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TitreDateDurée
Dawn Neo on the 4+ billion hens in cages in Asia and how we can help them 16 Dec 202501:02:37

Dawn was one of the first people in Asia working on cage-free reforms  – she started working on Asian farm animal welfare 10 years ago, often as one of the few individuals talking to major food companies about improving the welfare of animals in their supply chain.

Dawn Neo is the director of corporate engagement at Global Food Partners. She works with food and hospitality businesses as well as various stakeholders in the industry to improve farm animal welfare. Prior to joining Global Food Partners, she was the lead for Humane Society International’s farm animal welfare program in Asia. 

Today, we cover lots of important things: Major trends in Asian farming, the 2025 cage-free deadline, how to deal with countries with large informal markets, cultural differences in campaigning and negotiation and much more. 

Chapters:

(00:00:00) - Cold Intro 

(00:00:50) - James' intro and Dawn's background

(00:08:12) - Why Asia is critical for farm animals

(00:12:15) - How countries differ in production systems and why this matters 

(00:17:55) - Who is on track for their 2025 cage-free commitments?

(00:23:17) - What if companies can't meet their commitments? & how do cage-free credits work?

(00:31:13) - Which Asian countries are doing well?

(00:36:48) - Rising egg consumption in Asia 

(00:41:09) - How to tackle informal markets? Should we get new commitments or hold companies accountable?

(00:43:30) - Cultural differences in campaigning

(00:57:09) - The need for patience & self-care in advocacy 


Resources: 


For sending recommendations of future guests: 

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Vicky Bond on what it’s really like to lead in animal advocacy 11 Nov 202501:17:33

Vicky Bond has done lots of impressive stuff in her career – she started working as a vet and later ended up running a 100+ person organisation, The Humane League (THL), which many of you might be familiar with as one of the key organisations campaigning to get chickens out of cages. She is now the CEO of Madre Brava, an international climate campaigning group focused on food. 

Given Vicky’s extensive leadership and management experience, managing teams ranging from 5 to over 110, I wanted to pick her brains about leadership and management in the animal advocacy movement. I would highly recommend it for people who are leading teams of any size or want to learn more about how to do it well!

Podcast news:

  • We now have a Substack where we’ll soon be sharing summaries and key takeaways from all episodes! We’ll also be doing polls where you can vote on the next guests. Sign up here.
  • After our last episode with Sjir from Giving What We Can, we’ve had some people take a pledge to donate between 5-10% of their income to effective charities – this is incredible! But I said I would give up to £1000, and most of this is still up for grabs. So if you’re considering pledging, now is a great time as I’ll be donating £50 to Giving What We Can’s effective animal advocacy fund for each person who takes the trial pledge of 1% or full 10% pledge, up to a total of £1000. So, if you sign up via the links below, there is a special tracker that will let me know how many people take it, and I’ll donate accordingly. 

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Cold Intro
00:09:38 - Challenges and lessons in being a first-time CEO 
00:20:40 - Vicky's experience running 100+ person THL
00:26:45 - Challenges in running large organisations 
00:39:02 - Misconceptions around running large teams 
00:42:55 - Advice for running 20+ person orgs 
00:46:41 - The downsides of scale 
00:56:04 - What makes a good leader 
01:02:05 - Overcoming self-limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome
01:05:55 - Madre Brava's strategy on protein split ratios

Resources:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Katie Cantrell on shifting millions of meals to plant-based06 May 202501:03:59

There is an age-old debate within animal advocacy on the importance of educating the public. Is it simply enough to tell people about the harms of industrial animal agriculture and then they will change their behaviours? Sadly, not it seems. Many people have been disappointed about the amount of behaviour change that’s actually happened over the past few decades due to education, as seen in relatively stagnant numbers of people going vegetarian or vegan. 

That’s why I’m excited that this week’s guest, Katie Cantrell from Greener by Default, is trying a new approach to get people to change their behaviours – by changing their diets with them barely even noticing. Stick around for a great discussion on the importance of nudging, choice architecture and making the plant-based option the default path.

For those who didn’t listen to our special 50th episode (which I think was awesome – go check it out!), this is a reminder that it will just be me hosting the podcast for the foreseeable future, as Amy sadly had to take a step back. 

Resources

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

50th Episode Special: 5 leaders on key changes and opportunities in the animal movement15 Apr 202500:57:14

To mark our 50th episode, we're bringing you something special: Five movement leaders talking about some of the biggest developments for animals in the past two years as well as what advocates should focus on next for the next two years. 

Highlighting advancements in policy, corporate campaigns, alternative proteins, and investment in overlooked species, this is an information-packed episode so don't miss out! 

Our guests:

  • David Coman-Hidy from The Navigation Fund
  • Carolina Galvani from Sinergia Animal
  • Alex Holst from The Good Food Institute Europe
  • Carley Betts from The Open Wing Alliance
  • Karolina Sarek from the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund


Please give the podcast a positive review on your podcast provider of choice. You can also find us on YouTube if you want to see these podcasts in beautiful color and video.

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Kelvey Vander Hart on appealing to wide range of political and religious beliefs 02 Apr 202500:57:00

Kelvey Vander Hart from the Wilberforce Institute joins us to share her approach to animal advocacy from a politically right-of-center view and how her Christian faith guides her activism.

• The importance of bipartisan approaches to engage the masses in animal advocacy
• Why animal welfare should be a cross-cutting issue that transcends political affiliation
• How political coalitions can be built around specific animal welfare issues rather than comprehensive platforms
• Reforming government subsidies that prop up factory farming and removing barriers to innovation
• The connection between Christian values of mercy, compassion, and justice and animal welfare
• Ways to engage faith communities in animal advocacy through shared values
• The pragmatic necessity of working with people across the political spectrum to achieve progress
• The story of William Wilberforce, who helped abolish the slave trade and founded the world's first animal welfare organisation

Next week is our 50th episode where we'll be interviewing five guests and reflecting on the last two years since the podcast launched. Watch out for this special celebratory episode on April 15th.

