Raising funds for philanthropic causes around the world has been a commitment that Hard Rock pursues through the use of mottos, which can be seen in all their locations and sales.
The recognized chain of theme restaurants contributes to various humanitarian and environmental causes through the sale of original and sometimes limited edition Hard Rock products.
With the motto “LOVE ALL – SERVE ALL,” Hard Rock has been using corporate philanthropy as a business strategy that allows the corporation to support global and local communities.
According to the Hard Rock website, the corporation has been advocating and supporting humanitarian and environmental causes since its first day in 1971. The company supports various philanthropic partners, each tied to different mottos based on the causes the partners focus on:
TAKE TIME TO BE KIND
These are Hard Rock’s philanthropic partners that focus on humanitarian and human rights causes:
American Indian Veterans Memorial, American Red Cross, Amnesty International, Bombay Teen Challenge, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Caron Keating Foundation, St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, Children of Restaurant Employees (CORE), City of Joy, Crossroads Center, David Lynch Foundation, Fundacion Pies Descalzos, Global Angels, Habitat for Humanity, Holster Project, Hope North, Make A Wish Foundation, MPP HAITI, Music for Relief, Musicians on Call, Music Rising, Nordoff Robbins – UK, Pathfinder Academy, Pattanarak Foundation, Peace First, Roots & Shoots, The Mercury Phoenix Trust, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, TJ Martell Foundation, Vicente Ferrer Foundation and WhyHunger.
SAVE THE PLANET
These partners focus on environmental causes such as habitat and animal protection:
Arbor Day Foundation, Farm Aid, Sustainable BioDiesel Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society and Cotton Conservation Initiative (CCI).
ALL IS ONE
These are organizations in the entertainment industry that advocate for different causes:
GRAMMYs/National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Grammy Museum, LATIN GRAMMYs/Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Country Music Awards, MusicCares, Gibson Foundation, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Heard The World.
Hard Rock supports all of its partners by creating awareness, funding and by educating others about the different projects and causes for which their partners advocate.
Hard Rock also creates a variety of original products that are sold with a charitable purpose.
The company created the “Signature Series” t-shirt line as a way for artists to donate and do humanitarian labor by providing an original design to Hard Rock. These designs are printed on limited edition t-shirts and are sold in every Hard Rock location, as well as Hard Rock’s online shop.
Artists select charities from around the world and proceeds from their t-shirt sales are donated to those charities.
So far, Hard Rock has released 33 “Signature Series” t-shirts created by various artists including Imagine Dragons, Kiss, Linkin Park, U2, The Who, Bon Jovi, Shakira and Queen.
Current “Signature Series” t-shirts, as well as pins, bracelets and earbuds, are available in Hard Rock stores worldwide and online. The purchase of these items contributes to donations to different philanthropic causes.
Hard Rock Philanthropy is the humanitarian side of the Hard Rock company. With the use of mottos, products and partnerships with organizations and artists, Hard Rock is advocating to make the world a better place by loving and serving all.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: Hard Rock 1, Hard Rock 2, Hard Rock 3, Hard Rock 4, Hard Rock 5
Photo: La Republica Firenze
Malawi: Education Over Marriage
A minute is all it takes for 28 young girls around the world to be married off as child brides, adding up to 15 million underage brides per year. One of the main reasons for young marriage is to relieve the bride’s family of having to support her, which some struggle to do. As a result, the cycle of poverty continues with those girls having to abandon school and years later, their own underage daughters get married.
A child’s place is at school learning, making friends and playing. They are usually emotionally and physically unprepared for marriage, making them susceptible to domestic abuse and life-threatening pregnancies and births.
Until Feb. 2015, Malawi had one of the highest rates of child marriage, with 50 percent of girls being married before the age of 18. This changed in Feb. 2015, when President Peter Mutharika signed a law raising the marriage age from 15 to 18. To show the commitment to enforcing the law, 300 child marriages were annulled and kids were sent back to school earlier this month. Despite the progress, there is a loophole where parents can provide consent for 16-year-old girls to marry.
