EA Forum Podcast (Curated & popular)

Note: This post was crossposted from the Coefficient Giving Farm Animal Welfare Research Newsletter by the Forum team, with the author's permission. The author may not see or respond to comments on this post.
Subtitle: The pork lobby is one farm bill away from gutting our strongest farm animal welfare laws
Last Thursday, the US House of Representatives passed a farm bill containing the “Save Our Bacon” Act. The Act's stated aim is narrow: to wipe out California and Massachusetts’ bans on the sale of pork from pigs confined in gestation crates.
Its reach is much wider. The Act would stop any state or locality from regulating the sale of meat based on how it's produced in another state. This would likely invalidate state and local bans on foie gras, crated veal, and more.
It would also halt future legislative progress. Congress hasn't passed a farm animal welfare law in decades. State laws are where reforms actually happen. The SOB Act would gut them by mandating they contain a giant loophole for out-of-state imports.
The Act has two notable exemptions. One is welcome: state bans on the sale of caged eggs aren’t covered. The other is telling: state [...]

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First published:

May 7th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kTo9z5bscb4wQrkqs/save-our-pigs

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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LLM disclosure: I wrote this post myself, then asked an LLM to copy-edit it before posting. I manually made any edits I liked and copy-pasted no text from the LLM (my current practice for using LLMs in writing that I care about).
This is crossposted from my blog.
These are personal reflections on feelings that I’ve been sitting with recently. I’m posting them, because the last time I felt this way I regretted not doing so. I don’t really know how calibrated they are, but I’ve been noticing them more and more.
Around 6 months before FTX collapsed, I wrote a draft EA Forum post called “Concerns about the Carrick Flynn campaign.” At the time, I was on the verge of leaving EA. During the frothiest FTX days it seemed like many folks were energized by the money and attention, but I felt kind of gross. The amount of money pouring into EA, and the resulting “lowering of the bar” that happened felt like a degradation of community norms that was too severe, almost not worth the benefits. Of course, some people voiced these concerns at the time, but they were drowned out by the excitement of the moment.
[...]
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First published:

May 10th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/io3cqZeToEKsZEZWG/reflections-on-anthropic-and-ea

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This was originally posted here. It's written for an audience that's not deep in the weeds of EA giving theory/culture, but a few people suggested I post here as there's much that's additive to or divergent from some common EA practices. Feedback / disagreements welcome! Also my first time posting here. Hi!
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Most people who intend to give large amounts of money away never actually do.
The money sits. In donor-advised funds, in "someday" plans, in good intentions. This is the default pathway - not an edge case - and if you don't design against it, it will happen to you too.
I've watched this from every angle. As CEO of Change.org we processed 5M+ donations. I now run GiveDirectly; 160 thousand people have donated, dozens regularly give 1 million dollars+, and some give 50 million dollars-100 million dollars+ at a time. I've advised two of the biggest philanthropic institutions in the world (Coefficient Giving and GiveWell) on donor engagement and growth, and sat on half a dozen nonprofit boards. I've also been giving away 10-20% of my annual income for 17 years; I grew up low-income, so this started as a very modest amount but has added [...]
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Outline:
(01:59) 1. The default pathway is to delay. Fight this.
(04:51) 2. Pick a few causes and write them down.
(07:33) 3. Build a portfolio across causes and risk/return.
(09:48) 4. Use the index funds of giving.
(11:55) 5. For the love of god, dont over-staff.
(13:58) 6. Make giving a recurring event, not a to-do.
(15:36) A few final hot takes
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First published:

April 30th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fRLt59FNXxmCaAkYF/how-to-actually-give-money-away

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

There is a short window to prevent a US bill that would overturn decades of animal welfare progress. This is arguably the most consequential piece of farm animal legislation in U.S. history.
Summary
The Farm Bill currently being considered by the U.S. Congress includes the “Save Our Bacon Act”, which would eliminate states' abilities to set standards on how farmed animals are raised and treated¹, and void existing state animal welfare laws. If passed into law, it would undo decades of animal welfare progress, and greatly reduce opportunities for future animal welfare wins.
The Farm Bill has passed the House with the Save Our Bacon Act (SOB) included, and it will soon be considered by the Senate. This is the biggest legislative threat to farmed animal welfare in U.S. history, and preventing the Save Our Bacon Act from passing Congress is the highest impact opportunity to help animals that there has been in years. If you do anything to help animals this year, it should be helping with this.
Call script, email templates, and more here.
What to do
Easiest, highest priority action (5 min): Call and email both your senators, and ask them to publicly [...]
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Outline:
(00:21) Summary
(01:15) What to do
(04:55) Higher-effort actions
(07:22) Context on the Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act
(07:28) What is the Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act?
(08:23) What would be this laws effect on animal welfare?
(10:08) What is SOBs status in Congress?
(10:57) Strategy
(11:00) What are the goals?
(11:44) Which Senators would be the highest impact to persuade to oppose SOB?
(13:04) How to talk about this with different audiences
(17:00) Footnotes
(17:07) Appendix
(17:10) More details on the goals
(18:32) Which Senators would be the highest impact to persuade to oppose SOB?
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First published:

May 4th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vsYphZaBcXpmtNizp/if-you-do-one-thing-for-animals-this-year-do-this-1

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This is a link post. By Alexander Wales
Thousands of starfish had washed up on the beach, and a little girl was diligently throwing them back into the water, one at a time.
A man came up to the girl and said, "You'll never save all of them. What you're doing is pointless. It doesn't matter."
The girl threw another starfish into the water. "It mattered to that one."
The man snorted and walked away.
The girl kept throwing starfish, one after another.
To throw one starfish back into the ocean takes a trivial amount of effort, but to throw ten, or fifty, is much less so. The girl had not learned much of biomechanics, but she began to feel the strain in her back. Her skin had softened from the seawater, and the starfish themselves were abrasive. Her fingers had pruned. Her shoulder hurt. She was cut, twice, on her fingers, as the same storm that had stranded the starfish had also brought up broken shells and crab carapaces. The skin of a starfish was like sandpaper.
She tried switching hands, and could throw the starfish less well, and it wasn't long before she had mirrored all her injuries. [...]
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First published:

April 28th, 2026


Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/BHHcPbirBdoBetNiu/starfish


Linkpost URL:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/52206136/chapters/220900811#workskin

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.