Sustainability, our Priority

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Sustainability, our Priority Content Language Integrated Learning (English-Science) Civic Education Academic year 2021/2022 Class 5C

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Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6 What is ‘Sustainability, our Priority’? ................................................................................................ 6 What are the SDGs? ............................................................................................................................ 6 What is in this booklet?....................................................................................................................... 9

2. SDG 13 (climate action) ................................................................................................................... 10 What is SDG 13? .............................................................................................................................. 10 What other goals is it linked to?........................................................................................................ 11 Why is it important?.......................................................................................................................... 11 3. Ecocide.............................................................................................................................................. 12 What is Ecocide?................................................................................................................................... 12 What is the history of the term? ........................................................................................................ 13 4. Ecological footprint .......................................................................................................................... 15 What is an ecological footprint? ....................................................................................................... 15 How is it calculated? ......................................................................................................................... 15 Why is it important?.......................................................................................................................... 16 5. Circular economy .............................................................................................................................. 17 What is a circular economy (opposed to a linear economy)? ........................................................... 17 Why is it important?.......................................................................................................................... 18 How can we implement a circular economy? ................................................................................... 18 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 20 What has this booklet spoken about? ................................................................................................ 20 Why is knowing about these things important? ................................................................................ 20 What can we do? ............................................................................................................................... 21

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1. Introduction

What is ‘Sustainability, our Priority’?

First of all, sustainability means meeting your own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; which, as the title says, should be everyone’s priority. This is an eTwinning project conceived to raise awareness about those problems that have always affected our planet, and will continue to do so if we don’t stop them.

What are the SDGs?

SDGs stands for Sustainable Development Goals.

They are 17 goals that have been set to achieve a certain progress, that could be social, environmental or economical. Their peculiarity is the focus on sustainability, in fact the achievement cannot be reached without taking care of the impact it has on the environment or the human race.

Figure 1: The SDGs

The 17 goals are:

NO POVERTY End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

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ZERO HUNGER End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

QUALITY EDUCATION Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

GENDER EQUALITY Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

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INDUSTRY INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE Build resilient infrastructures, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

REDUCED INEQUALITIES Reduce inequality within and among countries.

SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

CLIMATE ACTION Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

LIFE BELOW WATER Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

LIFE ON LAND Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

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PEACE JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.

What is in this booklet?

The aim of this booklet is to provide information about sustainability in all of its aspects, explaining what Ecological Footprint, Circular Economy, Ecocide and SDGs are. Our desire is to make people more aware of the importance of these themes, in order to develop sustainable and mindful behaviours and lifestyle.

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2. SDG 13 (climate action) What is SDG 13?

Sustainable Development Goal 13 is about climate action and is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official mission statement of this goal is to "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts".

SDG 13 has targets which are to be achieved by 2030.

Climate action is any policy, measure, or program that reduces greenhouse gases, builds resilience to climate change, or supports and finances those goals. Climate action is therefore enormously diverse, ranging from cities committing to more efficient building standards, companies putting a price on carbon in their investment decisions, or a coalition of companies and farmers’ groups that deploys climate-smart agriculture practices.

Figure 2: The danger

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What other goals is it linked to?

Climate change is also linked to others goals like: LIFE ON LAND, LIFE BELOW WATER, AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

Figure 3: Life on land

Figure 4 Life below water

Why is it important?

It’s important to take urgent measures to combat climate change and its consequences.

Climate change should not be underestimated, because it affects the whole of humanity, the animal species and concerns our future. Everyone In our daily lives can do something to improve the situation a little, for example we can use sustainable means of transport such as ecological cars, public transport, bicycles and car sharing, preferring the train to the plane whenever possible; reduce their own waste, eliminating packaging as much as possible, reusing it and recycling the materials used in the most correct way.

Figure 5: Climate Change Action

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3. Ecocide What is Ecocide?

We can refer to the term Ecocide as a mean mass damage and destruction of ecosystems. It is a severe harm to nature which can be widespread or long-term. It refers to the processes of destruction of the environmental or ecosystem decline caused by humans.

Figure 6 Polluted Earth Cartoon

Some activities that can lead to destruction are: ocean damage (industrial fishing, oil spills, etc); deforestation (oil drilling, mineral extraction, etc.); land and water contamination (mining, textile chemicals, agricultural pollution, etc.); and air pollution (chemical disaster, radioactive contamination or nuclear testing).

A few nations have codified ecocide as a crime.

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Examples of ecocide

What is the history of the term?

The term and concept of ecocide began to emerge in the final years of the Vietnam war (1955-1975).

The attacks with Agent Orange, an herbicide mixture used by the U.S. which contains a dangerous chemical, killed hundreds of thousands of people and left many hectares of land barren.

Agent orange

The first time this term was used was in 1972 at the UN Environmental Summit in Stockholm where Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister, accused the United States of ecocide for its practices in Vietnam which, as previously mentioned, devastated not only the local people but the wildlife as well.

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Why is Ecocide important?

