There’s a lot happening this weekend; besides my birthday, it is also Eid Al Adha and I extend heartfelt wishes to my Muslim friends all over the world. This weekend, I have the good fortune of being part of a global issue; today, 193 world leaders will commit to 17 global goals to achieve three extraordinary things. This month the United Nations has launched the sustainable development goals that aim to end extreme poverty, tackle climate change, empower women, and secure universal water access and reduce hunger by 2030.
Achieving the goals is not just a job for politicians and governments — we all need to play our part. If the goals are met, they ensure the health, safety and future of the planet for everyone on it. And their best chance of them being met is if everyone on the planet is aware of them. So our job is to do just that. The simple, but mighty ambition of Project Everyone’s global goals campaign, #Tell Everyone, is to share the global goals with 7 billion people in seven days, after their launch week, September 26-October 2.
By way of this column, I am doing just that. The more famous these goals are, and the more widely they are understood by everyone, the more politicians will take them seriously, finance them properly, refer to them frequently and make them work.
Unilever is supporting #Tell Everyone. Being a celebrity partner of the United Nations World Food Programme, I feel close to this initiative. Ending world hunger is not impossible. There is enough food for everyone, its just inaccessibility and inequality in distribution that leave millions hungry. This is a mission for humanity, with unified goals that resonate with everyone, everywhere.
This brings to mind a quote I recently read: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”. We can be the first generation to end extreme poverty, the most determined generation in history to end injustice and inequality, and the last generation to be threatened by climate change. It’s time we start taking small steps towards a cause greater than ourselves. The more we extend ourselves to global concerns, the more wholesome our own lives will become.
