Thanks for this detailed answer, this makes a lot of sense. Looking forward to the progress updates to come. All the best for your projects!

Thanks for writing this insightful piece. 

Is there any reason why you only mentioned the 1-1.2T insects raised for food and feed and didn't mention farmed honeybees or cochineals? At any given time there are more than a trillion managed honey bees, and the farming of cochineal directly causes 4.6T to 21T additional deaths, primarily of male and female cochineal nymphs, and adult male cochineals.

Thanks Aaron for this really insightful and thoughtful post. The scale of ambition here is truly promising!

I have a question about the confidence in the effectiveness of the humane slaughter implementations: For a given stunner installation, how confident are you that at least X% of those shrimps are actually being humanely slaughtered?

I'm thinking about this in terms of the curves shown in the attached graph:

• Curve A: Lower confidence
• Curve B: Medium confidence
• Curve C: Higher confidence
• Less confident than A
• More confident than C
• Something else, mix of options, etc. 

Which curve best represents your current confidence in the effectiveness? I imagine this relates closely to your focus on "increasing confidence" through better implementation, monitoring, and measurement & evaluation that you mention in the post.
 

Thanks for sharing this comprehensive guide, Kevin, Sofia and Kyle! I wanted to respond to your questions based on my experience with EA Austria community building over the past year and co-initiating an Effective Animal Advocacy group with you, Kevin and Therese two years ago.

What problem did it solve for me?

I was doing street activism but found myself questioning, "Is this really effective?" Learning about effective animal advocacy through our community helped me focus both my career and donations more strategically. It gave me the frameworks and knowledge I needed to move from activism based on intuition to impact-driven work.

What made it worth returning to?

The combination of monthly socials (game nights, dinners, picnics) and topic-based events (discussions, workshops, lightning talks) created a space that never felt like work. Many people who came to these events became close friends. It's meaningful time with people I enjoy, where we have helpful discussions about effective animal advocacy. That blend of social connection and substantive conversation is what keeps bringing me back.

An underrated tip:

Community is bidirectional—it's about both giving and taking. While I can provide resources, connections, and advice to others, I can also reach out when I need help. Creating a culture where it's normal to both contribute and ask for support has been crucial for making the community sustainable and genuinely valuable.

How we handled a hard moment:

With EA Austria, we had to remove someone from the group for six months because other members felt uncomfortable around them. This was one of the most difficult and energy-consuming decisions I've made as a community builder. The biggest mistake was waiting too long. We saw multiple signs—people stopped attending events when they knew this person would be there—but we hesitated to act.

My advice to other community builders: If a member's behavior is causing others to disengage or avoid events, address it quickly. Find a solution that protects the broader community's wellbeing, even if it means asking someone to leave. Acting sooner would have prevented more people from having negative experiences and saved everyone involved significant stress.

Thanks for putting this together! Really appreciate having such an accessible introduction to MEL.

Love this project and really appreciate the scientific, impact-focused approach you’re taking. Excited to share GoodWallet with friends and family. This feels like a simple but powerful way to make everyday actions more meaningful.

Thanks for this update! 

Over 440 billion shrimps are farmed annually, over five times the total number of all farmed land animals.

I'm a big fan of SWP's important work. Just a pedantic note on the framing: while 440 billion farmed shrimp is indeed massive, the claim that this is 'over five times the total number of all farmed land animals' doesn't quite hold when including insects. According to Rethink Priorities' 2020 report, 1-1.2 trillion insects are farmed annually for food and feed, more than 2x as many as shrimps.

Given this scale and the rapid industry growth, are there any insect welfare initiatives in AIM's pipeline, or is this an area AIM is considering?

Thanks for this great post, Max! I strongly agree, this is super important. 

Thanks for sharing Kevin! 

I completely agree that factory farming is a moral atrocity, and it would be far better if we could reduce or eliminate the harm we cause to these animals. 

Your post got me thinking about individual moral responsibility and free will. My question: Do you think we need to have free will (the ability to have acted differently) in order to have individual moral responsibility? If our actions are determined or influenced by factors beyond our control, can we still be held morally responsible for them? Curious to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for the clarification!