Lewis Bollard leads the Open Philanthropy Project’s strategy for farm animal welfare. He directs roughly $30M in grants annually to nonprofits working to reduce suffering of farmed animals around the world. By virtue of his position, Lewis has deep insight into the state of the farmed animal welfare movement, which we get into in some detail.
Unfortunately, there are some audio issues with this episode- Macbook Airs are the bane of my existence. Otherwise, I think this was a great conversation. Lewis is a world-class expert on this topic, and his passion for the cause is clear.
We cover:
Open Philanthropy’s approach to ending factory farming, the scale, tractability, and neglectedness of factory farming, the transition to plant based meat alternatives, the hierarchy of suffering per calorie, whether you have to be a vegan to be an animal activist, the advocacy campaigns that Open Philanthropy is supporting, America’s role in defending factory farming worldwide, whether factory farming is efficient, whether we need to end capitalism to end factory farming, the psychological challenge of seeing the horror of factory farming in everyday life, undercover farm investigations, civil disobedience and violence in fighting for animal rights, the ethics of pursuing corporate campaigns, criticisms of Open Phil's approach to farmed animal welfare, and, of course, how you can get involved.
Show notes:
Lewis:
His Twitter: https://twitter.com/lewis_bollard
His conversation on the 80,000 Hours Podcast
Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund
Other links:
Infographic showing number of animals killed on farms compared to labs and shelters
Amount of animal suffering per calorie for different foods
Video: Baby Pig Fresh Pork Sausage Prank
At Least 3.4 Million Farm Animals Drowned in the Aftermath of Hurricane Florence
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE)
Books:
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