SDG Spotlight #1: The Pantry
The Pantry is a local student-run organization whose mission is to combat food insecurity, promote health through fresh food diets, and ensure that all UC Davis students and staff have access to food and basic necessities across campus. Offering support to ALL students, staff and faculty, The Pantry offers a wide variety of goods ranging from milk, canned foods and eggs to toothpaste, toilet paper and menstrual cups free of charge. Additionally with the help/collaboration of volunteers and other partnership organizations, The Pantry has been able to divert food that otherwise would have been wasted in order to serve over 200 patrons daily! Overall The Pantry is an organization that proves to us the direct impact we can all make in our community as students, and that we can start reducing hunger and inequalities here!
Viet-Long Nguyen | External Affairs Manager (ASUCD The Pantry, Introduction and Overview) tinyurl.com/pantrywalk-in
Why are the SDGs important?
“It is an Agenda of the people, by the people and for the people – and this, we believe, will ensure its success.”
– Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development General Assembly Resolution 70/1, adopted September 25, 2015
The 2030 Agenda, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, is universal and transformational. A key facet of the agenda is a people-centered approach and the recognition that the SDGs are interlinked and integrated. It calls for action by all countries to provide for a more prosperous, peaceful and healthy future. The agenda also recognizes that reaching these goals requires involvement of all stakeholders at the international, national, regional and local levels – governments, businesses, universities, civil society and people everywhere all have roles to play.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 1: No Poverty
Aims to eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere. The foremost objectives are to ensure social protection and access to basic services for those in poverty and to support vulnerable people harmed by climate-related extreme events and other economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters.
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
Seeks to end hunger and malnutrition while achieving food security for all through sustainable agriculture and increased investment in agricultural research. It also seeks to eliminate agricultural export subsidies and other trade restrictions in the world agricultural market.
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
To ensure health and well-being for all people, this SDG includes a commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other communicable diseases. Another target is to achieve universal health coverage and to provide access to medicine and vaccines for all.
SDG 4: Quality Education
This SDG aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education with key priorities including pre-primary education, school attendance, completion rates, trained teachers, and gender equity. While significant progress has been made in expanding access to education, over 250 million children remain out of school and progress has slowed in recent years.
SDG 5: Gender Equality
This Goal calls for the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women, as well as universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and equal rights in terms of property ownership. It also calls for equal opportunities at all levels of political and economic decision-making.
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
This focuses on ensuring a clean and stable water supply and effective water sanitation for all. The World Health Organization estimates that one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water, and two out of five people lack access to a basic hand-washing facility with soap and water.
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
This Goal calls for affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Significant progress has been made in expanding access to electricity, improving efficiency, and shifting towards renewable energy. However, almost 800 million people still do not have access to electricity, and hundreds of millions only have access to limited or unreliable electricity.
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
The focus is to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. The past 25 years have seen a dramatic decline in the number of workers living in extreme poverty. However, global growth has slowed in recent years and the COVID-19 pandemic led to dramatic falls in global income and employment.
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
This Goal seeks to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation. Infrastructure investment and industrialization are drivers of economic growth which spurs job creation and income growth, while innovation advances the technological capabilities of industrial sectors and prompts the development of new skills.
What do UC Davis students think about the SDGs?
During spring quarter 2022, we conducted a survey to track knowledge and interests about the SDGs among fellow UC Davis students. The survey was intended to help us raise awareness on the SDGs and to create opportunities for students to get involved.
Which goal resonates with students the most?
Three of the SDGs resonated most with the students who responded: The SDG cited most often as “the most important” was SDG 13: Climate Action, followed by SDG 1: No Poverty and SDG 2: Zero Hunger. Which goal do you feel is most important?
Awareness of the SDGs
The survey also asked about awareness of the SDGs. The majority of students who responded had not heard about the goals or had very little awareness about them, but about 40 percent said they knew somewhat, quite a bit, or a great deal about the SDGs.
Many students who were aware of the SDGs learned about them in their classes. A smaller portion heard about them through media (including social media), while the remainder heard about them from other publications.