Resources:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

David Kay on the emerging cultivated meat industry18 Mar 202501:07:36

David Kay shares his experience as the first employee at Upside Foods, offering a deep dive into the cultivated meat industry's challenges, successes, and political landscape. As an animal advocate who entered the alternative protein space, he provides unique insights on depolarising the conversation around cultivated meat and building bipartisan support.›

• Difference between focusing on environmental/health versus animal welfare messaging
• David's journey from animal advocacy to becoming the first employee at Upside Foods
• How cultivated meat differs from plant-based products as "real meat" grown from cells
• Where hundreds of millions in investment funding goes in cultivated meat startups
• State-level bans on cultivated meat and fighting political polarisation
• How industry is organising through trade associations like AMPS Innovation
• Importance of elite institutions in normalising animal advocacy
• Recent FDA approval for Mission Barns' cultivated pork fat

Add David on LinkedIn to follow his work and learn more about his perspectives on the alternative protein industry.

Resources:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Julia Reinelt on why supporting parents is integral to the success and sustainability of our work04 Mar 202501:07:42

A critical look at the entwined relationship between parenthood and the animal advocacy movement. Julia Reinelt shares her insights on how organisations can become more supportive to parents in the advocacy space.

• Julia introduces herself and discusses her journey in the animal advocacy movement 
• The challenges of balancing advocacy work and parenting 
• Understanding the family-unfriendly aspects of the animal advocacy movement 
• Suggestions on creating more inclusive environments for parents within organisations 
• The impact of geographical location on parental support in advocacy 
• Insights on the necessity of normalising parenting conversations across the movement 
• How advocating for family-friendly policies can foster sustainability 
• The role of the AVA summits in promoting family-friendly initiatives 
• Calls for listeners to engage with these conversations and advocate for change 

www.avasummit.com

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With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Aarti Bhavana on mental health and keeping companies accountable to their commitments18 Feb 202501:18:44

This episode discusses the intersection of mental health and animal advocacy, highlighting the critical need for self-care among advocates. Aarti Bhavana shares her experiences with emotional tolls from animal suffering, corporate accountability, and practical strategies for sustaining passion in the long term.

• Exploring the toxic mindset of 100% dedication in animal advocacy 
• Importance of addressing mental health in nonprofit sectors 
• Underlying emotions of advocates witnessing animal suffering 
• The role and growth of corporate accountability in animal welfare 
• Practical self-care strategies and boundaries for advocates 
• Insights into shifting perspectives on animal welfare legislation

Resources;

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Haven King-Nobles on why high agency is critical for entrepreneurship04 Feb 202501:19:11

Haven King Nobles brings us a really refreshing topic this week as we explore high agency and the importance of this particular trait when it comes to entrepreneurship and continuous innovation. 

We talk through Haven’s experience of being a young entrepreneur, the mistakes he made in the early days of founding the Fish Welfare Initiative, and some advice on the skills to develop to really excel in entrepreneurship.

Whilst this week's topic was high-agency, we of course talk to Haven about his experiencing the first organisation dedicated to working on fish, talking about some of their programmes and the challenges of working in India on this topic.

Resources

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:05:41:13 | High agency
00:09:11:20 | Charity Entrepreneurship funding
00:12:49:12 | Fish Welfare Initiative
00:19:01:21 | Is there issue in movement with high agency?
00:25:37:17 | Cultivation of high agency
00:33:59:01 | FWI and India
00:39:19:23 | How to react to negative feedback
00:46:12:07 | Changing the world without qualifications
00:49:20:05 | Expanding to different countries
00:59:29:21 | Where else would high agency be useful
01:15:03:15 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Ben Newman on campaigning against the RSPCA and the role of welfare labels21 Jan 202501:05:04

Ben Newman has had a colourful past few years, being one of Animal Rising’s co-directors and being arrested multiple times for various bits of direct action and disruptive protest. 

Now, Animal Rising has turned its attention to campaign against the RSPCA, the world’s largest animal charity, for running the RSPCA Assured scheme. This has been quite a divisive campaign within the animal advocacy movement, with some, including both co-hosts, having fairly big questions about the effectiveness of this campaign.

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:04:55:02 | Direct Action Rescues
00:10:01:20 | Mass Arrests Strategy
00:13:40:07 | RSPCA Assured
00:19:19:10 | End of Animal Farming?
00:28:24:12 | RSPCA Scheme Shutdown
00:35:19:01 | Public Opinion on RSPCA
00:45:41:18 | Slaughterhouse Investigations
00:50:24:08 | Social Media Controversy
00:55:36:06 | Animal Rising in 2025
01:02:29:10 | Closing Questions


With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Almira Tanner & Aidan Kankyoku on their grassroots ballot initiatives and how to lose forward17 Dec 202401:17:18

Join us for an enlightening conversation with Aidan from Pro Animal Future and Almira from Direct Action Everywhere. 

A really interesting episode about their recent US ballot initiatives which actually has a lot of cross applicable learnings about fighting strong opposition to campaigns, the benefits of loosing forward, and how frequently narrative outperforms spend when it comes to campaigns. 

Almira and Aidan share insights on collaboration, leadership, and the courage to experiment with new strategies in the face of fierce opposition. Their stories underscore the importance of perseverance and adaptability in the fight against well-funded adversaries.

For a more in-depth deep dive on ballot initiatives, head to the episode with Josh Balk as he gave a really thorough run down of these measures and how we can use them to push pro animal issues in the US.

Resources:

Aidan:

Almira

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Jesse Marks on becoming a major grant maker, The Navigation Fund and corporate campaigning05 Dec 202401:12:47

Jesse Marks is the newly appointed Farm Animal Welfare Program Officer for The Navigation Fund, a new major funder in the anti-factory farming space. 

We spoke with him about his experience becoming a grant-maker, interpersonal dynamics in funding, new areas he is excited about, how the movement can improve corporate campaigning and much more. 