The fight to pass this law has been a process with Malawi’s Stop Child Marriage campaign beginning in 2011 by Girls Empowerment Network (Genet) and Let Girls Lead. They trained 200 girls in the Chiradzulo District of southern Malawi to become advocates. The advocates lobbied 60 village chiefs to change laws and establish by-laws to protect teen girls from marriage and sexual initiation practices.
The bylaws force men who marry girls under 21 to give up land and pay a fee of seven goats, a major economic penalty in the region. The bylaws also imposed social sanctions such as three months of janitorial service in a local health clinic for parents who marry their underage daughters.
Genet had hoped the election of the first woman president, Joyce Banda, would raise the marriage age, but she didn’t. Then in 2014, when Peter Mutharika was elected, Genet advocated extensively with his minister of gender, Patricia Kaliati. Fortunately, President Mutharika believes in the empowerment of financially independent women and signed the law.
Although it is difficult to break cultural beliefs and traditions, especially in rural areas, progress is being made at the government level. The local education campaigns will play a key role in educating and spreading the word about the new law, especially in places where people may be less educated regarding the law.
One strong advocate, Memory Banda, 18, was able to finish school, but her younger sister wasn’t as lucky. Memory’s younger sister was married at 11 to a man in his early 30s. This led her to speak up and help in leading the campaign to pass the law. Memory’s sister is now 16 with three children. In March, Memory spoke at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women for herself, her sister and the 70 million girls married as kids.
– Paula Acevedo
Sources: Global Citizen, The Guardian
Photo: Flickr
Zidisha Direct Loans Boosts Entrepreneurship
Big business ideas and economic enterprises are no longer limited to the corporate boardroom. The digitally connected world has provided entrepreneurs from all corners of the globe ways in which to make their concepts known; social media and increased mobile access have given tomorrow’s innovators a voice they lacked in the past. The main issue, however, is that those in developing countries still lack access to funding and capital, no matter how strong their idea.
That’s where Zidisha comes in. Zidisha is a nonprofit micro-lending service that allows potential borrowers to receive direct loans from an online community. The organization’s main goal is to promote economic development by cutting out lending middlemen and local banks that often charge supremely high-interest rates on loans.
The process is quite simple. Potential borrowers need only reliable online access, something that is only becoming more and more available. The borrowers then submit a profile describing themselves and their intended use of the loan. A one-time processing fee of around $12 is charged.
Zidisha is a very small company and merely provides a platform for users to interact directly. “We’ve built a decentralized marketplace that has no offices, no employees or loan officers in borrower countries,” says company founder Julia Kurnia. Zidisha lets borrowers receive funds via SMS straight from lenders at a zero percent interest rate.
Loans are typically small. Zidisha states that the average loan is $200 to $300. Loans have enabled entrepreneurs to buy computers for an Internet café and sewing machines for a village shop. Both have relatively low costs, but a significant impact. According to Wired Magazine, the computers that were funded by Zidisha loans have empowered many, as they have been used to teach office programs like Microsoft Word and Excel.
Zidisha’s purpose is clear in its name. The word means “grow” in Swahili. By charging no interest and only asking for the principal returned, Zidisha enables borrowers’ ideas, which would normally be denied by the typical financial institutions, to flourish.
– Joe Kitaj
Sources: Wired, Zidisha, Venture Beat
Photo: Zidisha
Engage Emerging Nations, Improve Education Spending
Global Education is a hot topic. It has been a part of the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. There was a recent Education Summit in Olso, Norway, in July. Education was also part of the discussions at the International Conference on Financing for Development.
Education leaders believed that there was a downturn in funding and supporting quality education for boys and girls around the world. However, after this year’s attention to education, this trend may be behind us. Mobilizing donors has had positive results. The financing committees work to enable traditional donors, private philanthropy and emerging nations.
One of the biggest game-changers is the Emerging Nations. They have a lot of potential to improve education standards and bring education to more people. The Global Partnership for Education brings together its developing nations partners and constituents before board meetings. The countries come together and exchange ideas and practices that work or didn’t work for them, allowing knowledge to spread more easily. It also gives the board an idea of how to tackle problems and how to approach education in these areas.
