Connecting Global Sustainability Development Goals to Local Problems

I created this graphic in an effort to show how the United Nations' Global Sustainability Goals (SDGs) are also local challenges.   If you open the SDG web site you can click on each of the 17 boxes and find information related to that goal.

I think that many of the issues we face in Chicago and America are the same, but that some may be on a different scale. For instance the income level of really poor people in Chicago may still be quite a bit higher than really poor people in India and Africa.  However, the gaps between rich and poor in other countries may not be as wide as it is in America. All of this deserves greater study, so I point you to the research section of the web library I've been building since the late 1990s.

I've been using Thinglink (free version) to highlight sections of complex visualizations. So invite you to look at this.



I've put nodes on my Race-Poverty map to the SDG Goals that have a direct correlation.  On the left, with a black dot, I list goals that are not directly related to poverty, but affect the well-being of all of us who share this planet.

There is a world-wide effort to bring the SDG's into classroom study. At the right is a learning path infographic from this site.

I encourage classrooms to look at my Race-Poverty map, and other concept maps and visualizations.  Think of ways students and adults can use their time, talent and dollars to help overcome these problems in different places throughout America and the world, over many years of consistent attention.

11-14-2017 update - Here's a pdf showing 17 SDGs, in comic book format.

6-9-2018 update - "How the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals undermine democracy". The writer of this article claims that "basic freedoms that underpin and advance human development are missing from the SDG equation.' Read the article.

3-12-2019 update - Canadian Index of Child and Youth Well-Being - this report ties into the SDGs and is model that might be used elsewhere. click here

2-27-2020 update - Catalytic Communities is committed to the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Rio de Janeiro’s favela communities -

The text next to the tree says "Sustainable communities and cities are impossible to achieve without social justice and accountable institutions. If CatComm were a tree, SDG 16 would be our trunk and SDG 11 our canopy."  Read more

9-15-2021 update - Global SDGs action map shows who's involved in each goal, in every country.  click here