How I Learned to Love Shrimp Amy Odene & James Ozden

Stien is the executive director of Animal Charity Evaluators, also known as ACE. Stien, wants to help people help animals and ACE tries to do that by finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals.
In this episode we speak with Stien Van Der Ploeg who is their fairly newly appointed executive director. We talk through the latest release of the recommendations for this year and go into some detail on why certain charities and their interventions were selected. We talk about why their work is so important, the difficulties in the recommendation process and their developing strategy for the upcoming year.
Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:
Recommended charity fund and matching offer (to Dec 6th)ACE 2023 recommendationsACE Team emails Menu of interventionsIntervention scores spreadsheetMenu of outcomesFaunalytics reviewLegal Impact for Chickens reviewGWWC evaluationACE Strategy DocOther organisations discussed in the episodeRethink PrioritiesScarlet SparkAnimal Legal Defense FundThe Mission Motor[Amy’s organisation] User-Friendly: Messaging WorkshopLead Together, by Tania LunaPodcast: Knowing AnimalsKnowing Animals: Episode 210: Saving Animals (and Ourselves) with Jeff Sebo (libsyn.com)Knowing Animals: Episode 168: Speaking with animals with Eva Meijer (libsyn.com)If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!

Today, we speak with Monica Chen, the Executive Director of New Roots Institute, formerly Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.
 
We speak about several big topics: 
Theories of change for the animal advocacy movementWhy collaboration between organisations isn’t always easy,The importance of focusing on changing culture and social normsThe difficulties around management and organisational leadership, as well as some lessons Monica learnt along the wayMonica is an inspiring organisational leader who spends lots of her time thinking about what can benefit the movement as a whole so it was a real pleasure to speak with her about these topics.

Resources from our conversation:
ACE 2023 Recommended CharitiesNew Roots Institute strategy and theory of changeWashington Post poll on climate solutionsNaito, Rumi, Jiaying Zhao, and Kai M. Chan. “An Integrative Framework for Transformative Social Change: A Case in Global Wildlife Trade.” - LinkForge organizing articles: Maurice Mitchell: Building resilient organisationsHow not to dismantle white supremacyNew Roots Institute websiteIf you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!

Cameron is the executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of animals by accelerating the growth of wild animal welfare science.
In this episode Cameron helps us to understand the vast topic of wild animal suffering. Cameron makes the compelling case for why we should invest resources into understanding how we can reduce wild animal suffering responsibly with data-backed interventions, improving the overall well-being of wild animals.  
We talk through the importance of Wild Animal Initiative’s research in this area, their grant-making arm which is enabling the research field in this area to grow and the future plans for their work. 
Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:
Wild Animal Initiative website Animal Ethics websiteCricket Science Game and WAI's blog post explaining the projectWAI blog post: Core concepts of wild animal welfare suffering Farmed and wild animal welfarePast interventions future welfare applicationsHouse sparrow researchJoin the WAI researcher community Twitter: @forwildanimalsHeather Browning & Walter Veit: Positive wild animal welfare paperHeather Browning talk on the above paperAn Immense World by Ed YongChildren of Time by Adrian TchaikovskyWAI Newsletter sign upWAI DonateIf you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!

In this episode, we speak with Josh Balk who is the co-founder and CEO of The Accountability Board. Previously, he was vice president of farm animal protection for The Humane Society of the United States. In addition, he is a co-founder of EAT JUST, a food technology company.

We spoke to him about a promising new strategy that he’s trying out, which is shareholder activism. In a nutshell, that involves doing something that seems counterintuitive, buying shares in the largest food companies that use animals as products, and trying to get them to change. On top of that, we also speak about the successes he’s had through ballot initiatives in the US. such as prop 12 in California, the EATS act, and US politics more generally.
If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!

Aurelia is the Africa co-ordinator for the Open Wing Alliance where she supports African organisations with their cage-free campaigning efforts. 
In this episode Aurelia walks us through the state of the advocacy movement in Africa and the unique complexities of campaigning in this region. We hear Aurelia’s thoughts on progress in Africa and the importance of flexibility when devising and testing the strategies and tactics required to end cages in Africa. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:
Open Wing Alliance WebsiteDonate to the Open Wing AllianceMember organisationsWhich companies are leading the way on animal welfare in Africa?-  Ranking ReportTicking Clock: The Rapid Rise of Farmed Animals in Africa - EA Forum PostAnimal welfare: A unique African Perspective - EA Forum Post

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!

Give us feedback on the podcast via this form! It should take just a few minutes and it would really help us improve the show. Thank you in advance, we really appreciate it.

In this episode, we speak with Ines Kostic, a Member of the Regional Parliament in the Netherlands for the Dutch political Party for the Animals and manager of Animal Politics Foundation.

We speak about the opportunities and challenges around advocating for animals within the political system, the impact the Dutch Party for Animals has had as well as what kind of people could be a good fit for politics.

Links from our conversation:
Dutch Party For the Animals 2021 manifestoThe end of animal farming – Jacy ReeseOur World in Data – animal welfare & environment pagesFaunalyticsList of national animal welfare parties (if you scroll down)Contact: info@animalpoliticsfoundation.nl

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - we would really appreciate it! Likewise, feel free to share it with anyone who you think might enjoy it. You can send us feedback and guest recommendations via Twitter or email us at hello@howilearnedtoloveshrimp.com. Enjoy!