Born and raised in west Germany (NRW)
studied Bioscience in MĆ¼nster (focus on neuroscience, botany and genetics)
went to Bonn for an internship at the UN and decided international diplomatic work isnāt for me
spent 6 months as teaching assistant for a botany course at the University in MĆ¼nster
moved to Utrecht (NL) for my masters (Neuroscience, Ecology, Behaviour and Science Communication)
lived in Australia for 2 years for fun (hit me up for chats about van life, traveling on a budget and working at a winery)
landed in Freiburg i.Br. in Germany in 2018 and loving it so far
worked in the medical tech field for two years before starting to work for EAD in 2023
cause areas I personally regard important & interesting: global health & development, mental health, reducing extreme suffering, inclusion & equity, peacekeeping & improving democratic governance, improving institutional decision making, biorisks, EA community building
interests/āhobbies: nature, bouldering, cooking & eating, mountain biking, hiking, reading, yoga, meditation, self reflection, birds, psychology, art, history, ā¦
Milena Canzleršø
I also took my pledge before I earned a stable income, and am really glad I did. This way, donating 10% never felt like I was missing out on anything, since I never got used to that extra cash. I can highly recommend getting into this habit early on!
Thanks for this insightful post, for the self-reflection and transparent handling of your past mistakes! I think this could be a very valuable resource for all leaders of volunteer groups!
Thanks for this write-up, Iām hoping to see where ACTRA heads in the coming year! I wish you the best of luck. Have you received any additional funding so far?
Thanks, Toby!
What is an AMA in this context?
Slightly leaning towards devoting more funds to GHD, even though I think thereās enough likelihood that animals can suffer as intensely as humans.
My main reason for favouring GHD slightly is that improvements in human wellbeing, education and (political) empowerment seem paramount to the goal of increasing animal welfare long-term.
ApĀpliĀcaĀtions are open for EAGxBerĀlin, 13-15 SeptemĀber 2024!
I still donāt understand why the University of Oxford was not cooperative with the institute, and why later it decided to freeze it completely. What was that about?
Maybe some of it comes down to differences in the broader environment. The UK has larger (visible) proportion of People of Colour compared to, I guess, Sweden and in my case, Germany. So while that doesnt mean that all people in the UK are anti-racist or so, having more interactions with a diverse range of people might make it more likely that youāll learn a thing about not offending. Plus, it might not be that interesting for someone to ask the āWhere do you come from?ā-question if theyāve heard the same answer a hundred times: āFrom Bristolā.
I think itās good idea not to move fast and break more things with this stuff. Iāve made that experience, and will likely make that experience a few times more. But trying small, collaborative experiments sounds good!
Hehe, it certainly is ascetic!
I actually eat smoked tofu the same way, no need to fry it, itās super tasty that way :)
Thanks for publishing this take, it was interesting to read!
What do you think are the main differences from the EA community to your work environment in Bristol? Canāt be the level of education, EA rates pretty high on that.
And do you have any ideas what single groups could do to tackle this issue? So not necessarily āthe communityā at large, but a group that wants to change the way they act?
Super interesting, and it seems like a good alternative to food in a bottle for sure. Unfortunately I donāt think I could live on this, because I derive so much joy from cooking and eating :D
For anyone else considering this diet, but wants more variety/ātastiness easily, I have some suggestions:
add frozen berries to the porridge, they have amazing nutritional value
use smoked tofu instead of plain, it adds so much taste
rotate the green veggies in winter: kale and brussel sprouts are in season, and more nutritionally valuable than out-of-season broccoli
Thanks for asking, Jeff, I see why that might be confusing.
I was thinking of a statement such as:
āI want to first pay my respect to the people who have been harmed by Xās actions. I want to ask readers to remember that these people might have contributed greatly to our community too, and that several people were harmed by one person.ā
Edit: I wrote the following without consulting with my team, in private manner only. This does not represent the position or views of EA Germany, nor is it intended as an official statement.
Thanks to the EV boards for deciding to publish this.
As someone whoās directly supported several people right after, and in the months after other sexual misconduct situations, I want to support @Vaipanās sentiment. The comments defending Owen Cotton-Barrattās character are clearly well-intentioned and not meant to harm those women who remain silent and anonymous. Although they are not meant that way, the comments might hurt those women and discourage others in similar positions to come forward. Reactions like these are part of the reason why victims of abuse and assault remain silent, they are perceived as reminders that the perpetrator matters more than the victim(s). Depending on he severity of the harm caused, they might cause retraumatization by giving the impression that everyone is supporting the person in power and not caring about the people harmed.
I donāt think thereās an easy fix for that: Owen Cotton-Barratt is not anonymous, and a prominent figure (at least in the UK community). As such, people will want to give their personal testimony of what threat he might pose or not. The women who reported him remain anonymousāno one will come to defend their character or great deeds for the community, since no one knows who they are. [To make this clear: they should remain anonymous for as long as they wish.]
This pattern also happens in a context of similar reactions that people grow up with (e.g. media coverage of sexual assault cases). So while the comments in this case might not want to defend Owenās actions, they are still easily perceived as hitting the same note.
[I previously suggested some ways to comment here, but deleted them after further discussion with others. I just wish we wouldnāt forget the victims so often.]
Yes, in this specific context itās a crux for me. If someone hosted a new person of the community at their house in a foreign country, and then made sexual advances at them, Iād not want that person to host newcomers/āforeigners again.
Edit: Iām writing in personal capacity here, this is not a statement by EA Germany.
If you combine someone frequently expressing sexual/āromantic interest in you when thereās a power differential, that is a problem. It might mean, especially when the person whoās doing that is your boss/āmentor/āsomeone more senior than you, that you donāt feel like you can (clearly) refuse. When this is a situation involving a junior woman and a senior man, social behavior patterns of women being afraid of telling someone ānoā often make this worse.
Even if both people are interested in each other, the way they relate to each other in an organization should ideally be changed to reduce the power differential. This is a standard procedure in some countries, e.g. Israel.
Thanks for the thoughtful text, Patrick. I agree with your sentiment of being impressed, but not inspired by people who live a life that I feel unable to achieve, and needing other, more relatable āheroesā to look up to.
I especially like your conclusion: communication about altruistic action is hard, and we need a broad spectrum of examples to showcase the way that people engage with EA.
Thank you! :)
Amazing accomplishments, Mel! Congratulations also for growing your team to include another human (not to disrespect cat teammates...).
Re language: We face the same problem in Germany. The best comparison to Barcelona would likely be the Berlin group, since they have not only Germans, but international members as well. If you want to have a chat, reach out to me, Sarah Tegeler or Patrick Gruban for general strategic stuff, and if you want to talk to someone in Berlin, Martin Wicke is the core organizer there. He might also be a good contact point for discussions about transient populations.
I agree with @huw, thanks for the thoughtful and constructive comment.
Adding to it: We also legalise abortions to protect not only the would-be parents, but also the children who are born to parents who might not be prepared (mentally, physically, economically) to care for them.