This guide is to help students connect with sustainability in their personal lives through selecting indicators and measuring individual environmental impact.
"The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030" - United Nations (2023)
Explore the resources below to learn more about SDGs and reducing carbon outputs:
Our personal behaviours have an impact on the world around us. Environmental impact can be divided into 4 categories where we can identify ways to reduce our outputs and measure our usage and habits.
Waste
Waste Reduction (City of Toronto)
Reducing waste: What you can do (Environmental Protection Agency)
Energy
How to use less electricity at home (Government of Ontario)
Make small changes that add up (Government of Canada)
Water
Reducing water use at home (Region of Waterloo)
Here are our top ten water saving tips (World Wildlife Fund)
Transportation
Transportation: Act now (United Nations)
What you can do to reduce pollution from vehicles and engines (Environmental Protection Agency)
A Baseline is a minimum or starting point used for later comparisons
For example: Measuring the time it took an individual to run 1500 metres on the first attempt would be a baseline measure to compare later recorded times in order to measure improvement.
A benchmark is something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged. For example: The national average time it takes athletes in your age group to complete running 1500 meters