Hi 👋 We’ve been quite busy these past couple weeks — as I’m sure many of you have been also. Here are 3 quick updates before we get to the movement news:
As a reminder, IAA is rebranding to Hive! Our next newsletter may look a bit different, but you can expect the same kinds of content.
Next week, we will be hosting our first Community Conversations call! We will split into short 1-on-1s and small groups to chat about anything animal advocacy. RSVP to join us on Wednesday, 1 May.
If you’re attending AVA Summit DC, come see us in-person!
Attend a Thursday meetup. Sofia will be leading the networking session and Constance will be co-hosting the one on AI.
Stop by our booth. We’ll be in the vendor area with Hive stickers for everyone (and some other surprises )
Chat with us 1-on-1. Feel free to schedule a 30 min chat with either me (Allison), Sofia, or Constance!
Join our pre-AVA sessions. For fundraisers and those participating in Grantee Day, we’re cohosting Making The Pitch. For any/all attendees, I’m hosting a virtual AVA planning call.
If you have any questions about upcoming events or rebrand, feel free to reach out. Talk to you again in a couple weeks!
Allison, Sofia, and Team IAA
This week, we are spotlighting the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness. The sign-on statement, endorsed by 39+ science and cognition experts, may be a useful reference in support of considering the welfare of animals of with less scientific support of sentience (such as fishes🐟 & invertebrates🦀🪰🐙).
“The point of agreement is that certainty about consciousness should not be required for consideration of welfare risks. If there is a realistic possibility that an animal is conscious—for instance, that octopuses can suffer—then this possibility merits consideration in policy contexts—for instance, in decisions about whether to support octopus farming. Policymakers should take reasonable steps to mitigate welfare risks for all vertebrates and many invertebrates as researchers seek to advance our understanding of them.”
We’ll be sure to link to the launch event recordings after they are posted.
Newsletter sections:
⚡️Tips for reading this newsletter:
Chat GPT Writer for AI-generated article summaries.
Read Aloud Extension to listen to articles.
💡 Movement news and updates:
📄 Reports
Banks for Animals, a review of 79 financial institutions’ animal welfare policies (or lack of policies).
Cage-Free Eggsposé Report: Special Restaurant Edition assesses the state of the cage-free egg transition in the US restaurant sector
Moving the needle for animals in the political realm: The potential of the executive branch
Report evaluated the economic impact of 10 EU free trade agreements (FTAs) that are not yet implemented.
Eurogroup for Animals summary says the FTAs would increase the value of EU beef imports by more than 20%, mostly from trade with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Australia, and New Zealand. A similar increase may be seen for poultry and sheep meat imports also.
🥗 Plant-Based Food & 🍗 Cultivated Protein
Recommendations on restaurant menu design that encourages plant-based sales
USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) updated its guidelines — and now includes plant-based milk, yogurt and cheese (read the full revisions)
🌍 Animals and Climate
Black soldier fly (BSF) updates
Dairy Humanewashing report & series by Farm Forward reports that certifiers failed to take action when notified of violations. They also claim certifications incentivize animal suffering, because farmers receive higher revenue when withholding antibiotics from sick cows to keep them “organic."
Faunalytics published an interactive infographic about animal welfare claims on packaging labels and a related research summary on humanewashing
1st animal welfare policy for a sustainable seafood portfolio brand to be adopted by Blueyou.
69% of dairy farms inspected in England and 80% of those inspected in Wales between 2020 and 2021 were non-compliant with anti-pollution laws, as revealed by Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
💪 Animal Advocacy Org and Movement Updates
Animals in Democracy (previously Representing Animals) is an international network of organizations to represent animals in government
🎲 Other
Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) announces their 87 Fund-a-Farmer Grantees
An argument for consuming beef and milk if you're going to eat animal products
Documentary critiques about Food, Inc. 2 and Common Ground
📚 Latest research:
ACE Empirical Research in Farmed Animal Advocacy March newsletter
Meat reduction: How much can digital media and mass media help?