There are many ways you can help advance these goals: make your voice heard by those in power, use public transit if possible and volunteer time to food security programs like the Pantry. Doing these things
SDG
Spotlight #2: My State of Mind
within the UC Davis community. In 2021, they partnered with the United Nations Millennium Fellowship at UC Davis, where they focused on SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, SDG 4: Quality Education and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. My State of Mind organized a mental health conference with participation from mental health advocates across the globe. The focus of the conference was to educate UC Davis college students on mental health issues and to provide a healthy mechanism to process and improve their mental health. My State of Mind also donated care packages to UC Davis students in need of food and support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Outside of the work they’ve done with the UN Millennium Fellowship, My State of Mind also promotes SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being and SDG 4: Quality Education with their on-campus club. Founder and UC Davis alumna Macy Lee remarked, “... it’s very important to have safe spaces for people to voice out their experiences and emotions with their peers in a healthy way. Our club stands for that and is able to provide projects that tangibly and intangibly support a student through collective group projects, outreaches, and fundraisers.” My State of Mind continues to grow in the UC Davis community while promoting multiple SDG goals.
CLUBS
There are dozens of student clubs and organizations that are focused on issues related to the SDGs. Below are just some of these clubs. We’ve also compiled a longer list of opportunities
CalPIRG: SDGs 2, 4, 11, 13
Zero Waste and Sustainability Club: SDGs 2, 10, 11, 12, 13
Engineers Without Borders: SDGs 1, 4, 6, 9
American Red Cross Club at UC Davis: SDG 3
SEEDS - Ecological Society of America: SDGs 11, 15
The Wildlife Society at UC Davis: SDGs 6, 15
Cub Support: SDGs 4, 10
Davis Rewilding Society: SDG 15
Homeless Outreach through Prevention and Education (HOPE) at Davis: SDGs 2, 3, 10
Sustainable Environmental Design Club at UC Davis: SDGs 7, 9, 11
Students in VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance): SDGs 4, 8, 10
Environmental Project at UC Davis: SDGs 6, 9
Bhagat Puran Singh Health Initiative: SDGs 3, 10
Marine Science Club at UC Davis: SDG 14
Scholars Promoting Education Awareness and Knowledge: SDGs 10, 16
Model United Nations at UC Davis: SDG 17
Students for Reproductive Freedom: SDG 5
INTERNSHIPS AND VOLUNTEERING
Many on-campus centers and local organizations have opportunities for volunteering. This is a small selection of some of them.
Center for Advocacy, Resources and Education: SDGs 3, 5
AB540 and Undocumented Student Center: SDGs 10, 16
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Resource Center: SDGs 5, 10
Disability Rights Advocacy Committee: SDGs 4, 10
The Green Initiative Fund: SDGs 1-17
Student Farm: SDGs 2, 4, 13, 15
SDG Spotlight #3: Whole Earth Festival
like the Sacramento Regional Conservation corps, and doing the not-soglamorous work of sorting through waste bins at the festival to make sure all of the compost and recycling was going to the correct place. I chose this role because I’m passionate about reducing waste, especially within our food systems, thinking about what our food is served on, and food waste that could become useful energy. One aspect of this position that I enjoyed was working with vendors to make sure they utilized the reusable dish program offered by the festival, as well as having back up compostable serving materials. It also felt good to know that food waste would be going to the correct places in order to become compost!
I had the special experience, during the festival, of working with great volunteers who cared enough about composting and recycling to give their time. Being in a position where the task I delegated was sorting trash seemed daunting, but the UC Davis students that volunteered shared a common goal of reducing waste, and we had fun while doing some gnarly work! I felt lucky in that leadership role because I was working with people who were passionate about their roles, and it would have taken my co-coordinator and me many days to sort without our volunteers. It’s definitely the type of work that forms a communal bond, and I felt proud to play a role in forming a community of people my age who care about the environment and waste reduction.
Eliana Torero | Compost and Recycling Co-Coordinator
WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
UC Davis
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at UC Davis globalaffairs.ucdavis.edu/un-sdgs-uc-davis
Sustainability
www.ucdavis.edu/about/sustainability
5 Ways to Engage with Global Challenges at UC Davis globalaffairs.ucdavis.edu/news/5-ways-to-engage-with-global-challenges
UC Davis Voluntary University Review on the SDGs globalaffairs.ucdavis.edu/vur-sdgs
The lists of SDG-relevant courses and clubs at UC Davis can be accessed here: ucdavis.box.com/v/SDG-resources
Other SDG Resources UN.org www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment
170 Actions to Combat Climate Change: sites.ungeneva.org/170actions/climate
ActNow: The UN Campaign for Individual Action www.un.org/en/actnow/
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Student Hub www.sdsnyouth.org/initiatives/sdg-students-program
SDG Academy sdgacademy.org
sdgs.globalaffairs@ucdavis.edu