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:05:37:16 | First shrimp welfare campaign ever?
00:08:48:21 | Transition to a grantmaker role
00:15:58:10 | New insights on applying for funding
00:26:40:20 | Priorities in TNF funding and why
00:35:59:13 | Youth organizing
00:48:30:21 | How to reach out to TNF for funding
00:50:23:21 | Where the movement can improve in corporate campaigns
00:55:06:08 | The importance of focus in programs
01:07:07:10 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Sjir Hoeijmakers on a small commitment that will help millions of animals14 Oct 202501:10:51

Today we're talking about a topic that's really important to me personally: donating and effective giving. Specifically, why donating 10% of your income to the most effective animal charities might be one of the most important things you can do to improve the world.

To dive deep into this topic, I’m so excited to have Sjir Hoeijmakers on the show today. Sjir is the CEO of Giving What We Can (GWWC), the global organisation promoting effective giving and the 10% pledge. Even more impressive than this, he donates around 50% of his income to effective charities, so he really puts his money where his mouth is! 

In our conversation, we talk about the impact your donation can have, why it also makes sense for people who work full-time in the movement and why the act of pledging really matters. We also talk about another important part of Giving What We Can’s work: Their evaluation of regrantors and evaluators, including the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund and Animal Charity Evaluators. 

If anything we talk about today sparks your interest, I really encourage you to consider taking the trial pledge, where you can pledge to give just 1% of your income to effective charities. It's a great way to test it out and see if it works for you. Personally, taking the pledge is one of the things I’m proudest of. Because of this, I’ll be donating £50 to Giving What We Can’s effective animal advocacy fund for each person who takes the trial pledge or full 10% pledge, up to a total of £1000. So, if you sign up via the links below, there is a special tracker that will let me know how many people take it, and I’ll donate accordingly. 

Chapters:

  • What is the 10% Pledge? (00:08:00)
  • Why pledge vs just donate? (00:10:56)
  • Should full-time advocates also give? (00:15:15)
  • When shouldn't you pledge? & the Trial peldge (00:24:18)
  • Should you give to funds or charities directly? (00:30:10)
  • Why is GWWC evaluating Animal Charity Evaluators and the EA Animal Welfare Fund? (00:45:04)
  • How did ACE change with GWWC's feedback? (00:55:09)
  • GWWC moved $6M to animals in 2024! (01:06:30)

Resources: 

Sjir's Recommendations:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Joyce Tischler: 45 years in animal law 19 Nov 202401:26:57

Known affectionately as the mother of animal law, this weeks guest Joyce Tischler has over 45 years of experience advocating for animal rights through the law in the US. Starting off in 1979 by co-founding the Animal Legal Defense Fund where Joyce would serve as executive director for 25 years, we hear about the first cases Joyce worked on as well as her bold decision to take on the US Navy. 

Joyce now lectures at the Lewis and Clark Law School in the Centre for Animal Law, specialising in Industrial animal agriculture law teaching students both locally and internationally. We hear from Joyce on some great case study examples of effective campaigning and her decision to switch from circumstantial cases to prioritising cases to develop legal theory.

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:06:18:06 | Animal Rights in the 1970s
00:10:51:11 | Animal Law and CAFO's
00:13:20:18 | Significance of the meeting in 1981
00:17:38:12 | Early cases
00:27:23:20 | How were the cases picked?
00:34:54:17 | Feelings on leading an organization as a woman in that time
00:38:53:16 | Evolution of Animal Law
00:48:12:12 | Shifting focus over the years
01:01:36:07 | Main goals in Animal Law
01:10:22:10 | Personal preference versus effectiveness
01:23:17:08 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Tom Harris on the SHAC campaign and the significance of grassroots advocacy05 Nov 202401:24:56

There are not many people who have spent time in prison for their commitment to help animals, but Tom Harris is one of them. We spoke with Tom about his time in the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign (SHAC), one of the most well-known animal rights campaigns of the last 20-30 years.

We speak about why he thinks the campaign was so effective in applying pressure to companies, things he would do differently, common misconceptions about the SHAC campaign and the importance of grassroots advocacy in the animal rights movement. We also spend a bit of time talking about his future plans for rebuilding the grassroots advocacy scene in the UK so stick around to the end for some exciting plans.

Resources: 

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:14:01 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:04:46:18 | SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty)
00:12:02:22 | Lord Sainsbury
00:16:11:20 | Secondary Targeting
00:19:19:18 | Misconceptions about SHAC
00:24:55:18 | Losing local activist groups
00:35:17:05 | Lessons learned from SHAC campaign
00:38:18:09 | Prison sentence
00:46:32:17 | Benefit of focusing on one target
00:54:04:04 | Future work with local groups
01:09:57:05 | The SHAC Justice Campaign
01:19:28:21 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Jakub Stencel on defining and maintaining organisational culture22 Oct 202401:20:34

Jakub Stencel is the recently appointed interim director of Anima International. A refreshingly candid conversation about organisational culture, transparency and its limits, as well as the constant journey of testing and learning that Anima undertakes. 

Jakub talks us through his thinking on culture in an expanding organisation, split across multiple countries and how his first important task as interim director is to assess whether Anima International should continue to exist, or, if other organisational structures could save time, resource and increase impact for animals.

Resources:

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:00:03 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:06:30:09 | Early days of Anima International
00:10:39:20 | Work culture and transparency
00:18:10:10 | How has this approach shaped the work at Anima?
00:26:01:09 | Importance of small rituals
00:32:50:23 | Building psychological safety
00:35:45:06 | Hiring process
00:46:23:07 | The transparent leadership transition
00:52:42:18 | Vision for Anima International
01:01:05:08 | Biggest mistake of Anima International
01:13:51:05 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl on winning the largest government investment in plant-based foods08 Oct 202401:29:18

Rune-Christoffer is an impressive person. In addition to being almost 10ft tall, he led the Vegetarian Society of Denmark’s efforts in getting the Danish government to invest over 110 million Euros in plant-based foods and develop an Action Plan to boost plant-based foods in the country. 

Given this is one of the most significant policy wins the animal advocacy and plant-based movement has seen in recent years, we chat about how they built the political will to achieve this. We speak about the importance of building coalitions, developing relationships with politicians, and even engaging with the animal agriculture industry. We also speak about their plans to scale this work in the EU so stick around to the end if you want some optimistic and ambitious next steps.