The meetings show that emerging nations are engaging in educational discussions and want to invest in the improvement. That is why it is important to mobilize these nations to spend on education. Show them where and how their money will be most effective.
Developing Nations are said to be growing economically more than developed nations. They will account for 65 percent of global growth up until 2020. It is important to reach out to them on such an important topic such as education. These countries have the resources to better education not just for their citizens, but for all global citizens by donating to global education. They can be the ones to close the $39 billion deficit in global education financing. The emerging nations are the ones that will benefit the most from education spending.
– Katherine Hewitt
Sources: Devex, Global Partnership, ICEF
Photo: Higher Education Development
African Skills Initiative Receives $60 Million
International Business Machines Corps (IBM) has announced its investment of $60 million in the African Skills Initiative. This investment will fund the development of the next generation of technical experts for the next three years.
With this investment, IBM plans to expand its Africa University Program and the Africa Technical Academy to more than 20 countries.
Dr. Naguib Attia, IBM Chief Technology Officer and VP Technical Leadership MEA says, “With a research laboratory, innovation centers, offices and other advanced facilities in more than 24 African countries, IBM has the highest concentration of technical talent on the African continent. As the leader in science and technology in Africa, we see it as IBM’s responsibility to make a strategic investment in skills development helping to lay the foundations of the Africa of tomorrow.”
IBM is teaming up with the Kenya Education Network to deliver certification courses to students and faculty studying and teaching in the 50 universities already in the Africa University Program network. In such a fast-paced and growing market such as Kenya, the African Skills Initiative will benefit the population greatly.
These courses will develop and enhance the students’ readiness to enter the job market. With a focus on what happens in the work world, students will be prepared and feel more qualified for the technical workspace.
The expansion of the program will benefit IT professionals in Africa. The program focuses on teaching skills in cloud, analytics and huge data technologies. This kind of training is an important step for the next phase of social and economic development in Africa.
It is very likely that IBM may offer employment to students who graduate from these courses with impressive scores. This would give incentive to people in Africa not only to receive an education but to also start their careers as IT professionals.
IBM’s latest project is focused on the next generation of technology and experts than its current business. With its current services such as software development, assistance and software products, IBM foresees that more IT professionals will be beneficial in the future.
With the expansion of the Africa University Program and the Africa Technical Academy, IBM is encouraging individuals to receive an education. With this education, they gain a greater chance of being employed by IBM.
The movement toward technology can already be seen today. As IBM predicts, the world will only become more dependent on technology. With this surge in technology, more IT professionals will be needed.
IBM’s investment of $60 million in the African Skills Initiative will fund the education of the IT professionals of tomorrow. But it will also educate people that are in need of the many jobs to come in the IT world. This initiative will further not only the world of technology but the lives of people.
– Kerri Szulak
Sources: Bidness, KTen
Photo: IT News Africa
Hard Rock Philanthropy: Goals, Partnerships and Products
Raising funds for philanthropic causes around the world has been a commitment that Hard Rock pursues through the use of mottos, which can be seen in all their locations and sales.
The recognized chain of theme restaurants contributes to various humanitarian and environmental causes through the sale of original and sometimes limited edition Hard Rock products.
With the motto “LOVE ALL – SERVE ALL,” Hard Rock has been using corporate philanthropy as a business strategy that allows the corporation to support global and local communities.
According to the Hard Rock website, the corporation has been advocating and supporting humanitarian and environmental causes since its first day in 1971. The company supports various philanthropic partners, each tied to different mottos based on the causes the partners focus on:
TAKE TIME TO BE KIND
These are Hard Rock’s philanthropic partners that focus on humanitarian and human rights causes:
American Indian Veterans Memorial, American Red Cross, Amnesty International, Bombay Teen Challenge, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Caron Keating Foundation, St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, Children of Restaurant Employees (CORE), City of Joy, Crossroads Center, David Lynch Foundation, Fundacion Pies Descalzos, Global Angels, Habitat for Humanity, Holster Project, Hope North, Make A Wish Foundation, MPP HAITI, Music for Relief, Musicians on Call, Music Rising, Nordoff Robbins – UK, Pathfinder Academy, Pattanarak Foundation, Peace First, Roots & Shoots, The Mercury Phoenix Trust, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, TJ Martell Foundation, Vicente Ferrer Foundation and WhyHunger.
