What Is the Doughnut?

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.