our theory of change

Introduction: Why and how alternative proteins need help

Alternative proteins are probably the “single most promising strategy” to end factory farming according to Lewis Bollard, Open Philanthropy’s Farm Animal Welfare strategist. ¹ However, he has also said they need large-scale government funding to reach their potential ² ³ ⁴ and other experts agree. ⁵ ⁶

I have taken this to heart and have met with Scott Weathers, the Senior Policy Specialist of Good Food Institute (an organization dedicated to advancing alternative proteins), to figure out what needs to be done to get alternative proteins the public support they need.

He told me that he thought the main impediment to government funding for alternative proteins was not a distaste for meat alternatives, at least in the US. He said he would not be surprised if 70% of Americans already would like public funding for alternative protein R&D. Recent surveys suggest he is right, although the questions do not broach the subject directly. ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰

He said the main impediment was that alternative proteins and factory farming are currently not “hot button issues” and a tepid majority isn’t enough to change the status quo. The main aim of this site is to help make factory farming as hot as it deserves to be.

It is also meant to galvanize existing and generate greater public support for alternative proteins until it results in much more government funding for their R&D. Lewis Bollard said even redirecting a small amount of the annual US agricultural research budget towards alternative proteins would be “huge”. ⁴ ¹¹

It is unclear how much US government subsidies save the average American consumer, but it may be negligible. Some agricultural economists like Jayson Lusk contend vast government subsidies of factory farming’s main expense, animal feed, may only decrease meat prices by around 1%. ¹³ However, it is abundantly clear the US government currently goes to great lengths to support factory farming. ¹⁴

This is absurd, because factory farming causes so much damage that it may be the “worst crime in history” according to historian Yuval Noah Harari ¹⁵ and because most Americans care about the issues caused by factory farming ¹⁶ ¹⁷ such as farm animal suffering. ¹⁸ ¹⁹ ²⁰ ²¹

Unfortunately, Americans know little about factory farms and animal welfare on them. ¹⁹ ²² ²³ Their ignorance helps factory farming to proliferate, ²¹ ²⁴ ²⁵ ²⁶ (and probably stifles the development of alternative proteins) but it also paves the way for a solution.

Surveys show that more education leads to greater consumer acceptance of foods with novel technologies and meat alternative are no exception. ²⁷ The internet has made information about alternative proteins and conventional animal agriculture easily accessible, but I do not think that’s enough, because factory farming is currently spreading. ²⁸ ²⁹

Lewis Bollard recently lamented the fact that the mainstream media by and large ignores factory farming. ³⁰ He suspects that’s partly because factory farming has been around so long that old-fashioned reporting about it has become stale and unpalatable. ³⁰

I want to shine a light on factory farming by lightening the mood

I have read quite a lot of old-fashioned reporting on factory farming (as you can see from the numerous references listed in the bibliography of this article). I cited almost only scholarly sources, but I read plenty of others and virtually everything I saw was dour or boring or both.

Most sources I saw just complained about supposedly overwhelming problems. If they offered solutions, they seemed woefully inadequate (like go vegan). I do not blame the creators of the current content (I’m confident they are good people doing the best they can). But I also do not blame the public for not learning more about these issues.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised by the success of Last Week Tonight. The show regularly tackles tough subjects, but its YouTube videos almost always attract many millions of viewers. Despite its dark subject matter, the show has amassed a large following, spread awareness, and is “making a difference in the real world.” ³¹

For example, the show discussed net neutrality and urged its viewers to make their voice heard on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) website. The day after the segment originally aired the FCC’s website “actually crashed from overwhelming web traffic”. ³¹

The show’s host said the main intent of the show is to try to discuss interesting things and make people laugh. ³² I’m confident the latter is a key ingredient to the show’s success, although I’m sure the thorough research they put into the show helps.

This show was a big source of inspiration for this site. I think a big part of fairitarian should be providing reliable and readable information about all the major negative side effects of factory farming. Dr. John Rossi and bioethicist Samuel Garner argue this approach will interest the widest possible audience. They also stress there is a lack of sufficiently comprehensive critiques of factory farming. ³³

My article on animal welfare is just the tip of the iceberg. I have already begun working on articles about how factory farming threatens public health, the environment, rural communities, and more. However, I am not an expert on all these topics, and I don’t think anyone can be.

That is why I intend to get my articles reviewed and approved by relevant experts. Ideally, I will be able to work in tandem with experts that are sympathetic to our cause and/or are willing to help for a fee. If that is not possible, I will at least try to obtain their endorsement after my article is completed but before it is published (like I did with my short passage about Moses).