SAVE THE PLANET
These partners focus on environmental causes such as habitat and animal protection:
Arbor Day Foundation, Farm Aid, Sustainable BioDiesel Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society and Cotton Conservation Initiative (CCI).
ALL IS ONE
These are organizations in the entertainment industry that advocate for different causes:
GRAMMYs/National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Grammy Museum, LATIN GRAMMYs/Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Country Music Awards, MusicCares, Gibson Foundation, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Heard The World.
Hard Rock supports all of its partners by creating awareness, funding and by educating others about the different projects and causes for which their partners advocate.
Hard Rock also creates a variety of original products that are sold with a charitable purpose.
The company created the “Signature Series” t-shirt line as a way for artists to donate and do humanitarian labor by providing an original design to Hard Rock. These designs are printed on limited edition t-shirts and are sold in every Hard Rock location, as well as Hard Rock’s online shop.
Artists select charities from around the world and proceeds from their t-shirt sales are donated to those charities.
So far, Hard Rock has released 33 “Signature Series” t-shirts created by various artists including Imagine Dragons, Kiss, Linkin Park, U2, The Who, Bon Jovi, Shakira and Queen.
Current “Signature Series” t-shirts, as well as pins, bracelets and earbuds, are available in Hard Rock stores worldwide and online. The purchase of these items contributes to donations to different philanthropic causes.
Hard Rock Philanthropy is the humanitarian side of the Hard Rock company. With the use of mottos, products and partnerships with organizations and artists, Hard Rock is advocating to make the world a better place by loving and serving all.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: Hard Rock 1, Hard Rock 2, Hard Rock 3, Hard Rock 4, Hard Rock 5
Photo: La Republica Firenze
A Fresh Outlook: Cryptosporidium Parvum Finally on Its Way Out
Most people will have to deal with some form of intestinal distress in their lifetime and often this is the result of a parasite called cryptosporidium parvum. This horrid parasite is the cause of two-thirds of intestinal distress-based deaths in the developing world. It has a tough outer layer which allows it to live in a variety of environments for a long time. This includes chlorinated pools, which accounts for many infections in the developed world. For most healthy individuals, this parasite will clear the body’s system within a few weeks, but for people in the third world, this simple parasite can mean grueling sickness or even death. Luckily, researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to do further research into creating a cure that is accessible and beneficial for people from all walks of life.
While there is currently a medicine that can ease the issues that come along with cryptosporidium called Nitazoxadine, it is not effective for people in the developing world because it is hard to access and is expensive. This is particularly bad news for young children in developing countries. Since many children are undernourished and lack access to clean water, they can often develop chronic diarrhea and cannot replenish water supplies, thus leading to dehydration and sometimes even death.
Understanding that this disease is a problem both in the developed and developing world, scientists have desperately been seeking a cure.
When attempting to develop a cure for most diseases, scientists first target the basic genes of the parasite or source of infection. In order to do so, scientists have to grow the bacterium or parasite in large quantities in the lab, which was virtually impossible, making it highly difficult for scientists to analyze the parasite and thus even more difficult for them to find out if any of their medicines were working. Luckily, Professor Boris Striepen and his colleagues at the University of Georgia Athens have discovered a way to test their medicines.
By giving small doses of cryptosporidium to animals in the lab, scientists have been able to test their medications in a controlled environment. The animals are always treated with plenty of fluids, antidiarrheals and are always kept safe. Since this parasite cannot be grown in a lab, it is best to propagate it in the stomach of an organism that it can actually affect. By giving the animals medications, scientists will be able to easily identify which treatments are most effective and cure the animals with known drugs so as not to bring any harm to them.
