Read the following and comment on whether you think that these goals are compatible with an ecologically healthy environment and whether these goals are achievable from within our current dominant paradigm. (If we believe in these goals are we willing to do what it takes to reach them?)
Comments due by February 16, 2018
Imagine the world in 2030, fully inclusive of persons with disabilities
In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, the new Agenda emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all.
The SDGs also explicitly include disability and persons with disabilities 11 times. Disability is referenced in multiple parts of the SDGs, specifically in the parts related to education, growth and employment, inequality, accessibility of human settlements, as well as data collection and the monitoring of the SDGs.
Although, the word “disability” is not cited directly in all goals, the goals are indeed relevant to ensure the inclusion and development of persons with disabilities.
The newly implemented 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development holds a deep promise for persons with disabilities everywhere.
The year 2016 marks the first year of the implementation of the SDGs. At this critical point, #Envision2030 will work to promote the mainstreaming of disability and the implementation of the SDGs throughout its 15-year lifespan with objectives to:
- Raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs for persons with disabilities;
- Promote an active dialogue among stakeholders on the SDGs with a view to create a better world for persons with disabilities; and
- Establish an ongoing live web resource on each SDG and disability.
The campaign invites all interested parties in sharing their vision of the world in 2030 to be inclusive of persons with disabilities.
Please forward your comments, suggestions, references and/or new information on the SDGs and persons with disabilities to enable@un.org or follow us @UNEnable on Facebook and Twitter and use hashtag #Envision2030 to join the global conversation and help create a world in 2030 that is fully inclusive of persons with disabilities.
The Sustainable Development Goals, though admirable in what they aim to do, will be hard to achieve. They may not be impossible but countries would have to work incredibly hard to try and satisfy everything that is required to reach these goals. However, the main problems with these goals is that they are broad in scope, encompass multiple fields within one goal (such as poverty related to climate change), thus requiring people from many different disciplines and walks of life to collaborate to find solutions, and there is no one to enforce these goals. Though each country has set forth their own parameters and goals for cutting emissions, there is nothing really preventing them from pulling out, such as what happened in regards to the Kyoto Protocol. However, as people become more aware of climate change and its effects on the environment and the Earth as a whole, they will become more motivated to do what they can to try and mitigate the problem, or at least that is my hope. However, with the United States pulling out of the Paris Accord, it is hard to say what this will mean for the remaining countries, the United States itself in terms of carbon dioxide and fossil fuel emissions, and for the world as a whole. However, if countries do manage to make some progress on these goals, it is possible we can mitigate some of our affects on the climate and reach a relatively healthy environment once more.
ReplyDeleteYang Peidong
ReplyDeleteSustainable development has been an increasingly important issue for the whole world in face of the deteriorating environment, and the expansion of imbalance between rich and poverty. General Assembly in 2015 adopted 17 sustainable development goals, building on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, including no poverty, zero hunger, affordable and clean energy, and climate action and so on. Creating a sustainable society which has zero poverty, and pollution, and inequalities, is definitely a fantasy for everyone. However, I think it is quite a hard task to realize all these goals in the construction of sustainable development. Firstly, in order to repair the destroyed ecosystem and protect the habitats of wild animals, we need to spare more areas for rehabilitation. For example, U.S government is working actively to find and secure areas as wilderness corridors. The expansion of wild areas also means the shrinkage of areas for people’s settlement, and the space limit will result in higher density and smaller housing units. On face of the growing population and limited spaces, the price for house will definitely increase, and this is the second problem, the high cost of living. Limited areas left for people not only means less places for settlement, but also less places for growing food. The cost of daily necessities will undoubtedly increase due to the reduced supply. The third problem is the visible distortion of justice. Imagine, when government draw a line between the wilderness corridor and the city, wealth of residents within the scope of city will flourish rapidly merely due to the boom of house price. However, as for people outside the scope need to face huge economic and mental burden to resettle in the city. These victims of “greater good” lose their individual freedom because they can’t even protect their houses if they resist the requirements of the government.