This is important to me, partly because I want to make sure I am not spreading any misinformation. That is why I sent a similar, more strait-laced, draft of my animal welfare article to Dr. Regenstein, a Prof. Emeritus of food science at Cornell University. ³⁴ I thought he would be the perfect person to vet my work, because he is an expert on animal welfare, ³⁴ but also likes to lecture about why he “loves factory farming”. ³⁵

I asked him to look over my work, correct any mistakes, and not pull any punches. He obliged, left plenty of feedback, but disputed virtually none of my claims. I do not know if I managed to dampen his love of factory farming, but I know he did not rebut my arguments. We communicated entirely through email and I am happy to provide records of our conversations and his feedback upon request.

In the meantime, I am in the process of obtaining endorsements for my animal welfare article from experts more sympathetic to my cause. I hope this will assure readers that the information is trustworthy, even if there is some levity sprinkled in between the facts.

I think lots of levity should be sprinkled between the facts about factory farming to make them more appealing and I think seasoned comedian Ricky Gervais would agree. He asserts that humor is meant to “get us over bad things”. ³⁷ It’s quite an understatement to call factory farming a “bad thing”, but award-winning comedian Louis CK would probably argue that only necessitates humor more, not less.

Louis CK stated that “saying that something is too terrible to joke about is like saying that a disease is too terrible to try and cure it. That’s what you do with awful things, you joke about them. That’s how you get through it… it’s like if it that’s awful, you better start joking about it.” ³⁹

Although it’s not always easy to joke about factory farming, I think it’s worth a shot. After all traditional, serious, strait-laced reporting has clearly failed to dispel widespread ignorance surrounding factory farming.

I tried (and will keep trying) to heed Louis’ advice, as you can see on my article related to farm animal welfare. If you don’t like those jokes I don’t mind, because I don’t want this project to hinge on my sense of humor. A big part of my vision for this site will be allowing the site’s audience to contribute exactly what they find funniest.

I want to crowdsource to find comedy gold faster

Using the site’s forums, the audience will be able to suggest ideas and vote on the ideas of others. I envision it working a lot like reddit.com’s forums and becoming a quick and easy way for the readers to get involved in this project (and therefore the downfall of factory farming). I also think crowdsourcing is a sure way to discover the best jokes with the broadest appeal.

The highest rated jokes will appear on the main site along with the creator’s name (if they wish). Perhaps the best jokers can even receive other incentives (e.g. money) along with recognition and credit for their contributions.

I think the forums will also encourage readers that want to have their jokes featured to pay closer attention to the articles. Readers who appreciate comedy might even revisit articles periodically to see updated jokes. And last but not least, another benefit to this novel approach can be the publicity that comes with trying something new.

Joke writing has traditionally been a solitary pursuit or maybe done with a small team of writers. I have never heard of anyone trying to crowdsource comedy from the entire world. The closest I have seen are caption contests, but my idea is much grander.

To be clear, I’m suggesting the articles about factory farming would not only educate the viewers but serve as a reverse caption contest. We provide the (trustworthy) text and the audience suggests the amusing imagery to go with it.

There may be a team of writers that set the tone of the article and suggest jokes that get the party started, especially while this project is getting off the ground. However, once this site attracts a sufficient audience they will be largely in control of the comedy.

If fairitarian.com provides proof of concept, I think having multiple sites is prudent because targeted content sees far more success than broad content. ⁴⁷ That’s because audiences want to feel directly spoken to according to Amy Balliett, author, co-founder, and CEO of an industry leading marketing company. ⁴⁷ ⁴⁸

I think at least one site should be directed at millennials, which are the largest adult generation in the US and already have the greatest preference for alternative proteins. ⁴⁹ ⁵⁰

I would like to engage with tradition and religion

“In dealing with ethics in adults, one could not teach; one needed to remind.” according to Plato ⁵¹ I have tried to align my site with Plato’s dictum by gently showing readers why alternative proteins probably mesh better with their existing values than factory farming. It also stays far away from attempting to impose new values on its audience or even tell them what they should do (e.g. go vegan).*

I called the site fairitarian.com, as opposed to something more partisan like goalternativeproteins.com, because its message is meant to appeal to anyone who already thinks people and animals should be treated “fairly.”

I explain what I mean by “fair” on the about page, but suffice it to say I tried to make the definition broad enough to appeal to most contemporary ethical systems, including but not limited to religious ones.

Animal advocates much wiser than me ⁵³ ⁵⁴ have argued that religion can shape the future of factory farming. That’s because 84% of people are religiously affiliated ⁵⁵ and about 99% are not vegan ⁵⁶ and presumably want to consume animal products. Therefore, the market for animal products is enormous, and most of it identifies with a religious group.

Ignoring religion can also be a great impediment to novel technologies like alternative proteins according to the the father of veterinary medical ethics, Prof. Bernard Rollin. ⁵⁷ That is why I feel very fortunate that I am very interested in learning more about religion.

