What sort of world are we making for our kids? It’s time we thought about it
Catherine Gee urges everyone to look at the UN’S global sustainable development goals and pick some to follow
Mos tofus have goals that we seek to achieve, either set by ourselves, by who we work for, or both. Common, shared goals are important in delivering real change and none more so, in my opinion, than the global ones for sustainable development set by the United Nations in 2015.
Awareness of these 17 Sustain able Development Goals that 193 UN member states have signed up to – a truly global approach to tackling climatechange, inequalities and poverty by 2030– is still troublingly low, given their significance. So what?, you might say, here’s another environmentalist ranting on about climate change and sustainable development.
We don’t habitually question how our individual actions, or the actions of the organisations we work for, and with, contribute to global change. In achieving our goals, many of our choices are often driven by a personal convenience which doesn’t relate to others here or abroad and which aren’t sustainable.
Too many of us make decisions that support our busy lifestyles; to buy convenience food which comes prepared and packaged, saving time and enabling us to eat on the go; to driving our cars to get to work quickly in the morning rather than cancelling our expensive gym memberships, getting up earlier and cycling or walking. However, what if we considered our actions and choices based on the impact they could have on others? What if we thought about our sons, daughters, nieces or nephews or grandchildren; those who started school this year, and considered what sort of world they will inherit in 2030 when they leave secondary education. Would you change your goals then?
We know the world is facing major economic, social and environmental challenges and that the current development trajectoryis unsustainable. The environmental charity that I work for, Keep Scotland Beautiful, has decided that the UN’S Global Goals are important and 18 monthsago, recognising their strategic importance for our work, in particular with young people, we sought to play an active role in supporting their targets.
The Scottish Government was one of the first countries in the world to sign up to adopt the Global Goals at home and abroad. It has already started to align the National Performance Framework to the Global Goals, and is encouraging collaboration through the Open Government Network, which we support.
The Global Goals are more than just a PR exercise, although that in itself is to be welcomed, because if the language is made accessible and people are encouraged to talk about the issues, they start to understand the complexities and the challenges and also begin to design solutions.
The Global Goals will only work if people know about them, if they have the right conversations about them, and if they ask questions about how governments, businesses and public bodiesare working to end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
It is time to get involved and to have these conversations about how our everyday livestouch these am bitio us goals–our experience with our employees is that it has opened new discussions and is now starting to feed through to the organisations and communities we work with.
The Global Goals have given us, as a charity, a framework to think on a bigger scale, and it’s important that we encourage everyone to get behind them – make them less scar y, more tangible and relevant to us all.
The third sector, private sector and business community in Scotland can help the S cottish Government and the UN make this happen. We all need to champion the Global Goals, embed them in planning and reporting frameworks and secure real crosssectoral engagement. In fact, meeting the targets should matter to everyone in Scotland.
So, I’ve picked my personal goals, my charity has picked those most relevant to its work, and so has the
Scottish Government. Globally, nationallyand locally, moreand more conversations are starting about the Global Goals.
We are talking to people about them throughour charitable activities then help them realise how simple, everyday steps are really helping to tackle global problems to save our planet.
Do you think it’s about time you had a look and picked yours too?
Find out more about our work at www. keepscotlandbeautiful. org. Catherine Gee, director, Keep Scotland Beautiful