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08:44

Our Ocean: A Finite Resource

The ocean has always sparked human curiosity. In the mid-20th century, people began to realize that there are limits to what humanity should do to our planet before it cannot support life as we know it, limits known as the planetary boundaries. The human population of the planet has reached 7 billion people and will soon approach 11 billion people. We rely on the earth to support us with ecosystem services; the ocean provides these services by regulating the climate system. The oceans have a…

14:35

Virtue Ethics: An Indigenous Perspective

In this chapter, Grand-father T8aminik (Dominique) Rankin and Grand-mother Marie-Josée Tardif discuss ethics and the connections between people and the Earth in the Anishinaabe tradition of northeast North America. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

06:04

Social Communication for Social Change

Sarah Bradshaw argues that if we want to change rates of violence, we have to change the way violence is understood and change attitudes about violence in society. In Nicaragua, a feminist non-governmental organization called Puntos de Encuentro used media to highlight ideas about violence, including a popular television show that discussed issues like violence and homosexuality in a conservative society. The show jumpstarted discussion around how attitudes can change simply by promoting…

10:58

Corruption and Politics Today

All of our aspirations for sustainable development depend on good governance. Good governance is vital so that government provides the public investments and the public services that underpin economic development, that ensure that no one is left behind, that ensure high-quality public services-- healthcare or an education or in infrastructure. We need our governments to behave, and the evidence is quite overwhelming that when governments are corrupt--and many, many are--two phenomena very…

12:24

Introducing Sustainable Development

In this chapter, Professor Jeffrey Sachs introduces the course "Sustainable Development: the Post-Capitalist Order" and defines sustainable development. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license. Please give attribution to the SDG Academy.

13:29

Economics to Equity in Health

Economics relates to health in that it relates to development. In this video, Professor K. Sinrath Reddy addresses the economics of global public health and economic equity. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

12:33

How a Company Decides to Invest in a Project

This chapter overviews investments in oil, gas and mining projects. It includes a comparison of private and state ventures. Sources of income include: cash from existing projects and retained earnings, bank borrowings against the corporate balance sheet, or project finance specifically loaned against the capacity of that project. The chapter also details the various analyses and assessments done by companies technical, social, governmental, and financial. Sir Mark Moody Stuart stresses that…

12:11

The Rights of Indigenous Populations

"Laudato Si' inspired all of us with its call for integral human development. And that means that we have to look at human development with a holistic approach, looking at all dimensions of development. And this framework means that we have to deal with individuals, with the inner development of everybody, not only taking care of the environment but also taking care of people. Our mandate to deal with a holistic approach to sustainable development is very much in tune with and in line…

05:58

Ideas of Poverty and Wellbeing

Poverty has been an important part of the development agenda since the 1990s, but the way that we measure poverty has changed drastically over the years. Inequality is still not a mainstream measure, although measures such as the Gini coefficient are gaining prominence. Poverty is measured in terms of the poverty line, which is considered to be extreme poverty at under US $1.00 a day and poverty at US $2.00 a day. Who decides what is a basic good and what belongs in the basket of basic goods?…