For the sake of brevity, I will relegate details about my unique religious background and education in this footnote. ⁵⁸ In short, I went from being a militant atheist to quite religious to an inquisitive agnostic. This journey made me realize I have quite a lot to learn about religion, and I want to fix that.

“St. Augustine said that faith is essential for understanding. If you start with disbelief you won’t get it… [Prof. Huston Smith has] argued that in order to understand one of these faith traditions, one of the wisdom traditions, it’s essential to get inside it.”
Bill Moyers quoted in The Way Things Are by esteemed religion scholar Prof. Huston Smith

More importantly, this journey imbued me with humility and empathy for disparate secular and religious perspectives. I have held both kinds of views, met plenty of altruistic and intelligent insiders of various faiths (and lack of faiths), and learned a lot that can help advance alternative proteins.

Namely, I learned that relatively few religious leaders mandate abstention from animal products. However, even fewer claim it does not matter how animals are treated. I know of no major religious leaders that would call factory farming a trifling matter if they knew about how it harms people as well (e.g., through antibiotic resistance, creating zoonoses, pollution, etc.).⁶⁶

In other words, I learned that major religious figures could be good allies of the alternative protein movement. You can see some examples on this page.

I believe my innate interest for religion will be a great asset for this project because I will not feign concern for religious sensibilities so I can manipulate them. When I speak to religious people it will not be just to convince them to support my factory farming agenda. I want to learn from them too, and I think that will be apparent to and appreciated by religious audiences.

I want to be deeply practical

However, I think the above might not be enough to reach most people. No matter how it’s packaged, education about factory farms may be ignored ⁵⁹ ⁶⁰ or resented if it will not lead to much more than cognitive dissonance. ⁶¹ On the other hand, empowering people to fix a problem helps them care more about it too. ⁶²

That is why the site will focus on the solutions to factory farming no less than the problems with it. That is why “the problems” and “the solutions” are given equal space on the site’s menu. I plan on dedicating a big part of the forums to brainstorming solutions as well.

I think the forums should be an integral part of the site because they allow almost anyone to contribute to the site. I tried to couch the rest of this site in colloquial language, because I want it to be accessible to the lowest common denominator.

I want to help everyone to learn about conventional animal agriculture and alternative proteins, even if they only have a bit of spare time, internet access and basic literacy.

I want to empower anyone to oppose factory farming and advance its alternatives from the comfort of their own home, for free, without changing their diet.

I want everyone to be able to be part of the solution to the most serious issues of our time, even if they are only willing to judge some jokes.

Closing thoughts

In short, my site aims to be the most inclusive, practical, and enjoyable resource on factory farming and alternative proteins. I am confident that with your support these ideas can deal a serious blow to factory farming and transform the alternative protein landscape.

“Farm subsidies cost the American taxpayer about $20 billion every year… mostly to support wealthy corporate farms.’ ¹² The US budget for agriculture research alone is about $3.7 billion annually. ¹¹

“The use of humor as a pedagogical tool has been shown to reduce classroom anxiety, create a more positive atmosphere, as well as facilitate the learning process (Berk, 1996, 1998; Garner, 2003, in press; Glenn, 2002; Hill, 1988; Pollio & Humphreys, 1996). Garner (in press) found that participants who were exposed to a series of lectures containing course-specific humor demonstrated increased retention of the course-content information as compared to those who received the same material without the infusion of humor. In addition to increasing retention, this approach resulted in higher overall ratings of the course and better instructor evaluations. Other researchers have found that humor can result in better information recall (Hill, 1988) and can increase long term retention (Glenn, 2002).” ⁶⁷

Despite having the same number of challenges at work, people with a sense of humor report less stress and anxiety than those with a low sense of humor. ⁶⁸

I thought it is prudent to respect Louis CK’s opinions when it comes to comedy despite his sexual misconduct, because The Emmys website asserts he “is one of the most honest and respected comedic voices of his generation”. Louis CK clearly has more than enough flaws but he also has 6 Emmys and numerous other accolades thanks to his sense of humor. ³⁸

*Part of the reason for this is because a recent survey found that about 98% of Americans believe that eating meat is a personal choice. ⁵² That is part of the reason the about page says, “I’d like to help you come to the best decision you can.”

“One grows out of pity when it’s useless” – Albert Camus ⁶³ On the other hand “Powerless and distant pity becomes compassion, that is, an intense desire to free others from suffering, when one becomes aware of the possibility of eliminating and when one recognizes the ways to accomplish this aim.” ⁶⁴ – Buddhist monk and possibly the happiest man on Earth, ⁶⁵ Matthieu Ricard

Sources

[1] Bollard, Lewis. “If We Build It, Will They Come?” 9 Mar. 2021.