The major benefit of finding a proper method of growing the parasite is that it allows scientists to have a consistent method of investigation on the growth patterns and development of this specific parasite. Perhaps they will find a way to replicate the environment that exists within mammals that permits the parasite to flourish so clearly.
While this is just the beginning of discovery as to which drugs will be most accessible for people in the third world, it is really a huge step into a healthier and happier world.
– Sumita Tellakat
Sources: NPR, CDC
Photo: Medical Daily
How the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals Build on Past Goals
In 2000, the United Nations set out to complete a long list of goals with the ultimate goal of ending global poverty. This year marks the expiration of the so-called Millennium Development Goals and the advent of the United Nations’ latest set of Sustainable Development Goals.
The United Nations set in motion eight core goals at the start of the new millennia, each with individualized target goals and ideal success rates. These broad goals were:
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) Global partnership for development
Some of the specific rates of success targeted under individual goals include: halving the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day and the number of people suffering from hunger, eliminating gender disparity in education, reducing child mortality by two-thirds and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. These targets were supposed to have been met by 2015.
While great strides have been made in the last decade and a half, the United Nations was not 100 percent successful in reaching their goals. With the 2000 set of goals expiring, a new set of updated goals was drafted to continue their focus effort toward ending global poverty.
The Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 build upon the foundation laid by the Millennium Development Goals of 2000 and “seek to complete the unfinished business of the MDGs, and respond to new challenges,” according to the proposal statement from the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.
The 2015 set of goals expands and goes beyond the original goals, addressing an updated list of challenges faced by people of developing nations. The new set of goals includes:
1) End poverty in all forms everywhere
2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages
4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10) Reduce inequality within and among countries
11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
The new and expanded list retains many of the original target goals of the Millennium Development Goals, including ending global poverty (established as living on less than $1.25 a day), ending global hunger, expanding education and enhancing women’s rights, as well as encouraging a focus on sustainable development options.
As with the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations hopes to meet their Sustainable Development Goals in fifteen years, by the year 2030.
– Gina Lehner
Sources: UN, Sustainable Development
Photo: Daily Development
Silicon Valley and Global Energy Poverty
Over one billion people around the world do not have reliable access to electricity. Furthermore, 2.6 billion people are reliant upon biomass to cook, which causes harmful indoor pollution. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately four million people die each year due to habitual inhalation from these toxins.
The Silicon Valley is at the apex of technological achievement and is inhabited by some of the brightest and most creative minds on the planet. There has been a mounting international appeal to Silicon Valley to use their intellectual tech brilliance for philanthropic efforts.
There has been criticism for focusing on solutions to micro problems that intend to only service the individual, as opposed to global humanitarian issues. Responsibility, however, cannot rest solely with the entrepreneurs themselves. Widespread global issues do not always necessarily lend themselves to the venture capitalist system.
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa notes this struggle: “Investors believe that the quickest hits come from building apps or games that go viral, or from creating websites that automate business processes. This was surely the case in the social-media era, when even children who had not completed their college education could write apps. But we’ve built enough messaging and photo-sharing apps, and have bigger opportunities now. It is possible for the young and the old to solve real problems, to great effect.”
Continents like Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, have limited access to electricity and are being viewed as a possible new frontier for tech consumption. In some parts of the continent, Africans walk miles to the nearest power grid just for a cell phone charger. Even then, because of the demand, it can take hours and it is expensive. For this reason, solar energy has recently seen a boom in usage particularly by telecom companies being funded by tech investors. The rationale is that broadening electrical access across the continent will hopefully cause a surge in mobile phone usage.
Tesla has created a Powerwall home storage 10kwh battery that is capable of powering 1,000 watts of current for 10 hours. In comparison, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates the average American household uses 1,200 watts, 24 hours per day. The battery is capable of recharging via solar or wind energy. The only downside is that the battery unit costs $4,000, which does not include installation. The average per capita income in Sub-Saharan Africa is well below $3,000, making the unit well out of most price ranges.
Nonetheless, the Powerwall home storage stands as a promising, albeit a rudimentary example of Silicon Valley creativity and ingenuity being applied for a global purpose.
