I was gonna write something similar, but I think this comment nailed it (kudos KarenS). So I’ll highlight two key arguments I endorse:
Framing mitigating the worst immediate effects and addressing upstream drivers as mutually exclusive is unhelpfully reductionist and, as other have pointed out, distracts from good arguments to invest in reacting to immediate effects over root causes.
Addressing upstream causes/systems change can have higher ROI than just addressing immediate effects in the long term and especially with issues that continue on in perpetuity without intervening on the root level. Case and point, Titotal’s example of slavery abolition. (Abolition of slavery has come up before as an interesting thought experiment to EA’s relation with root causes/systems change.
I was gonna write something similar, but I think this comment nailed it (kudos KarenS). So I’ll highlight two key arguments I endorse:
Framing mitigating the worst immediate effects and addressing upstream drivers as mutually exclusive is unhelpfully reductionist and, as other have pointed out, distracts from good arguments to invest in reacting to immediate effects over root causes.
Addressing upstream causes/systems change can have higher ROI than just addressing immediate effects in the long term and especially with issues that continue on in perpetuity without intervening on the root level. Case and point, Titotal’s example of slavery abolition. (Abolition of slavery has come up before as an interesting thought experiment to EA’s relation with root causes/systems change.