Accessible at https://mailchi.mp/cf613c018ffc/if-we-build-it-will-they-come?e=e46dda7eb8

[2] “But it’s far from inevitable that meat alternatives will become taste and price competitive, especially with the cheapest animal products. We’ll likely need not just huge private sector innovation, but also large-scale government funding of R&D over many decades of the sort that Breakthrough Energy, founded by Bill Gates, recently called for.”

-Bollard, Lewis. “If We Build It, Will They Come?” 9 Mar. 2021. Accessible at https://mailchi.mp/cf613c018ffc/if-we-build-it-will-they-come?e=e46dda7eb8

[3] “I think government funding [for alternative protein research] would be huge. We can see that, although we have a lot more going on in this space, the scale of research and development that we still need is the kind of scale that governments are best at providing.”

-Wiblin, Robert, and Keiran Harris. “Lewis Bollard on Big Wins against Factory Farming and How They Happened.” 80,000 Hours, 18 Feb. 2021, 80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/lewis-bollard-big-wins-against-factory-farming/.

[4] In this video Lewis Bollard says it’s a great idea to try and redirect part of state and/or federal government subsidies for alternative protein R&D. Animal agriculture across the board has huge public subsidies (billions annually) in terms of research and development. Just US publicly funded agriculture research is annually in the billions. So Bollard thinks it reasonable to ask for a small portion of that to be directed towards alternative proteins. He said, “Given how scarce our philanthropic capital is, that can be really transformative.”

-Bollard, Lewis. “Doing the Most Good for Animals after COVID-19: Lewis Bollard: EAGxVirtual 2020.” YouTube, Centre for Effective Altruism, 15 June 2020, youtu.be/x3-jQcCJSZA?t=2257. At about 37:30

[5] Emphasis added: “’To see our transformative vision of the food system [towards alternative proteins] become reality, government investment into researching alternative proteins is mission-critical… public funding for alternative protein research will shape the future of the food market: by underwriting the fundamental technologies enabling companies to produce plant-based and cultivated meat.’’

-Dale, James. “How Government-Funded Research on Alternative Proteins Can Grow the Bioeconomy.” The Good Food Institute, 31 Oct. 2019, www.gfi.org/blog-ostp-comment.

[6] ”if research and development is confined to the private sector, alternative proteins will develop slowly and experience more difficulty in establishing a new, more robust infrastructure.’’

-Forsberg, Ken and Dale, James “Docket No. 2019-19470, Request for Information on the Bioeconomy” The Good Food Institute, 22 Oct. 2019 https://gfi.org/images/uploads/2019/10/GFIOSTPRFI.pdf

[7] A 2020 survey found that ‘’Around three-fourths of consumers (74%) think that the government should be supporting farmers transitioning to more humane practices.’’

-“ASPCA Surveys.” ASPCA, www.aspca.org/shopwithyourheart/business-and-farmer-resources/aspca-surveys.

[8] A survey conducted in August 2020 found “Regardless of political party, the majority of respondents (61%) support reserving government funds for farmers whose practices are more humane, safe for workers and reduce the risk of future pandemics.”

-ASPCA, 2020, COVID-19’s Impact on Public Attitudes Toward Industrial Animal Agriculture, www.aspca.org/sites/default/files/impact_on_public_attitudes_toward_industrial_animal_agriculture-final-111120.pdf.

[9] 44% of American respondents support restrictions on agriculture and trade to prevent future outbreaks of disease. And 43% stated any type of animal farming that has been linked to a serious human disease outbreak should be banned.

-Author: Jo Anderson | Published: April 8, et al. “COVID-19 & Animals: What The Public Does And Doesn’t Know.” Faunalytics, 8 Apr. 2020, faunalytics.org/covid-19-poll/.

Blue is agree, gray is neutral, orange is disagree:

As I’m sure you know conventional animal agriculture is much more likely to create new diseases than alternative proteins and has already done so (e.g. swine flu). Dr Michael Greger, director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States stated: “If you wanted to create global pandemics, you’d build as many of these factory farms as possible.

[10] A 2017 poll found that about half of US adults stated they support a ban on factory farming and 33% support a ban on animal farming.

-Anthis, Jacy Reese. “Survey of US Attitudes Towards Animal Farming and Animal-Free Food.” Sentience Institute, Sentience Institute, 20 Nov. 2017, www.sentienceinstitute.org/animal-farming-attitudes-survey-2017.

[11] Lewis Bollard said: “to give you a sense of what that could be, in the U.S.,the annual just U.S. ag research budget is about $3.7 billion. So, if you were just to take a relatively small fraction of that budget, we could see a huge amount more funding coming into the space.”

