“If the only way to save another person’s life during an emergency is to sacrifice one’s own leg, then one is morally required to make this sacrifice.”
…I had stumbled upon the online Oxford Utilitarianism Scale test in one of the Effective Altruism Facebook groups. Effective Altruism, or EA, is a global movement that tries to find out, using evidence, reason and careful analysis, how to improve the world as much as possible. And then actually doing it. Many, if not most of those that consider themselves an EA (EA can mean both the movement Effective Altruism but can also refer to a person that is an Effective Altruist) also consider themselves utilitarian. I consider myself both an EA and a utilitarian, at least until I came across this test.
Love for our fellow humans and other living beings isn’t a finite resource that depletes with use, and for which different groups must compete. It grows stronger as its focus is broadened.
Social and environmental concern isn’t a zero-sum game. Strength lies in building on shared values to establish solidarity across diverse causes. Building linkages between causes multiplies our commitment to address these challenges. In this way we become more than the sum of our parts.
This year, we’re launching a new conversation to help build deeper connections between groups and networks that are engaged on issues which may currently seem unrelated. This blog outlines some initial ideas, and hopes to encourage you to want to join this conversation to improve on these ideas, and to help to take them to the next stage (there’s a bit more on how to do that at the end).
Our work on Common Cause grew, at outset, from conversations among people working in the environment movement. These conversations shaped my report Weathercocks and Signposts, which was published by WWF-UK in 2008. And that report, in turn, led to wider conversations and collaborations.
When the idea of a food manifesto for Wales was first mooted some years ago, I was sceptical. With so many factions in the food world, it was hard to see how there could be any meaningful alliance that didn’t simply add to the confusion.
Recently Australians were asked via a non-compulsory postal survey “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”
Common Cause Foundation is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Registration number 09413020. Registered office: c/o Cohen Corkery, Chartered Certified Accountants, 30 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5AJ
Common Cause Foundation is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Registration number 09413020. Registered office: c/o Cohen Corkery, Chartered Certified Accountants, 30 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5AJ
Common Cause Foundation is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Registration number 09413020. Registered office: c/o Cohen Corkery, Chartered Certified Accountants, 30 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5AJ
Common Cause Foundation is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Registration number 09413020. Registered office: c/o Cohen Corkery, Chartered Certified Accountants, 30 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5AJ
Common Cause Foundation is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Registration number 09413020. Registered office: c/o Cohen Corkery, Chartered Certified Accountants, 30 Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5AJ