Thanks for posting! I think it’s great to think about ways to use the large differences in suffering per calorie depending on what species is being farmed to our advantage to increase animal welfare.
Non-EAs are receptive to a proposal to substitute bivalves for other meat. They are not receptive to proposals to go vegetarian/vegan.
The greater tractability of dietary change to increase bivalve consumption(reducing other animal consumption) is likely the strongest point in support of bivalve farming. I think(85%) that influencing people to substitute for bivalve consumption will be quite similar in difficulty to influencing people to go more veg*n. Some people who identify as vegan also consume bivalves anyways so this may not be an either/or though. Nudging people away from the worst in suffering per calorie is always better so it.
On price I don’t think(65%) scallops(which you compared) are the cheapest of the bivalves? May be better options!
Depending on what it substitutes for, it would also reduce crop farming and associated rodent/insect deaths
This is an interesting point! Animals require a lotta farmland for food. I’m not sure there’s any strong agreement though that reducing amount of crop farmland is good for animal welfare compared to counterfactual re-wilded land, or the counterfactual how the wild animals in the farmland would have died anyways.
xD Be careful with this point there seems to be a tradeoff between cleaning polluted water and health, from that article:
As they filter water, the bivalves’ tissues absorb some of the chemicals and pathogens that are present—things like herbicides, pharmaceuticals and flame retardants
Thanks for posting! I think it’s great to think about ways to use the large differences in suffering per calorie depending on what species is being farmed to our advantage to increase animal welfare.
This is a better source about it being difficult to influence dietary change https://rethinkpriorities.org/publications/effectiveness-of-a-theory-informed-documentary-to-reduce-consumption-of-meat-and-animal-products (via method of documentaries)
The greater tractability of dietary change to increase bivalve consumption(reducing other animal consumption) is likely the strongest point in support of bivalve farming. I think(85%) that influencing people to substitute for bivalve consumption will be quite similar in difficulty to influencing people to go more veg*n. Some people who identify as vegan also consume bivalves anyways so this may not be an either/or though. Nudging people away from the worst in suffering per calorie is always better so it.
On price I don’t think(65%) scallops(which you compared) are the cheapest of the bivalves? May be better options!
This is an interesting point! Animals require a lotta farmland for food. I’m not sure there’s any strong agreement though that reducing amount of crop farmland is good for animal welfare compared to counterfactual re-wilded land, or the counterfactual how the wild animals in the farmland would have died anyways.
xD Be careful with this point there seems to be a tradeoff between cleaning polluted water and health, from that article: