Lessons from the Vegetarian Society of Denmark
Plus: Add yourself to the EE Talent Directory, powered by High Impact Professionals! And much, much more.
Already over 700 subscribers read this newsletter along with you! In case you’re new here: we cover efforts, ideas, and opportunities to tackle the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and air pollution as effectively as possible. Feel free to share this newsletter! You can find more resources on our website, and check us out on Bluesky and LinkedIn. If you want to discuss effective environmental and share insights or vacancies, join our LinkedIn group!
In this newsletter:
Add yourself to the EE Talent Directory
Community spotlight: DVF’s Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl
Exciting news about Effective Environmentalism
What we’ve been reading and listening to
Job openings and opportunities
We’re looking for funding
🗣 Add yourself to the EE Talent Directory!
Join the Talent Directory and get approached by high-impact organisations looking for new staff, volunteers, or board members.
We’ve collaborated with High Impact Professionals (HIP) to build a repository of talented professionals motivated to make a substantial contribution to environmental progress. High Impact Professionals is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to enable working professionals to maximize their positive impact.
Impact-oriented organisations can use the talent directory to recruit new staff and share opportunities. Joining and using the Effective Environmentalism Talent Directory is completely free of charge for both job-seekers and impact-oriented organisations.
Want to start using the Talent Directory and find an impactful career in climate action? Follow these steps!
Register for the Talent Directory.
Choose a privacy option.
Get notified of high-impact opportunities.
Apply to opportunities you find interesting.
Keep your profile updated.
For the full picture and more information, check out our website!
🏔 Community spotlight: Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl
Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl is the Secretary-General of Vegetarian Society of Denmark (DVF) & Deputy Chair at International Vegetarian Union (IVU).
DVF is based in Denmark but also engages in international collaboration and best-practice sharing in order to strengthen the movement to reform the food system and reduce animal product consumption.
Recently, DVF received recommendations by Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) as well as by Doneer Effectief. ACE’s cost-effectiveness assessment indicating that DVF have been able to help a large number of animals at relatively little cost, and subsequently also helping the climate.
Ruben: What does it take to achieve what you have achieved? How did you get successful?
Rune-Christoffer: It may sound very basic, but in our times, I do think reminding ourselves that our target groups are human beings. There may be a vocal minority that may not want to listen, but there are also vast groups that are within reach with the right communication style.
For example: think of human-to-human connections. Some years ago, I gave talks at Danish agricultural schools. Internationally, as a movement, it is my impression that inviting ourselves out there does not happen much. It’s perceived to be unrealistic, or actually impossible. And if you get accepted into the lion’s den, what is your attitude? It should not be an overtly formal or radical one. In our movement, more people should spend more time in rural areas, in agricultural circles. The places perceived as less friendly to vegans and vegetarians are where we should dare to go. If we manage to at least gain their respect, or even better be a positive surprise, that would be super helpful.
To give understanding, provide reasonable arguments, and not tell people what to do, but to reflect on the future, we need to get better at reaching out to those who are skeptical towards the plant-based movement. Challenge, but don’t attack. A constructive critique is desirable. Give viable alternatives. For instance, our cooperation with the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, which is the main farmer’s association in Denmark, opened new doors to the right-wing of the political spectrum.
Ruben: What, according to you, would be great advice for effective environmental action for people that are looking to achieve a significant positive impact?
R-C: Generic advice: there are true antagonists, but give people the benefit of doubt, patience, compromise. In the Danish context, there was a majority in favor of maintaining the livestock industry. Either you stay outside of the deal that continues subsidizing industrial livestock. Or you decide to become part of a compromise, if that also benefits the development of the plant-based sector. This may establish funding for something new. But it’s a compromise. Idealists need to get their hands dirty.
Funding is needed for alternative solutions. For example, funding has been given to the Danish Hospitality School to establish a plant-based education track. In a few years, hundreds of plant-based chefs will graduate, this will have a large positive effect. Go for the seed of a structural change. See the strategic value in this work.
“Idealists need to get their hands dirty” - Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl
Avoid in-fighting over different ways to develop the plant-based sector. It’s not just taxes, not just high-tech imitations, not just food education - we need all and everything in between. There is constantly a risk of oversimplification in this debate. Be careful that good people who want to change the system should not fight with each other. This applies to all sorts of movements elsewhere.
