Allowing a shift towards plant-based diets to meet the SDGs

Working in vegan advocacy so people can make faster changes in their consumption habits and shift towards sustainable solutions, I’m excited to have been chosen as a member in the Founding Class of UNLEASH, a global innovation lab for Sustainable Development Goals.

Who am I?

I’m Kadri and I work at the Estonian Vegan Society (EVS) located in Tallinn, where I focus on building the capacity of the organisation and advancing our advocacy work.

Our strategic goals at the EVS are set to match Agenda 2030. A shift towards veganism contributes directly to three global goals: 3 Health, 12 Sustainable production and consumption, 13 Climate action.

At UNLEASH, I’m participating in the Health track. My hope is to expand our network of collaborators and continue onwards with joint work towards meeting the SDGs.

What challenges do I see?

There are a good number of challenges that are not allowing people a faster shift towards plant-based diets, which of the main ones I encounter in my everyday work in Estonia are:

• Invested interests and influence of the animal-industrial complex in sustaining the status quo;
• Low levels of awareness of people about the effects of a plant-based diet on health, the environment, and other beings (human and non-human animals alike);
• Lack of conversation in Estonia with a focus on global issues, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

How I aim to contribute?

To help people in making informed choices, the conversation needs to take a birds-eye view beyond national borders. Firstly, my plan is to push the conversation in Estonia towards a global level, as veganism is a global movement and makes most sense in that context. I hope to utilise my participation in UNLEASH to that end.

The second target I am working towards is to harness the power of citizen-generated data and build on the knowledge of people on obstacles in the system which are not allowing a change to take place. I’m facinated by the Civicus’ initiative Datashift and a greater push in the civil society towards bringing data into the picture. In fact, it was through Datashift I learned about UNLEASH and have become a participant.

Let’s connect, if…

At UNLEASH, I’m looking for connections with interests in plant-based nutrition, public health, citizen-generated data, systems change and the third sector, public policy, advocacy work, citizen empowerment.

Beyond UNLEASH, let’s connect if you’re into animal rights, intersectionalism, anti-speciesism and anthropocentrism of Agenda 2030. I would to explore those topics with you!

Get in touch via Facebook or email kadri.sikk@vegan.ee and let’s start connecting =)