On Thursday evening Susan and I had the opportunity to speak at the #MeetTheSDGs meetup at Leon and we wanted to share a bit about the group, what we learned and how you can get involved.
So what is an SDG? The sustainable development goals are a series of global initiatives aimed at eradicating poverty and improving the health and wellbeing of both people and the planet. Broken down into 17 defined projects spanning from economic growth to education they work together to improve all aspects of life for everyone around the world.
We had the opportunity to talk a bit about what we’re doing and we’ve learned about plastic so far on our journey as well as hear from other incredible speakers.
The evening opened with Anna Pitt who addressed the issue of food waste and broke it down into this interesting idea of “us” versus “them.” By revealing how little of post-farm waste is down to distributors and restaurants she forces us to stop the blame game and look at our own habits. Her hilarious anecdote about buying an oversized bra and attempting to cut away the extra fabric was so ridiculous that when she asked why we apply the same idea to food it got us all thinking.
The Main Takeaways
- Don’t get sucked into deals, only buy what you need
- Learn to use your produce in lots of ways so it never goes to waste
- Produce is precious, don’t treat it as disposable
- Solving the problem starts at home.
It was a fantastic presentation and it segwayed nicely into the Status Row message as we also believe that every individual has the power to impact change. You guys already know about us so I’ll just cut to our takeaways:
Status Row
- Small actions have a huge impact
- Commit to making the big 4 switch (straws, bottles, coffee cups and bags)
- What else can YOU do. Spread the word to your friends and families, see where else you can cut, take the plastic free pledge to your office.
Following our talk about what ‘ordinary people’ can do in their own lives we had Hubbub present the widespread effects that are achievable at a company level. From cigarette butt ‘voting’ stations to repackaging second hand clothing as a thoughtful ‘mother to another’ gift Hubbub is all about clever and creative campaigns. We really loved how they used their platform to reframe the conversation into something either entertaining or heartwarming, which helps get more people on board. From food waste to littering they’re tackling a number of issues and it was great to hear how receptive the public have been to their initiatives.
Hubbub
- Entertaining and ‘feel-good’ campaigns affect more change than those that guilt the public
- Think outside the box to come up with creative ways to change behaviour
- There are a number of projects and groups you can get involved with if you’re interested in working on something like this. Do a bit of research and if it doesn’t exist… go make it!
We rounded out the evening with a talk by Farooq from the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development who got the chance to go over the monumental challenge that they’ve got on their hands.
With such a diverse range of goals with global impact the SDN is spinning a lot of plates at once. We’re 3 years into a 15 year plan and it’s only just starting to come to look less like high level theory and more like actionable ideas. That being said, even though the goals look so widespread, in mapping them out the teams working on this problem have found intrinsic links that, while complicated, mean that there’s added incentive for everyone to work together. For example, Status Row’s focus on ocean plastics covers goals number 6, 12 and 14 - if not more!
They’ve even managed to produce a “lazy person’s guide to saving the world” which is a list of actions you can take at home to help make a huge impact… hey, I wonder where they got that idea from!
They may have been a slow start but it’s so positive to see so many people and countries invested in the same goals. Of course, what we need to focus on in the UK will be different than other countries, this isn’t going to be a one-size-fits-all solution but it’s an incredible opportunity to learn from one another and move forward, together, as a unified world.
If you’re sad that you missed out on this event make sure you follow @statusrow for all the updates on where we’ll be presenting next and our top tips for easy changes you can make.
Thank you, everyone, for your support and if there’s anything you’d like to know pop us a message and we’ll try to answer it for you!
