Disclaimer: This blog post focuses on a new piece of research from Rethink Priorities. I was not involved with the funding or execution of this research, and therefore write this piece merely as a consumer. However, I am the Executive Director of Giving Green and a board member of Rethink Priorities, and acknowledge that these affiliations may bias my...
I am writing up two charity ideas I’ve wanted to investigate, but haven’t been able to, in the hopes someone will investigate them further. If you end up investigating either, I'd be most interested to see what conclusions you come to!
Vulture preservation as a global health intervention
Since the mid 1990's the vulture population in India has been rapidly declining. The reason is due to a few chemicals which are fed to livestock, which is highly poisonous to vultures.
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Summary
This post will summarize the trajectory of Wild Animal Initiative’s field-building for wild animal welfare science so far, along with patterns and indicators we want to see more of going forward. Beginning with an initial phase focused on establishing credibility and awareness of the field, through a second phase that has placed more emphasis on the distinctiveness and broad priorities of the field, we are now moving into a third phase designed to co...
Creatives and Effective Altruism
If you've spent any time digging in to EA, or reading through the incredible articles on 80,000 Hours (or elsewhere), you'll notice that many of the issues our future faces are technical in nature. AI ethics and integration. Solving for food supply issues through new farming tactics. Engineering the solutions that our future selves will be grateful for...
But what I'm wondering (for my own career) and for other Creatives: how do we fit in? Where can creatives, whose purview is not in data analytics, engineering, or even technical articles, be part of this EA revolution? Where are the creative-based careers in this industry? How do we make more opportunities for writers, artists, and more?
The most clear idea to me would be the creation of a marketing firm/production company that caters to EA-focused organizations. Then, these companies doing real good in the world would have the means to achieve mass communication on par with larger companies that exist for profit. But, as I am not going to launch this idea tomorrow, it's just a conversation starter.
Any other ideas? Any other creatives feeling similarly? Anyone want to connect in the very broad idea of how creatives can change the future alongside all other industries and disciplines?
Art, writing, and other creative outputs are incredibly valuable for societal change and movement building. I know for my work, I'm currently looking for graphic designers who can convey complex ideas in glanceable simple images to skeptical stakeholders. Well produced animated videos would be even better.
I think there is a huge amount of opportunity, and part of the challenge is that EA in my experience has some potential cultural gaps given its seemingly technocratic focus.
I feel the same way! Technology and data is so essential for being effective, but we give something up when we ONLY use data and tech to solve problems. But I see this as an opportunity as well, to forge a new kind of artistic culture around saving the world.