ConsciousWorldWeekly Before you dive in…
Conscious World: What’s happening in our world right now is a new feature on www.consciousmagazine.co with a round up stories based on topics from global headlines, social good, innovation, science to what’s trending on Twitter. In this column, we want to provide you with information that is exciting, new, relevant, innovative, and offer you a way to create intriguing conversations on the daily starting right here. So, post your thoughts below! Also, if you ever find something interesting that is a developing idea with the potential to impact or influence, share your thoughts in our sidebar “Change The Conversation” box. Enjoy!

 

01 | UN FOUNDATION’S GLOBAL GOALS
The UN has put the world’s most challenging problems on their agenda with a goal to tackle 17 major issues within 15 years. The UN has launched their Sustainable Development Goals which includes ending poverty to ensuring lifelong learning opportunities for all. To ensure goals are met, the UN is seeking help from advertising leaders. With ad agency support, they hope to create the “World’s Largest Advertising Campaign” that inspires a global call to action. (Source: AdWeek)

What are the 17 global goals?

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

If you want to dig deeper, read about how UN’s Sustainable Development Goals came about during the Rio+ Conference here and read about their opening proposal for the Sustainable Development Goals here.

02 | COCA-COLA PRINTS BRAILLE ON CANS
Within the past year, you may have noticed that Coco-Cola cans with personalized names are popping up in your grocery stores, however, in Mexico, the Anonimo ad agency realized the names-on-cans campaign couldn’t be enjoyed by the blind. So, “Coke and Geometry Global ad agency printed braille bottles for members of Los Murciélagos (The Bats), a blind soccer team that’s made headlines internationally in recent years”. (Source: AdWeek). This ad agency is doing the same in Argentina.

03 | CRISTIANO RONALDO GIVES MILLIONS TO THE NEPAL EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND
Recent reports say Nepal experienced another earthquake, but scientists inform us that Nepal has experienced an aftershock with more to come. So, the need for water and shelter is of the greatest urgency. We’ve heard about Real Madrid’s star soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo’s giving in the past such as donating to the hospital that helped his Mom fight cancer by helping them build a cancer center to paying for surgery and rehabilitation for children, when all they asked for was a signed jersey or boots (soccer shoes). He also has not gotten tattoos because he donates blood on a regular basis. For Nepal, he has donated about $8 million to Save The Children, an organization that is helping rescue people from the aftermath of Nepal’s devastating earthquake. (Source: independent.co.uk and tribalfootball.com)

04 | THE FIRST SOLAR BIKE PATH
SolaRoad launched a test bike path covering a 230-foot stretch in a Dutch village, which has generated energy through solar cells embedded in the concrete.The company has revealed that its road has generated much more energy than expected—it produced 3,000k Wh of electricity in the space of just six months, or enough to power a single person’s home for a year. That doesn’t sound like much, but SolaRoad notes that its path only covers a 230-foot stretch. You’d get a lot more energy from longer, wider roads. What’s next? Solar Roads in the U.S. (Source: engadget.com)

05 | TURN SALTWATER INTO DRINKING WATER 
MIT engineers have invented a new desalination machine that runs on solar energy. The project began in 2013 when the engineers went to India with the hopes of helping poorer villages and townships with their drinking water.The MIT team developed a solar-powered water desalination system that uses the sun’s energy to turn brackish liquid into contaminant-free water safe for drinking and for crops.The finished prototype is small enough to fit in a tractor-trailer and includes photovoltaic cells to supply the electricity. The system, when fully operational, can supply the basic water needs of a village of between 2,000 and 5,000 people, MIT officials said. Although the prototype was more expensive, Wright said the team is hopes to lower the costs of a village-sized unit to about $11,000.  (Source: dailykos.com)

Join the conversation by posting your thoughts below.

This week’s roundup was co-created by Rachael Baxter-Lechliter, Elena Baxter and Jon Lechliter