What Is the Doughnut?

• This article and presentation provides students with an easy-to-understand overview of doughnut economics, a theoretical economic system that is both ecologically and socially responsible. 
• It incorporates twelve social priorities identified as UN Sustainable Development Goals and nine planetary boundaries identified in a scientific paper published in 2015.
  

Positives

• The article links to other resources that could be incorporated into this topic.
  
• This presentation is simple enough for students to understand, even if they do not have much background knowledge in economics.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have some familiarity with the concepts of gross domestic product, consumerism, and economic growth.
• The presentation is available as a Google Doc, PDF, Google Slides presentation, or simply on the webpage. The TED Talk video is only embedded in the Google Slides presentation.
  

Differentiation

• Economics classes could have students work in groups to come up with a business plan that solves an ecological problem and a social problem.
• Ethics classes could discuss what living within the doughnut will look like for different groups of people around the world. Students could reflect on the following questions:
  • Which groups of people will see an improvement in their quality of life if the world begins to operate within the doughnut?
  • What kinds of things might some groups of people have to give up in order for the world to live within the doughnut?
  • Who will benefit from staying within the ecological boundaries of the doughnut?

• Other resources on this topic include this activity and worksheet on creating a personal doughnut, this article about the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and this video about human impacts on the Earth's systems.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.