Resources: 

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:26:23 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:04:30:12 | Action Plan for Plant-based Foods
00:08:20:01 | The Plant-Based Food Grant
00:17:22:12 | Key things that helped on the way to success
00:24:59:13 | Whole-Food and Plant-Based diet
00:28:35:17 | Building relationships
00:37:06:14 | Stance of the Meat industry
00:41:40:18 | Organic Denmark
00:46:57:16 | Collaboration with other organisations
00:51:54:04 | Tactical tips
00:58:31:03 | Plan for expanding through EU
01:10:45:20 | Working with more challenging countries
01:17:49:12 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Giulia Malerbi on banning octopus farming globally24 Sep 202401:09:27

Giulia Malerbi is attempting to prevent octopus from being intensively farmed for food. As head of Global policy at The Aquatic Life Institute, Giulia’s important work aims to stop intensive octopus farming before it even begins and has hopefully contributed to the passing of some groundbreaking legislation to support this ban. 

A really refreshing episode about the complexities of advocating for such an unknown species with the ins and outs of why farming this inquisitive species is so problematic from multiple perspectives.

Resources:

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:01:42:13 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:06:39:12 | Octopus farming in the United States
00:16:36:18 | Octopus welfare challenges
00:32:21:20 | Strategy behind choosing focus on octopuses
00:43:14:03 | Global campaign against octopus farming
00:48:38:09 | Industry reasons for farming octopus
00:53:57:00 | Other projects of Aquatic Life Institute
00:57:51:14 | How important is public opinion to politicians and legislators
01:03:17:05 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Wu Hung on how Buddhism has influenced his 30 years of activism for animals in Taiwan10 Sep 202401:03:29

Wu Hung trained as a monk before his journey into animal advocacy began and it is these teachings in the  ‘inconsistencies of life’ that led him to believe he could change the future for animals in Taiwan. 

Through liaising with government officials, top business people and the general public, as well as predictable pushback from the industry, navigating the complexities of a relatively new movement in Taiwan has not been easy for EAST. We hear about these challenges and also how members of the global north can support this important work in Taiwan. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:32:07 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:06:44:05 | Wu Hung's beginning in the animal rights movement
00:10:48:11 | The Movement in Taiwan
00:19:00:13 | Welfare challenges specific to Taiwan
00:26:12:11 | Food security and quality
00:32:59:10 | Cage free eggs in supermarkets
00:37:59:18 | Main focus area of EAST
00:40:56:23 | Cage free commitments
00:47:27:01 | Fish welfare campaign
00:54:31:18 | Staying motivated with Buddhism
00:59:18:23 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Léo Le Ster on creativity in campaigning27 Aug 202401:09:22

Léo Le Ster is a campaigner at L214, a French NGO focused on helping farm animals. Léo talks to us about L214’s creative campaigning tactics and the importance of open and collaborative brainstorming when it comes to generating new ideas.

Léo gives us an update on the state of the movement in France and insight into their organisation with a multi-tactic approach from investigations and campaigning to education programmes and lobbying.

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

>> Podcast Feedback Form << 


00:00 // Intro
02:55 // A recent mistake others can learn from
05:51 // Origin of L214
11:44 // Creative campaigning
26:59 // Brainstorming
32:24 // Seriousness and playfulness
40:14 // Meat consumption by 2030
44:45 // L214 Education programme
48:19 // Politics in France
57:44 // Campaigns during Olympic Games and Tour de France
01:05:17 // Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Co-hosts Amy & James on a summary of our best bits and a brief hiatus 30 Jul 202400:10:53

In this short 10 minute clip we announce a brief hiatus and use this time to chat through some episodes we want to highlight which we recommend checking out in the short break.

We also have a small ask of our listeners - please could you fill out this feedback form so we can best understand how and if to take the podcast forward? It should take around 5 minutes to complete and will influence how we might progress. 

Episodes will resume as normal from the 27th August.

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Mahi Klosterhalfen on progressive strategies for animals in Germany and the importance of sharing mistakes 16 Jul 202401:24:20

Mahi Klosterhalfen from Albert Schweitzer Foundation brings us exciting progress for animals in Germany. Mahi walks us through his work on cage-free, broilers and also now fish and shrimps and why Germany seems to be one of very few countries where meat consumption per capita is declining. 

We also dive into some thought provoking questions around running an organisation and why as a movement leader, sharing of mistakes is so important. Super interesting chat from a really knowledgeable long-term member of this space - well worth a listen. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:08:09:13 | Progress with retailers and producers
00:17:47:13 | Lower welfare fresh meat by 2030.
00:24:42:09 | Results of legal actions by the Foundation
00:42:26:01 | Meat tax that might finance animal welfare improvements
00:50:05:11 | Public opinion of animal welfare in Germany
00:57:47:11 | Future plans and campaigns
00:59:07:17 | Mistakes that Leaders make
01:11:17:02 | How to be a better Leader?
01:16:26:02 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Tania Luna on the importance of employee health and well being for animal advocates02 Jul 202401:23:27

Tania Luna brings us a wealth of knowledge this week as she walks us through the best working practices of organisations seeking to support animals that must integrally include the human animals that work to protect others.

Tania’s team apply their wealth of experience in the tech space to the animal advocacy space supporting organisations to prioritise employee health and well being in pursuit of our common goal: increasing the sustainability and efficiency of our work. Tania offers top tips, learnings from supporting organisations so far and explains more about their service at Scarlet Spark and how they can support you.

If you are interested in movement health and especially if you are a leader who could benefit from advice on running an organisation, no matter how big or small or someone who has the desire to run an organisation in the future - this is the perfect episode. 

