Giggling with the SDGs: Goal 6

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 05:04:06 -0700

When I spoke with Izzy from the environmental charity Earthwatch Europe about her experience of supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on clean water and sanitation, an image came to mind: the tower of Babel. In an attempt to come together and build a bridge to heaven, we seem thwarted - not by God this time. But by us. The way language is being used (abused), and the global spreading out of administrative fiefdoms, each looking after a tiny fragment of an overall goal/indicator, are obscuring our ability to clearly communicate the beauty and importance of what we are trying to save in the first place. And in breaking the challenge up into such tiny component parts we are hampering our ability to save ourselves. It is my humble hope that if we can lovingly spot what is profoundly inspirational and remarkably dysfunctional about the SDGs, we have a better chance to fix the system.

There are 17 SDGs in total, split into 169 specific targets which are measured using 231 separate indicators. Izzy works on just one tiny part of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation); Indicator 6.3.2, which focuses on the quality of water in the environment. A few years ago, Izzy participated in my Sustainable Stand Up course. Her fab set is here. In her set, she talked about her work as a freshwater biologist. Part of her job includes wearing waders and standing in various parts of the River Thames in the UK, weighing eels with kitchen scales to track their health. One of the problems for eels is that chemicals from the human world, including Viagra, are flowing into the Thames. So Izzy sometimes has to deal with ‘erect eel disfunction’. Now, that very last bit (erect eels) is an exaggeration, but because it is a logical extension of the real information and makes me laugh, it helps me...Read More

Maffick

Giggling with the SDGs: Goal 6