD) Relying on carbon capture to solve the climate crisis risks pushing our problems into the next generation’s path (The Conversation) As lithium reserves dwindle, Singapore EV battery recycling startup aims to plug supply gap (Eco-business) Chinese standard tries to kickstart a sustainable rubber revolution (Eco-business) Solar energy in Cambodia: lessons learnt from the SWITCH-Asia programme (Capacity4dev) Swapping 20% of beef for microbial protein ‘could halve deforestation’ (The Guardian) Is HSBC About To Get Hung Out To Dry For Greenwashing? (green queen) . . .
One of the biggest problems about transforming to more sustainable ways of doing things is that we often simply do not know whether the new method is actually less harmful than the original, let alone whether it is actually net positive. For example, the Climate Bonds Initiative recently released a Cement Criteria consultation about whether the cement industry should switch from coal burning to waste burning as a way to reduce impact. This would also allow them to tap into funds allocated for green financing. The problem is that there are many pitfalls from getting it wrong and doing more widespread harm to disincentivizing more impactful moves such as to renewables. Burning anything, including waste is always going to include harm. So there’s the dilemma. Allow changes even though they may not be great or block smaller steps in favour of bigger transformation? . . .
The IFRC is one of the oldest, largest and most varied of all civil societies. The fact it is now a Federation says it all! 8th May is marked by the IFRC as it is the birthday of Jean Henri Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (the original society which started the IFRC) and the first Nobel peace Prize recipient. In 2022, the theme is #BeHumanKIND. The IFRC notes that kindness is at the heart of any act that one human may do to help another in need. Anyone can get involved with simple activities. See their dedicated page: https://www.ifrc.org/world-red-cross-and-red-crescent-day . . .
Nuclear renaissance hinges on solving the waste issue (Eco-business) Critics question labelling of plastic products as 'eco-friendly' in Earth Day promo (Eco-business) Soy Protein Vs Soy Protein Isolate: What’s The Difference And How Are They Used? (green queen) 10 Trends Shaping Eco Travel In 2022: Exploration Meets Ethics (green queen) 50bn tonnes of sand and gravel extracted each year, finds UN study (The Guardian) EU unveils plan for ‘largest ever ban’ on dangerous chemicals (The Guardian) Here’s one way to burn less fossil fuel – use human energy to heat buildings instead (The Conversation) Meet the power plant of the future: Solar + battery hybrids are poised for explosive growth (The Conversation) . . .
The Seaweed Research Group at the University of Gothenburg Tjärnö Marine Lab are one of the foremost units looking at how seaweed can be a big part of a sustainable future. A number of cultures have a history of including seaweed in their diet, but ramping seaweed as a food source up to impactful levels and in a sustainable way is a whole different challenge. In addition, there is the potential for seaweeds to fulfil other roles such as animal feed, cosmetics, coastal protection, biofuel and more. They have a good video on seaweed as food on their website: https://www.gu.se/en/research/seaweed-research-group . . .
An article in The Guardian last week caught my eye as a real-life example of those philosophical brain teasers that high-schoolers are often presented with. You know the ones like who to throw out of the falling balloon to save all the others. In Tajikistan, recent experience has shown that by making the prey of the snow leopard the preserve of trophy hunters, sheep and goat populations have stabilized and thus snow leopard numbers have gone up. The key is that the money charged to trophy hunters is so high that it makes protecting the target populations the most logical financial choice for the local population who would otherwise see these animals as necessary for their own food provision. An interesting dilemma for the sustainability community. Read the full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/19/trophy-hunters-tajikistan-unlikely-saviours-snow-leopard-conservation-aoe . . .
