Reply To: Exercise 3: 5 Close Contacts
I came up short this week
Hey everyone! I only managed about 3 and a half conversations this week. More people I asked to chat with are available next week so I plan to get their feedback then. I haven’t picked a project to dive into quite yet, although I’m nearly there. Below is the advice I did receive, as well as my reflections from the week. I apologize in advance for the length — I won’t be offended if you don’t read it all!
I think a lot of the advice I got is a bit lacking. More like opinions or separate ideas. But honestly, it was all still helpful. I struggled to get them to give real advice.
Advice received:
1. Not all animal advocates feel this tense when discussing the subject. Some don’t speak about animal welfare in specific situations — what are those situations? and what can we do about that?
2. Have news stations normalize conversations about animal welfare. Get it on radio, tv commercials. Use the same methods that meat industry uses to talk about animal welfare.
3. The reason animal advocates are tense is because most other people are uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the topic of animal welfare.
4. Perhaps it would be easier to convince them to do smaller steps at first; just reduce meat consumption at first. This makes it easier to get them involved (read book “How to create a vegan world”)
5. When talking about animal welfare to others, make sure to reflect on my past to connect with where they are now… “I use to eat meat and buy the cheap meat, etc.” Be super transparent and honest where I came from. Make it clear that if you feel guilty now that there’s nothing you can do to change the past but you can move in the right direction now.
6. Focus on alternatives = lots of success stories. Focus on the change and not on the situation. Show the % of change over time, the proportion of vegan products. Easier to convince someone to go vegan by saying more and more people are going vegan, instead of x% are vegan because people new to the movement will feel like a minority. If it’s more positive, it will be more exciting like a trend.
7. Have a graphical representation of where we were 100 years ago compared to where we are now. Show that in the present moment it feels like nothing is happening but our efforts do have an impact
8. Making vegan food for others turns something that was negative and tense into a nice bonding moment with family and friends. While it can feel isolating to have a strong viewpoint, people like good food! You can talk about veganism or not while eating but it’s a first step.
9. Feeling lonely/isolated depends on where you live. Finding these groups is harder in smaller cities; they have to rely on online groups. Online networks already exist, offline: create one group locally, though it can be difficult
10. Some farmers don’t see the problem. There are already programs that exist helping this transition occur. Would be hard to give advice for transitioning without background in farming. IMO, more important to decrease the demand. Younger people will [hopefully!] start new business that are more plant-based
11. Try to organize with the workers to boycott a farm. Would likely be difficult but could have a big impact if all workers got on board. Stop subsidies of meat because the reason the jobs are there is because meat is so subsidized.
12. Problem 4 has the highest level of solvability and the potential to make a significant impact relatively quickly. The solution for number 4 would be the easiest to implement. Probably many of us might have considered this, but there might be a lack of initiative/resources/etc. Also, this would be very beneficial as many animal advocates experience isolation and a lack of connection. It would help individuals continue advocating, supporting animals and maintaining their dietary choices. While there are some existing options, much more is needed.
13. In general, everyone I spoke with asked for more specificity
My updated project ideas:
Problem: Animal advocates feel tense when discussing animal welfare and find it difficult to talk about.
Solution: Have more difficult and uncomfortable conversations about animal welfare (just me)! Create a group of animal advocates who meet regularly to improve knowledge of relevant topics and gain confidence by acting out potential uncomfortable conversations. (Possibly pursuing)
Problem: People who eat animal products feel guilt, judgment, and resistance when spoken to about the animal agriculture industry.
Solution: Help guide people to make consumer choices that reflect their values. This could also be through a podcast, similar to This Sustainable Life. I could do the Spodek Method, animal edition. (I didn’t edit this, but have advice on how to be most effective with it… definitely considering pursuing)
Problem: Animal advocates feel hopeless about improving the lives of farmed animals.
Solution: Expose more people to the amazing work that is already being done for animals, what they can do, and the potential for huge change in the future. I’m still interested in organizing a large-scale fundraiser like a long-distance bike tour, but am interested in first building my volunteer organizing with The Humane League. I want to help other volunteers grow as advocates. (Although this one received no votes, I’m leaning towards pursuing it)
Problem: Animal advocates feel lonely and different from others. They can struggle to connect with friends and family.
Solution: Create an animal advocate social network. Start with local advocates that I already know and invite them to social events. Ask them what they want. (Considering weaving this into the project above)
Problem: Slaughterhouse workers and farmers feel trapped in their jobs that exploit animals. They want to treat them better but the demand for animal products makes higher animal welfare impossible.
Solution: Meet with farmers and/or slaughterhouse workers and ask how they feel about their position. If enough are disgruntled, organize group to disrupt the factory they work for. (Very unlikely I will pursue this one)
Votes:
1, 2, and 4 were each voted for as a favorite. My half conversation hasn’t led to a vote yet.
My Reflections
I have to say, this week was the toughest so far. It was difficult to set up conversations with people to give me advice. Three different people I contacted this week happened to be on vacation or at a work retreat, unable to help me until next week. I plan to chat with them when they’re available and get their advice. It was also a challenge because of the nature of the problems I’m proposing. The people I reached out to were all, for the most part, on board with the overarching mission. I didn’t feel comfortable asking my coworkers or other friends to give advice on this topic because I felt like it’d be weird for me or them or both. I recognize that by being picky with who I spoke to, I may have missed out on valuable advice from people with different perspectives. This will be something I hope to change moving forward.
Another challenge was getting advice rather than feedback or brand new ideas. Everyone was interested and helpful but also sort of not. A couple of people I spoke to are well-involved in the animal advocacy space and therefore thought quite critically about the ideas. They considered how impactful each one might be as well as how realistic they were. This was helpful but also a little discouraging because it sort of squashed my ambition. Although I suppose feedback like that is pretty important and simply part of the process.
Everyone I talked to expressed interest in hearing about how the rest of the course goes. They were curious about which project I might develop and wanted to know more. The conversations were enjoyable but because my ideas started pretty broad, the people I spoke to had some trouble coming up with advice, so they were a little bumpy at times. Some of them gave me resources that could help develop the ideas.
My understanding of the problems and potential solutions definitely improved. This was both because of more time to think about it myself and because of the advice I received. I learned that I really need to be as specific as possible. I also became more committed to the goals of the exercises: connect to the specific negative emotions and figure out how to change them.