[12] “As policy expert Lewis Bollard of the Open Philanthropy Project observes, ‘…Farm subsidies cost the American taxpayer about $20 billion every year… mostly to support wealthy corporate farms.’”

-Shapiro, Paul, and Yuval Noaḥ Harari. Clean Meat. Gallery Books, 2018:

[13] Shapiro, Paul, and Yuval Noaḥ Harari. Clean Meat. Gallery Books, 2018:

[14] ”These industries [animal-based agribusinesses — the meat, dairy, and egg industries ] occupy an astoundingly coveted position among American businesses: They get bailouts when they overproduce, have their most costly business expense (feed) subsidized, get federally supervised dollars to market their products, and even get free – research and development that they benefit from but for which they don’t pay a cent.’’

-Shapiro, Paul. “The Elephant-Sized Subsidy in the Race.” National Review, National Review, 3 Aug. 2016, www.nationalreview.com/2016/02/end-farm-subsidies-now/.

[15] Harari, Yuval Noah. “Industrial Farming Is One of the Worst Crimes in History.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Sept. 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/25/industrial-farming-one-worst-crimes-history-ethical-question.

[16] A survey conducted in August 2020 found that “Nearly 9 out of 10 Americans (89%) are concerned about industrial animal agriculture – citing animal welfare, worker safety and/or public health risks.” “Among the issues stated, diseases spread by animals on concentrated farms and food safety risks ranked highest, with 75% concerned about each of these topics, followed very closely by the suffering of animals at 74%.”

[17] A 2017 survey found that 68.8% of Americans thought that the factory farming of animals is one of the most important social issues in the world today.

-Reese, Jacy. “Animal Farming Attitudes Survey 2017.” Sentience Institute, 20 Nov. 2107, www.sentienceinstitute.org/animal-farming-attitudes-survey-2017.

[18] The 2018 Animal Welfare Labeling and Consumer Concern Survey found that 76% of Americans say they are ‘’concerned about the welfare of animals raised for our food’’ and likely to switch to animal products with guaranteed high animal welfare standards.

A 2014 survey found that 81% of respondents feel it is important that the chickens they eat be humanely raised.

-“ASPCA Surveys.” ASPCA, www.aspca.org/shopwithyourheart/business-and-farmer-resources/aspca-surveys.

[19] “Despite the general public’s level of concern for animal welfare in food production being high, their understanding and knowledge is poor.’’

-Cornish, Amelia, et al. “What We Know about the Public’s Level of Concern for Farm Animal Welfare in Food Production in Developed Countries.” Animals, vol. 6, no. 11, 2016, p. 74., doi:10.3390/ani6110074.

[20] “Michael Pollan said so well if the confinement animal industry had been required to use glass walls, it never would have risen to prominence. What has become the norm in animal agriculture was really not in line with most Americans’ values in terms of how they think animals should be treated. The vast majority of Americans feel that farm animals deserve good treatment just as companion animals do.”

-Niman, Nicolette Hahn. “Meat Matters: 10 Years of Changes in Animal Agriculture.” Civil Eats, 28 Oct. 2019, https://civileats.com/2019/10/22/meat-matters-10-years-of-changes-in-animal-agriculture/

[21] American ‘’consumers care about how animals are treated. They don’t want to support the horrific suffering that factory farms inflict on animals- and yet they know so little about how meat production works that they can be easily fooled by a friendly-looking green checkmark or a few buzzwords on a label.”

-Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing, Meier, Erica, in Ch.3. of Grilled: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry, Bloomsbury Sigma, 2019

[22] ”Many studies have shown evidence that the average consumer has limited or no understanding of modern animal-based food production systems and animal welfare levels at such facilities.”

-Lukas Jasiunas, et al. “Animal Welfare And Willingness-To-Pay: A Meta-Review.” Faunalytics, 18 Mar. 2018, faunalytics.org/animal-welfare-willingness-pay-meta-review/.

[23] ”One of the thorniest issues arising in the study of consumer preferences for animal welfare is that people simply do not know much about how farm animals are raised. Indeed, data from our studies show that most consumers have an overly optimistic view of production agriculture, believing many more animals are raised in free-range type systems than actually are.”

-Lusk, Jayson L., and F. Bailey Norwood. “Animal Welfare Economics.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, vol. 33, no. 4, 2011, pp. 463–483. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41336220. Accessed 12 June 2021.

[24] The “primary defense of the [current food] system is invisibility, invisibility reflects the defenses avoidance and denial and is the foundation on which all other mechanisms stand.”

-Joy, Melanie, and Yuval Noah Harari. Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows: an Introduction to Carnism. Red Wheel, 2020.

