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During periods where global crises persist, such as COVID 19, the energy supply crisis or climate change, we are reminded of the compelling arguments that we need multilateralism more than ever. Indeed, it was this context of a growing desire for greater global collaboration, that has inspired the recent actions in our school community. In BSN this October, we marked the 76th anniversary of the United Nations, with our UN day celebrations.
We based our approach to UN day on one of the founding ideals of the UN, which is that nations must work together to overcome the most difficult global challenges of our age. With this concept in mind, we tried to overcome similar challenges. For UN Day, students were placed into mixed age groups and given a unique modern problem to solve. These problems were based on challenges that inform different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Below are a few exciting examples of what our students accomplished for UN Day to support the creation of a fairer, more peaceful, more sustainable, and more prosperous world.
SDG17: Revitalise global partnership for sustainable development.
SDG 17 implores us to form greater ties to likeminded organisations in order to support positive change. Here our Year 10-13 students are advocating charities in our community that do invaluable work for their various causes. As a result of the student engagement in our community we have made a new connection with the animal charity, FurryFriends. The social enterprise club will be liaising with them and supporting the organisation over the coming months. Furthermore, the students have decided that FurryFriends will be supported financially by our upcoming non-uniform day.
SDG11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
The Art Department supported our students in designing sustainable cities. Students thought about how they might improve energy security in our cities. Below we can see how green energy (solar and wind) has been incorporated into the city to shorted energy supply lines and reduce air pollution. Furthermore, the addition of the green roofs on the two buildings, on the right of the image, will act as a carbon sink and provide natural insulation. This reduces the need for extra heating in winter and excessive air conditioning in summer.
SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production
The students looking at SDG 12, were responsible for urban greening our staffroom balcony to raise awareness about how we might negate day-to-day school related carbon emissions. Furthermore, students developed an understanding about how the garden could be used to reduce food miles by encouraging local production and consumption habits. This project reflects recent actions happening in Nanjing, as seen by the ‘Vertical Forest’ project currently underway in Pukou District.
UN Day has been a tremendous success. The students have made progress towards developing their understanding of their goal and they have considered how these global problems could be mitigated. I am immensely proud of how our students engaged with the concepts covered during UN Day. They demonstrated problem solving skills, teamwork, tenacity, and shown a desire to help build the sustainable future we all want realised.