Taking Action includes small action items, enormous action items, and everything in between. Remember that small steps are also an important part of effectively incorporating Taking Action into the classroom and school community.
Small Action Steps to Address the SDGs
· 7 Ways You Can Change the World, Huffington Post
· The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World, United Nations
· 170 Daily Actions to Transform Our World, The Perception Change Project, UN Geneva. List of 170 Actions
· Mother Earth Project - scroll down for a list of sustainability actions
· UNICEF Kid Power Ups - kids get active and make an impact
· How to Save the World in Six Seconds- #littlexlittle youth action campaign (1.5 minutes)
Your students can connect classroom learning & personal passions to existing global communities of action-oriented global citizens.
Action Projects You and Your Students Can Join
· SDG Action Campaign, United Nations
· Do Something - Teaching Tolerance
· Students Rebuild - current project is the Hunger Challenge
· National Geographic Innovation Challenges - current project is Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge
· Smithsonian Science for the Global Goals, community research guides focus on sustainable actions that are student-defined and implemented
· My World 360: Empowering the Next Generation of SDG Journalists from Digital Promise Global, supports youth worldwide to create 360° media as a way to share their perspectives and advance positive action toward the SDGs
· Voices of Youth - Youth Advocacy Guide
· Global Goals Jam, an opportunity for students to “Design 2030” - happens in Sept., make plans for next year now!
· The World Children’s Program, for the rights of the child
· Earth Charter Around the World, Earth Charter Initiative
· Global Citizen, initiatives that address multiple issues
· World Water Day, UN - March
· Earth Day Groceries Project - April
· Zero Hour, climate change movement founded by 16 year old
· Internet Users are Getting Their Hands Dirty with the #Trashtag Challenge
· Act Now
Global Collaboration Projects that Address the SDGs
· GoalsProject, starting again January 2021
· Global Nomads Group’s Student to World program, 7-12 grade curriculum for “Ocean Health” and “Art in Action” (there’s a fee, but there’s also financial assistance available)
· Global Goals on The Wonderment, a project of Kidnected World - local actions, can be done in collaboration with global partners
· iEARN (International Education and Research Network) projects
· The Climate Action Project, four week project in October
· Voices for the Global Goals | How would you make the goals famous? (Flip)
Your students can create and implement their own Take Action program to address local or global issue.
Resources for You & Your Students to Design Your Own Action Project
· Youth Guide to the Global Goals, project ideas for each goal from Youth Service America
· SDG Project Planning Toolkit, Participate Learning
· Do Something - list of taking action ideas from Teaching Tolerance
· Kids Go Global, issue resources, media resources and a platform for sharing work
· Girl Scouts: Global Action 2020, activity guide for daisies, brownies, and juniors
· The Girl Scout Bronze Award guidelines
· TakingITGlobal, online community for young people (and educators) with tools and resources for taking action
· Inspire Citizens: 17 Skills for 17 Goals - tools and ideas for implementing community-based learning and student-centered solutions
· Design for Change, four-step framework to achieve the I Can mindset
· Design for Change USA, design thinking resources for turning empathy into action
· Make It Happen: Social Action Toolkit, Association of Citizenship Teaching in partnership with the National Citizen Service Trust
· Your America: Democracy’s Local Heroes - frameworks, lessons and tools for taking action
· Our World in Data, research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems
· Encouraging Students to Take Action, Teaching Channel video (9.5 minutes)
· Social Entrepreneurship course
· What are effective ways to take action in the digital age?
· American Association for the Advancement of Science action toolkit
· MIT SOLVE - funding and programing for solving global challenges
Inspiring Examples of Taking Action
· A Small Act documentary trailer, story of Hilde Back Education Fund Group (video, 3.5 minutes)
· OpenIDEO, social innovation powered by design thinking
· Ashoka Fellows - innovators for the public
· MacArthur Fellows - creative people from all disciplines making the world a better place
· A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA | Ron Finley(video, 11 minutes)
· Students Take Action in the Community, Edutopia article about NYC service initiative
· I Love Teaching so Much . . . I Quit | Tawana Weicker | TEDxTryon(17 minutes)
· What It Takes to Move the World: 5 Traits of Moral Leaders, Acumen Ideas
· The ‘3.5% rule’: How a small minority can change the world, BBC FutureNow article
· Changing the Narrative, Acumen Ideas
· Thinking Outside the Girls, Acumen Ideas
Inspiring Examples of Taking Action - Young People
· 32 Young Activists Who Are Changing the World
· 12 kids who are changing their communities and our world
· These 9 Badass Youth Activists are Changing the World, Global Citizen
· 15-year-old Kelvin Doe Wows M.I.T.video from THNKR (10 minutes)
· Greta Thunberg’s TED Talk (9 minutes) and her Twitter handle.
· Rang-tan: the story of dirty palm oil and children’s responses, Greenpeace International
· TEDx video Youth Changemakers: Present Not Future Leaders Pooja Chandrashekar
Inspiring Examples of Taking Action - Art Projects
· How art creates social change in 5 TED Talks
· 15 public art projects that boldly advocate for social justice
· My Wish: Use art to turn the world inside out, TED Talk by street artist JR (24 minutes) - One year of turning the world inside out (6 minutes)
Taking Action Contests
Students Rebuild (changemaking PSA contest)