YUNUS SOCIAL BUSINESS CENTRE @ BECKER COLLEGE

The 2nd In A Series of 4 Discussions on Our World and the Issues We Face

“Global Climate Change: Are We Too Late?”

Dr. David A. JordanDirector, Yunus Social Business Centre @ Becker

&President, Seven Hills Foundation

Professor of Practice in Social Innovation, Becker College;Social Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Clark University

Overview

• ‘Climate Change’ in context to the other global concerns• Facts about Climate Change• 12 Alarming Facts about our environment• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report• The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals re:

Climate Change (SDG’s 13-15)• 10 Ways to Save the Earth• What Can Becker College Do?

Infectious Diseases

• 3.2 million people are at risk of malaria• In 2015, 300-500 million people were infected with malaria with over 1 million deaths. In Africa, children under 5 are 75% of those who die. Tuberculosis kills 2 million people annually

Malaria is Africa’s leading killer of children under 5

Malnutrition & Hunger

• Globally, 161 million under 5 year olds were estimated to be stunted in 2013 as a result of malnutrition. The United Nations estimates that 800 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, or 1 in 9, suffered from chronic undernourishment in 2012-2014. In South Asia,45% of children are underweight.Malnutrition continues to devastatesub-Sahara Africa disproportionately to other parts of the developing world.

Conflicts, bad governance and poorinfrastructure are often responsiblefor hunger

Education

Of the Worlds 700-900 million illiterate adults, 64% are women. Their lack of education continually undermines their communities levels of health care and economic stability. Today, 17% of the worlds adult population is not literate. 122 million youth globally are illiterate, of which young women represent 61%.

“ Educating girls yields a higherrate of returns than any otherinvestment available in the developing world” – World Bank

Reproductive & Child Health

The maternal mortality ratio in developing countries in 2015 is 239 per 100,000 live births versus 12/100,000 in developing countries.

• Childbirth is one of the leading causes of death in women in the developing world. 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries. Every day, approximately 850 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.

By the end of 2015, roughly 305,000 women will have died during and following pregnancy and childbirth; almost all occurring in low resource settings.

Sanitation & Water

• Globally, 800 million-1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water and over 2 billion lack adequate sanitation resulting in high rates of diarrheal diseases

“ Access to safe water is a fundamental human need, and therefore a basic human right” – Kofi Annan former Secretary- General United Nations

The Environment

• Deforestation causes the extinctionof approximately 100 species offlora and fauna a day. It also contributes 25% of the CO2 emissions fueling climate change

“People in the developed world needto take responsibility for the environmentalimpact of our lifestyles, which falls disproportionatelyon the world’s poorest” - CARE

UN Millennium Development Goals – 2000-2015

&UN Sustainable Development

Goals – 2015-2030

The World Responds to a Global Social Crisisin 2000 and Again in 2015

• The new post 2015 SDG agenda builds on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) eight targets that the world committed to achieving between 2000-2015.

• The 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a global partnership for development

• Enormous progress was made on the MDG’s showing the value of a unifying global agenda. Yet despite the successes, poverty and indignity for millions has not ended.

• The United Nations adopted the “Millennium Development Goals” in 2000 and the new “Sustainable Development Goals” aimed at 17 targets to be addressed by 2030. This new SDG agenda was voted on and approved in the United Nations in September 2015.

• It is within the broad context of MDG 7 (Ensure Environmental Sustainability) that we must all be most concerned. Why? Because . . .

– Deforestation continues, especially in biologically diverse regions of the world- from 1990 to 2013, the world lost 4% of its forests.

• “Tree plantations” increase while old-growth forest ecosystems continue to be lost.

• Despite increased efforts to conserve the land and seas, biodiversity continues to decline- the proportions of species threatened with extinction continues to increase, the

worlds fisheries are at particular risk.

• Growing greenhouse gas emissions continue to outpace advances in sustainable energy technologies– according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “The science is

now unequivocal: Human activities are driving changes in the earth’s climate with subsequent risks to human well-being.”

• A global effort to eliminate ozone-depleting substances is working, though damage to the ozone layer will persist for some time– concentrations of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS) have begun to

recede in the atmosphere. However, until they diminish significantly, the ozone layer cannot begin to heal and ultraviolet radiation will continue to harm human health, crop productivity, and wildlife.

• With half the developing world without basic sanitation, meeting and then maintaining the MDG and SDG targets to significantly reduce proportion of the global population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation will require extraordinary efforts.

• The rapid expansion of cities is making slum improvements ever more daunting– in 2005, one out of 3 urban dwellers was living in slum conditions– the number of urban dwellers will continue to expand from 3.9 billion people

today to over 6 billion by 2030, with the most growth taking place in Africa and Asia.

[Source: United Nations Millenium Development Goals Report, 2014]

The Environment

• By UN estimates, deforestation causes the extinction of 100 species a day. It also contributes 25% of the CO-2 emissions fueling climate change, which worst-case scenarios predict could eventually cause widespread flooding, mass famine and water shortages.