In particular, why Thailand, Slovakia, Botswana, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka have lower meat consumption and are not following global trend of increased wealth & meat consumption
The responsiveness of aquatic animal supply
Wild capture fishing is typically less responsive to price and demand shifts compared to aquaculture. It is due to factors like catch limits, fishing restrictions, and the natural limits of wild fish stocks.
💼 Jobs:
Campaigns Specialist (Germany) and Educational Programs Associate (Mexico), Animal Equality.
Communications and Projects Specialist Contractor, Global, Mercy for Animals. Remote in Asia.
Communications Assistant, Good Food Institute Europe.
Corporate Engagement Manager, Latin America, Veganuary. Chile.
Corporate Projects Lead, The Humane League.
People and Culture Manager (Focus Recruiting), ProVeg. Germany.
Senior Program Officer, Agriculture, The Gates Foundation. Seattle, US.
Writer, Our World in Data.
Plus, Animal Advocacy Careers, Tälist, Alt Protein Careers job boards.
🚀 Impactful Animal Advocacy highlights
Our co-founders Constance & Sofia attended the Vegan & Animal Rights Conference (VARC) in the UK earlier this month. They also led a well-attended networking event.
We are excited for the upcoming Conference on AI, Animals, and Digital Minds! The conference will take place 3 June (view speaker agenda), followed by a two-day retreat (schedule tbd). In-person registration has already closed, and we are still accepting applications for virtual participation. Learn more and apply to attend!
Our Fundraising community has scheduled their next call: Making the Pitch. We'll be joined on by Meghan Lowery from the Greenbaum Foundation for an hour of conversation and Q&A. It will not be recorded, so we encourage anyone interested to attend.
RSVP to join Fundraising Community Call: Making The Pitch on Tuesday, 2 May.
🔥 Opportunities & funding
Animal Farm Animal Day (AFAD) in accepting speaker applications for the October 2024 conference in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Deadline is 15 July.
Farmed Animal Funders is soliciting proposals for pooled fund ideas. Proposals are due by 31 May.
Farmed Animal Welfare Incubator (FAWI), an 8-week training program by Welfare Matters, aims to establish local projects in SE Asia. Apply by 12 May.
Good Food Institute’s Research Grant Program is accepting Request for Proposals. Deadline is 23 May.
Kickstarting for Good, a 10-week program by ProVeg, is accepting applications until 26 May.
Plant-based nutrition course in Spanish (Alimentación Basada en Plantas Salud, Cultura y Sustentabilidad) is being offered for free. Sign up by 7 May.
🩷 If you get value from our newsletter or Slack, please consider supporting us so that we can keep providing these services for free.
🎁 Resources
🎧 Podcasts:
80,000 Hours: Lewis Bollard on the 7 most promising ways to end factory farming, and whether AI is going to be good or bad for animals
Animal Justice Academy: Struck Down! Ontario's Ag-Gag Law Defeat Unpacked - Camille Labchuk and Jessica Scott-Reid
Asia for Animals podcast: World Animal Justice on using the law to help animals
How I Learned to Love Shrimp: Ignacia Uribe on some tough decisions nonprofit leaders have to make
📹 Videos
📖 Other:
Coller Animal Law Forum released a new Public Procurement factsheet and database
Tälist published intro articles about production engineer and process engineer careers in the alt protein industry
🎉 Upcoming events
Animal & Vegan Advocacy (AVA) Summit, 16–19 May. Washington, D.C.
EA Christians Conference,16–19 May. Washington, D.C.
Speakers include Bruce Friedrich (GFI), Laura Jacko (THL), Dustin Crummett (Insect Institute), and Haven King Nobles (FWI)
EA Global London, 31 May–2 June. London, UK.
AI, Animals and Digital Minds Conference & Retreat, 3–5 June. London, UK.
This is organized by our co-founder
and the IAA team! The conference was endorsed by Peter Singer who ran the event last year.
International Cell Ag Brazil Conference and alt protein meetup. 8–11 July. Curitiba, Brazil.
View more on the Connect for Animals (CFA)’s event list and Animal Rights Calendar.
📝 Send me your news, research, resources, and jobs.
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