SDG Essay Samples
STUDENT A
UN Sustainable Development Goals
According to the United Nations data, “About 690 million people around the world experienced extreme hunger in 2019, equivalent to 8.9 per cent of the world population.” In 2015, the United Nations created the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN worked with all countries that were developed or still developing, to improve human lives and protect the environment. Zero hunger is the second Sustainable Development Goal on this list. This particular problem effects many people worldwide and in local communities; there are also many simple ways to reduce the impacts this matter provides.
At this point in time, many non-profits and organizations are trying to combat the issue of hunger. The main organization being the United Nations with goal number two being ending hunger. In 2015, they were observing great amounts of poverty with the side effects of anemia, malnutrition of children and major problems for agricultural workers, when people don’t have enough money to feed their families. The UN estimates, “that hunger now affects one in six people, compounded by factors such as war, drought or floods, high food prices and poverty. Most of the hunger in a world of plenty results from grinding, deep-rooted poverty.” This is the main reason ending hunger is so high on the sustainable development goals list. Ending hunger is the deep rooted cause of many of the matters the UN is observing. Hunger is a great cause of issue due to, “An estimated 2 billion people, 25.9 per cent of the world population, were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2019, up from 22.4 per cent in 2015”(UN Data). This is a prime example of how much hunger affects peoples lives.
A shocking truth is, “1 in 10 people deal with hunger regularly” (Feeding America). Also quite surprisingly of the population of the United States, “1 in 9 children face hunger” (Feeding America). In the local community of Idaho, “…179,580 people are facing hunger - and of them 49,310 are children”(Feeding America). Children have additional issues accessing food when on school breaks and cupboards at home are empty. When children don’t have food, they have no choice to get a job or have the money they will need in order to be nourished. Additionally, due to Covid,”…these figures may rise as a result of continued constraints on access to nutritious food and essential nutrition services during the pandemic” (UN data). So after great leaps to improve people’s access to food, one virus has increased the suffering of those who beforehand had dealt with food insecurity. Hunger is a great struggle which has impacted the nation and directly affected the community of Idaho.
Finally, by taking time a small amount of time away from your normal routine, many people can be helped. One way to reduce hunger is not wasting food,“Each day in the United States approximately one pound of food per person is wasted”(Cooper). Instead of throwing away the last portion of your meal no one ate save it in a container and eat it the next day for lunch or make a list when you go to the grocery store so you get only the necessities. The food waste of one person alone in just a day could feed multiple families in a third world country. The Government and charitable programs work to combat the issues hunger causes. An example of government help is, “SNAP, formerly food stamps, provides temporary help for people going through hard times – providing supplemental money to buy food until they can get back on their feet”(Feeding America). This is one of the major programs supporting people in local communities but, “Charitable programs are unable to fully support those facing hunger. The combination of charity and government assistance programs are necessary to help bridge the meal gap”(Feeding America). By helping out local charities by giving either time or resources, it helps to bridge the gap for those who cannot get the proper resources they need to survive. Making an effort to help your community can truly effect someone’s life in a great way.
In conclusion, hunger is the deep rooted cause of many environmental and social issues in our world. Hunger is an issue that needs to be addressed as it effects many people and there are many simple ways to reduce its impacts to witch anyone can contribute to. When the issue of hunger is acknowledged and reduced, it can help many who are struggling to feed their families and stay healthy.
STUDENT B
Pollution Affecting Life Below Water and the solution
What could be done to preserve the ocean that surrounds our known world. In September 2015 the United Nations decided on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to focus on at its core which they hope to achieve by 2030. The United Nations (UN SDGs) are goals that are used to lead the world population towards more protecting the earth and to help keep it around for longer and for the newer generations. The life below water SDG and how the community of Idaho is affected and the way it can be achieved within our community of Idaho and a good start would be learning about the damage it is causing to spread awareness.
The SDG number 14 is about life below water goals and this means making our waters sustainable and the conservation of those waters. Pollution is causing areas to be uninhabitable and be considered dead zones which are areas of water that cant support life. According to the united nations dead zones are rising at an alarming rate in recent years from 400 in 2008 to 700 in 2019. the pollution of waterways is anything from plastic and cans to other liquids such as oil. also, this is important because it harms the lively hood of fishermen around the world and can cause major problems in ecosystems that people rely on for income.
The pollution in the ocean causes problems in my community. Idahos waterways have been supplying 300K people with drinking water and recently there has been a survey that shows that two-thirds of the sampled wells have increased levels of nitrate and phosphorous (Ki,2019). The reason this is important is that my community needs to realize all things happening to Idaho’s waterways and drinking water and why the pollution problem needs to be stopped and solved as soon as possible.
