Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps "End Animal Cruelty. Don't Go Vegan" with Aidan Alexander
Dec 8, 2025
Aidan Alexander, co-founder of FarmKind and dedicated animal-welfare advocate, discusses the limitations of vegan messaging in tackling factory farming. He emphasizes systemic change over personal diet shifts, highlighting FarmKind's innovative model supporting effective charities. Aidan explains how factory farming distorts food prices, the severe suffering of animals, and the public health risks involved. He advocates for guilt-free consumer options, corporate accountability, and tech solutions in promoting animal welfare while urging listeners to support impactful donations.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Systemic Change Outperforms Individual Diets
- Focusing on individual diet change (go vegan) narrows the frame to consumers and often fails to fix factory farming at scale.
- Systemic approaches like policy, corporate campaigns, and targeted donations often yield far larger impact per dollar.
Donate Strategically, Not Just Abstain
- Donate to well-researched charities that target corporate policy, legislation, and technological solutions instead of only changing your diet.
- Small monthly donations can leverage systemic change and spare millions of animals at low cost.
Cheap Meat Hides Real Costs
- Factory farming lowers retail price by externalizing animal welfare, public health, and environmental costs.
- Redirecting existing subsidies could fund humane transitions without large consumer price shocks.