[25] ‘’Were the walls of our meat industry to become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not long continue to raise, kill, and eat animals the way we do. Tail docking and sow

crates and beak clipping would disappear overnight, and the days of slaughtering four hundred head of cattle an hour would promptly come to an end — for who could stand the sight?”

-Ch. 17.” The Omnivore’s Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, Penguin Books, 2007, p. 333

[26] Data suggests that most consumers, when informed about modern production practices such as battery cages or gestation crates, express a willingness-to-pay for the more ‘humane’ alternatives that exceed the costs of providing them. However, most consumers are not informed”

-Lusk, Jayson & Norwood, Bailey. (2011). Animal Welfare Economics. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 33. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228444968_Animal_Welfare_Economics

[27] “Information has been shown to affect consumer acceptance of food produced with novel technologies (Corrigan et al., 2009; Lusket al. 2004; McFadden, and Huffman, 2017). This is also true for the consumer acceptance of lab-grown meat (Hocquette et al., 2015;Siegrist et al., 2018; Verbeke et al., 2015).”

-From Ellen J. Van Loo, Vincenzina Caputo, Jayson L. Lusk, Consumer preferences for farm-raised meat, lab-grown meat, and plant-based meat alternatives: Does information or brand matter?, 2020

[28] “The concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) model of production in the United States… has begun to spread to all corners of the world, especially the developing world.”

-Jeffrey, Olson T, editor. The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2008, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/phg/content_level_pages/reports/pcifapfinalpdf.pdf.

[29] “IFAP [industrial farm animal production] remains dominant, poorly regulated, and is in fact expanding globally”

-Rossi, J., Garner, S.A. Industrial Farm Animal Production: A Comprehensive Moral Critique. J Agric Environ Ethics 27, 479–522 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-014-9497-8

[30] Lewis Bollard recenlty said it’s a challenge “to increase the mainstream media’s attention to factory farming as an issue. It’s interesting, it’s not that it’s covered in a biased way by publications or anything, it’s just that it’s not covered. It’s really shocking how little coverage gets devoted to factory farming. And I think part of that is the ailment that because it’s an institution that has existed for a long time and is just continuing to exist, it’s not a news story. It’s not a sudden disaster. It’s just an ongoing, long-term disaster.”

“Robert Wibliin: Do you think it’s an impediment that people don’t want to know because they don’t want to… It’s just so inconvenient for them to find out. They’d rather read something else.

Lewis Bollard: Yeah. I think that’s a major impediment. That’s definitely something that we do hear that from journalists, of both that when they write articles, they’ll get negative feedback of like, ‘Oh God, we didn’t want to hear about this.’ Or, that will even result in internal pushback, so journalists who want to write about this and their bosses or editors will say, “Oh God, not another article on factory farming. Ah, that’s… There’s enough bad news in the world right now.’”

[31] Ross, Terrance. “The Secret of John Oliver’s Success: People Love Making a Difference.” Quartz, Quartz, 15 Aug. 2014, qz.com/249937/the-secret-to-john-olivers-success-people-love-making-a-difference/.

[32] CBS News. “John Oliver on Success of ‘Last Week Tonight,” Snowden Interview, Baltimore Riots.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 3 Apr. 2021, www.cbsnews.com/video/john-oliver-on-success-of-last-week-tonight-snowden-interview-baltimore-riots/.

[33]“Second, from a political standpoint an inclusive critique will best satisfy a principle of ‘economy of moral disagreement’ (see Guttman and Thompson 2004). This principle directs us to minimize moral disagreement when deliberating about policy choices by focusing first on where individuals agree, and by not necessarily pressing disagreements about why a particular policy is correct if everyone agrees that it is. A critique of IFAP based solely on a single issue, such as animal welfare, environmental pollution, or food abundance, will be less likely to gain political support than an inclusive critique focusing on all relevant issues.”

“Based on these concerns, there remains a need for resources that comprehensively critique IFAP. Many discussions of IFAP’s adverse effects highlight some and downplay or ignore others.”

[34] “Joe Regenstein.” CALS, cals.cornell.edu/joe-regenstein.

[35] This is the first slide of a powerpoint that he created on the topic:

[36] “The ideological Turing test, suggested by economist Bryan Caplan, is based on similar logic. It’s a way to determine if you really understand an ideology: Can you explain it as a believer would, convincingly enough that other people couldn’t tell the difference between you and a genuine believer?… f you think it’s clear that climate change is a serious problem, can you explain why someone might be skeptical? In theory, you would consult believers from the other side to see if you passed the test. But that’s not always feasible [Fortunately, it was in this case.]”

-Galef, Julia. The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t. Piatkus Books, 2021.

[37] Gervais, Ricky. “Ricky Gervais Says Humor Helps Us ‘To Get Over Bad S**t.’” YouTube, Sirius XM, 20 June 2013, youtu.be/vVDViHoRROw?t=131.