Ruben: Do you see a momentum shift in your sector?
R-C: Eleven years ago, DVF had zero employees, and Denmark was far behind other countries in terms of plant-based development. But things have developed over the last decade, and a few years ago, a first deal was struck between the Danish Government and Parliament, establishing the Plant-Based Food Grant, which has since grown to 170 million Euros. Now suddenly, the world is looking at what is happening in Denmark. Now, we can respond to the interest and work proactively at a European level to see if we can inspire towards similar action plans and funding schemes elsewhere.
In Portugal, our colleagues from ProVeg Portugal have succeeded in getting the Government to support creating a plant-based strategy.
We’re grateful for the support and funding from ACE and Doneer Effectief, as well as other donors. We’re looking to leverage the Danish story at the next UN Climate Summit. Telling the story helps normalize government action in plant-based foods. That needs to be shared! It’s not radical, it’s not about forcing people to eat something, but to make it available.
When we are talking about planetary boundaries and dietary guidelines, people talk about this as if all people will follow the guidelines. But more realistically, there will be a normal distribution. In order to reach the dietary guidelines on average, we should be grateful that there are flexitarians, pescatarians, etc. People who do eat a lot of meat should understand that it is in their interest to give their vegan friends a big hug. Because if you want to keep eating a lot of meat, it is in your interest to help give other people access to plant-based alternatives, , otherwise it won’t be possible to reach climate targets and feed the world sustainably.
🗞️ News
We held a lunch lecture at EA Wageningen in the Netherlands!
Effective Environmentalism recently had a great session with Agile For Good.
Our friends over at the EcoResilience Initiative are seeking to bring an Effective Altruism -inspired mindset to biodiversity conservation. Check out their work!
And lastly:
We’re excited to announce EE Sweden!
EE Sweden had its first ice-breaker session on 17 March, but there’s more! A kick-off workshop will be on Saturday, 29 March at 11.00-15.00 (including lunch break). Both meetings will be held at the EA office in Stockholm on Sveavägen 76. During the kick-off workshop, the goal is that we will brainstorm and start exploring what we would like the purpose and aim of EE Sweden to be.
Would you like to be part of it? Get in touch with the organiser Thérèce Bonnier! Would you like to start a similar initiative in your hometown? Talk with us!
📚 What we’ve been reading and listening to
Resources
Articles
Aoife O'Leary, Head of Opportunity Green, asks: “We need your input: what gaps in climate action need to be filled?”
Charity Navigator recently launched the Climate Change Fund.
Giving Green’s Daniel Stein: “Systems change: the North Star of high-impact climate donations.”
Effective Environmentalism received a shout-out on the EA Forum.
A take by Aidan Alexander: Why alternative proteins need the non-profit sector ..and why it's not enough to leave it to the market.
Hannah Ritchie’s podcast Solving for Climate is back!
👩💼 Job openings and opportunities
We are highlighting some outstanding opportunities to make a positive difference with your careers. These positions are vetted by Effective Environmentalism and 80,000 Hours and are not sponsored.
📤 Even if your dream job is not on this list, consider sharing these opportunities in your network or forward the job description to someone who would be interested.
Worldwide
Are you enthusiastic about pursuing a high-impact career using evidence-based approaches? Magnify Mentoring applications are currently open!
Did we already say our Talent Directory in collaboration with High Impact Professionals up and running? 😉
North America
Europe
Future Matters is seeking a Strategic Partnerships Officer in Climate Protection!
ProVeg’s Kickstarting For Good Incubator is open for applications!
Upcoming events
25-27 April 2025: EAGxNordics 2025, Oslo (with a session by yours truly)
6-8 June 2025: EA Global: London 2025, UK
11-14 September 2025: Get your tickets for the Annual CARE, Warsaw.
💶 Effective Environmentalism is looking for funding
Effective Environmentalism is currently a volunteer-run initiative. We would like to scale up our activities to more effectively grow a global community of people and organisations tackling environmental issues as effectively as possible, starting early 2025. Financial support for two salaries would help us to devote more time to growing the field of effective environmentalism.
If you are a donor or work for a grant-making organisation, please get in touch!
Rune-Christopher is an amazing human being! Great lessons, particularly the one about engaging with agricultors and the environments we fear the most