Essay and Panel Discussion Topics

Transcription

1 Essay and Panel Discussion Topics Background information In 2000, the Millennium Summit of the United Nations (UN) established 8 goals of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). All UN member states but also international organizations, non government organizations, private sectors had put efforts to achieve the 8 goals and long discussion on post 2015 agenda from 2012 to 2015 involving numerous actors, age groups and regions. All UN member states committed to achieve the eight goals by 2015 within the United Nations. 15 year later, the UN General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) titled Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (please see the appendix for more information). The SDGs contains 17 goals and 169 targets. The following table shows the 17 goals of SDG. To achieve the sustainable society, we must contemplate the global challenges facing the human kind. By discussing global challenges, the youths, as global citizens, can be trained to increase cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral capabilities. Cognitive capacity: Knowledge, understanding and critical thinking about global issues and the interconnectedness/ interdependency of countries and different populations. Socio-emotional capacity: A sense of belonging to a common humanity, sharing values and responsibilities, sharing empathy, solidarity and respect for differences and diversity. Behavioral capacity: Acting responsibly at local, national and global levels for a more peaceful and sustainable world. Topic 1: Bullying in a school as a form of physical violence against justice Various type of physical violence is occurring across the world against justice. War or terror is a manifest form of physical violence, and bullying in school is also considered another form of physical

2 violence. SDGs states that we need to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, to provide access to justice for all, and to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (SDG 16). In addition, we need to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (SDG 4). From the point made above, if we can reduce cases of bullying in school, we will move to a more righteous and society which ensures everyone to have an equitable quality education. Question. If your country, region, or society is faced with a problem about any case of bullying in school, please describe. How would young people solve this problem by using Internet & SNS, or other innovative and creative ways? Please include the following; 1) a goal in solving the problem, 2) a purpose/ reason about solving the problem, 3) the need, 4) targets, 5) stakeholders concerned with the problem, 6) facts, statements, or opinions against the suggestions made. Examples of bullying in school There are cases that some students suffering from bullying in school committed suicide. Bullying in school is not a personal issue, but a social issue associated with power imbalance and a negative use of power. I believe we should put all efforts to stop bullying in schools. If you are not a victim, you may think it is not your problem. However, it is more than a personal issue because it is a form of physical violence which is against justice. The Sustainable Development Goals say that the all people need to get access to justice and inclusive and equitable quality education. I read a newspaper that a month ago, a girl who was of same age with me killed herself because she suffered a lot from bullying in her school. It is a tragedy that none of her family members or her teacher noticed it before. Due to development of SNS, the bullying also happens through SNS such as facebook, twitter, etc. To reduce such problems, I suggest we have a town hall meeting regularly in school with parents. I believe it will become a chance to communicate among students, parents and teachers in a public place. It will reduce any miscommunications which can be created by three parties. For those parents who cannot attend the meeting, live video can be provided by the school web site. From the meeting, parents and children will have more issues to discuss and have more chance to communicate at home. I hope those activities can contribute to reduce the cases of bullying in school. Topic 2: Action plan for Climate Change Everyday the world is facing many problems due to climate change which is getting worse. The glaciers in the Antarctic and Arctic are melting due to global warming and it makes the sea level rise while the island countries are sinking. All parts of the world experience abnormal weather. Natural disasters such as typhoon and floods are damaging human environment and properties. It is expected that the climate change will be accelerated and harm life of all living things.

3 Climate change is highlighted as the most important and serious goal and it cuts across all 17 SDGs. The SDGs tell each countries to take immediate actions to combat climate change and its impact (SDG 13). In this regard, youths can contemplate the problems and solutions of climate change, which can contribute to the sustainable society and earth. Question. If your country, region, or society is faced with the problems influenced by climate change, please describe. How would young people solve this problem by using Internet & SNS, or other innovative and creative ways? Please include the following; 1) a goal in solving the problem, 2) a purpose/ reason about solving the problem, 3) the need, 4) targets, 5) stakeholders concerned with the problem, 6) facts, statements, or opinions against the suggestions made. Examples - Green house gases caused by use of fossil fuel such as coal, oil, and gas, increase of waste, and indiscreet destruction of forest are the main causes of climate change. - Global warming melts the glaciers of the Antarctic and Arctic and it results in sinking of island countries such as Maldives. - Climate change causes heat wave and droughts which bring forth forest fire and damage crop cultivation. - Casualty is reported due to flood, forest fire and other climate- related incidents. The number of natural disaster has increased due to climate change. - Habitat for human beings is reducing due to deforestation, water pollution and other problems. Thus, environmental refugees are created. - Global warming has accelerated in Jeju ocean areas for the last 30 years and the sea level rise rate is three times higher than average. The climate change is getting serious each year. I would like to contribute to slow down the climate change by using Instagram. We do know the climate change is an important issue, but we do not feel it is real. In last February, the severe cold hit my province. Unlike any February before, the cold weather recorded below zero temperature and my neighborhood was covered by snow. Due to this unexpected cold weather, my parents lost some of our livestock such as oxen, chickens and goats. The snow damaged crops as well. I heard that some of my neighbors lost their lives due to the cold weather. My teacher told us that the severe cold weather in last February was caused by the climate change. It is really happening and affecting our lives. As reducing the climate change effect is the core goal of the Sustainable Development Goals agreed in 2015 at the UN General Assembly, we need to raise awareness among the public. By using hash tag of climate change and making it popular, we can raise awareness on climate change. Instead of following pictures of food or nice places, we also need to know what is really happening on the earth.

