Effective altruism’ (EA) is a philosophy and social movement focused on identifying the most effective ways to help others. It uses evidence and reason to guide decisions about how money, time, and resources should be spent to maximize positive impact. Issues are prioritized based on how large in scale, how neglected, and how tractable (solvable) they are.
This study assesses sustainable pet diets (those based on vegan ingredients or cultivated meat) against EA criteria, and concludes that this is a leading EA issue. It warrants far greater resourcing than this area has received to date.
The tables include new data, never previously calculated. They show that globally, more farmed land animals are consumed over a year to feed an average dog, than an average person. And the difference is not small (13-dog vs 9-human (rounded) or 38% greater (using exact figures), in 2018). So, to save farmed animals and reduce the environmental impacts of animal farming, on average (globally), it does more good to change the diet of your dog, than your own diet.
This varies between countries, and for a high income country like the US, meat consumption for both people and pets is substantially increased. In the US a person consumes slightly more farmed land animals annually compared to a dog, but the difference is fairly small (24-human vs 20-dog (rounded) or 19% (using exact figures) in 2018).
Another key, new result found that at least 150 million dogs & cats could be converted to nutritionally sound vegan diets. However, the article notes that in reality the total is probably several times higher. This is because the calculation used the percentage of surveyed pet guardians who would realistically consider alternatives to meat-based pet food, and simplistically assumed that each pet guardian has just one pet. In reality, however, many dog and cat guardians have more than one of each animal.
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