  • Leadership office hours for any leadership challenges and questions (open to the entire animal protection community).
  • Workshops every month to brush up on your leadership skills (recordings available if you can’t make it live).
  • Animal Advocacy Careers Advice
  • Peter Draker? Managed gets done
  • James Penny Baker - writing 15 minutes 
  • LifeLabs Learning – Catalyst program for small nonprofits 
  • Tool library for templates and guides that fortify your teams and organisation. 
  • The Scarlet newsLetter for new resources and updates about free events and other learning and development opportunities.
  • LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook for ongoing tips.
  • Tania’s latest book, Lead Together, on shared power leadership
  • Tania’s last book (The Leader Lab) on management and leadership skills.
  • 4000 weeks – oliver burkeman 
  • 2023 study on leadership challenges in animal protection

    00:00:00:00 | Intro
    00:07:22:13 | Scarlet Spark
    00:15:34:08 | Optimal team size
    00:17:33:15 | Importance of investing in employee well-being
    00:26:53:08 | Rola clarity as Founder
    00:37:04:20 | What can Organizations expect from Scarlet Spark
    00:45:40:10 | Personal growth in leadership
    00:52:11:11 | Identifying problems for leaders
    00:56:38:14 | Morning pages
    01:09:24:18 | Leader Lab
    01:16:14:10 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

David Cole on what we can learn from the marriage equality and gun rights movements24 Sep 202500:50:43

David Cole is a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, a former national legal director of the ACLU and author of the popular book on social change in the US, Engines of Liberty. This book, a must-read for anyone interested in social movements, is the focus of our discussion today.

We spoke about the importance of local organising for political momentum, why incremental progress has seemed to work for other issues, the role of in-person community in social movements, and other lessons from the US marriage equality and gun rights movements.

Chapters:

  • The book in a nutshell (00:03:45)
  • Why incrementalism was crucial for marriage equality (00:09:36)
  • What can we learn from the NRA and gun rights? (00:17:19)
  • Why socialising & identity formation are key for movements (00:23:32)
  • Symbolic vs high-impact campaigns (00:32:11)
  • Messaging strategies in the NRA vs marriage equality (00:36:58)
  • Dave & James debrief and key takeaways (00:40:30)

Resources: 

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Leah Garcés and Sharon Núñez: Timeless lessons from 40+ years of animal advocacy17 Jun 202400:59:13

An absolute treat of an episode this week as we were asked to interview long-time advocates Leah Garcés and Sharon Núñez, live from the Animal and Vegan advocacy summit in Washington DC in May earlier this year.

From anger in Leah’s 20’s to some eye opening potential prison-time in the past for Sharon, our esteemed guests walk us through their experiences over the last 20 years of their tireless work for animals. A nostalgic and powerful look back and projection forward from these two powerhouse leaders. 

Leah Garcés is president of Mercy For Animals and author of Grilled: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry. She has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in the animal protection movement and has partnered with some of the world’s largest food companies on her mission to build a better food system.

Sharon Núñez is the co-founder and president of Animal Equality, a leading international animal protection organization ranked as one of the most effective animal rights organizations in the world for three consecutive years by Animal Charity Evaluators.

Show notes to follow..

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:01:10:10 | How have things changed in the past 20 years?
00:06:10:16 | What sparked a different approach for a long fight?
00:14:42:16 | Key challenges over the past 20 years
00:22:22:15 | Resources
00:28:01:10 | Strategic lessons
00:34:46:01 | Personal lessons
00:41:35:05 | Can we be optimistic with the change of the last 20 years?
00:45:47:14 | Should resources be going to new organizations or the largest ones?
00:49:19:16 | How do you balance work in the Movement and your personal life?
00:53:27:02 | What has to be done to fulfill all the corporate commitment in the next few years

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Doug Waley on the lives of farmed fish and how we can help them14 May 202401:06:40

Long overdue conversation on the important topic of fish this week with the lead for fish at Eurogroup for Animals, Doug Waley. Doug’s expertise lies in working for fish at the EU level however most of the episode is filled with important information relevant to fish farming across the globe. 

It’s a technical one but really insightful as we explore the everyday life of a farmed fish, the challenges they face and what can be done to secure meaningful wins for the billions of fish farmed each year. 

As always please check out the episode on youtube if you’d prefer or listen in, it’s a great episode! 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:


00:00:00:00 | Intro 
00:02:09:21 | Inspiring figures in the movement
00:04:29:11 | Fish welfare
00:06:06:03 | Origin of imported fish
00:07:29:06 | Fish farming conditions
00:15:37:03 | Importance of water quality
00:19:39:07 | Welfare challenges
00:27:04:03 | How many fish are farmed?
00:32:56:03 | Fish confinement
00:35:44:16 | Priorities for helping fish
00:41:28:09 | Motivation for producers to improve mortality rates
00:43:55:04 | The state of fish advocacy
00:47:42:21 | Quality of certifications
00:50:17:08 | The next step in collaborating with producers
00:52:01:02 | Work on EU legislation
01:01:16:21 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

10 Years Since Veganuary: Co-founders Matthew and Jane reflecting on the past and envisioning the future14 May 202400:51:40

Matthew and Jane co-founded the online campaign Veganuary in 2013, which has encouraged millions of people across the globe to try being vegan for the month of January and beyond. More recently, Matthew launched Veg Capital, an organisation that provides early-stage capital to companies striving to replace the use of animals in our food system and founded vegan chicken brand VFC. Jane remains on the board for Veganuary as chair.


Episode filmed live at the Vegan and Animal Rights Conference in Manchester in April 2024. The episode is warm and nostalgic as Jane and Matthew gave us insight into their Veganuary journey. The episode was also recorded and is available on our youtube channel.


Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Sofia Balderson on how rejection can help you grow as an advocate02 May 202401:19:52

Sofia Balderson is the co-founder of Hive, formerly known as Impactful Animal Advocacy, an organisation that aims to improve coordination and collaboration in the farmed animal movement through cultivating impactful, intentional, and serendipitous communities

Many listeners may be on the Impactful Advocacy Slack – a Slack workspace with over 2,000 animal advocates and a great place to connect, learn and share ideas. Today, we spoke with Sofia Balderson, one of the originators of that Slack Channel about lessons in starting new projects, the importance of facing rejection, how much you should listen to philanthropic funders to understand the value of your project and tangible ways to measure whether your work is providing value!

This was a very fun and candid conversation which I really enjoyed, so I’m sure you all will too.