Therefore, I think there are many unexpected obstacles to achieve sustainable development
Although these goals may be things that everyone would idealistically want, they are not necessarily realistic. Setting a goal as broad as no poverty and zero hunger would be especially difficult to achieve. Our system is based on the fact that there is competition, and with competition comes winners and losers. Unfortunately, there is always going to be some people at the bottom. While it may be possible to bring some individuals out of poverty, this does not seem like a goal that is going to be possible to reach in just 12 years. Some of the other goals, such as gender equality, quality education, and climate action, are a bit more realistic. These goals are some that we have made major strides in recently, and I think people are more willing to do the work to achieve these goals. In short, I feel that whether we achieve these goals or not depends greatly on how hard we are willing to work towards them.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Arciszewski
ReplyDeleteAlthough these all seem to be amazing goals in the field of Sustainability. They are definitely not a one hundred percent reality. The goals set in place are possible to an extent. However, in the aspect of having a completely sustainable environment it doesn't seem possible. Some of the goals put in place seem attainable, however it is absolutely necessary for all countries to be on the same page. If there is not a global consensus; it doesn't seem like most of these goals will be attained. There will always be those who go agaisnt the system. For example, in Goal 14: Life Below Water, one goal is to eliminate overfishing. There will always be poachers, and the only way it would seem possible if there were workers monitoring all waters 24/7. Otherwise, there are opportunities for people to break the SDG's. Another example of why I find these goals to be possible but somewhat unrealistic is Goal 10: Reduce Inequality... I find this to be impossible because there will always be people who have prejudice towards others. Yes, there are programs in play but in the end, it is up to the hiring manager. In reality, Goals such as 1 & 2 would be extremely difficult to achieve. Eliminating poverty and hunger is similar to the concept of having world peace. It is almost next to impossible. Also, there needs to be rules in play from preventing countries from pulling out of their goals. For example, how the United States left from the Paris Agreement. These goals seem to focus on a perfect world. We would need to change pretty much all aspects of life across the board. A paradigm shift would be inevitable because our understanding of life in today's current form would be completely different if goals were achieved by said 2030, etc.
Nicholas Arciszewski
The Sustainable Development Goals are very ambitious and the fact we are already in Year 2 of implementation it looks at if we haven't gained any traction at all. I believe these goals would be more attainable if done on a smaller scale. Since it would be easier to convince a smaller group of people that their well-being is more important than things that have no intrinsic value. It isn't plausible to level out the playing field when it specifically caters to the rich. It doesn't seem likely they would have any aspirations in helping alleviate poverty. The ideology held by those that created SDG don't share the same philosophy of those in power. Goal 6 is titled clear water and sanitation, we are already failing in the aspect that we haven't found a solution to the crisis happening in Flint, Michigan. How are we suppose to have a global conversation? When we can't even get it right in our own backyard. We can look to quality education and clearly observe the difference in education from low income neighborhoods, to affluent neighborhoods and it's quite vast. Many of the SDGs are already in jeopardy because we have private organizations that have become lucrative because they stand on the opposite side of many of these goals. The administration in place at the moment doesn't hold in high favor many things on this goal list. The bottom dollar has always been more important and it's more prevalent now than ever.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the goals are not achievable since they are too ambitious. For example, the chances of ending extreme poverty by 2030 are very slim. The number of people in poverty would have to decrease by 50 million each year for that to happen. It would also require a ton of funding and high levels of economic growth. Although the Millennium Development Goals, 8 goals that were aimed to be achieved by 2015, cut the amount of poverty in half, extreme poverty has went up since that time. I feel that all 17 goals are almost dependant on one another. Ending world hunger is a symptom and cause of poverty. So if poverty does not change, hunger will not either. The fact that there are 17 goals and 169 targets is another reason why I believe they can not be achieved. That is too much to tackle, not to mention the high cost at which these goals will need to be achieved.
ReplyDeleteDeShawn McLeod
ReplyDeleteMy first comment to a feat like this is: thank you for your commitment to bettering humanity. However, with a hint of pessimism, I silently question the feasibility of this set of goals. The first 10 goals take into account issues that humans have been trying to figure out for the past few centuries. Why does this initiation believe that will conquer these issues within their 15 year period? Sometimes I think, we these declarations of changing the world, maybe it needs to be segmented so that instead of one organization trying to solve 17 unique, multi-faceted problems, 17 problems can be solved by 20 organizations. If we were the divide the number of goals with the amount of time allotted, they’d spend a year and a couple of months working on each issue, if they equally divided time between all goals.
Big feats by the year 20-something isn’t a campaign the public would likely back. Marketing is what rules and marketing around environmental issues is not as heavily used as opposed to marketing for Apple products. It’s not just about the work anymore, it’s about how its presented, branded, and marketed. What channels is this message going through? It feels like ‘Inception’ when trying to conquer issues that plague humanity.
Where do we start?
Like my peers have said, in an ideal world, the objective is to create a sustainable society with no poverty and pollution, and no inequality among its inhabitants. However, creating such a society with sustainability without all of the externalities present at once is an unrealistic approach. However, these goals although ambitious could certainly be accomplished over time. The Agenda for Sustainable Development includes seventeen Sustainable Development Goals over the timeframe of 15 years, which will hopefully be implemented by 2030. I think that these goals can absolutely be compatible with an ecologically healthy environment and some of these goals if not all can be achieved with our current dominant paradigm. In order to accomplish these goals, there must be groups who can enforce them in the countries around the world. These enforcers must have an intensive work ethic in order to be able to accomplish sustainability while trying to also achieve equality. All of these Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected, meaning that if one was to be accomplished, that it would be creating a snowball effect where it would also lead to the other goals also being accomplished. We can see that Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being will derive from No Poverty, while Gender Equality will derive from a Quality Education and Reduced Inequality, while Decent Work and Economic Growth can be derived from Clean Water and Sanitation and Affordable and Clean Energy and so on. There is not one goal in the Agenda for Sustainable Development that is not connected to another in the agenda. All of these goals go hand in hand with each other, and when enforcers sit down to think of ways to implement these goals it will be evident to them, while at the same time being time consuming and strenuous.
