Humans didn't evolve to understand communication at a distance. It's a very recent phenomenon (started in the 1830s, about the last 200 years). Humans are also very capable of deception. So how can anyone who is told that a child across the world is drowning trust that:

1. It is true
2. My gift will transmit without failure
3. My gift will reach the child in time
4. My gift will be fully used to help the child

Giving locally gives me a chance to verify all of that.

My minor edits this morning completely nuked the content of my post. I've reached out to Forum support to help restore it. Thanks for your patience!

TL;DR if you feel like you could benefit from a session with a coach or therapist familiar with EA principles, book a session with one of them. Nearly all will do the intro session for free

More EA Near/Medium-Termist Money Should be Flowing to Climate Change Mitigation

A wild swing in climate is an near/medium term existential risk for most life, including humans. Look at the previous 5 mass extinction events. We have solid evidence this can and does happen

In all my research, the single most important supportive factor is healthy, positive relationships with others. The Harvard Grant Study is a great resource. I even borrowed the name for a conjecture I crafted.

I have been in the EA space for a decade and have been more actively engaged since I started professional coaching nearly 5 years ago. I admit I'm more low-pressure and responsive in my coaching business. But outside of EAGs, I've fielded maybe a dozen inquiries from the EA community interested in coaching, and I formally coached less than half of them. I have also been involved in the EA Coaches and Therapists community. There are 122 members of the #role-coaches-and-therapists channel on EA Anywhere, and 80 providers listed on MentNav.

We have the therapist and coaching capacity. And—as elucidated in this article—we have a need. But for whatever reason, the people who need the services are not proactively engaging with the professionals providing the services, so…
¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

FYI, this is the canonical source of all things mental health in the EA community (Google Sheet). Please use it and make additions or changes if anything is missing or inaccurate ❤️

I am interested in hearing what your ideas are for your next zero to one venture 🍿

I don't donate to any "EA" animal welfare charities, but I 100% support vegan advocacy; about a quarter of my donations go to Vegan Outreach. 

I'm all for having the good data backing up various interventions. But stepping back, killing sentient animals unnecessarily for taste preference is morally indefensible. The easiest way to solve this problem is to reduce demand.

Sometimes the simple and obvious answers are the ones worth investing in.

I know this is likely an unpopular view, but what makes the human species so precious? Going back in evolutionary time, what if Neanderthals or T. rex or even jellyfish decided they were the pinnacle of evolution and closed the door behind them?

I'm not saying I want humans to go extinct, but it is speciesist to say we are as good as it gets and halt the process of natural selection. 

This dropdown is clipped for me in Chrome on my laptop. I can't read the full text of the options