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18:03

The Basic Science of Climate Change

This lecture serves to explain the basic science behind climate change, highlighting how human interactions with the climate are spurring on further climate change. This video is not available under a Creative Commons license and should not be considered open content. However, the video is freely available for viewing or sharing with individuals or groups for educational purposes, such as in a classroom, workshop, or training. Please give attribution to the SDG Academy. Content may not be used…

06:59

Measures of well-being

Societal progress is about improvements in the well-being of people and households. Assessing such progress requires looking not only at the functioning of the economic system but also at the diverse experiences and living conditions of people. Learn about measures of well-being in this video. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

10:44

What Are Human Rights and Why Do We Need Them?

Joshua Castellino addresses why the world needs human rights. He questions how the order that is created by governmental and social systems pays attention to justice. He traces the history of justice from Ancient Greece to the present day and outlines the four primary reasons that the world needs human rights. How can human beings access their rights? How do we prioritize rights? This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

34:52

The Greenhouse Gases and Feedbacks

This chapter discusses anthropogenic greenhouse gases and climate forcing. It is important to note that carbon dioxide and other emitted gases mix with the atmosphere and have an effect on global atmospheric concentrations in a uniform way. Methane is emitted mainly from agriculture and landfills, or as escaped gas from natural gas pipelines’ nitrous oxide comes from fertilizer use and other industrial processes; HFCs and other industrial pollutants are used in such limited amounts that…

10:59

A Brief History of the SDGs

This chapter presents the origins of the SDGs, how they arose and why? The chapter conveys the core idea that clear goal-setting is essential for progress and examines the process through which the SDGs were established. Dr. Sachs begins a discussion of historic development by reaching back several decades to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972) to the Millennium Development Goals to the present. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

02:50

Ecosystem-based Adaptation - Trailer

Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA); also known as nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation) is increasingly gaining policy support and being implemented by diverse actors around the world. EbA is defined as “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.” It involves the conservation, sustainable management, and restoration of ecosystems, thereby enhancing the…

59:05

Conversation with Robert Lustig, Metabolical

In this conversation, Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Dr. Robert Lustig discuss the relationship between nutrition and non-communicable disease, the dangers of processed foods, and Lustig's new book Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

09:01

Intangible cultural heritage and preventing and solving disputes

This chapter reflects on how living heritage can help to prevent and resolve disputes. By way of diverse examples, learners see how communities have created over centuries highly elaborated systems and local social practices to respond to specific social and environmental contexts, to help regulate access to shared spaces and natural resources, to reduce inequalities as well as to enable people to live peacefully together. The cultural relevance of these systems and practices to enhance…

11:13

Towards a New Virtue Ethics for Sustainable Development

I think it's important that the the fundamental teachings of Buddhism include interrelatedness. We call it "dependent origination." Buddhist economics is in contrast to the modern economics. Profit maximization, maximum margin, desire, is not in conformity with the Buddhist principles. So, in order to overcome suffering poverty, I believe that this notion, approach, and virtue—not focusing on profit maximization but surrendering and emptying ourselves—practicing…