4 The target group will be all Instragram users who have accounts. The photographers or environmentalists are not the only responsible stakeholders. As global citizens and internet users, we can take one shot of picture everyday which is related to the climate change and share by using the hash tag "climate_change". Some people may think it is not interesting thing to do, but each of us is responsible for raising awareness on the climate change to show it is real. Topic 3: Preservation of biodiversity The human beings not only intake the animals and plants, but also rely on the living things in our daily lives. Biodiversity has been the basis of civilization, and if it were to break down, the lives interdependent ecosystem would be destroyed and threaten the survival of mankind. The stable condition of ecosystem with number and types of organism must be maintained. But the destruction of the ecosystem led by the deforestation and marine development for economic profit have rapidly destroyed the biodiversity. Because of that, many living species/ organism have gone extinct or in a state of extinction. The breaking down of biodiversity leads to the destruction of the ecosystem and it will make bad effect on our eating habits and daily lives for current and future generations. SDGs state that we need to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (SDG 14), In addition, we should protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (SDG 15). In this regard, the youths can contemplate the problems and solutions of climate change, which can contribute to the sustainable society and earth. Question If your country, region, or society is faced with a problem about any case of destruction of biodiversity, please describe. How would young people solve this problem by using Internet & SNS, or other innovative and creative ways? Please include the following; 1) a goal in solving the problem, 2) a purpose/ reason about solving the problem, 3) the need, 4) targets, 5) stakeholders concerned with the problem, 6) facts, statements, or opinions against the suggestions made. Examples - The major reason of biodiversity destruction is the damage of habitat. Besides that, the biodiversity is destoyed due to inflow of alien species, pollution, and other reasons. - Due to destruction of biodiversity, the number of species is decreasing and it leads to the loss of genetic diversity. Finally, it results in destruction of ecosystem. These experts calculate that between 0.01 and 0.1% of all species will become extinct each year. - Albert Einstein warned that if the bees disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live. 70% of plants which bloom breed by pollination. Bees are the main player of pollination. Without bees, plants cannot breed and the crop production decrease fatally. It leads to food security issues. Some cases have been reported in many places of the world that the number of bees has decreased by 50%.

5 - Jeju island has been recognized as an island with biodiversity. Jeju is listed as a World Natural Heritage in 2007 and hosted the World Conservation Congress in It is necessary to have many activities to preserve biodiversity of Jeju island. Last weekend, I visited my grand parents' farm in local province. My grandparents produce apples for living. They own a small farm to produce apples. My grandfather told me that this year the production is not as good as before. He shared with me that this year half of the trees did not bloom because not many bees visited the farm. My grandfather concerned that the habitat of bees in the area was destroyed by the new construction project. Due to the construction, many bees moved to another area to find their habitat and it affected the apple production of my grandfather. After I came back to my home, I shared my experience with my classmates. My teacher told us that the biodiversity has been destroyed by human beings activities such as environmental pollution, genetically modified organism, and destruction of habitat. I have thought how I can contribute to make the bees come back to my grandparents' province. I am planning to make an online petition asking for environment-friendly construction to the new construction project manager in my grandparents' province. It may reduce air pollution, noise pollution along with water pollution. It may not be enough to bring all bees back, but it will be the first step to do so. I hope all of citizens in my grandparents' province along with my friends can support the petition by online and offline. The construction company will not be happy about it, but I will go forward to make a difference. Topic 4: Protection of cultural diversity Cultural diversity means cultural difference in language, appearance, tradition, social form, ethics, religion, etc. Cultural diversity is a major asset of individual, society, and world for sustainable development of current and future generations. Many countries are having difficulties in preserving their cultural identity and heritage because of the rapid globalization. As well, many countries in each part of the world are encountering different cultures and having conflicts because of the inability to understand the difference within a country and between countries. We are aiming to strengthen efforts to protect and preserve the world s cultural and natural heritage (SDG 11.4). By 2030, we need to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture s contribution to sustainable development (SDG 4.7) While we discuss on how to protect cultural diversity by respecting each other, we can contribute to creating a sustainable society which respects and preserves each culture. Question

6 If your country, region, or society is faced with a problem about any case of destruction of cultural diversity, please describe. How would young people solve this problem by using Internet & SNS, or other innovative and creative ways? Please include the following; 1) a goal in solving the problem, 2) a purpose/ reason about solving the problem, 3) the need, 4) targets, 5) stakeholders concerned with the problem, 6) facts, statements, or opinions against the suggestions made. Examples - The domestic movie market of many countries are losing market share due to Hollywood movies which are popular all over the world. - Hundreds types of languages which are valuable cultural heritages of mankind have disappeared since the colonial period. Some languages are facing a risk of extinction because they are not passed on to the young generation. - There are cases of domestic cultural conflicts between immigrants or refugees and original citizens. - Some countries are experiencing domestic cultural conflicts due to religious differences. - Between countries, there are continuous conflicts due to religious differences in the world. There was an attack accident near my neighbors and the attacker was identified as an immigrant worker. From that moment, the neighbors started to have a bad impression on other immigrants who came from the same country of the attacker. Even though the other immigrants are innocent people, some restaurants do not allow the other immigrants to come to the restaurants. It is the unfair and wrong behaviors toward them. To make a sustainable society, we need to realize we can be immigrants as well when we live in other countries. Also, my country is highly dependent on the immigrant workers in many industries. I want to organize a public event to improve understanding on immigrant workers, their culture and others. Without knowing them properly, people will think they are different and dangerous. I want people to realize the immigrants are our neighbors and friends, not enemy. Some people may think it is not necessary to know about them, but we need to realize our society is already closely interacting with the immigrant workers and we need to adjust to the new reality.