Over 122 million more people are facing hunger in the world since 2019 due to the pandemic and repeated weather shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published today jointly by five United Nations specialized agencies. If trends remain as they are, the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030 will not be reached, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn. The 2023 edition of the report reveals that between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022, with a mid-range of 735 million. This represents an increase of 122 million people compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instructions

Global Solutions for Sustainable Living identifies the laws of nature that are inherent in the diverse ecosystems that comprise and sustain all life on earth. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the energy we need to sustain ourselves, the food we eat and the buildings we live in are all influenced by the natural systems where we live. Our goal in this course is to identify the critical environmental issues we face in each of these areas: Ecosystems, Architecture and the Built Environment, Air, Water, Renewable Energy, and Agroecology and find solutions to create greater sustainability for our planet. There are no textbooks for this course.

The course structure includes six modules:

1. Ecosystems
2. Architecture and the Built Environment
3. Air
4. Water
5. Renewable Energy
6. Agroecology

Internet resources from the United Nations Environment Programme, World Economic Forum, TED talks, Youtube videos, and listed websites will provide course participants with introductions to each topic. Listed websites and internet resources will help you (the student) understand how solutions are being implemented across the world in real time to solve the critical environmental problems the world is facing. You will develop your own solutions for the problems you wish to explore in each module. Six examples of topic questions, and solutions, are provided for each module. Once you have developed a solution for the problem you will design and present a project to solve the issue you have identified. Solutions can be applied on an individual, local, state, national or international level.

Agroecology (Sixth of 6 modules)

Global Solutions for Sustainable Living: Agroecology