While I think moral trades are interesting, I don’t know why you would expect me to see $4.30 going to an existential risk charity to be enough for it to be worth me going vegetarian for a year over? I’d much rather donate $4.30 myself and not change my diet.
I think you’re conflating “Jeff sees $0.43/y to a good charity as being clearly better than averting the animal suffering due to omnivorous eating” and “Jeff only selfishly values eating animal products at $0.43/y”?
If anyone’s genuinely interested in this, I’ll switch my diet from eating organic meat ~5x a week to completely vegan in exchange for a donation to the Against Malaria Foundation. £10 per week.
(I think that’s a bad deal for everyone except AMF—there are way better things you can invest in if you care about animals welfare—but I would genuinely do it!)
I agree that the direct effect on animals seems pretty low for the cost compared to EAA charities. I think most of the value would be from getting you to go vegan for a few months or however long it takes for the diet to feel easy/automatic for you, for the chance that you might stick with it, reduce your consumption more or increase your concern for animals in the long term. I think I remember you saying somewhere you’ve been vegetarian before (correct me if I’m wrong), so I’m not sure an experiment with veganism would make much difference in the long-term.
Also, there are EAs who are both already inclined to donate to AMF and concerned about animal welfare, so you might want to specify counterfactual donations. :)
While I think moral trades are interesting, I don’t know why you would expect me to see $4.30 going to an existential risk charity to be enough for it to be worth me going vegetarian for a year over? I’d much rather donate $4.30 myself and not change my diet.
I think you’re conflating “Jeff sees $0.43/y to a good charity as being clearly better than averting the animal suffering due to omnivorous eating” and “Jeff only selfishly values eating animal products at $0.43/y”?
If anyone’s genuinely interested in this, I’ll switch my diet from eating organic meat ~5x a week to completely vegan in exchange for a donation to the Against Malaria Foundation. £10 per week.
(I think that’s a bad deal for everyone except AMF—there are way better things you can invest in if you care about animals welfare—but I would genuinely do it!)
I agree that the direct effect on animals seems pretty low for the cost compared to EAA charities. I think most of the value would be from getting you to go vegan for a few months or however long it takes for the diet to feel easy/automatic for you, for the chance that you might stick with it, reduce your consumption more or increase your concern for animals in the long term. I think I remember you saying somewhere you’ve been vegetarian before (correct me if I’m wrong), so I’m not sure an experiment with veganism would make much difference in the long-term.
Also, there are EAs who are both already inclined to donate to AMF and concerned about animal welfare, so you might want to specify counterfactual donations. :)
Yes, I meant counterfactual donations, and yes I’ve spent a couple months vegetarian before. Good points both! :)