Energy and the Millennium Development Goals

How important is energy ?What do you use energy for?On separate pieces of paper

or post it notes write down as many things as you can that you use energy for in your life.

In your group see if you can group them together into categories e.g. heating, communication

Feedback to the class

Imagine a life without energy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usISdE-WSWU

Energy is important for everyone Thinking about the film, in your group discuss anything else you have found out that energy is important for.

Write any new ideas on pieces of paper and add to your categories. You may want to add new categories.

Information from images

Look at each of the 8 pictures. All these show something happening that needs energy.

If there is something new your group didn’t think of before write it on a piece of paper and again add to your categories.

The Millennium Development goals In 2000 a large number of countries around the world who form the United Nations agreed on 8 goals they would try to reach by 2015 that would dramatically improve the lives of poor people around the world. They called them the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs

The 8 Millennium Development Goals are…

Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty

Achieve universal primary education

Promote gender equality and empower women

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health

Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases

Ensure environmental sustainability

Develop a global partnership for development

Watch this short video about the MDGs

http://binged.it/1d1oXUj

Energy is important if we are to reach the MDGsIn your groups cut out all the MDG symbols and their meaning and match them e.g.

With Improved maternal health

• Stick onto your A3 sheet.• For each MDG write down at least two

things energy is needed for using everything you have identified so far to help you e.g.

- Light… to deliver babies safely at night - Hot water… to sterilise equipment needed

A reminder of the problemEnergy is vital for poor people to escape poverty and important if we want to achieve the MDGs. The problem is right now a third of the world’s population has no access to modern energy services.

1/3

33.3333 33%

What happens after 2015?The United Nations are working with organisations like Practical Action to put together a new set of goals for 2025…these will be called the Sustainable Development goals or SDGs.

? If you could write a goal for energy what would it be? Discuss in your group. Think about - how many people should have energy? - do you think energy needs to be renewable?

Write your own SDG Write your own goal and design a logo for it like the logos for the MDGs

Send your goal and logo to Kandeh Yumkella at the UN who is working on the new goals, k.yumkella@se4all.org. Include a short note saying why you feel helping people get energy is so important in ending poverty.Please also send it to us, we will put it on our website schools@practicalaction.org.uk

To find out why Kandeh Yumkella is so passionate about giving everyone energy go to http://bit.ly/1aqLnID

Kandeh Yumkella

What else can you do?

Try the moja island activity to find out about renewable energy in a fun way practicalaction.org/moja-island 1

Help people in poverty by your own actions…reduce your carbon footprint to help reduce climate change and therefore its impact on the poor, and think about a career where you can make a difference. practicalaction.org/careers

Show your support for organisations who help people get access to energy by fund-raising http://practicalaction.org/school-and-youth-groups

What else can you do?Look at how simple, affordable and sustainable technologies are being used to help reduce poverty such as the ‘litre of light’, clean cookstoves and low voltage fridges.

Show your support for organisations like Practical Action who help people get access to energy by fund-raising http://practicalaction.org/school-and-youth-groups

http://bbc.in/1gqADOg

Want to find out even more?practicalaction.org/energy