One project we supported recently goes by the name of Taimne Teisipäev (Vegetarian Tuesday). Its main goal is to reduce the amount of meat that’s eaten in Estonia, which is to say it focuses on environmentally sustainable consumption. In order to broaden its impact, the undertaking is working with the food sector, schools and government agencies. They are primarily targeting young consumers, but also raising awareness and willingness among people in general to make the transition to more environmentally friendly consumption habits. They are sharing mouth-watering recipes, providing people with information about food and recommending products that will help them introduce more tasty vegetarian options to their menus. Cafés and restaurants all over Estonia have gotten on board with Taimne Teisipäev, too.
Favouring vegetable protein over animal protein reduces greenhouse gas emissions and both land and water use, which in turn helps to preserve our living environment.
Taimne Teisipäev’s Danish and Lithuanian partners, Anima and Tušti Narvai, are helping the undertaking improve its campaign by sharing their experience, giving good examples and even providing campaign materials: design work, texts, recipes, photos and videos. Working together this way makes all of their efforts more cost-effective. For its own part, Vegetarian Tuesday is sharing with others its experience of working with the National Institute for Health Development and Estonia’s defence forces.
Unfortunately, given the situation at the moment, the team is unable to run all of their activities the way they otherwise would, which is why their project manager suggested different approaches that we then approved. We’re doing our best in the crisis to accommodate others and to talk to one another to find the best possible solutions to every problem. The Taimne Teisipäev`s team drew up a list of mainly web-oriented substitute activities. Perhaps you’ll find inspiration among them!
- Raising awareness through articles and blog posts (since a lot of people currently have more time to read and to go into things in greater depth) with practical advice and explanations as to why people should increase the amount of vegetarian food in their diet and how they should go about it.
- Webinars on social media platforms (Facebook and YouTube) outlining the environmental impact of food choices.
- Webinars for educational institutions showcasing the Vegetarian Tuesday school programme.
- Webinars for students explaining the environmental impact of food production.
- Designing and printing information leaflets for various target groups (heads of schools, parents, children of different ages, health care workers and nutritionists).
- Webinars for associations promoting a higher proportion of vegetarian food in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Norway, Lithuania, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, sharing Estonia’s experience and advice and answering questions.
- Conducting an impact analysis and drawing conclusions about the institutional direction Vegetarian Tuesday is taking and updating the strategy and activities in light of the conclusions that are drawn.
- Training and supervising volunteers in making presentations, running successful meetings, managing projects, etc. related to Vegetarian Tuesday.
- Updating the Vegetarian Tuesday website.
Read more online at https://taimneteisipaev.ee/taimne-teisipaev/.