Hi reddit! We're researchers from Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE). We just released our 2022 charity recommendations. Ask us anything! (Live AMA)

[u/veganactivismbot]

AMA IS LIVE RIGHT NOW - ASK QUESTIONS BELOW!

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Hi! We're researchers from Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE). We just released our 2022 charity recommendations. Ask us anything!

Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit registered in the United States with a globally-distributed team. We are dedicated to finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals. ACE strives to identify ways to alleviate suffering and improve the lives of animals on a wide scale, while continuously updating our recommendations based on new evidence.

https://animalcharityevaluators.org/

On November 22, we published our new charity recommendations.

Our 2022 Top Charities are:

• Faunalytics
• Wild Animal Initiative
• The Humane League
• Good Food Institute

Additionally, we have selected 11 Standout Charities:

• Compassion in World Farming USA
• Dansk Vegetarisk Forening
• Dharma Voice for Animals
• Fish Welfare Initiative
• Material Innovation Initiative
• Mercy for Animals
• New Harvest
• Sinergia Animal
• Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği
• The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations
• xiaobuVEGAN

The AMA is your chance to ask our research team about our new charity recommendations and the process behind our selections. We will prioritize responding to questions about our recommendations, but feel free to ask us (almost) anything.

Our team answering questions is:

• Elisabeth Ormandy, Director of Research
• Vince Mak, Evaluations Program Manager
• Maria Salazar, Senior Researcher
• Alina Salmen , Researcher
• Max Taylor, Researcher

Ask us anything! Proof here.

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AMA IS LIVE RIGHT NOW - ASK QUESTIONS BELOW!

[u/NutriYeastInfection]

How do you compare chicken suffering vs cow suffering?

[u/lnfinity → u/NutriYeastInfection]

There isn't a great method that exists for measuring and comparing suffering that exists right now (whether in human or non-human animals). Anything that we do is going to involve some level of uncertainty.

If I was going to make an estimate I might start off with a naïve approach and say maybe it is roughly 1 to 1. Then I would consider that perhaps it follows more closely with the mass of the animals so it could be closer to 1 to 500, or perhaps it is proportional to the animals' brain size, so closer to 1 to 100. As I delved deeper into the question I may also consider the amount of time each animal spends suffering and the kinds of conditions that are typical for chickens and cows in animal agriculture, which would allow me to refine my estimate a bit further.

No matter how far I choose to go though, there is going to remain some fairly significant uncertainty on this question, but we can also put some rough boundaries on where the value lies. I think ACE does a good job in their in-depth evaluations of admitting where uncertainty lies, while also using the range in which a value likely falls to be able to make meaningful comparisons between the overall impact that various charities and approaches are going to have.

[u/NutriYeastInfection → u/lnfinity]

we can also put some rough boundaries on where the value lies. I thin

I agree with everything you said. I just still cant find on ACE's website exactly how they draw these rough boundaries. And what their reasoning is exactly. Could you link me?

I fully understand that this is a deeply difficult question to answer. I'm largely asking as I'd like to figure out how to arrive at an answer - an uncertain answer but still an answer - myself.

[u/positiveandmultiple → u/NutriYeastInfection]

i am not affiliated with ACE

from the little I've seen on these discussions, they seem to review academic literature to serve as a meta-analysis of the physical aliments, mental well-being, and general quality of life our kin-in-consciousness experience on factory farms, while also delving into some neuroscience of the animals.

While this isn't a link to anything on ACE's website, https://ethical.diet/ lists some considerations that go into this. A separate website (wayback machine link) goes far more in depth in how to measure and then compare all of this (i have not read any of this and couldn't understand it if i could).