UN Sustainability Goal:
Climate Action
The UN sustainability goal #13, is climate action, focused in Europe. “Climate Change continues to exacerbate the frequency and severity of natural disasters” (The Story of Stuff Project, 2009.) It’s disrupting national economies and affecting lives, with weather patterns changing, sea levels rising and natural disasters being more extreme. In Europe, people are seeing climate related hazards such as heat waves, droughts, windstorms, as well as forest fires. Climate change has affected Europe severely. “It has shown itself through rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding, agricultural soil contamination, and loss of animal habitats. Surface temperatures are also a problem along with mercury levels rising, oceanic heat waves that make coastal areas hotter and kill many, with heatwaves, and droughts” (Sustainable, 2021). Climate change has affected Europe along with the whole world. It is only now being prevalent and brought to attention, but it has been affecting the Earth since the industrial revolution. We need to take climate action in order to save the world from a polluted, Co2-filled wasteland.
(Contributed by: Hereiti Casey and Logan Ledesma) |
There are many global non-profit organizations addressing the SD Goal of climate action. 3 non-profit organizations that are researched are NOAA, IPCC, and EEB. Each of these 3 organizations take place in different places, and take different approaches, but they are all focused on one thing, climate action. “NOAA essentially works to understand and protect precious resources on a global scale. They monitor weather and climate, and work with partners around the world. (“World Wildlife Fund Canada | Our Story | WWF.CA,” 2021) “The IPCC was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options” (“IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” 2019). NOAA and the IPCC work on a global scale, assessing and monitoring the effects of the weather and climate change.“The EEB is the largest network of environmental citizensʻ organisations in Europe. It currently consists of over 170 member organisations in more than 35 countries (all EU Member States plus some accession and neighbouring countries), including a growing number of European networks, and representing some 30 million individual members and supporters” (“About EEB,” 2020). The EEB is centered around Europe and exist to develop sustainable development and create global equity so that future generations will be able to live in a healthy world with a safe climate in the future to come. These 3 organizations exist to spread awareness and take climate action. Each of these 3 organizations take place in different places, and take different approaches, but they are all focused on one thing, climate action.
(Contributed by: Hereiti Casey) |
Similar to Europe, Hawaii is having many issues with climate change and there are some non-profits that strive to address the problem of climate change in Hawaii. “Some of the recent fires, especially on the Big Island and the island of Maui, ravaged areas spanning some 10,000 acres. Since 2018 through last year, at least 75,107 acres across the islands have been lost to wildfires, by far the most devastating stretch in a decade and a half....More than 60 percent of land across Hawaii is currently considered “abnormally dry,” according to the National Drought Mitigation Center...”(“How Bad Are U.S. Wildfires? Even Hawaii Is Battling a Surge.,” 2021). Hawaii is being greatly affected by climate change in many ways such as, heat waves, droughts, windstorms, wildfires, rising sea levels, flooding and erosion, as well as rising sea temperatures. We can see that the wildfires are becoming even more severe in Hawaii than in the past and the conditions for wildfires to occur are becoming more common. Hawaii has many issues with climate change, just like Europe.
Some nonprofits here in Hawaii are addressing these issues, such as Blue Planet Foundation, Hawaii Water Environment Association, and Kōkua Hawaii Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Because of Hawaii's recent efforts in climate action, it has become a national leader in the use of clean energy. The Blue Planet Foundation has taken a big part in 2015, where Governor David Ige signed off on the very first 100% renewable energy goal in the nation, with Hawaiʻi’s goal to be fully dependent on renewable energy by the year 2045. Since they made it, Hawaiʻi has been holding strong and moving steadily up to it’s goal. “Our team of advocates led the charge for change, gathering testimony and delivering drawings and letters to legislators from more than 500 students, teachers, and community members to support the 100% bill” (100% Renewable Energy - Blue Planet Foundation, 2017). In 2020, Hawaiʻi worked to reach 30% renewable energy; in the end, they reached 34.5%. “Hawaiian Electric, the state's largest utility, reported this month that its 2020 generation mix reached 34.5 percent renewable across Oahu, Hawaii Island and Maui. Renewable production rose 13 percent from 2019.” (Spector, February 22 2021). This is one example of a non-profit and the state putting in effort and having success with the fight against climate change. We are getting closer to our goal of 100% renewable energy and with the help of these non-profits and the community putting in the work. (Contibuted by: Maile Kahele and Asaeli Hikila) |
APA Citations
Dr. David Brunt. (2020, March 5). Climate Change and the Future of Coatings Businesses. Pcimag.com; PCI Magazine. https://www.pcimag.com/articles/107133-climate-change-and-the-future-of-coatings-businesses
Harrabin, R. (2019, June 12). Climate change: UK government to commit to 2050 target. Retrieved July 19, 2021, from BBC News website: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48596775
Jackson, R. (2020, December 23). The Effects of Climate Change. Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/
Sustainable, U. (2021). Europe - Understanding The UN Sustainable Development Goals - Definition, History & Criticisms. Google Docs. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpuKSkHP9Q_JhEB8YGWjzaxEUvCa7uC_TIl1Xq71zLc/edit
The Story of Stuff Project. (2009). The Story of Stuff [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM
About EEB. (2020). EEB - the European Environmental Bureau. https://eeb.org/homepage/about/
EEB - The European Environmental Bureau. (2021). EEB - the European Environmental Bureau. https://eeb.org/
IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2019). Ipcc.ch; IPCC. https://www.ipcc.ch/
Sustainable, U. (2021). Europe - Understanding The UN Sustainable Development Goals - Definition, History & Criticisms. Google Docs. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpuKSkHP9Q_JhEB8YGWjzaxEUvCa7uC_TIl1Xq71zLc/edit
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2021). What is the significance of the NOAA logo? Noaa.gov. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/noaalogo.html
World Wildlife Fund Canada | Our Story | WWF.CA. (2021, March 9). WWF.CA. https://wwf.ca/about-us/our-story/
How Bad Are U.S. Wildfires? Even Hawaii Is Battling a Surge. (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/05/us/hawaii-wildfires.html?searchResultPosition=1
100% Renewable Energy - Blue Planet Foundation. (2017, April 27). Blue Planet Foundation. https://blueplanetfoundation.org/100-renewable-energ
Rock Your World Experience:
The Rock Your World experience was valuable to me in my everyday life because this program has taught me many new things, that I will carry on for the future. I was inspired by the many different people that spoke and especially, Sierra and Jess that regularly came to our classes. I learned a lot of important concepts from the guest speakers like how regular self-love and self motivation will help improve your life. An important quote that Sanah Jivani once said that inspired me specifically was that “the only thing anyone should change about themselves is the way they think about themselves” (Jivani, 2021) This helped give me motivation in my life to not judge or compare yourself to others. We often degrade ourselves, usually unconsciously, but we should learn how to appreciate ourselves more, so that we can appreciate others too. The Rock You World experience has given me the opportunity to learn many skills, life lessons, and knowledge that will help me progress in the future.
(Contributed by: Hereiti Casey)
(Contributed by: Hereiti Casey)
The Rock Your World experience was valuable to me in my everyday life as a member of my community because I really got to explore my own creative vision. I was able to gain newer perspectives towards what it meant to advocate as well as different ways to how I can advocate towards different issues. I was able to hear about different experiences in this field of work which really helped me with my Kahiau Project. Making our PSA also helped me see how we were looking over so many different solutions and opportunities to be sustainable. We learned a lot about how the first step to advocate for something is to first believe in yourself and to have that self-love to believe that you can do this and make a difference. A quote that really inspired me to do my best through this was said by Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series, he stated “It is our choices what truly show that we are, far more than our abilities”(Rowling,1998). This book series is one of my favorites and through this connection I was able to really push myself to do things to the best of my abilities.
(Contributed by: Logan Ledesma)
(Contributed by: Logan Ledesma)
The Rock your World program focused on me and how I wanted to take action against issues facing the world today. They placed a lot of importance in something called "creative activism". To me, creative activism is about making a change through expression, and exploring the different ways we can raise awareness, and finding which ways work best with you. The main objective of creative activism is to get your message across. The way you communicate your messgae or how you do it, is 100% up to you! This is one of the reasons why I look up to this method so much, because it implies that anyone can make a strong impact just by expressing themselves, their experiences, their passions and their ideas. I remember when Lee Garber Patel came to speak with all of us, their main message was to take creativity seriously and to understand the impact it can have . When Lee understood that their creativity was a gift, they were able to use their art to uplift communities, strengthen the oppressed and much more. The Rock your World program taught me how to use my creative freedom as an amplifier for my voice, so I can show my home, my community, and the world who I am and what I'm fighting for. Mahalo.
(Contributed by: Asaeli Hikila)
(Contributed by: Asaeli Hikila)
The RYW experience is valuable to me in my everyday life as a member of my community through teaching me how to share my ideas in a positive and persuasive way. Throughout this summer we have been taught many things and Ms. Jess has brought in many different guest speakers and the main topic we learned about through Rock Your World was creative activism. All of their guest speakers shared their experiences on how they used creative activism in their life and gave us advice on how we can find how we personally can act on topics we feel are important and share our ideas with our community and the world. I took out of this how I can share my own ideals to others. I learned that my strengths are more towards planning, scripting, and editing things and I utilized these strengths when planning and scripting our PSA. I can use this outside of school in the community to create PSA’s and put stories out speaking about topics I feel need to be fixed. I especially took a lot out of Sanah Jivani’s speech. Sanah had talked about loving and empowering yourself. She talked about caring for yourself and not putting yourself down because no one is perfect. She said, “To love others you must love yourself first...Having peace with yourself allows you to have peace with the world...If you are juggling many balls at once, you will drop one eventually and that’s ok” (Jivani, 2021). Sanah’s presentation was very valuable to me as it showed me that it is ok to make mistakes, to not be perfect, you should still love yourself so that you can love and help others. So that you can act upon what you think is wrong and make it better, but you must care for yourself first. And once you understand yourself, you know how you want to take action, and I learned that I can use my planning skills to help encourage others to act as well. So, as I had said before, the RYW experience has been very valuable to me, and I will be using my new knowledge in my everyday life, especially sharing my ideas in a positive and persuasive way.
(Contributed by: Maile Kahele)
(Contributed by: Maile Kahele)