I’m Joanna, ’99 and I’m from Poland. I’ve always been passionate about reducing suffering—at 18 I found a name for it, and started thinking of myself as a negative utilitarian. However, the extent of my contribution was being a very sad, resigned, frustrated vegan. I’ve had a successful career as a senior artist working in the entertainment industry, but it didn’t feel meaningful.
I reached the lowest point this year through a surface level calculation that I cause more suffering than my life is worth, but bounced off it when I learned about effective altruism. I joined an effective animal advocacy group (Otwarte Klatki, the Polish branch of Anima International) as a volunteer and finished a course on effective animal advocacy by AAC. I read 80.000 hours and I’m currently working through the 80.000 hours career planning course.
I’m very grateful to be a part of this community. I used to feel very inadequate before I found it; now I have a deep sense of purpose.
Fun fact: I organized my first charity fundraiser at 12 years old, running around my school, collecting spare change from other kids and giving a little hand-made plasticine horse to everyone who contributed 1zł ($0.25) or more. I collected the equivalent of $25 in total, put it in an envelope and sent it to a charity that saved horses from slaughter (clearly I had no idea about effectiveness at that time:) )
Part A
Math + surface level considerations based on the information in the links (I’m new here):
Hellen Keller International
- lives saved: 23
- vitamin A supplements administered: 79 977
- evidence of impact: strong
- has room for more funding
Malaria Consortium
- lives saved: 16
- children seasonally protected from malaria: 11 425
- evidence of impact: exceptionally strong
- has room for more funding
Against Malaria Foundation
- lives saved: 14,5
- anti-malaria nets purchased: 15 995
- iirc the nets last for ~3 years (probably taken into account by GL already)
- it’s a well-known charity within the EA community (to the point it’s become a meme) so I cautiously assume it gets more funding than the others/is somewhat less neglected
- added factor of insect suffering? (how much suffering does dying from insecticides generate vs the alternatives)
New Incentives
- lives saved: 16
- children vaccinated: 500
- I assume the effects are long-lasting, so even if HKI or MC interventions are cheaper per person, NI vaccinations could be more effective when compared one to one (?)
- evidence of impact: strong
Part B
I’m hesitating between HKI and NI, so I’ll use the numbers to break the tie/as a correction for my scope neglect and go with Hellen Keller International (they also stated they have more room for funding)
Part C
- impact of different career paths I’m considering
- I need to finally do an evaluation of the most effective food so I can just buy beans or legumes in bulk and not make calculations every time I’m grocery shopping
- impact of learning/self-development vs what else I could be doing in this time