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09:26

Introduction: The Oceans and Sustainable Development

The global ocean connects us all and provides our livelihoods, the oxygen we breathe, and transportation, among other things. The ocean is included in SDG 14. This course will try to provide a deeper understanding of the complex understanding of the ocean, environment, and climate system. Humans receive resources from the ocean, as well as risks. There will be weekly lectures on different topics, including the basic physics of ocean circulation, the ocean ecosystem, how the deep ocean works,…

11:52

Getting to Know the SDGs

An introduction to the course Transforming Our World: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Jeffrey Sachs profiles the history of the sustainable development agenda, from the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, to the creation and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. The chapter provides a brief overview of what each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are and how to achieve their associated 169 targets. This…

05:00

Project Tujenge: Solar-powered water purification

In 2022, the University of Pretoria's "Team Tujenge" earned second place in the international student competition “Universities for Goal 13” for their small-scale, solar-powered water purification system using plasma technology. The competition is an annual partnership between SDSN and SIEMENS Gamesa. Team Tujenge (meaning “Let’s build” in Swahili) worked under the supervision of Dr Samuel Iwarere, Head of the UP Plasma Research Unit and Senior…

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.

05:32

Roots of Gender Inequality

Gender inequality has its roots in differences between men and women in society. These result from social constructions of relations, which in turn stem from sexual divisions of labor rooted in biological differences between the genders, such as the ability to breastfeed. Women’s roles are valued less economically, and women also often have limited mobility and are confined to the domestic sphere. Women often experience many types of discrimination–including social,…

10:11

The Holistic Design of Public Policies for SDG 15

In this chapter, Virgilio Viana discusses holistic approaches to the design of public policies policies for sustainable development using his experience as state secretary in the state of Amazonas. Government manages forests, agro-ecology, research programs on ecology, economic policies and resource management. Economic incentives such as taxes are necessary to manage externalities to society as a whole. Rural development, which is mainly agriculture and land tenure, is important for forest…

53:08

Conversation with Lauren Benton, They Called It Peace

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and American historian Lauren Benton for a discussion on the hidden histories of empires and the lasting impact of imperial violence. In her book They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence, Benton uncovers how European powers built and maintained their empires through relentless cycles of raiding, slaving, and plunder—while portraying their conquests as missions of order and peace.Together, they explore the brutal mechanics of colonial expansion, the…

04:37

Nature’s Solutions for Planetary Health: A case study from Borneo

This video is the second video of unit 1.1 of the course Nature-based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience taught by Nathalie Doswald, Mikhail Fernandes, and Xinyue Gu. What are ‘Nature-based solutions’, or NbS? How can they help build resilience to disasters and climate change impacts? Why is NbS relevant? How can I apply NbS in my work and everyday life?In this online course, UNEP and environmental experts from around the world will provide you with answers to those…

05:25

Urban environmental health to infuse SDGs in the classroom

In this video, Charles-Antoine Rouyer, a course director at York University's Glendon campus, discusses how he infuses the SDGs into his courses using urban health and human environmental health promotion, including illness-cost of pollution, in two courses: "Communication, Health and Environment" and "Urban Ecology and Urban Health". You can also watch the video on their Youtube Channel: YU SDGs-in-the-Classroom Hub. For additional resources on SDGs-in-the-classroom,…