What Is It?
The goal here is to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable”. But what does this mean, exactly? Under the “sustainable” umbrella in the goal’s name, they’re targeting as many facets of sustainability as possible - not just environmental, but social and economic as well.
It’s unfortunately quite easy to imagine how much this is needed - economic disparity is rampant, with 1.1 billion urban residents living in slums in 2020, and 2 billion more expected to in the next 30 years. There are plenty more jaw-dropping economic statistics that we hear so often. Unfortunately, we’ve somewhat normalized this, and because the economic divide tends to be geographical, some of us don’t feel responsible enough to care or take action. But these devastating numbers go beyond a “faraway minority” - this is happening to, simply, too many people to brush aside.
Similarly, on the social side, other than discrimination, some things we might not consider important - like only one in two urban residents having convenient access to public transport last year - pose genuine difficulties to people’s efficiency and livelihood. For disabled or economically advantaged people - two of the many cases for which lack of convenient public transportation would be a major issue - this can affect how often - if at all - they can go to work, what kind of work is open to them, etc., therefore limiting their income.
Finally, the sustainability aspect. Again, everything discussed comes under the blanket term of “sustainability”, because for society to continue - which is the very meaning of sustainability - economic, environmental, and social needs need to be met. however, specific to the environmental aspect, this is probably the most familiar to us, and most alike the other posts on Greenome. Renewable energy, policy to promote individual sustainable processes (recycling, etc.,), and corporate sustainability being encouraged are a few of the large-scale environmental goals.
How Does It Relate to Sustainability?
For this goal, this section will be fairly short and straightforward - after all, “sustainable” is in the name, in every sense of the word! Here, the angle to note is that while Greenome focuses on environmental sustainability, the other aspects previously mentioned are similarly vital.
What Can You Do?
What you can do can be split up into three pillars - environmental, social, and economic sustainability, which can overlap. Note that while there are other areas to be influenced, this specific goal targets these three.
Environmental Sustainability
s always, when it comes to environmental sustainability, it’s important to do the basics first, like recycling, etc. But beyond that, supporting your environmentally sustainable businesses locally, which Greenome promotes (check out our resources to do so here. This goes beyond restaurants, though - consumer-based industries, like restaurants, clothing stores, or supermarkets - will care more about you and how you choose to spend your money, so be sure to target those to scale your impact. Of course, volunteering and such is even better if you have the time, but these are things you can do in your daily life to support environmental sustainability and be sustainable yourself.
Social Sustainability
Economic Sustainability
You have a real opportunity for impact with this broad goal, so make sure you are contributing, big or small!
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