• “People in the developed world need to take responsibility for the environmental impact of our lifestyles, which falls disproportionately on the world’s poorest.”CARE

Sanitation & Water

• Globally, 700 million people – 1 in 10 – lack access to clean drinking water and 2.4 billion – 1 in 3 – lack access to a toilet, resulting in high rates of diarrheal diseases. New technology is helping, but can’t keep up with the droughts, pollution and government mismanagement that have made clean water such a precious commodity.

• “Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right.”– Kofi Annan, Former Secretary of the United Nations

• The denial machine

• Meanwhile, Big Polluters like oil and coal companies aren’t going down without a fight. After all, they’re making billions from dirty energy while the rest of us pay to clean up their mess. That’s why they’ve spent decades running well-funded campaigns to mislead and deceive the public about what’s really happening to the planet.  These polluters—and the special-interest groups they support—are even following the exact same playbook as the tobacco industry used to confuse the public about smoking and cancer.

• But scientists aren’t confused about carbon pollution and climate disruption. And we shouldn’t be either. If Big Polluters are spreading lies and blocking our path to a clean-energy future, then it’s up to us to call them out and get them out of the way. Our future is at stake.

• Carbon pollution is costing us

• Rising carbon pollution levels are raising global temperatures and disrupting our natural systems. The result? More extreme weather disasters, higher healthcare bills, and an uncertain future for our children, to name only a few costs.

• The good news is that we have a choice. We can keep paying the cost of carbon pollution to our livelihoods, our environment, our health, and to every aspect of our lives. Or we can shift to renewable energy, put a market price on carbon, and make the polluters pay for the damage they do.

• What you can do

• A global challenge needs a global solution. So we’re inviting everyone to join the solution culture that’s taking on the biggest issue humanity has ever faced and to create a sustainable and prosperous future for us all.

• To do this, we all need to step up and play our part. And there are many ways you can help. Wherever you are, whatever you do, and whatever time you have, you can do something right now to bring us one step closer to a future without carbon pollution.

• Whether it’s watching a video that expands your awareness of the issue, sharing a post, signing a petition, reaching out to your leaders, donating to initiatives, wearing our gear, attending a training, or organizing a climate presentation in your community, the actions you take can have a real impact and help take our movement forward. We can create a better future, but only if we do it together. 

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Headline: ‘The EARTH Stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction and the fault is ours’ (The Guardian Magazine, June 21, 2015)

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/21/mass-extinction-science-warning

• The world is going through a 6th great extinction with thousands of species vanishing in a period of one century

• The first 5 extinctions occurred because of long term changes on earth or cataclysmic events. The 6th is being caused by humans.

• A new epoch of time: The ‘Anthropocene’ epoch that began when human activity started to have a significant impact on Earth’s ecosystems; circa 1945

Nature/ Environment

Society/ CommunityEconomy

Source: World Commission on Environment & Development (1987). “Our Common Future”

Quality of Life

Balance betw

een Population

& Resource

s

Protecting ‘Natural Capital’ for

Future Generations

Growth with Participation in Equity

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The warming that we’ve seen in the last 30 years is clearly due to

human-made greenhouse gases.

James HansenFormer Director, NASA Goddard Institute for SpaceStudies

NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming (4:14)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n21SGSgesmo

‘The Cost of Carbon’ video (3:26)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za4r5uWj4AY

Climate Change: UN Report confirms 2015 hottest year since records began (2:04)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvYxjRDnxM8

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (13-15)for

2015 - 2030

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. (Source: UNDP, 2015)

Bill Gates launches ‘Breakthrough Energy Coalition’ at COP21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Ln69TyGVc

Energy Improvements Completed @ Becker

• Converted 5 oil fired boilers to gas fired• Replaced 5 oil fired boilers to more efficient units• 75% of the lights on campus have been switched out to LED lights and major

projects completed where applicable (the greatest savings and efficiency comes from larger facilities – of which Becker has very few)

• 12 inches of insulation has been put in the attics of almost all the houses we own• Working on a new water treatment system to improve the efficiency of heating /

cooling of water for all our HVAC systems – equipment will last longer• Replaced 4 roofs in the past three years• By the end of 2016, the college will receive 95% of its electricity from solar power

– where none of the actual panels will be on campus land (eliminating any hazardous waste issues in later years)

What can be done in the future @ Becker

• Adopt the ‘STARS’ environmental sustainability program from (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education)

• ‘STARS’ is the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System for colleges and universities to measure self-reported sustainability performance

https://stars.aashe.org/pages/participate/reporting-process.html

• Create a ‘Student-Faculty Environmental Stewardship Committee’ and a “Climate Action Plan @ Becker”

https://green.uw.edu/inform/esc

President Obama: Act on Climate (2:18)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6jUrrPlaHs