[38] “Louis C.K.” Television Academy, The Emmys, www.emmys.com/bios/louis-ck. Accessed 06/12/21

[39] Rose, Charlie, and Louis C.K. “‘That’s like Saying a Disease Is Too Terrible to Cure.” Louis C.K. (Apr 25, 2016) | Charlie Rose.” YouTube, YouTube, 25 Apr. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-LCdcdShdY.

Sources 40-47, and the text originally accompanying it, were deleted for the sake of brevity. The sources following 47 were not renumbered for the sake of the web developer.

[48] “Killer Visual Strategies on Inc.com.” Inc.com, 24 May 2017, www.inc.com/profile/Killer-Visual-Strategies.

[49] “Millennials are the largest adult generation in the United States, but they are starting to share the spotlight with Generation Z. This year [2019], Millennials, those ages 23 to 38, will outnumber Baby Boomers (ages 55 to 73), according to Census Bureau projections.”

-Cilluffo, Anthony, and D’Vera Cohn. “6 Demographic Trends Shaping the U.S. and the World in 2019.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 27 July 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/11/6-demographic-trends-shaping-the-u-s-and-the-world-in-2019/.

[50] “… younger, and more highly educated individuals tend to have relatively stronger preferences for the plant- and lab-grown alternatives relative to farm-raised beef.

-From Ellen J. Van Loo, Vincenzina Caputo, Jayson L. Lusk,Consumer preferences for farm-raised meat, lab-grown meat, and plant-based meat alternatives: Does information or brand matter?, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101931.

[51] Rollin, Bernard E. Putting the Horse before Descartes Temple University Press, 2011.

[52] 97.5% of Americans respondents agreed with this statement: “Whether to eat animals or be vegetarian is a personal choice, and nobody has the right to tell me which one they think I should do.”

– Reese, Jacy. “Animal Farming Attitudes Survey 2017.” Sentience Institute, 20 Nov. 2107, www.sentienceinstitute.org/animal-farming-attitudes-survey-2017.

[53] “From a strategic standpoint, at least here in America, it is worth noting that no moral cause ever got very far that could not speak to religious conviction, drawing on the deeper sensibilities that guide public opinion even in our more secular era”

-Scully, Matthew. Dominion: the Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. Souvenir, 2011.

[54] Emphasis added: “In the first place, however misunderstood, poorly articulated, or maligned, religious traditions hold the allegiance of around 84 percent of the world’s population. If animal protectionists wish to influence global societies and culture to be more animal-friendly, it would be strategically naive to overlook the sheer numerical force of religious believers today. That is surely why some animal-friendly organizations have appointed “faith outreach” officers, such as the Fund for Animals; the only problem with this development is that it comes so late. Religions are powerful forces for good and evil. Some people remark that religious appeals for animal protection, or appeals that utilize religious teachings, are ‘relevant’ only to religious people. But not only is that view demographically and culturally otiose; it also ignores the fact that modern “animal liberation” – based, for example, on the secular utilitarianism of Singer – has very little appeal in religious contexts, and religion in one or more forms still holds sway over the minds of most people in the world. Secular utilitarianism, for example, is utterly out of place in modern India”

-Linzey Andrew and Linzey Clair, Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics, Routledge, 2019, p. 14

[55] “The Global Religious Landscape.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 27 Aug. 2020, www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/.

[56] Mayer, Mandy “This Is How Many Vegans Are In The World Right Now (2021 Update).” WTVOX, 23 Mar. 2021 https://wtvox.com/lifestyle/2019-the-world-of-vegan-but-how-many-vegans-are-in-the-world/#:~:text=Number%20of%20Vegans%20In%20The%20World%202020&text=Based%20on%20the%20most%20recent,world%20is%20approx%2079%20million. .

[57] “Any new technology, be it the computer or biotechnology, creates a vacuum in social ethical thought and fear. ‘What effect will this have on our lives? Is it good or bad? What do we need to control?’ If the scientists do not inaugurate rational discussion,that lacuna will be filled by doomsayers with vested interests… You must create an educated populace on cloning and help them define the issues… Some years later, the creation Dolly [the cloned sheep] was announced to a completely uninformed public. Time Warner conducted a survey one week after the announcement. Fully 75 percent of the U.S. public affirmed that cloning ‘violated God’s will.’

-Rollin, Bernard E. Putting the Horse before Descartes Temple University Press, 2011.

[58] – I am currently eager to engage with religion and yearn to learn more about it, but this has not always been the case. I’d like to take a minute to explain why as it will help you understand my unique qualifications for engaging with religion.

