Intro: In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as a universal call to action to end hunger, protect the planet, and ensure that all people experience peace and prosperity by 2030. There are 17 SDG goals. These goals are the blueprint for everyone to create a better and more sustainable future. 

Activity:

1) Watch this SDG video. 

2) Choose a country and SDG goal of your choice

3) Research at least seven relevant pieces of quantitive data/statistics (2021) 

4) Convert each fraction into decimal and percentage (the same goes all three ways). 

5) Take some time to reflect. Based on those statistics, what can you conclude? How is your selected country doing in terms of growth pertaining to your chosen SDG goal? Is it relatively bad or good? Why?

6. Based on your research, provide a thorough CER. 

Takeaways:

Ask your students what they have learned about:

• Student became more familiarized with the 17 SDG goals and their environmental impact

• Student was able to strengthen their conversion skill of mathematics and CER writing  

Related to: SDG 7, SDG 12

Intro:

One way to understand the effects you have on the environment is to calculate your carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is defined as: "The amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc", so it's essentially a way to measure the negative effects that we have on the environment. Carbon emissions lead to climate change and increased temperatures, which have recently contributed to rising sea levels and the destruction of important habitats such as coral reefs. A carbon footprint is normally calculated in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) but occasionally footprints are calculated in tonnes of carbon equivalent (tC). You will need to multiply by 44 and divide by 12 to convert from tonnes of carbon to tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Activity:

Optional: Take 3-5 minutes to do some research on the negative effects of carbon and greenhouse gases

Take this carbon footprint emissions quiz: Link - Select the 'basic' version for grades 5-6, select the 'advanced' version for grades 7-8

Take 2 more carbon footprint emissions quiz from this selection:

• Link (Philippine-based initiative)

• Link (Climate change advocacy site)

• Link (Global awareness organization)

• Link (Most popular online carbon footprint calculator)

Convert units when necessary to find the average output of your carbon emissions

Optional: Hypothesize the percentages of the largest contributors to climate change (e.g transportation, agriculture, etc)

Answer: Link

Takeaways:

Ask your students what they have learnt about:

• The negative effects of greenhouse gases

• The greatest contributors to carbon emissions 

• How they can reduce their own carbon footprint by making simple daily changes