Farmed animal welfare should be addressed first. I think this is an important step in our moral circle expansion (e.g. caring enough about animals to stop actively harming them.) I’m not an deep environmentalist, but there’s also more moral uncertainty about messing with nature (what if wild animals have good lives? What if nature has inherent value?)
Thank you for this, both points are great food for thought! Oscar Horta convinced me that care for farmed animals—closer to us, without the public worry of messing with nature—is well condusive to advancing care for wild animals. Bruce Friedrich, also, brought up a point I think a lot about; that people more easily care about animals when they aren’t eating meat, having to justify it, which I infer also leads into concern for wild animals.
I heard this in their respective Morality is Hard and 80,000 Hours interviews.
Farmed animal welfare should be addressed first. I think this is an important step in our moral circle expansion (e.g. caring enough about animals to stop actively harming them.) I’m not an deep environmentalist, but there’s also more moral uncertainty about messing with nature (what if wild animals have good lives? What if nature has inherent value?)
Thank you for this, both points are great food for thought! Oscar Horta convinced me that care for farmed animals—closer to us, without the public worry of messing with nature—is well condusive to advancing care for wild animals. Bruce Friedrich, also, brought up a point I think a lot about; that people more easily care about animals when they aren’t eating meat, having to justify it, which I infer also leads into concern for wild animals.
I heard this in their respective Morality is Hard and 80,000 Hours interviews.