– I was raised in a very secular environment and for most of my life I was an ardent atheist~~. I~~n high school I was horrified when my older brother traveled to Israel and became very religious. I resolved that after graduation I would go to the religious institution that “brainwashed” him, talk some sense into them, and rescue him from their evil clutches.

– Things did not go as planned. I thought it would take a month at most to save my brother, but I ended up staying at that same religious institution for another three years. I learned a lot over that time including that religion could be good (and was for my brother). For example, I really tested the patience of the people in charge of the religious institution me and my brother attended. They still put up with me for three years (and wanted me to stay longer).

– They also taught me how to read Biblical Hebrew. I’ve also read all the books of the Bible at least once (mostly in English), the Quran, and the Bhagavad Gita. I’ve attended numerous courses about various religions, taught by teachers with diverse religious affiliations.

– I should probably mention that the religious institution I attended was in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem which is chock-full of very religious Jews, Muslims, and Christians. I have met plenty of kind, intelligent, and educated people within these three major religions and on both sides of the secular and religious divide. And I am eager to get to know adherents of other religions better.

[59] ”Education to enhance knowledge or other methods of information transfer, without also facilitating moral engagement and an increased sense of competency, may also be ignored… Consumers may choose voluntary ignorance and actively avoid detailed information so as to remove themselves from accepting responsibility for farm animal welfare, thus reducing discomfort where choices necessitate (e.g., those based on cost as opposed to ethical considerations) or where current beliefs and practices do not match new concerns, interpretation, or knowledge offered from further information”

-Jamieson, Jen, et al. “Adolescents Care but Don’t Feel Responsible for Farm Animal Welfare.” Society & Animals, vol. 23, no. 3, Jan. 2013, pp. 269–297., doi:10.1163/15685306-12341283.

[60] “a lack of how information might not only make it hard for people to act on why information, but could even be making people less receptive to the why information in the first place.”

-Reese, Jacy. The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists Are Building an Animal-Free Food System. Beacon Press, 2019.

[61] “Barriers such as disassociation, voluntary ignorance and perceived lack of personal influence are difficult to tackle, especially with physical separation of livestock production and consumption and active avoidance of connecting the two. Increasing information can even exacerbate the situation if adolescents do not feel it can easily be incorporated into usual practice.”

-Jamieson, Jen, et al. “Adolescents Care but Don’t Feel Responsible for Farm Animal Welfare.” Society & Animals, vol. 23, no. 3, Jan. 2013, pp. 269–297., doi:10.1163/15685306-12341283.

[62] Emphasis added: “The enormity of animal farming and the suffering it causes sometimes leads both the general public and advocates to suffer from the “collapse of compassion.” In social psychology, this refers to the relatively low levels of compassion people tend to feel for big problems that affect many individuals. The leading explanation for this collapse is that ‘people expect the needs of large groups to be potentially overwhelming, and, as a result, they engage in emotion regulation to prevent themselves from experiencing overwhelming levels of emotion.’ A key way to mitigate the collapse of compassion seems to be to show a realistic, collective solution to the large problem… When people are provided with an achievable path to a better world, like with institutional messaging, people become not just more able to take short-term action but they become fundamentally more concerned.”

-Reese, Jacy. The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists Are Building an Animal-Free Food System. Beacon Press, 2019.

[63] Camus, Albert. “A Quote from The Plague.” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/quotes/8278995-one-grows-out-of-pity-when-it-s-useless.

[64] Ricard, Matthieu, et al. Altruism: the Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World. Back Bay Books, Little, Brown and Company, 2016.

[65] “To scientists, he is the world’s happiest man. His level of mind control is astonishing and the upbeat impulses in his brain are off the scale.”Barnes, Anthony. “The Happiest Man in the World?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 21 Sept. 2007, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-happiest-man-in-the-world-433063.html.

[66] “Every religious traditions contains at least some elements directing us to treat other animals in a humane and compassionate way.” according to religion Prof. Mark Berkson’s course on the Afterlife (lecture 21). After a few years of study, I haven’t heard of any religious leaders that would call factory farming a trifling matter if they knew about how it harms people as well.

[67] Garner, Randy. “Humor, Analogy, and Metaphor: H.A.M. it up in Teaching,” Radical Pedagogy, 2005. Accessible at https://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue6_2/garner.html

[68] Humor, stress, and coping strategies. By Millicent H. Abel. HUMOR. 2002, Vol 15

our theory of change

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Why and how alternative proteins need help (~ 3 min read)

2. I want to shine a light on factory farming by lightening the mood (~ 5 min read)

3. I want to crowdsource to find comedy gold faster (~ 3 min read)

4. I would like to engage with tradition and religion (~ 5 min read)

5. I want to be deeply practical (~ 1 min read)

6. Closing thoughts (~ 1 min read)

8. Sources