Education is the birthright of every child around the world. It is often hailed as a cornerstone of societal development by equipping individuals with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and in today’s world it also plays a pivotal role in achieving global sustainability. In this blog, I shall delve into the importance of integrating the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into education and how this can lead to a brighter and more sustainable future for all.
The issue of climate change has long plagued the global community, exacerbated by natural disasters, and posing existential threats to vulnerable nations. In response to this pressing concern, the Loss and Damage Fund has emerged as a beacon of hope, aiming to support the most affected countries.
Arthur Koestler [1905 – 1983] made a major impact by shining a light on the need of fair, humane conditions for people in detention. He published harrowing accounts of his own imprisonments at the beginning of WW2 and lobbied against capital punishment, which was still legal in the UK at the time. In 1962, he personally initiated and sponsored the Arthur Koestler Award.
Disability is diverse and subjective. Many people develop long-term health conditions, and when that happens, two things occur: firstly, everything becomes intensely medical, to ‘cure’ or ‘manage’ the condition. Secondly, there’s no handbook for becoming or identifying as disabled. Sometimes there may be a cognitive dissonance regarding what condition a person lives with and an acceptance of that as disabling.
With on-going environmental destruction around the world and insufficient action being done to tackle climate change, the question arises: why is humanity seemingly bent on making the planet uninhabitable?
It’s bin day and you’ve done your job: carefully separating the plastics from paper, paper from cardboard, cardboard from glass, and food waste from everything else. By the evening the streets are cleared and your recycling is out of sight and mind. But where has it gone?
Living in the Middle East, we are lucky enough to enjoy year-round sunshine and beautiful beaches where we can easily explore the underwater world and the coral reefs scattered across the coast. Unfortunately, coral reefs around the world are dying due to damaging activities such as coral mining, pollution, overfishing and climate change – to name just a few issues.
This week, we interviewed Dr. Morgan Phillips, co-director of the Glacier Trust, an NGO that enables climate change adaptation in Nepal. Morgan is author of the upcoming book Great Adaptations.
Disability representation in publishing is on the rise. The Publishers Association stated in their 2020 diversity and inclusion report that the proportion of people within the workforce with disabilities has risen from 5% in 2018 to 8% in 2020. Despite this increase, disability remains under-represented: according to the Publishers Association, there are 13.3 million disabled people in the UK – just under one-fifth of the population.
The term ‘Just Transition’ has come from the trade union movement and encapsulates their demand that workers do not lose out in the move away from fossil fuels towards a zero carbon economy. Those whose jobs will be lost need to be given support and training to move into new jobs in transforming our buildings, energy system and transport.