– The Borgen Project
Sources: National Geographic, Huffington Post, Wadhwa, Forbes
Photo: Silicon Beat
Point Source Power Turns Fire Energy Into Electricity
Worldwide, nearly 1.3 billion people live without electricity. That’s about 18 percent of the global population, 97 percent of which live in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia.
Craig Jacobson, co-founder and CEO of Point Source Power, had a solution to this problem in the palm of his hand. Point Source Power created a device to harness thermal heat from cooking stoves and convert the energy into electricity. This invention was originally created for adventurers on camping trips so that they could charge their cell phones while on vacation.
However, he saw a much greater demand for the invention in developing countries, so Point Source Power produced the VOTO: a low-cost fuel cell that operates at cook-stove temperatures and converts biomass directly into electricity. This device includes a charger for cell phones and batteries, as well as an LED light.
In an interview, Jacobson said, “People view fuel cells as an advanced technology that only wealthy countries can afford. We see things differently. We’ve created a technology that uses inexpensive materials found in homes throughout developing regions of the world – biomass and cook stoves.” In addition, the VOTO fuel cells are very tolerant of contaminants such as carbon and sulfur, which would likely ruin other fuel cells.
The VOTO is easily integrated into the daily routine of the average person. Accessing electricity does not involve an extra step in their day; instead, it is a part of their time spent cooking. Jacobson added, “Cooking is something that has to be done every day. We have taken cutting-edge technology and matched it to this daily ritual.”
As of now, VOTO products are only available in Kenya. The goal is to have these fuel cells available in homes all across developing regions, increasing people’s overall access to electricity.
– Hannah Resnick
Sources: Berkeley Lab, International Energy Agency, Launch, Point Source Power, Smithsonian
Photo: PointSourcePower
Environmental Education as an Agent of Change in the Developing World
It is no secret that Earth is facing a massive environmental crisis. Changes to the environment have resulted in climate change that has affected weather across the world. Pollution sickens children and creates thick layers of smog that envelop entire cities.
Climate change hits hardest in the developing world, where it kills 8.4 million people a year, which is more than HIV/AIDs and malaria kill. Many in developing countries still use more traditional fuel sources like wood and coal instead of cleaner energy. The issue has dropped off the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals, the successors of the Millennium Development Goals that expire this year.
What is the answer to all this doom and gloom? While there might not be a one-off solution to climate change, education on the issues facing the planet is certainly a big step in the right direction. Sadly, a recent study found that 40 percent of adults on earth are not aware of the idea of climate change. Lack of education also hits home in Africa and Asia, where people “are more likely to consider global warming a personal threat if they notice changes in the local temperature.”
It is often only by sensing a change in temperature that people deem climate change a threat. In Malawi, the local language does not have a word for the phenomenon. One way to combat climate change through education might be to explain the forces moving behind the slight temperature changes that people sense in order to make them understand the issue on a bigger, global scale. Knowledge on the subject can have an impact on a range of decisions that individuals might make – which crops to plant or where to place a new port, for example.
Environmental education can provide people with the necessary knowledge, behavior changes and skills that are needed in order to successfully carry out climate change mitigation and adaptation: it “can enable individuals and communities to make informed decisions and take action for climate-resilient sustainable development.”
The education of women and girls about the issues related to climate change is important. Recent studies have shown that when this happens, communities “are better able to adapt and thus be less vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate change.” When women are educated, they and their families are less likely to be vulnerable to death or injury during natural disasters.
More education on the specifics and intricacies of how natural environments function and change is needed in the developing world. Along with this, more knowledge must be spread on how individuals have an impact on their climate and the environment around them. With more of this in curriculae around the world, the effects of climate change might lessen.
Environmental education is an untapped resource when it comes to combating climate change. Those behind creating policy have not yet really utilized education as a sector that can fight climate change. Over the course of time, education has been used as a tool for social change. Today is no different – the planet needs a change in ideas and attitudes, and education is a way by which these changes can begin to sprout.
– Greg Baker
Sources: Washington Post, Brookings, AllAfrica, IPS News
Photo: UC San Diego News Center