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Minecraft Education Challenge: UN Sustainable Development Goals

Minecraft Education Challenge

A Call to Action!

Connecting the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to our daily lives in New York City lets us make real-world connections and prepare for living in a globally interconnected world. The current COVID-19 crisis amplifies the importance of the SDGs, a practical framework to support us in conceiving a vision for our lives and our city's future.

The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere – now and in the future. These 17 goals were adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. While these are challenging goals to achieve, progress is being made by many governments, businesses, and cities.

As you consider your build, investigate how today’s pressing global challenges are experienced in your local community and around the city by learning more about the eight goals New York City adopted in its OneNYC 2050 strategic plan. Then select one SDG as the focus for your build to transform your ideas into a solution-based design that could reinvigorate our city!

17 Sustainable Development 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

Selecting an SDG, Investigating the Issue, and Designing a Solution for NYC!

The SDGs provide a framework from which to investigate the challenges we need to address to reinvigorate New York City. Use the resources below to learn more about the SDGs, make connections to local New York City issues that need our attention, and design a solution in Minecraft to address a pressing issue facing New York City.

Additional Research Resources

  • These FREE NYC DOE e-books and learning resources are available to all students!
  • Use NYC Open Data to access local data on issues such as our city's air quality, homeless population, emergency food assistance programs, and much more!
  • Newsela offers articles and thematic text sets on current topics. 
  • PBS Learning Media features media-based lessons on a variety of topics, including energy use, pollution, and more.
  • Scholastic Learn at Home is a digital collection of articles on topics from trash reduction to building strong communities.