The United Nations unveiled its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 with a target to achieve them all by 2030. At present, 195 nations have signed on to the UN SDGs and yet, not much progress has been made towards achieving these goals over the past five years. This is because every nation appears to have bought into the fiction that all 17 UN SDGs can be met by simply “growing” the human economy, UN SDG #8 (Decent Jobs and Economic Growth).

When the human economy has already exceeded planetary boundaries, it is simply foolish to expect further growth to meet our goals. Furthermore, please ask yourselves if all the other 16 UN SDGs (No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, etc.) are met, do we really care that the economy is “growing”? Therefore, at Climate Healers, we have reluctantly concluded that UN SDG #8 is a #TrojanHorse inserted to maintain an economic system in which the rich get richer and the planet gets destroyed. It is impossible to meet the other 16 UN SDGs if we begin with the premise that such an economic system is untouchable. 

Claire Smith of Beyond Animal has proposed that the UN should include SDG #18 (Zero Animal Exploitation) so that all the other goals become much easier to meet. At Climate Healers, we enthusiastically support this proposal in order to create a compassionate world that is hospitable to all life. Together with our campaign to DROP SDG #8, we propose that the UN SDGs be amended as follows:

1. DROP UN SDG #8 (Decent Jobs and Economic Growth)

2. ADD UN SDG #18 (Zero Animal Exploitation)

3. FOCUS on UN SDG #2 (Zero Hunger)

We call on all nations and organizations to focus on UN SDG #2 (Zero Hunger) by making healthy, immune boosting Vegan food easily available to every human being on the planet.