written by Joao Vilca Soto and with edits from Stephan Classen

Stephan (in italics): Something people don’t always realize is that sustainability- one of the things our college is known for – isn’t only about environmentalism- or environmental science. A larger portion of the world is now looking at what “sustainable development” means, and at the UN, designated Sustainable Development Goals for the world. Today, we’d like to introduce them to you broadly, and then go over various options and topics in the future.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals that cover various aspects of development from reducing poverty and hunger to improving quality education and work conditions. These 17 goals are more detailed than their preceding Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – and approach all aspects of society – to build a better world.

The MDGs were part of an effort by the United Nations to combat the indignity of poverty. Many countries and millions of people were suffering from extreme poverty and hunger, deadly diseases, and lack of even primary education. For 15 years from 2000 to 2015, the MDGs provided established measurable, universally-agreed objectives for countries to follow, and even though they were not met, they provided a lot of success, including:

More than 1 billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty (since 1990)

Child mortality dropped by more than half (since 1990)

The number of out of school children has dropped by more than half (since 1990)

HIV/AIDS infections fell by almost 40 percent (since 2000)

What the world learned from the efforts of the MDGs resulted in giving path to the SDGs that came out of a United Nations Conference in 2012. The new goals are a commitment to finish what we started with the MDGs and to tackle new challenges faced by the world today. Nowadays, with the threats of climate change, social injustice, and poor health/educational conditions the world is in danger of failing. So, this is the time where we must work together to solve these problems and develop partnerships and inclusive societies to build a more sustainable, safer, more prosperous planet for all.

These goals are something we hope can be incorporated in every aspect of society, and within our college culture as well. They connect with equity and inclusion with Goal 10 (Reduce Inequalities), and food security that our Kodiak Cave is addressing (Goal 2: No Hunger), and considers the greater concern of climate change (Goal 13) and peace and justice (Goal 16). In the next few blogs, and for some activities on campus, we hope you’ll join us in working towards the SDGs!

Learn more about what Cascadia is doing for sustainability:

On campus – blog – https://cascadiaupdates.wordpress.com/sustainability/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sustainabilityatcascadia/

Our newsletter – subscribe here.

On Campus features: http://www.cascadia.edu/discover/about/sustainability/sustainablecampus.aspx

