The UN Global Goal: Responsible Consumption and Production

"Our planet has provided us with an abundance of natural resources. But we have not utilized them responsibly and currently consume far beyond what our planet can provide. We must learn how to use and produce in sustainable ways that will reverse the harm that we have inflicted on the planet."

Source: https://www.one.org/us/globalgoals/responsible-consumption/

The Goal of Responsible Consumption and Production has 11 targets:

• Implement the 10-year sustainable consumption and production framework
• Sustainable management and use of natural resources
• Halve global per capita food waste
• Responsible management of chemicals and waste
• Substantially reduce waste generation
• Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting
• Promote sustainable public procurement practices
• Promote universal understanding of sustainable lifestyles
• Support developing countries' scientific and technological capacity for sustainable consumption and production
• Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable tourism
• Remove market distortions that encourage wasteful consumption

Source: UNDP

Teaching Ideas:​

• ​Read Responsible Consumption and Production: Why It Matters with your students
• Read one of the case studies of the Goals in Action
• ​Learn more about innovations that reduce waste, such as The Shoe That Grows
• Watch The Story of Stuff with your students or check out more related videos here
• Teach The World's Largest Lesson on The Challenge of Finite Resources
• Have students complete You Are What You Wear
• Learn about companies that are implementing sustainable practices into their businesses, such as HP and H&M
• Watch Ellen MacArthur's TedTalk
• Read Just a Dream and teach the lesson, A Million Year Picnic

Resources:​​

• ​www.globalgoals.org/12-responsible-consumption-and-production
• https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg12

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production - SDG Tracker

The UN explains: Sustainable consumption and production is about promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green and decent jobs and a better quality of life for all. Its implementation helps to achieve overall development plans, reduce future economic, environmental and social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and reduce poverty.

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The Challenges

Here are the challenges for this month! ​

Download a poster with December's challenges below

Tweet your students in action completing the challenges @changemakeclass