In 1972 the United Nations held what is now referred to as the First Earth Summit. They adopted a declaration, set principles for the “preservation and enhancement of the human environment”, and made recommendations for international environmental action.
Fast forward fifty years to today. Earth’s population is about to hit 8 billion people, in contrast to the 3.8 billion it was fifty years ago. And we have over doubled our primary energy consumption. In 2015, the UN issued SDGs, 17 Sustainable Development goals. These goals being the “blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”. The deadline to meet them is 2030. Time is running out.
What have we accomplished to achieve our SDGs?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Each year, they release their Goalkeepers report. The report reflects on and displays data describing the progress we are making on these SDGs. There are many ways to look at the UN progress report for 2022 and see where we are failing. Our window of opportunity is closing. It’s easy to feel hopeless and and turn inward thinking, how to save ourself.
But not all is doom and gloom, even if it feels that way.
There are some ways to see a future we want to be a part of. And this is where I encourage you to focus your attention. What is the point in living a life congested with fear, sadness, and despair? Wouldn’t you rather choose to live with curiosity and hopefulness? Live in the possibilities that we may continue to better humanity and bring greater happiness to the world?
The Goalkeeper’s report reflects on what the data tells us, but it also highlights that data cannot predict everything. Humanity is unpredictable, for better or for worse. And this fact, is our saving grace. Human ingenuity is a beacon of hope.
There are folks who predicted a pandemic would happen in our lifetime. But who could have guessed, with any authority, the ways we would deal with it. From communities coming together, to cities ripping each other apart. The innovation and collaboration that was given new breaths of life, such as medical research breakthroughs, community planning, and remote working. And harmful behaviours of our past coming back to the forefront, such as heightened race-based aggression and reducing women’s rights.
What the data says, and what it doesn’t say
To emphasize there is still hope for humans on this planet, the Goalkeepers remind us of how farm humanity has come combatting the spread of HIV/AIDS. The data only tells us so much, our models are only so accurate. Things could end up much worse, or they could become better.
This interactive, data-centric report shows 18 key data indicators: Poverty; Stunting; Agriculture; Maternal Mortality; Under-5 Mortality; Neonatal Mortality; HIV; Tuberculosis; Malaria; Neglected Tropical Diseases; Family Planning; Universal Health Coverage; Smoking; Vaccines; Education; Gender Equality; Sanitation; and Financial Services for the Poor. It provides a user-friendly approach to dissecting data around our SDGs progress. Here is their poverty projection visualization, for example.
The importance of gender equality
Melinda French Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes “Economic progress for women is stalling worldwide – and COVID-19 is not the only reason why”. You can read her short essay linked, Gender equality depends on women having power, not just “empowerment”.
The unprecedented arrival and subsequent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic effected women’s economic status much more heavily than men’s. But it is just one example of how far we are from gender equality in this world.
Melinda raises that extensive research shows, when women have power, their entire household and community are likely to improve. They positively influence education and health. There are so many things barring the way for women to achieve and maintain economic power. Control of finances enables control over decisions, how you spend your time, and what you focus on.
With so many problems in the world, you may wonder why Melinda chose to focus on gender equality. One can look at it this way: if only half the human population is able to contribute to the global economy, policy-making, and innovation… how do you expect us to solution our way out the mess we’re in today and into the near-term future? As Henry says, “Educate a man, you educate and individual. Educate a woman, you educate a nation.” We need everyone’s brain-power unlocked.
Is agtech the solution to world hunger?
Bill Gates writes “The war in Ukraine shows that hunger can’t be solved just with humanitarian assistance alone. Investments in agriculture R&D are required”. His short-read essay, We need to change how we think about world hunger, goes into more detail.
Our world is a global one. We saw in Canada the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had (and still has) on supply chain. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many people learned how reliant the world is on that region for food, fuel, and fertilizer. Massive, climate change induced, flooding not only decimates local populations, but has direct ramifications on wherever their goods and services reach.
Bill emphasizes how we are only going to get more climate change problems. And the way to get past them will be in developing resiliency. We will continue to encounter drought or flooding, or some other climate disaster. When crops in one part of the world fall to one of these disasters, hampering global agriculture supply, we will need to fill that gap somehow or perish. Every part of the world needs to build the capacity, locally, so in times of great stress they can survive. This is where innovation comes into play.
In his essay, Bill talks about examples of new seeds that are being developed. Some are designed to combat shortened growing seasons, others higher temperatures. I found a great interview between Bill Gates and Derek Thompson (host of the podcast Plain English). They talk about highlights from Bill’s perspective of the Goalkeepers report.
The ingenuity humans have shown already provides hope, and we need to keep building on it.
What can you do?
The world is full of problems. It always will be. It’s difficult to avoid being overwhelmed with the constant flood of information. Most of this information is sensationalist and predatorily trying to get a rise in your blood pressure. Too often media attempts to provoke rage and sorrow to get an emotional rise, increasing shares, viewership, and therefore subscriptions.
Try to remember, there is always hope, even if it seems all is lost.
What can you do to make the world a better place?
Maybe it’s looking after yourself, and finding ways to be happier in your personal life. If you’re in a good place mentally, or financially, or physically, you’ll have more power to spread that happiness to others you are close with, and that’s great! Perhaps you make more than you need or have the luxury of time on your hands. You could donate money or time to a cause you believe in, and make a difference that way. That extra bit of patience you give a stranger in the street or at the store. A happy hello you say to your neighbour in the morning. The seat you give up for someone who needs it more than you on the bus. It all counts for something.
Your contributions don’t have to seem grand. It’s not imperative that everyone works on conquering the Sustainable Development Goals. The people we hear about, trying to ‘save the world’, are not the majority. They’re work is immensely important, but it’s not the only way to help.
Is there something small you can do, or continue doing, to make your little corner of the world better?