Really feel responsible about consuming meat? Some animal rights activists say charity donations can repair your dilemma.

[ad_1] Earlier this month, a fundraiser for nonprofits that battle to finish manufacturing facility farming went somewhat viral — at the very least in a single nook of the web.

Dwarkesh Patel , the influential tech podcaster, announced on his show that if his listeners donated a collective $250,000 to FarmKind , a company that distributes cash to anti-factory farming charities, so would he. They did — after which some.

To date, Patel and his listeners — together with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison , skilled poker participant Liv Boeree , and common Substack author Noah Smith — have raised over $2 million. For the worldwide anti-factory farming motion, which works on a shoestring finances to repair one of many most challenging and neglected social issues of our time, that’s some huge cash.

The motion spent round $260 million last year in its effort to assist tens of billions of abused land animals and a trillion or so fish (to place that into perspective, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork spends far more annually to gather, retailer, and show artwork). So, Patel helped elevate the equal of virtually 1 p.c of the whole international motion’s yearly finances.

His pitch was easy: It is a actually large downside, and charities have been capable of make significant progress on it with little cash, so by injecting even a comparatively modest quantity of additional funds into the trigger, you can also make an enormous distinction. The group that can distribute the cash, FarmKind, makes the identical pitch, however with a twist that Patel solely hinted at: For those who really feel unhealthy about consuming meat however don’t need to go vegan, you possibly can have the identical influence by donating to charity as a substitute.

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“It’s like carbon offsets, however on your weight loss plan,” FarmKind’s web site states. ( Carbon offsets enable folks to pay for an environmental good — like planting timber that soak up carbon dioxide — to offset a excessive carbon-emitting exercise, like touring by airplane.)

The idea makes intuitive sense. Most individuals suppose the factory farms that produce the overwhelming majority of America’s meat, eggs, and dairy are unhealthy, however a long time of vegan advocacy have failed to influence greater than 1 percent of Individuals. Calls to simply eat much less meat have confirmed largely ineffective, too. If sympathetic shoppers are unwilling to vary their diets, the considering goes, they may nonetheless assist by supporting cash-strapped organizations working to scale back animal struggling on farms and make plant-based consuming extra accessible.

However I additionally fear that FarmKind’s strategy, often called “ethical offsetting,” would possibly absolve shoppers — who individually and collectively maintain energy to scale back the variety of animals factory-farmed for meals — of private duty.

So, are you able to truly offset your meat consumption with a donation? And extra importantly, do you have to?

The wonky math behind offsetting your meat consumption

Annually, the common American eats round 33 chickens, eight fish, 228 shrimp, one-third of a pig, and a tenth of a cow — for a complete of 269.5 animals. In response to FarmKind, it’ll price you $23 a month to offset the struggling these animals expertise on manufacturing facility farms.

That’s about “the price of a month-to-month Netflix premium subscription,” Thom Norman, FarmKind’s co-founder and director of outreach, instructed me.

This doesn’t imply that if you happen to donate $23 per thirty days, you save 269.5 animals or assure that another person will go vegetarian in your stead. Moderately, FarmKind estimates that, with an additional $23 per thirty days, the animal advocacy charities that obtain your cash can scale back animal struggling by an quantity equal to the struggling skilled by 269.5 animals on manufacturing facility farms.

Take egg-laying hens, for instance. Greater than half of egg-laying hens within the US are indefinitely confined in tiny cages , a follow that represents a few of the worst animal cruelty in our meals system. Animal advocacy teams have efficiently pressured hundreds of corporations , together with many state governments , to ban these cages. One of many main cage-free advocacy teams, the Humane League, estimates that for each 85 cents they spend on these campaigns, they handle to get one hen out of a cage.

<img alt="" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px" srcset="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM26886.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=2400"/> Sows — feminine breeding pigs — in gestation crates on a farm in Canada. Most sows in manufacturing facility farms dwell in these extraordinarily confining crates for virtually their whole lives, unable to even flip round. Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

<img alt="" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px" srcset="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Argentina-battery-cages.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.078124999999993%2C0%2C99.84375%2C100&w=2400"/> Hens in battery cages on a farm in Argentina. In battery cages, the predominant egg farming technique within the US, hens have such little house they can't even flap their wings, and so they’re by no means set free. Sinergia Animal/Open Wing Alliance/We Animals

Animal welfare consultants have estimated that one-third of an egg-laying hen’s complete struggling may be attributed to their confinement in cages. With this in thoughts, getting three hens out of cages — which might price the Humane League $2.55 — is, in response to FarmKind, the equal of ending the struggling of 1 factory-farmed hen.

FarmKind makes use of related analyses that try and quantify the struggling of pigs kept in tiny cages , and the struggling inflicted by other cruel practices on factory farms .

The group acknowledges that there’s a level of uncertainty in these calculations, and it makes use of extra conservative estimates to account for it. For instance, it’s exhausting to estimate the diploma to which nonprofits that work to make plant-based consuming extra accessible interprets to much less animal struggling in the long term.

And there are extra basically unknowable questions — like, on condition that we don’t know what it’s prefer to be a hen, do we actually know that cage confinement accounts for one-third of a hen’s struggling? There are extra sensible unknowns, too, like whether or not a charity that has been efficient up to now will likely be efficient sooner or later — after years of success, their campaigns could hit diminishing returns.