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

Chapters
----------------
00:00 // Start
04:25 // History of Hive/Impactful Animal Advocacy
06:43 // Who is the Hive Slack for?
10:24 // Hive's biggest challenges so far
14:19 // Example of projects that didn't work out
18:08 // How important is funder feedback?
26:30 // What value does Hive provide?
30:26 // Advice for new founders
33:07 // Personal development advice
36:10 // Books on professional and personal development
37:46 // Facing rejection
42:00 // Motivati

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Ignacia Uribe on some tough decisions nonprofit leaders have to make23 Apr 202400:48:56

Short but sweet episode this week from Ignacia, author of a recently released book, CEO of a leading organisation in Latin America and mother to two small kids. We're delighted that Ignacia took time out to talk to us about her experiences right across her contributions for animals. 

We chat about Fundacion veg and their campaigns in both diet change and animal welfare as well as the decision for Ignacia to scale down her organisation and what led to this decision. We talk about the importance of country context in campaigning and the challenges when working in this field across Latin America. 

We ran into a whole host of technical difficulties during this episode with unstable connections so please bear with us during the chat and why not head to youtube to see if you can spot the point at which an entire day passes before we resume filming for the remainder of the episode.

Resources: 

How can people get more involved in your work? Are you hiring, do you need volunteers and where can people find you?

We don’t have volunteers all year round, but we do calls when we need them, so stay tuned to our social media accounts. We plan to hire a COO this year, so I’d have more time to do lobbying and PR which I think I'm better at, we haven’t published it yet but am very excited for this role.

Chapters
------------------------
00:00 // Start
02:36 // Inspiring figures in the movement
05:42 // How to be Vegan Today
10:42 // Balncing work and writing
13:51 // Impact of writing a book to everyday activism
15:51 // The work of Fundacion Veg
23:48 // Approach to campaigning
30:06 // Humanitarian issues
32:01 // Alternate tactics to protesting
37:30 // Biggest successes
41:46 // Senate language case
45:38 // Biggest challenges in Latin America

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Bob Fischer: The case for including insects in our animal advocacy09 Apr 202401:05:35

Bob Fischer is the Senior Research Manager at Rethink Priorities and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas State University.

Can insects feel pain? Should people who care about chickens, cows and pigs also care about reducing the suffering of crickets or black soldier flies? In this episode with Bob Fischer from Rethink Priorities, we try to answer some of those questions, as well as talking about the rapidly growing insect industry, and possible ways for advocates to help farmed insects.

We talk about lots of interesting content and research, for some of which there are excellent visualisations, which we’ll link to at the top of the show notes. I highly recommend checking out the Welfare Range Table and Rethink Priorities’ Welfare Range estimates to help better understand some of the points here, both of which are linked.  

Bob also had a great conversation on the 80,000 Hours Podcast about the moral weights project more broadly and how they want to try to compare welfare across different species of animals. We think they covered it very well, so we didn’t speak much about it today, so we’ll link it for interested folks. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Kristie Middleton on why engineering breakthroughs are essential for low-cost plant-based alternatives26 Mar 202401:11:25

Kristie Middleton is  vice president of business development for Rebellyous Foods where she and her team help institutions add more plant-based options to their menus. Kristie’s also the author of MeatLess: Transform the Way You Eat and Live—One Meal at a Time and a long-time animal advocate. 

Rebellyous Foods has created novel manufacturing technology in order to make plant-based chicken more affordable to the masses. Mainly targeting food service providers such as universities and school districts, Kristie, who is Vice president of business development at the venture capital funded company, uses her experience from her days at The Humane Society to ensure that this product is a clean and price comparable product in those markets.

A great episode for those interested in all things plant-based meats and how to scale a company providing this type of product to the masses. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

(00:00) START
(04:23) ABOUT REBELLYOUS FOODS
(09:31) PATENTED EQUIPMENT
(16:47) EDUCATING THE CONSUMER
(22:12) A GOOD APPROACH MAKES A DIFFERENCE
(28:24) THE MOCK 2
(34:53) ADVANTAGES TO COMPANIES FOCUSED ON PROFIT
(45:46) OTHER AREAS THAT NEED INNOVATION
(51:38) MOMENTS THAT INSPIRED CAREER CHANGE
(01:02:31) FOCUS ON THE MISSION
(01:06:05) CLOSING QUESTIONS

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Jayasimha Nuggehalli on working collaboratively with the animal agriculture industry to help animals12 Mar 202401:36:56

Jaya is a seasoned operational executive with a rich history of promoting animal welfare in the food retail sector. As the Co-founder and Chief Program Officer of Global Food Partners, a Singapore-based multinational consulting firm, he helps food and hospitality businesses implement their cage-free egg policies across Asia and reduce the cost of cage-free sourcing.

A fascinating episode as we unpick the many advantages of working collaboratively with the industry to advance animal welfare. We chat about the key challenges to this type of work right now, animal welfare challenges in Asia generally and try to understand some of the key barriers for companies implementing improved animal welfare standards for the animals in their care.

Jaya has an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience in this area so it was a real pleasure to hear about his important work and strategic approach. A great listen.


Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

Chapter Headers:

0:02:38 Why GFP works collaboratively with companies

0:06:10 Market forces and why they matter

0:12:01 Making progress for cage free

0:18:21 Key insights from cage free work in India and Asia

0:20:11 Reputational risk and its limitations in Asia

0:25:59 Forecasting the Asian animal movement

0:31:18 The impact of global welfare commitments on Asian companies

0:36:45 The importance of social proof

0:39:39 Consumers or companies responsibility

0:50:00 Offset credits for cage-free procurement

0:54:51 Cost implications of going cage free

1:08:46 Pushback from other animal advocacy groups

1:12:30 GFP plan for expanding in more countries

1:19:00 Cage free vs broiler commitments in Asia

1:20:22 The need for ecosystems and GFP's work

1:23:02 Career advice for advocates in Asia

1:26:20 Cultivating personal motivation

1:29:24 Closing questions



With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Lauren Mee on the career landscape for helping animals27 Feb 202401:22:53

Lauren Mee is the CEO & Co-founder of Animal Advocacy Careers, an organisation that tries to match mission-aligned talent to opportunities that accelerate the end of factory farming.

