Episode Details

Back-of-the-Envelope Activist Math

There are about 118,000 vegetarians and vegans in the Seattle metro area. Of those, approximately 50 participate in any kind of regular activism (at least once every two months): Justice For Animals gets ~5-10 people; the Animal Rights Initiative gets around a dozen; the Northwest Animal Rights Network has ~20-30; and The Humane League has half-dozen.[1] Another 50 to 100 people participate irregularly, perhaps once or twice a year. Taking the more generous number of 150 volunteers, the participation rate shakes out to 0.1% of vegans and vegetarians (and 0.004% of the general population).[2] These are people who've already made the considerable personal and social shift to go vegan, and they’re deciding not to spend a few hours a month on activism that could reach many more animals than their diets.

It's not just that people don’t want to participate in activism in general. There are a number of movements that have much larger participation rates. BLM protests and climate protests top the charts at a participation rate of 6% of the American population attending at least one protest or rally. The Women's March had 1.0 to 1.6% of the population participate. If we look at [...]

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Outline:

(00:10) Back-of-the-Envelope Activist Math

(02:28) Animal Activism Sucks

(06:58) Missing Ingredients: Fun, Meaning, and Connection

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First published:
February 17th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pMjvfxumxhoW8iDFb/where-are-all-the-animal-activists

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.