It’s straightforward to dismiss these uncertainties as deceptive, and I might additional quibble with FarmKind’s calculations. However what is evident is that the resource-poor anti-factory farming motion might make much more progress with extra money, whether or not it’s labeled an “offset” or not.

Nonetheless, there’s the thornier query as as to whether a social motion ought to encourage folks to donate to offset the hurt they’re inflicting, relatively than to cease taking part in it straight.

The case for and in opposition to meat offsets

FarmKind’s reply to that query is an unequivocal “sure,” and it’s one rooted in ruthless pragmatism.

“We all know that individuals total are literally actually on board with the concept that manufacturing facility farming specifically is horrible,” Norman of FarmKind instructed me. And animal advocacy teams have a tendency to present shoppers one factor they will do to assist: scale back or remove their meat consumption.

It hasn’t labored. Within the US, charges of vegetarianism have stagnated. And whereas many individuals say they’re actively reducing their meat intake , most are in all probability mendacity or fooling themselves. American per capita meat consumption has increased in recent times.

In a greater world, it could be simpler to influence folks to vary their diets. However on the planet we’ve acquired, the subsequent smartest thing, in response to Norman, is to counterpoint the animal advocacy motion in order that it will probably win extra campaigns to scale back animal struggling on manufacturing facility farms.

As as to whether meat offsets let folks off the hook, morally talking, Norman mentioned he’s unsure. He doesn’t know whether or not donating would possibly make individuals who in any other case would’ve diminished their meat consumption chorus from doing so and even improve their consumption. However he says that individuals donating to FarmKind aren’t deciding between going vegan or donating to offset their meat consumption. “Sometimes, they’re considering, ‘Ought to I offset or ought to I do nothing?’” Norman mentioned Plus, he added, getting folks to donate as a primary step would possibly make them really feel part of the motion and cause them to take different actions, like consuming much less meat or volunteering.

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He worries that the thought of meat offsets might additional reinforce how little people worth the lives of animals raised and slaughtered for meals. Few folks would take into account it morally sound to abuse a canine and offset that hurt by donating to an animal shelter, however that is primarily what meat offsetting entails.

“In circumstances the place we’re morally outraged, we don’t suppose that offsetting can wipe away the issue,” John mentioned. “It’s solely in circumstances the place we’re morally disengaged and don’t care that a lot concerning the ethical subject that we predict offsetting is okay.”

We can also’t “offset our means out” of the manufacturing facility farming downside, John mentioned, as a result of even when everybody have been to offset their meat consumption, the meat business would nonetheless elevate and slaughter tens of billions of animals — albeit in modestly higher situations — yearly.

The dispiriting actuality that meat offsets drive animal advocates to reckon with

Once I first discovered about FarmKind, I instinctively winced at the concept that the struggling of farmed animals may very well be offset with a donation equal to a month-to-month Netflix subscription. I nonetheless wince at it once I take into consideration the character of that struggling. Billions of animals are trapped in cages — their tails, testicles, and beaks cut off with no pain relief — and overcrowded into noxious warehouses, pressured to dwell in their very own waste. I feel that ought to be met with a much bigger response than parting with $23 per thirty days.

However, then, I take into consideration how the challenge to finish manufacturing facility farming, drastically scale back meat consumption, and shift the world towards a extra plant-based meals system will doubtless be a centuries-long one, and I can see meat offsets in one other gentle.

<img alt="A close-up photograph of a pig in a field. The pig is looking at the camera lens. " data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px" srcset="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/WAM14041.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C8.3984375%2C100%2C83.203125&w=2400"/> A rescued pig on the animal rescue Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

We’re solely about 50 years into the fashionable animal rights motion, and the present political, financial, and social situations are such that the motion’s major targets are nonetheless far out of attain. What's in attain is decreasing the struggling of animals unfortunate sufficient to be born into the manufacturing facility farm system and slowly normalizing plant-based consuming. However these can solely be achieved by a much bigger, higher resourced, extra highly effective animal advocacy motion. A sympathetic public might, on the very least, chip in to construct that motion, and the success of Dwarkesh Patel’s fundraiser suggests there are lots of people keen to assist on this means.

I don’t know if you happen to can actually offset the struggling and demise of 1 animal on a manufacturing facility farm by making many others endure rather less. However I do know that to be an advocate for animals in 2025, it's a must to settle for that most individuals agree that manufacturing facility farming is horrible however are unwilling to do what is required to finish it. You then have to satisfy them the place they're, which is painfully removed from what animals want.

Just a few years in the past, carbon offset skilled John Holler told Vox that it’s extra useful to consider carbon offsets as merely “a device for routing cash towards good issues,” like inexperienced power and forest conservation, relatively than as a real offset of your individual carbon footprint.

“You’re buying carbon credit to contribute to international decarbonization,” he mentioned, “not making a declare in opposition to your individual emissions.” We should always take into consideration meat offsets in the identical means. They don’t — and may’t — absolve humanity of its abuse of billions of animals, however they do assist to construct a greater world that many people need to see however can’t but convey ourselves to appreciate.

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