So – it’s your turn to help tackle a “wicked problem.” But it’s also everyone else’s turn.
You are all going to choose a system you are familiar with and try to make it more sustainable.
First, a bit of practice. Consider your home, your local community, your school. Working in groups pick two of the below system changes. We’ve put UN Sustainable Development Goals that match up with each so you can see that these large problems can be broken down to lots of smaller changes.
Three choices
- Removing school uniforms and instead encouraging students to come to school in sustainably made or second-hand clothing (12 – Responsible Consumption and Production)
- Removing school bins to encourage students & teachers to avoid bringing wasteful & littering products to school (15 – Life on Land)
- Turning off school air conditioning and heating to save electricity (13 – Climate Action)
- Adopting a local First Nations seasonal calendar (11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, 15 – Life on Land, 17 – Partnerships to Achieve the Goals) https://www.csiro.au/en/research/indigenous-science/indigenous-knowledge/calendars
Write down:
- Which sustainability goals does this problem relate to?
- How might this change affect other components of the system?
- What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of the proposed change?
- How will the change affect the system as a whole?
- Is there a way you could improve on the idea you chose?
- How can we adapt the system if the change doesn’t have the desired effect?