EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

There is an insane amount of money being thrown around by international organizations and agreements. Nobody with any kind of power over these agreements is asking basic EA questions like: "What are the problems we're trying to solve?" "What are the most neglected aspects of those problems?" and "What is the most cost-effective way to address those neglected areas?"
As someone coming from an EA background reading through plans for $200-700 billion in annual funding commitments that focus on unimaginative and ineffective interventions, it makes you want to tear your hair out. So much good could be done with that money.
EA focuses a lot on private philanthropy, earning-to-give (though less so post-SBF), and the usual pots of money. But why don't we have delegations who are knowledgeable in international diplomacy going to COPs and advocating for more investment in lab-grown meat, alternative proteins, or lithium recycling? It seems like there would be insane alpha in such a strategy.
An example: The Global Biodiversity Framework
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted in 2022 to halt biodiversity loss. It has 23 targets, commitments of $200 billion annually by 2030 and $700 billion by 2050, and near-universal adoption from [...]
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Outline:
(01:12) An example: The Global Biodiversity Framework
(02:13) What Is That Money Actually Being Spent On?
(03:02) The Elephant in the Room Literally Nobody is Talking About: Beef
(04:21) The Absolutely Insane Funding Gap
(05:26) The Leverage Point Were Ignoring
(06:47) What Would EA Engagement Look Like?
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First published:

January 20th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Peaq4HNhn8agsZY3z/why-isn-t-ea-at-the-table-when-usd121-billion-gets-allocated

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

EA thinking is thinking on the margin. When EAs prioritise causes, they are prioritising causes given the fact that they only control their one career, or, sometimes, given that they have some influence over a community of a few thousand people, and the distribution of some millions or billions of dollars.
Some critiques of EA act as if statements about cause prioritisation are absolute rather than relative. I.e. that EAs are saying that literally everyone should be working on AI Safety, or, the flipside, that EAs are saying that no one should be working on [insert a problem which is pressing, but not among the most urgent to commit the next million dollars to].
In conversations that sound like this, I've often turned to the idea that, if EAs controlled all the resources in the world, career advisors at the hypothetical world government's version of 80,000 Hours would be advising some people to be postal workers. Given that the EA world government will have long ago filled the current areas of direct EA work, it could be the single most impactful thing a person could do with their skillset, given the comparative neglectedness of work in the [...]
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First published:

January 16th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/MZ5g33fXuxd6bSgJW/if-ea-ruled-the-world-career-advisors-would-tell-some-people

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

I've started a substack, so a few more people might encounter my spicy takes - I'll still mostly be here.

USAID is gone. Direct country aid to low income countries is down 25%. So now's a great time to share five ways I think development charity can be done better in 2026.
To state the obvious... none of these ideas will be the best approach all of the time, there's plenty of grey area and nuance. I start a little playful, then get a little more serious.

1. Ditch the Cars
Close your eyes and picture the first thing that comes into your head when I say “NGO”. It might be………… a shiny white Landcruiser
The view from the front window of my hut
But owning cars doesn’t usually make economic sense in low income countries. The ‘real’ market makes this clear. Business rarely buy cars, instead they use public transport or motorbikes. When companies do own cars, its more Corolla than Landcruiser as well.

Cars are often more expensive dollar-for-dollar than in richer countries, fuel cost are high and many NGOs hire drivers, all while public transport is dirt cheap. To move 100km in Uganda [...]

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Outline:
(00:43) 1. Ditch the Cars
(02:49) 2. Fund Solutions not Projects
(07:07) 3. Fund cost effective solutions
(08:06) 4. Fund Bimodal - Test and Scale
(11:59) 5. Pay workers less
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First published:

January 19th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/LvE3s6kCJk4Jck2ww/5-ways-to-better-charity-work-in-2026

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:
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Summary
In January 2025, FarmKind ran a provocative media campaign which used controversial media messaging and materials to promote ‘offsetting’ as an option for individuals who are concerned about factory farming but are currently unwilling or unable to change their diet.
The campaign raised an estimated $16,700--$59,300 (explained in our Results section below) and generated a number of media ‘hits’ including TV and created some debate that many advocates have told us they found productive. However we made mistakes in its execution and generated unproductive controversy within the EA and animal advocacy movements.
This post aims to explain our theory of change, what happened, what we got wrong, and what we learned.
We still believe mobilizing the meat-eating majority to take action for farmed animals requires meeting them where they're at, which sometimes means provocative framing that distinguishes us from vegan advocacy -- though we understand many in the movement disagree. However, we regret specific execution failures, particularly our insufficient stakeholder consultation, which risks sparking infighting within the animal movement.
Context
FarmKind is a donation platform that aims to bring more money into the movement against factory farming. People donate through our platform directly to six highly effective farmed [...]
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Outline:
(00:12) Summary
(01:23) Context
(02:06) The goals of our campaign
(02:51) Primary goals
(03:16) Secondary goals
(04:06) How we envisaged it working
(05:24) Launching the campaign
(07:18) Coordination with Veganuary
(07:22) Did you tell Veganuary about the campaign in advance?
(08:21) Did Veganuary object to the campaign?
(09:07) Is there bad blood between you and Veganuary?
(09:50) Does Veganuary endorse this campaign?
(10:13) What we got wrong
(10:16) 1) Underestimating the risk of movement infighting
(12:29) 2) Insufficient stakeholder consultation
(13:11) 3) Internal coordination failures
(13:52) How we responded to concerns
(17:20) Results
(20:12) FAQs
(20:15) Are you anti-vegan?
(22:35) Aren't you concerned about dissuading people from being vegan?
(26:07) Have you measured whether you're dissuading people from being vegan or supporting animal advocacy?
(29:03) Why not just do something much more nuanced?
(29:45) Why did you pitch to tabloids and right-wing outlets?
(30:50) Conclusion
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First published:

January 23rd, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/c2buSr3oatKQJZi6F/reflections-on-farmkind-s-january-media-campaign

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Summary
Our new book, All the Lives You Can Change: Effective Altruism for Christians, will be published in April 28 2026
The book introduces effective altruism–style thinking to a Christian audience, framing effectiveness, cause prioritization, and evidence-based action as expressions of loving God and loving one's neighbor (Matt. 22:37–39)
Authored by @dominicroser, @DavidZhang and me (JD).
You can best support this project by pre-ordering a copy or free intro here
Praise for All the Lives You Can Change
“Effective altruism asks us to extend our empathy beyond our immediate circle to include distant strangers and future generations. All the Lives You Can Change argues powerfully that this ‘radical empathy’ is at the very core of the Christian faith. Inspiring, intellectually rigorous, and deeply practical, this is an essential guide for Christians who want to ensure their compassion translates into the greatest possible impact for the world's most vulnerable people. It's a beautiful, moving book.”
— @William_MacAskill, author of What We Owe the Future and Doing Good Better
“I couldn’t put this book down. It manages to be both inspiring and practical. It blends cutting-edge research with careful theological discussion. . . . Essential reading for Christians who are [...]
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Outline:
(00:12) Summary
(00:49) Praise for All the Lives You Can Change
(02:50) Longer Summary
(04:30) About the book
(04:55) Table of Contents (Overview)
(06:31) Why This Might Be Relevant to the (Secular) EA Community
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First published:

January 14th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/E7RqRc3fLNm2syzAh/announcing-all-the-lives-you-can-change

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.