ReplyDeleteXin Jiang
ReplyDeleteCovering almost everything from human well-being to the development of the environment, SDG calls on governments, the private sector and civil society around the world to act to eliminate poverty and create a life of dignity and equal opportunities for all. It applies to all countries and is also ensuring that no one is left behind.
But we have to admit that SDG is still in its infancy. It is still a long way to go before we know it and realize it. We need to work hard on technology. Improve the living conditions of humankind through the advancement of science and technology, especially the living conditions of those who are still in extreme conditions Therefore, the struggling weaker should be the focus of our attention.
The SDG appears to have set many goals for us, but how it is implemented is not exhaustive, which requires different countries to explore for themselves. And SDG has many contents and wide coverage. It is still a question worth pondering how to find a program of action that is highly relevant to itself and produces the most valuable and unique characteristics among so many goals.
Having a set of goals, both personal and on larger scales is the only way to ensure future progress and success. The Sustainable Development Goals set forth in 2015 will require participation from every country and every community. While these goals would create an equal world, one filled with far less struggle and more action, it seems far fetched to believe we would achieve these goals in a mere 15 years. While I believe some countries have the ability to accomplish this, not every society is at the same level, both economically and socially. Many may not prioritize or even believe in certain goals and transitioning a whole society and culture into believing in these ideals may take more than 15 years. However, there has to be a starting point with everything, and the fact that these goals are even mentioned and being strived for is a good start. It would be beneficial to also incorporate a “how” into these goals, yet that is difficult once again due to different country standards. Though the SDG’s do not delve into the specifics of how to get this done, it may be better off left to each individual country and community to outline and design a course of action that best fits them.
ReplyDeleteWhile some of these goals seem like they have nothing to do with the environment, hopefully the improvement of all people in all areas will help better our world. I do think however, that a more specified approach would be better fit to specifically tackle environmental health and sustainability. Incorporating too many goals that require a different type of legislative action may derail the actual intent of improving our environment. It is a difficult issue to tackle since so many problems are intertwined, so the SDG’s are a good starting point to bring awareness to numerous issues that will hopefully improve humanity and the environment simultaneously.
Daniella Antolino
ReplyDeleteThis article has definitely made me see more insight on how many problems we need to resolve and show progress in order for our future to be successful. I definitely believe that these SDG's are ambitious and idealistic for all of these issues to be resolved by 2030. These 17 goals need so much attention and need to be resolved in the future for the sustainability for our environment, but to achieve all of those In such a short amount of time? It is simply not realistic. If we can reduce all of those a decent amount by 2030 or begin to eliminate one by one that would be more realistic and still progressing on our environment.
We first have to acquire a more realistic goal and get everyone on board in helping change this world. the community, countries, everyone. We need the participation from everyone not just a select few. For some of these goals to be achieved like poverty or climate change we need to set rules and regulations to help achieve that goal because everyone isn't going to change their lifestyle for the better good. We need to focus on one problem at a time. We are competitive human beings, everyone is driven by money and not everyone is fortunate for the resources the wealthy people have. If there are still so many people on the streets with no income or food we can't fix poverty or hunger. We have to fix the unemployment rates before we can start fixing either of these issues. We need more resources and more plans to build for these people.
If we will see progress we have to start small and grow, if we start to big it may seem unapproachable and will have no change. These are very important issues and hopefully we will find a way to eliminate all these problems over time.
As some of my classmates have said, I do agree that these are amazing goals to have set in place, but at the same time they are very far-fetched. Eradicating world poverty and hunger by 2030 just doesn't seem possible. Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but to me it doesn't seem possible. It seems to me that many of these goals require the spread of globalization, which could be good and bad depending on the situation. Of course, there should never be people going hunger and living in extreme poverty, but in terms of reduced inequality, would we really be helping people or would they still be living pay check to pay check? Affordable and clean energy is something that we NEED to do by 2030 if we want to ensure that future generations can have the same opportunities as we did, but with the Trump administration undoing what the Obama administration had put into place, I don't see us taking steps towards clean energy in this presidential term which could put us back. The goals that seem more realistic to me are clean water and sanitation, gender equality, and responsible consumption and production. As I said earlier, 2030 is kind of a stretch, with so many issues in today's world, it's hard to say whether or not we can fix everything by then; but it is good to have these goals in place so we can start working towards bettering or society.
