Environmental Ethics and Sustainability in Indian Thought

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 55-87
Author(s):  
Rana P. B. Singh ◽  

Religion (dharma) plays a vital role in the Hindu (Sanatana) quest for understanding and practicing harmony between nature and humanity that result into the formation of a cosmological awakening, i.e. 'transcending the universe.' The importance and applicability of such new consciousness is a sign in promoting global humanism in the 21st century, where environmental ethics and sustainability are the wheels of making the future more humane and peaceful. Arne Naess, who coined the term 'deep ecology' conceiving humankind as an integral part of its environment, gives credit to Gandhi. Gandhi’s contributions help to re-awaken the human spirit to self-realisation, finally leading to revelation promoting human coexistence with nature sustainably, mostly through re-interpretation of Vedantic thought. Under the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) the ideas of Gandhi are recognised as a path that makes human coexistence stronger, feasible and co-sharedness, sustainable in peace and harmony with nature. This essay presents ecospiritual contextuality and its vitality concerning a sustainable perspective in line with Gandhi's vision and way of life.

Author(s):  
Maria José Centenero de Arce ◽  
Gracia Martínez Orenes ◽  
Antonio Luis Guinea Serrano

La educación ambiental es un reto y una realidad que debemos incluir en los centros educativos de todo el mundo.  A partir de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible 2030 (ODS) lanzado por Naciones Unidas, nos planteamos la necesidad de actuar contra el calentamiento global, el cambio climático y en general cambiar para mejorar nuestros hábitos, tanto sociales, como personales. Vimos que este cambio tan necesario y urgente en nuestro modo de vida lo podríamos acercar a los más jóvenes a través del juego. Para ello se buscó una metodología práctica para trabajar a través del juego y de la tecnología los conceptos necesarios para el cuidado del medio ambiente. Con esta gamificación buscamos motivar al alumnado para iniciar este cambio de estilo de vida de una forma divertida y en equipo sin olvidar el objetivo de alcanzar la mayoría de las metas propuestas. La utilización del juego como instrumento de aprendizaje favorece la participación e implicación del alumnado y ayuda a la cohesión de los equipos. Retos de lógica, artísticos, de cuidado de medio ambiente, talleres de igualdad han convivido con las materias habituales durante este curso. La completa participación de profesorado y alumnado ha hecho que este reto educativo se haya convertido en una realidad extrapolable a otros cursos e incluso a otros centros que deseen incorporarlo. Environmental education is a challenge and a reality that we must include in educational centers around the world. Based on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) launched by the United Nations, we consider the need to act against global warming, climate change and in general change to improve our habits, both social and personal. We saw that this so necessary and urgent change in our way of life could be brought closer to the youngest through the game. For this, a practical methodology was sought to work through games and technology the concepts necessary for caring for the environment. With this gamification we seek to motivate students to start this lifestyle chango in a fun way and as a team without forgetting the objective of achieving most of the proposed goals. The use of the game as a learning instrument favors the participation and involvement of the students and helps the cohesion of the teams. Challenges of logic, art, care of the environment, equality workshops have coexisted with the usual subjects during this course. The full participation of teachers and students has made this educational challenge a reality that can be extrapolated to other courses and even to other centers that wish to incorporate it.


Author(s):  
Ademola A. Adenle

Energy was not stated as one of the millennium development goals (MDGs) but played an indirect role in helping meet the MDGs especially in the areas of housing, health, education, and poverty reduction in Africa. In contrast, the United Nations’ 2030 agenda includes 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), one of which is devoted to energy. SDG7 seeks to ensure “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all,” thereby creating a vital role for the energy sector to join in the task of achieving SDGs. Renewable energy including solar energy will play a significant role in improving energy security in Africa and diversifying the energy mix by reducing reliance on fossil fuels. This chapter examines the advantages of solar technologies in the context of social, economic, and environment benefits using case studies from Kenya and South Africa. This chapter also examines some of the key challenges that are associated with the application of solar energy technologies in these countries. Finally, the chapter discusses how solar energy technologies can help meet SDGs and summarizes policy and programs targeting the promotion of solar energy technologies for the implementation of SDGs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Abeer Mohamed Ali Abd Elkhalek

Achieving sustainable development goals in a very dynamic and complicated world requires innovated solutions. As people are in the heart of the developmental process, understanding what motivates people and what drives their behaviors is a must for designing policies targeting the achievement of developmental goals. This paper aims to assess how the behavioral economics’ tools may be applied to directing people’s behaviors toward more sustainable activities and then contributing to achieve sustainable development goals. Using deductive qualitative approach, and a comparative analysis, the study explores and discusses to what extent insights and techniques from behavioral economics may affect and change policy making process and then public policies' outcomes specifically in the context of sustainable development disciplines. The results showed a vital role of behavioral economics tools in developing public policies in accordance to real behaviors of people which -in turn- help in achieving sustainable development goals. Moreover, it was concluded that changing humans' behaviors toward more sustainable patterns of life provides so many opportunities to strengthen the effectiveness of policies for sustainable development in both developed and developing countries. Using behavioral economics tools, policymakers can design more effective policies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanni Yu ◽  
Jinghong Huang

No Poverty is the top priority among 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The research perspectives, methods, and subject integration of studies on poverty reduction have been greatly developed with the advance of practice in the 21st century. This paper analyses 2,459 papers on poverty reduction since 2000 using VOSviewer software and R language. Our conclusions show that (1) the 21st century has seen a sharp increase in publications of poverty reduction, especially the period from 2015 to date. (2) The divergence in research quantity and quality between China and Kenya is great. (3) Economic studies focus on inequality and growth, while environmental studies focus on protection and management mechanisms. (4) International cooperation is usually related to geographical location and conducted by developed countries with developing countries together. (5) Research on poverty reduction in different regions has specific sub-themes. Our findings provide an overview of the state of the research and suggest that there is a need to strengthen the integration of disciplines and pay attention to the contribution of marginal disciplines to poverty reduction research in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-265
Author(s):  
Desti Herawati* ◽  
Rita Istiana