Recognising ecocide under international criminal law would put the crimes committed against the environment as severe as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It would also improve a shift in the relationship between human beings - including their legal institutions - and nature.

Figure 7:Why it’s time to make ecocide a crime: for the sake of the victims.

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4. Ecological footprint What is an ecological footprint?

The ecological footprint is a method to calculate individual or a population’s demand for food and products and it measures how fast we consume resources compared to how fast nature can absorb our waste and generate resources.

In short, it is a measure of human impact on Earth's ecosystem and reveals the dependence of the human economy on natural capital.

How is it calculated?

Figure 8: Global footprint

Ecological Footprints can be calculated for individual people, groups of people (such as a nation), and activities (such as manufacturing a product).

The Ecological Footprint of a person is calculated by adding up all of people’s demands for primary resources. All of these materials and wastes are then individually translated into an equivalent number of global hectares.

To accomplish this, an amount of material consumed by that person is divided by the yield of the specific land or sea area where its waste material was absorbed. The number of hectares that result from this calculation are then converted to global hectares using yield and equivalence factors. The sum of the global hectares needed to support a person is that person’s total Ecological Footprint.

The Ecological Footprint of a group of people, such as a city or nation, is simply the sum of the Ecological Footprint of all the residents of that city or nation.

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Why is it important?

Due to the ecological footprint, we can adopt production methods that promote the future sustainability of the planet. Sustainability can not only extend the life of the world and its ecosystems, but also improve the quality of life of the citizens who live in it. Well, because of the ecological footprint, many diseases caused by humans and their waste can be avoided.

Like other types of species other than humans, their quality of life has also improved thanks to this indicator.

Figure 9: A picture showing the factors that influence our ecosystem

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5. Circular economy What is a circular economy (opposed to a linear economy)?

Circular economy consists in reusing, refurbishing and repairing things so we would use less materials and energy and protect our natural wealth. It's also useful for reducing pollution and helping the environment by reserving our natural resources.

Climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution are the principles of the model. The principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and the regeneration of nature. Circular economy is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy.

In a linear economy, natural resources are turned into products. This process is often summarised by "take, make, waste". The circular economy aims to keep products, materials, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, this improving the productivity of these resources. The circular economy is an industrial economy that is restorative or regenerative by value and design.

Figure 10: Global Economy

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Why is it important?

The world's population is growing and with it the demand for raw materials. However, the supply of crucial raw materials is limited.

With the circular economy, we can drive the optimization of resources, reduce the consumption of raw materials, and recover waste by recycling or giving it a second life as a new product. Moving towards a more circular economy could deliver benefits such as reducing pressure on the environment, improving the security of the supply of raw materials, increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth, and creating jobs. All in all, the circular economy will lead us towards a future in which 9 billion people in 2050 can live well and sustainably.

How can we implement a circular economy?

There are three ways to address our rate of consumption:

1. Consume less In a world where people in the richest countries consume 10 times as much as the poorest, there is a need for many of us to consume less and many others to consume more.

2. Consume better A circular economy is not only about consuming less; it's also about consuming better. For consumers, this can mean choosing versions of products that have been produced in more sustainable ways or that can be recycled. Consuming "better" can also mean avoiding purchasing altogether and shifting to circular models such as sharing platforms.

3. Create Systemic Change Consumers can only do so much when the entire economy is built on the take-makewaste model. What we need is systemic change, so that sustainability doesn't only depend on consumer choices. The core principle of a circular economy is that products should be designed to last, with component parts or materials that can be used again.

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Figure 11: Zero Waste

Furthermore, in Italy the percentage of recycling of all waste has reached almost 68%, a figure higher than the European Union, but still little investment in eco innovation. In 2018 our country recycled the largest share of special waste, about 75%, while as regards municipal waste , in 2020, Italy stands at 54 %, compared to 47% registered in EU 27. This is what emerges from the National report on the circular economy in Italy 2022, produced by CEN (Circular Economy Network) in collaboration with Enea. Among the five major economies at the centre of the analysis, Italy and France record the best circularity performances followed by Spain, Poland and Germany.

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6. Conclusion

Figure 12: Sustainable city

What has this booklet spoken about?

This booklet has mainly spoken about sustainability which regards the balance between economic growth, environmental care and social well-being. Throughout these small changes that we can make every day, we can improve not only the quality of our planet but also the quality of our lives.

Why is knowing about these things important?

It is really important to know these things since we are surrounded by the environment, which is something we should take care of in order to live healthy. That’s why we should all be aware of what is the ecological footprint, what is ecocide, what is circular economy because only in this way we will have the possibility to live in a better place where we are able to cohabitate with nature without destroying it.

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What can we do?

What the authority has been doing is huge but still not enough since climate change is still overwhelming our planet. Through our actions we can contribute to improve the environment’s quality by raising awareness about the world’s condition. What we can do in order to succeed is to sensitise everyone starting from children, to organise marches or take part in some environmental initiatives such as the “plogging”. Finally, it’s vital to acknowledge how small actions can contribute to reaching bigger improvements.

Figure 13: Sustainability

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