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12:24

Introducing Sustainable Development

In this chapter, Professor Jeffrey Sachs introduces the course "Sustainable Development: the Post-Capitalist Order" and defines sustainable development. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license. Please give attribution to the SDG Academy.

14:35

Why Sustainable Development is Important: Happiness and Wellbeing

This chapter describes why the concept of sustainable development is so important, why it is so important that we orient towards the three objectives of prosperity, social fairness, and environmental sustainability. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

05:08

Ocean Plastic: What to do about it

This video addresses the question of how to deal with the plastic problem in the ocean in a sustainable way. Scientists all over the world are busy researching what plastic means for the ocean. But what we are increasingly asking ourselves is: how do we solve this problem? Thing is, despite the gaps in the knowledge that we have and the obvious need to fill them, research and science alone cannot make any difference, unless they translate into action. Science can be seen as the backbone of…

10:48

Existing Structures of Global Governance

This chapter is about global governance and structures to deal with complex global environmental problems. Governance is a set of complex interactions between state and non-state actors at the global level.There are several key trends to look at in global environmental governance, including the increase in international environmental agreements and the involvement of more actors. These have led to fragmentation, segmentation, and decoupled decision making, as well as increasing inter-linkages…

14:56

Public Awareness and Consumer Activism

In this chapter, Professor Sachs talks about the importance of civil awareness of sustainable development and the desire of society to improve economic conditions, improve social inclusion, and move towards environmental sustainability. He provides cases of how citizens can be active, including ethical consumerism and behavioral shifts. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

15:37

Aggregate Demand with Flexible Exchange Rate

In this chapter, Professor Sachs discusses international trade and how it is affected by the exchange rate, which is in turn affected by financial flows and the differences of interest rates at home and abroad. There are two ways to manage the exchange rates of a country, namely by supply and demand, or by the central bank setting the price. This is explained using the case of exchange rate of Renminbi to the US dollar, as managed by the People’s Bank of China. Countries have the right…

06:17

Growth and Inequality

This chapter focuses on growth and inequality, and more specifically, the Kuznets Curve, in order to show the relationship between income per capita and inequality. Kuznets suggested that the relationship has an inverted U-shape. In the final stages of a country’s development, he argued, inequality would increase; after a certain point, however, inequality would decrease. This curve, and the points in question, are different for each country. The rise of inequality has had political…

07:33

The Challenge of Urban Politics, Planning and Governance, Part II

Urban politics comes down to making decisions with short, medium, and long-term impacts in a context of scarce resources between competing priorities, making planning very important. Types of planning include spatial planning, strategic planning or growth management planning, spatial literacy planning, precinct-level planning, and other intersectional types of planning. This is considered through the case study of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. Watch Part I This video is licensed…

10:57

The Role of Universities and SDSN

In this chapter, Professor Sachs discusses the role of universities in contributing to global partnerships for achieving the SDGs. He explains the history and formation of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, as well as its work as a global framework of universities. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.