For those of you just beginning to nurture an interest in CSR and Sustainability, here is an easy-to-digest 10 minute movie by the renowned Jeffrey Sachs that really hits home. It discusses the relationship between countries, cultures, governments and businesses, and the responsibility they all have to the global community.

Sustaining People is very much a fan of Jeffrey’s work and you can read more about our interaction with him in our previous post For Richer or Poorer. A full speech from Professor Sachs on ‘The Age of Sustainable Development’ from earlier this year can be found on our Videos & Podcasts page.

As a high profile academic and one of the great minds of our generation, Jeffrey is taking advantage of a new type of tertiary education to disseminate the message of sustainable development to the masses. Massive Online Open Courses or MOOC’s as they are more commonly known, are an attempt by prominent universities to access a larger group of students through online portals. MOOC’s are essentially free online courses that once completed, provide students with a ‘Statement of Accomplishment’.

Whilst this is not a Bachelors, Masters, Graduate Diploma or Certificate by any stretch, it is a means of improving the level of education across the board. When they first hit the limelight in 2012, MOOC’s were hailed as the solution to the planet’s educational ills. With no financial incentive or consequence to dropping out however, the effectiveness of these courses as a global tool for development has decreased somewhat.

Professor Sachs is a lifelong advocate of education as a tool to combat poverty, so it is no wonder he is taking advantage of this online medium to promote a global understanding of sustainable development. Watch his short introductory video above, and you just might be inspired to get involved. If you do wish to learn more, you can enrol in the course here, which is being run by The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Who knows? You could be impressing your friends and amusing your enemies with your superior knowledge of Sustainable Development in just 14 easy (lecture) steps!