Lauren offloads all she knows about the hiring landscape right now when it comes to careers in animal advocacy. She talks us through some best practices and common pitfalls in the hiring process as well as her take on some of the more strategic questions when it comes to career progression in this space.

Whether you are not yet working in the movement, a manager looking to hire or a mid-level employee looking to advance to something more senior, there is something for everyone in this episode.


Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Aaron Ross on how to stay motivated and keep fighting for animals for 20+ years14 Feb 202401:37:09

Aaron Ross has spent over 20 years working for farmed animals. His relentless dedication to this cause has seen him co-found two major organisations, The Humane League and the Open Wing Alliance and train and advise countless others around the world on corporate relations and movement strategy.

In this episode, we talk through an important topic, longevity, and discuss the advantages and pitfalls of this long-term dedication to this long-term fight. Aaron offers practical advice for those wanting to dedicate their career to helping animals and why staying involved over the long-term has immeasurable advantages.

We’ve really enjoyed delving into a topic that touches less on the organisation goals and more on personal experiences of a deep topic so if you or anyone you know would like to come on to talk about a different area in this same vein, please let us know.  

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Penny Tehilah on uniting “welfarists” and “abolitionists” through pressure campaigns09 Sep 202501:06:25

Penny, the Executive Director of Animal Activism Collective, has helped bring hundreds of new activists into the grassroots animal movement, as well as supporting dozens of local grassroots groups around the US. Collectively, these groups, and AAC’s network, have been responsible for securing dozens of victories for animals, including getting over 80 companies and restaurants to drop foie gras, fur and much more.

That’s why I was very excited to speak with Penny today about something that feels pretty unique in our movement: A grassroots organisation like Animal Activism Collective working on cage-free campaigns in partnership with less grassroots-y organisations. In addition to this, we spoke about how AAC manages to get dozens of people to travel across the country to join their in-person weeks of action, why Penny thinks movement unity is important, the benefits of getting people in-person and even how Penny started caring about shrimp! 

This is an episode with lots of fun stories and we’re also trying something new by splicing in audio of their protests, so people can get a sense of the energy they bring.

Resources:

Chapters:

  • What Penny has changed her mind on (00:03:41)
  • The RAGE tour: 30 days straight of protest (00:09:20)
  • AAC's collaboration with ICAW and CAFT on cage-free & fur campaigns (00:11:02)
  • How did the collaboration between ICAW and AAC on cage-free campaigns start? (00:16:25)
  • How did AAC's grassroots base react to welfare-focused campaigns? (00:21:20)
  • Why Penny is so excited about pressure campaigns (00:24:20)
  • How Penny became convinced that welfare campaigns are important (00:30:40)
  • How do we create more similar collaborations in the movement? (00:33:48)
  • AAC's mentorship and other programs (00:38:26)
  • Why an organised grassroots base is essential to social change (00:46:41)
  • Penny's recommendations and a win she's grateful for (00:58:29)

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Tomasz Herok on working undercover in factory farms31 Jan 202401:12:00

Description: Tomasz Herok recently spent over 5 months working undercover on British factory farms, as part of an investigation by Open Cages, the UK branch of Anima International.

[Trigger warning: graphic descriptions of animals suffering on factory farms throughout the episode]

In this episode we understand the complexities involved in being an undercover investigator, what Tomasz’s role on the farm entailed during his time there and how he personally deals with the trauma presented. We also talk through the campaign that the footage was used for and what Tomasz needed to capture in order for this to be a success. 

An intense but incredibly in-depth look at the role of undercover investigators and what they witness on today's factory farms.

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Simon Newstead on developing alternatives to animal protein16 Jan 202401:21:55

Simon Newstead, entrepreneur turned impact investor, is a founding co-partner of Better Bite Ventures who back food-tech founders in Asia.

In this episode, we deep dive into the world of alt protein and the different technologies available in the alternative protein space. We look at Asia specifically where Simon’s work is focussed as well as the challenges this industry is facing as a whole. We also quiz Simon on his view on the timelines we should work towards to see this global shift in consumption towards animal-free alternatives. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Wanyi Zeng on building the farmed animal movement in Southeast Asia 12 Dec 202301:24:29

In this episode, we speak to Wanyi Zeng, Executive Director of Welfare Matters, an organisation that is focused on building capacity for the farmed animal advocacy movement in Southeast Asia.  We speak about the findings of Welfare Matters’ detailed and insightful report into the animal agriculture landscape in 6 key Southeast Asian countries, challenges facing the movement in Asia as well as Welfare Matters’ exciting plans to incubate new projects in the Asian farmed animal space.

Links from the episode: 


With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Stien Van Der Ploeg on finding the most effective animal charities30 Nov 202301:14:17

Stien is the executive director of Animal Charity Evaluators, also known as ACE. Stien, wants to help people help animals and ACE tries to do that by finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals.

In this episode we speak with Stien Van Der Ploeg who is their fairly newly appointed executive director. We talk through the latest release of the recommendations for this year and go into some detail on why certain charities and their interventions were selected. We talk about why their work is so important, the difficulties in the recommendation process and their developing strategy for the upcoming year.

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Monica Chen on theories of change, collaboration and leadership within the animal advocacy movement.15 Nov 202301:09:58

Today, we speak with Monica Chen, the Executive Director of New Roots Institute, formerly Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.
 
We speak about several big topics: 

  • Theories of change for the animal advocacy movement
  • Why collaboration between organisations isn’t always easy,
  • The importance of focusing on changing culture and social norms
  • The difficulties around management and organisational leadership, as well as some lessons Monica learnt along the way

Monica is an inspiring organisational leader who spends lots of her time thinking about what can benefit the movement as a whole so it was a real pleasure to speak with her about these topics.

Resources from our conversation:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Cameron Meyer Shorb making the case for wild animals and why we should care about their suffering.02 Nov 202301:29:12

Cameron is the executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of animals by accelerating the growth of wild animal welfare science.

In this episode Cameron helps us to understand the vast topic of wild animal suffering. Cameron makes the compelling case for why we should invest resources into understanding how we can reduce wild animal suffering responsibly with data-backed interventions, improving the overall well-being of wild animals.  