The emergence of the 4.0 industrial revolution requires university graduates to have 21st-century thinking skills that can support them to compete globally. However, the low 21st-century thinking skills of prospective teachers in the group of ways of thinking (critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision making) make the learning process should be able to train and develop these thinking skills. One way to train prospective teachers' 21st-century thinking skills is through the textbooks used in lectures. This study aims to develop textbooks based on socioscientific issues on the topic of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study used the RD research method with ADDIE design which is composed of 5 stages: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. textbooks were applied at the implementation stage by involving second-semester prospective teachers who contract Environmental Knowledge courses. The instruments used in this study included textbook validation sheets and essay tests. The validation results were analyzed using descriptive analysis, while the essay test results were analyzed using SPSS. The results of the study showed that the socioscientific issues-based textbooks on the SDGs topic received a very good expert assessment and had met the standards of the appropriateness of the content, language, graphics, presentation, and socioscientific issues. Prospective teachers' 21st-century thinking skills in the group of the way of thinking  also improved significantly after using socioscientific issues-based textbooks. These indicated that the textbooks which have been developed were effective in practicing the 21st-century thinking skills of prospective teachers.


Author(s):  
Shubhrajyotsna Aithal ◽  
P. S. Aithal

Nanotechnology is considered as a tool for solving problems and providing comfort in the livelihood of human beings, also possess challenges and treats if not used carefully. nanotechnology if used properly can support to realize the 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) to be realized by 2030. Nanotechnology, being multidisciplinary frontier technologyuseful for innovative solutions in primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary industry sectorshas shown slow progress due to its potential risks due to predicted nanotoxicity. To counterthis but to use nanotechnology solutions in societal progress, green and eco-friendlynanotechnology solutions play a major role in realizing sustainable development goals andeliminates the threat of the technification of development processes. This paper discusses theconcept, current research outcome, and the industrial prospects of achieving global SDG andmuch more using green and eco-friendly nanotechnology in 21st century.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuonan Wang ◽  
Yan Zhao

Technology has played a vital role in modifying the lifestyle of individuals and the emerging countries are progressing so fast as no one has ever thought before. With the progression of technology boosting, the pattern of energy resources consumption has also been the center of attention for researchers in this decade. China has been one of those countries that have adopted such energy strategies in its industrial regime. The economists and information technology (IT) working together have done wonders in digitalizing and sustaining the economies that will lead to sustainable development goals. This study has been an effort to understand the role of technology and the availability of affordable energy resources in obtaining a sustainable digital economy with the mediating role of sustainable development. The population of this study was IT professionals and economists. The survey data were collected from 285 respondents selected based on purposive sampling. The software adopted for data analysis was SmartPLS 3.3.3. This study showed that technology utilization had been an important predictor of sustainable development, contributing to a sustainable digital economy. Similarly, low operational cost also moderated the relationship of sustainable development and sustainable digital economy that has been the major focus of developing countries. Moreover, the strategy of cutting down the operation costs to bring it down to the level of affordability is a major challenge for the economies such as China that have been among the low production cost. Studies on the sustainable digital economy with respect to technological use are very limited. Hence, this study will find many advantages for economists and IT professionals in the future with respect to devising the strategies taking into account the sustainable development goals and the achievement of a sustainable digital economy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Karina Gunzenova

The current legal frameworks of the Russian Federation, which intermediate socio-natural relations, may contradict the course set towards sustainable development due to their dependence on the formerly dominant technocratic view of the world leading to various systemic destructions. Not always do the quantitative indicators contribute to finding the best way of environmental-economic development. In this connection, the issue of a high-quality assessment of the effectiveness of strategies, plans, and other regulatory and legal documents in achieving sustainable development goals is analyzed. This paper considers the “ecological efficiency” assessment of the legislation as a value criterion measuring the relevance of the planning and strategic documents to the essence of sustainable development. The paper aims to expose the essence of the “ecological efficiency” concept and its role in the harmonization mechanism for socio-natural relationships. The dialectical method, which determines interconnections between the values existing earlier and the character of socio-natural development on the one hand, and the emerging environmental ethics-based comprehensive worldview and sustainable development on the other, was used as the primary research instrument. Research results showed the existing potential for the use of “ecological efficiency” as a value criterion to assess the relevance of state plans and strategies to the declared sustainable development goals. “Ecological efficiency” helps to resolve the current contradictions in social development management thus contributing to the formation of the sustainable development legislation relevant to the level of public consciousness and behavior. Keywords: ecological efficiency, strategic development, sustainable development legislation, sociocultural development factor.


Author(s):  
Lena Dominelli

Women have a lengthy history of fighting their oppression as women and the inequalities associated with this to claim their place on the world stage, in their countries, and within their families. This article focuses on women’s struggles to be recognized as having legitimate concerns about development initiatives at all levels of society and valuable contributions to make to social development. Crucial to their endeavors were: (1) upholding gender equality and insisting that women be included in all deliberations about sustainable development and (2) seeing that their daily life needs, including their human rights, be treated with respect and dignity and their right to and need for education, health, housing, and all other public goods are realized. The role of the United Nations in these endeavors is also considered. Its policies on gender and development, on poverty alleviation strategies—including the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals—are discussed and critiqued. Women’s rights are human rights, but their realization remains a challenge for policymakers and practitioners everywhere. Social workers have a vital role to play in advocating for gender equality and mobilizing women to take action in support of their right to social justice. Our struggle for equality has a long and courageous history.


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