The way this SDG can be achieved is by starting cleanup crews and plastic waste filters in our waterways to clean away the pollution. To achieve this goal use cleaning crews with devices to gather the floating plastic in the water which causes most of the damage and use filters to gather the water particles that the large devices cannot gather. The reason this is important is that this will eventually clean the larger problem of floating plastics and slowly help clean the plastic particles. The Ocean Cleanup aims to remove 90% of the ocean’s floating plastic and if we put that into use on our own waterways it will greatly increase our success (“Cleaning Up the Garbage Patches”).
The problem is plastics are polluting our waterways and oceans. this pollution causes death in many organisms that are living beneath the surface of our waters and it is causing us to have less drinking water. If we use the cleanup crews and plastic water filters then it will slowly clean the waterways in our community.
STUDENT C
United Nations SDG #15’s Importance for the Future
The way humanity negatively impacts social, economic, and environmental surroundings today is leading the world into destruction. From transportation and housing to food production and fashion, civilization is driving climate and ecological breakdown. The United Nations (UN) has created 17 goals as a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people will enjoy peace and prosperity for future generations. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are meant to ensure that humanity as a whole does what it takes to protect and re-nourish the planet. The United Nations structured Goal 15 to help protect the land and the life that thrives there, which can be beneficial for local communities since agriculture and wildlife are important to current and future survival, and peace parks and vertical farms would be great first solutions to help bring this goal to fruition.
For future generations to enjoy the world the way many people experience it today, the land and nature in its current state needs to be protected. The UN SDG Goal 15 was structured to ensure this. By protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, combating deforestation, halting and reversing land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss, this goal can be achieved. According to Mantiboa Council for International Cooperation’s guide called Sustainable Foundations, “Healthy ecosystems are essential for supporting a wide array of species. Humans are not removed from this cycle, as we rely on our environment to keep us healthy, fed and supported in our daily lives“. Just as people rely on the environment, the environment relies on Humanity. According to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs, “Progress has been made towards sustainable forest management, but the world has still lost 100 million hectares of forests in the last two decades“. Humankind is the main cause of deforestation and other environmental impacts, the UN SDG Goal 15 is exactly what is needed to correct the misuse of natural resources and providing a sustainable world for future generations.
Everywhere around the world communities are affected by the quality of nearby environments and biodiversity. Ecosystems create biodiversity, and yet they are constantly being demolished due to humankind. Sometimes for recreation, sometimes for survival, and other times due to war or conflict. Everything from communities to nations are affected by deforestation. According to Sustainable Foundations, “Strong biodiverse systems help limit the negative impacts of climate change by strengthening the health of the ecosystem and its ability to adapt to change“. To protect future generations something must occur to protect both biodiversity and ecosystems, including stopping deforestation. According to the UN, “between 1990 and 2015, forest coverage has diminished from 31.6 per cent to 30.6 per cent of the world’s total land mass. This loss was mainly caused by deforestation for agricultural and infrastructural development. Biodiversity is affected by increases to human consumption, populations and resource extraction“. No one individual can possibly make a difference, alone. It is individual actions collectively that show a noticeable difference to our planet. These small or large changes can bring greater peace to us and future generations.
To Achieve the SDG Goal 15 in communities and nations can be done by implementing programs and new inventions. Two goals that have started to be implemented recently are vertical farms and peace parks. According to United Nations University, “Ali cites peace parks as providing a space where shared sovereignty of the environment, because it is based on science and can be de-politicised, can set the scene for other forms of cooperation in trickier areas such as competition for economic resources“. We can develop a program for peace that includes environmental protection by facilitating peace through environmental initiatives. The United Nations have talked about creating ecological diplomacy, one of these would be Peace Parks. Another beneficial invention being put into place more recently is vertical farming. According to Vertical Farming Planet, “Vertical farming, as the name suggests, grows plants in vertical layers thus saving a huge amount of space. Some of the farms are able to grow even 300 times more food from 1 square meter compared to open field farming. Fewer requirements for space could stop deforestation practices. Furthermore, the recovered space could be used to restore forests lost in the past“. Both of these plans will increase biodiversity by saving forests and nature from being destroyed as quickly as it has in the past and remedy those spaces for the future.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 15 can successfully achieve much peace and future sustainability for everyone if communities use programs such as peace parks and vertical farms. Deforestation and environmental degradation cause problems for ecosystems and biodiversity, thus causing problems for humanity's chance of future survival. The earth has limited space, there will come a time where humanity can’t all be fed if programs are not implemented.