ReplyDeleteThe SDGs are, in theory, attainable with proper policy implementation, proper laws, proper treaties, etc. yet they are extremely broad in both measurability and scope. The goals themselves lack targets and specific measurable criteria, which makes them an extremely abstract set of goals. If you were to compare these SDGs with the previous Millennium Development goals (which the SDGs virtually replaced), you can see that the SDGs lack a certain rational technocracy that enabled the Millennium Development goals to actually be fulfilled in a checklist like fashion. The Sustainable Development goals are, in comparison, a lot more flexible. Flexibility is key in our current socioeconomic paradigm, however too much flexibility and not enough rationality can lead to a gridlock situation whereby slim to none of these goals can actually be achieved at this point in time. This is not to say that they cannot be fulfilled by the year 2030 as there is certainly enough knowledge, money, and technology in the world to meet the majority of these goals rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteIn essence, I think that wealth inequality is one of the main precedents that is inhibiting these goals from being attained. I also believe that since the scope is so broad regarding the criteria of each of these goals, it's hard to really set a proper rationale that can be used to measure and/or define each and every one of these goals.
Although these goals lack tangible targets, the SDGs serve their purpose as an outline for future policy, governance, etc. and essentially project an image of what the ideal world could look like for us in this current paradigm.
Also, these goals are set for a global audience when in reality many of these goals really need to commence locally or at least regionally to eventually funnel their way to the top.
DeleteI love the ideas and how the SDG envision a future that is optimistic and bright. However, my biggest concern is that a lot of these goals seem a little to unrealistic to me. For example, you look at the first goal, no poverty, it seems like a goal that everyone wants but then we think about the fact that some nations are barely developed and struggle with alot of things such as hunger, power, clean water, etc. In their case it makes the goal far away from being complete. Alot of the goals in this list go hand in hand but where the conflict exists also goes hand in hand. With world hunger you have that as a result of poverty, good health is a struggle because some don't have clean water. The list can go on and on. I really do love the ideas put forth however and as someone who likes to be optimistic I truly hope that by 2030 we can make a dent in this list because as we all know, it only takes one step in order to create change.
ReplyDeleteThe Sustainable Development Goals are important for sustainability and environmentalism because they are concrete goals with measured targets to achieve them. These goals are compatible with an ecologically healthy environment because they closely focus in on a holistic view of the world and how everything in our world is interconnected. Achieving seventeen goals in a matter of fifteen years is ambitious, and I question if it is too ambitious. Some of these goals require more time and effort than others (ex. SDG 1 “No Poverty”), but I think it is a good strategy not to rank these goals over each other. Part of the SDG framework’s power lies within the ways goals receive equal weight by not prioritizing certain groups or concepts over others. Working towards all goals with big ambitions is another strength. If we start with small goals and then set bigger goals, it will never be ‘time’ to change the world now. They may be idealistic, but they’re meant to be that way.
ReplyDeleteFor the last year, I have worked at the UN and heard other criticisms I believe are interesting to note. Goals not included in Envision2030 that may be important for the future include something about religious freedom for all and abandoning islamophobia and anti-Semitism, and a different goal on eradicating racism. These goals were created with inclusivity in mind and each member of the General Assembly provided input, but there has also been criticism that their generality hinders states’ abilities to achieve these goals. Personally, I have thought that the SDGs fall short in their implementation. I love that they are measured and have targets, but in my field (I work specifically on the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects) I have noticed when groups of experts are assembled to ensure implementation, those groups are not set to be formed until 2020. The bureaucracy of the UN is slow-moving and can be difficult to work within, but I imagined more would be done by now.
LIyuan Zhang
ReplyDeleteFrom the goals stated in the sustainable development 2030, it is obvious that some of the aims are ambitious for fulfillment. In general, the goals targeted to eliminate poverty and seek collaboration among countries to heal and protect the planet Earth. The first one, no poverty in any form is hard to achieve as there are unbalanced development between different regions. To help those who suffer in poverty not only needs money and resources, but more importantly there shall be political and cultural back-ups. However, I think the second one to end hunger and secure food sources is much more accessible as the technological development has enabled people to produce more. As far as I am concerned, I think quality education and gender equality will be much harder to achieve as it has been pursued for years. Therefore, the good health and well-being of people that depend on several factors will left to question.
Still, there are goals that can possibly been achieved even before the ultimate time. For instance, affordable and clean energy such as the power given by lithium and hydrogen. And it could be witnessed that there are industry, innovation and infrastructure has been carried out on the way.
Commitment to these common goals it one thing, yet what is more important is how to implement these changes in the long run.