We talk through the importance of Wild Animal Initiative’s research in this area, their grant-making arm which is enabling the research field in this area to grow and the future plans for their work. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Josh Balk on using shareholder activism to win change from the world’s largest food companies 18 Oct 202301:08:32

In this episode, we speak with Josh Balk who is the co-founder and CEO of The Accountability Board. Previously, he was vice president of farm animal protection for The Humane Society of the United States. In addition, he is a co-founder of EAT JUST, a food technology company.

We spoke to him about a promising new strategy that he’s trying out, which is shareholder activism. In a nutshell, that involves doing something that seems counterintuitive, buying shares in the largest food companies that use animals as products, and trying to get them to change. On top of that, we also speak about the successes he’s had through ballot initiatives in the US. such as prop 12 in California, the EATS act, and US politics more generally.

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Aurelia Adhiambo on the animal advocacy landscape in Africa04 Oct 202300:58:16

Aurelia is the Africa co-ordinator for the Open Wing Alliance where she supports African organisations with their cage-free campaigning efforts. 

In this episode Aurelia walks us through the state of the advocacy movement in Africa and the unique complexities of campaigning in this region. We hear Aurelia’s thoughts on progress in Africa and the importance of flexibility when devising and testing the strategies and tactics required to end cages in Africa.

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:


With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Ines Kostic on using politics to help animals20 Sep 202301:06:38

Give us feedback on the podcast via this form! It should take just a few minutes and it would really help us improve the show. Thank you in advance, we really appreciate it.

In this episode, we speak with Ines Kostic, a Member of the Regional Parliament in the Netherlands for the Dutch political Party for the Animals and manager of Animal Politics Foundation.

We speak about the opportunities and challenges around advocating for animals within the political system, the impact the Dutch Party for Animals has had as well as what kind of people could be a good fit for politics.

Links from our conversation:


With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Neil Dullaghan on the importance of influencing EU policy and other important research topics06 Sep 202300:59:08

Neil Dullaghan is a Senior Research Manager in the animal welfare department at Rethink Priorities. Neil also holds a PhD in Political Science and is a fund manager of the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund. 

In this episode Neil talks us through his policy research in the EU as well as other exciting projects and impactful research that Rethink Priorities has produced and includes some of the most obscure resource recommendations to date!

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Lewis Bollard on the strategies that win, the traps to avoid, and why.19 Aug 202501:23:53

Lewis Bollard should be a familiar name for those trying to improve the lives of farmed animals. For almost 10 years, he’s been running the farm animal welfare program at Open Philanthropy, the largest funder in the fight against factory farming. It's hard to think of someone who's had a large positive influence on the modern farm animal welfare movement. 

In this conversation, we discuss the many different approaches we can take to help animals. We talk about why some strategies are less promising than they initially seem, common misconceptions he sees amongst advocates, why creating good strategy is hard, where the movement is under-investing and what he’s learned from other social movements. 

See the full transcript on our Buzzsprout.

Chapters:

  • What Lewis has changed his mind on (00:02:33)
  • The challenges of institutional meat reduction (00:06:05) 
  • Lewis' pessimism on animal welfare litigation (00:11:58)
  • The case for animal welfare technologies (00:14:42)
  • Why blocking new farms may not help (or even make things worse) (00:18:24)
  • What Lewis thinks advocates commonly get wrong (00:23:11)
  • Incrementalism vs moonshots & the speed of social change (00:26:50)
  • What is the movement under-investing in? (00:36:44)
  • Challenges in scaling large organisations (00:41:46)
  • Prop 12 and the future of US legislation (00:45:43)
  • How can we improve our political advocacy? (00:50:01)
  • What can we do in the Global South? (00:55:32)
  • How will transformative AI affect animal advocacy? (01:07:43)
  • What is tough about Lewis' role? (01:15:41)

Resources:

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Karolina Sarek on why you should start a new charity to help animals, and how Charity Entrepreneurship can help you do it23 Aug 202301:06:07

In this episode, we spoke to Karolina from Charity Entrepreneurship (CE) about the new animal charities they want to incubate in their next program (starting February 2024), what the benefit of joining their charity incubator is, as well as how they select which charities to incubate.

If you’ve ever considered launching a charity to help animals, then this is the podcast for you! If you have a friend that has toyed with the possibility of starting their own project – then please do share this with them!

Links from the episode:


With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Amanda Hungerford on Open Philanthropy's funding for farmed animal welfare10 Aug 202301:03:41

We interviewed Amanda Hungerford, Farm Animal Welfare Program Officer at Open Philanthropy. Open Philanthropy is one of the largest funders of farmed animal welfare, giving tens of millions of dollars each year. 

We spoke to Amanda about common misconceptions about Open Philanthropy's grantmaking, challenges with corporate campaigns, strategies that Amanda is excited about, and much more. 

This was a really exciting episode for us to record so we hope you enjoy it too!

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Andrés Jimenez Zorilla on Shrimp Welfare Project and why we should care about shrimp20 Jul 202301:13:01

We are celebrating our 10th podcast episode - Yay! To celebrate, we interviewed Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla from the Shrimp Welfare Initiative who inspired the name of our podcast, How I Learned to Love Shrimp. 

Shrimp Welfare Project is the only organisation solely dedicated to improving the lives of shrimp. In this episode we talk about the case for working on shrimp, the current scale of and practices within shrimp farming, as well as what Shrimp Welfare Project have learned over the past 2 years.

Thanks to all of our listeners so far and we look forward to the next 10!
 

Some resources that were mentioned in this report:


With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

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Nikunj Sharma on the animal advocacy movement in India and how to successfully expand organisations internationally07 Jul 202300:58:47

In this episode, we speak to Nikunj Sharma, the CEO of Mercy for Animals India. We spoke about:

  • The work of Mercy for Animals in India, and their victories so far
  • The considerations for animal advocacy organisations, like Mercy for Animals, to expand into new countries rather and how this trades off with the existence of local organisations. 
  • The specific cultural context for animal advocacy work in India

A few of the resources mentioned in our conversation:



With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

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