Andrea Polanco, PhD

From Performative To Transformative: Navigating Equity & Inclusion Across A Diverse Animal Advocacy Movement - Faunalytics This report explores how farmed animal advocacy organizations can meaningfully integrate DEI into their missions and practices without compromising strategic clarity. Grounded in qualitative interview...

🤔 We don't have a simple answer to this (e.g., we don't tell orgs to change their mission statement if they're single-issued). Rather, we want orgs to be intentional & genuine about their DEI efforts. Our report goes into detail on how to figure this out: faunalytics.org/from-perform...

💡 Our interviews w/ org leaders confirmed that the movement is split on whether animal advocacy should be a standalone cause or instead align with broader justice issues. Some fear “mission drift", while others see alignment as essential to stay relevant and inclusive.

🔍 We found that social justice is often missing from core missions (e.g., only 20% of orgs mention it) & DEI is often forgotten about (just 22% of orgs have formal DEI workplace policies). Yet 43% have a program dedicated to social justice, suggesting one-off efforts.

Dr. Ahmmad Brown & I researched inclusivity in the U.S. animal advocacy movement, before the #DEI backlash. Based on interviews w/ BIPOC individuals in/outside the movement (plus org leaders), & research on 200+ orgs, our latest @faunalytics.bsky.social report maps barriers & paths to inclusion.

About The Event - Faunalytics Save the Date: Our 4th Annual Fauna Connections remote symposium will be held Thursday, September 18th, 2025.

🧑‍🏫 Have you ever wanted to teach animal advocates about a topic you're passionate about?

📊 @faunalytics.bsky.social is looking for scholars to submit an expert overview presentation for our remote symposium in Sept!

📅 Submit by June 20th

🔗 Learn more + apply: faunalytics.org/fauna-connec...

So glad gothic horror is back. If you really enjoyed Nosferatu and Lily Depp's performance, you should check out Penny Dreadful with Eva Green - the best of possessed Victorian ladies 👀

What Vegan Advocates Can Learn From The Social Spread Of Quitting Smoking - Faunalytics This Faunalytics report reviews the smoking cessation literature to estimate what animal advocates can expect on the peer influences of going vegan.

But vegans tend to be friends with other vegans > omnis, so can we expect a strong peer influence 🫠? We have recs on how to conduct a social network analysis on veganism in our report!

faunalytics.org/what-vegan-a...

HOW PEERS INFLUENCE THE ODDS OF QUITTING SMOKING* A Partner Who Quits: People are anywhere between 1.3 and 11.8 times more likely to quit smoking if their partner also quits. A Non-Smoking Partner: People are anywhere between 1.6 and 4.4 times more likely to quit smoking if their partner doesn’t smoke. Friends, Coworkers, and Siblings People are: -43% less likely to smoke if their friends quit. -34% less likely for coworkers quit (in small firms). -25% less likely for siblings. More Distant Connections: Friends of friends of friends are able to influence smoking, but not any connections beyond that. *Quitting smoking and abstaining from meat have a number of similarities. We believe that by studying the social spread of smoking cessation, it may provide a model for understanding how veganism may spread in social circles. Thus, these findings should be interpreted as a framework for vegan contagion.

Obv it's hard to say w/o a proper social network study tracking veganism. But advocates should consider peer groups: ppl are 11.8x more likely to quit 🚬 if their partner quits & 4.4x if their partner is a nonsmoker, while those w/ smoking partners are least likely to quit.

QUITTING SMOKING AS A PARALLEL FOR VEGANISM Behavioral Similarities: -Both are complex behavioral changes. -Both are good for one’s health. -Both are frequently-cued behaviors (in other words, our environments often trigger us to take these actions). -Quitting meat and tobacco can be difficult and some folks have previously failed to quit. Key Differences: -Meat is socialized as Natural, Normal, Necessary, and Nice in a way that tobacco isn’t. -Tobacco use has decreased globally, while meat consumption has been increasing in most countries. -Motivations for veganism may be broader than health and may include ethics or environmental concerns.

Did your partner or friend influence you to go vegan? In this Faunalytics study, we review the smoking cessation literature to hypothesize the peer influence of veganism! Quitting smoking & quitting meat have a lot in common, but can we expect the same social influences?

One of the saddest studies you'll ever read: 504 children (& their caregivers) in Gaza were surveyed & interviewed back in June: 49% of caregivers said that their children (72% boys vs. 26% girls) think they would die during this war.

www.warchild.org.uk/sites/defaul...

Quebec imported hundreds of macaques from Cambodia last month: www.msn.com/en-ca/news/c...

That's what happened to three Guatemalan students a couple of years ago (you can see the current lawsuit by
@farmstand.bsky.social here: farmstand.org/big-ag-facil...)

Imagine being a uni student & using your life savings to travel to the US in hopes of gaining pro dev, but only to end up working in a factory farm where you were forced to participate in standard (cruel) industry practices for low pay & major health risks.

A cup of vegan instant noodles on a table overlooking Mt. Fuji at sunset.

In love with Japan 😍

In a Faunalytics study by @andreapolanco.bsky.social, she determined that animal protection groups have a pay gap for marginalized individuals.

The study also identifies salary trends in the movement, which can prove helpful for non-profit workers advocating for themselves.

Book cover for "Organize The Lab - Theory & Practice", edited by Science For The People

The back cover of "Organize The Lab" book. It says, "Today, science is a billion-dollar enterprise operating through governments, universities, and industries. But like every other productive activity under capitalism, it wouldn't exist without scientists' labor. Recent waves of unionization campaigns have shown us that the only way to overcome precarious and oppression, which defines our everyday experience as workers in the lab, is through collective action. In this collection of essays, written by and for student workers, union organizers, and radical scientists within STEM academia, we seek to understand the structure we set out to change, share strategies for building power through labor organizing, and inspire scientists of all career levels to enact an alternative version of science" .

Was excited to find this book at the leftist book sale today, I wish I had come across it in grad school!

Thanks for making this one!

I created a starter pack of researchers studying animal advocacy, animal ethics, animal minds, animal law, plant-based and sustainable diet advocacy, and related disciplines.

Please let me know who I missed, and please let me know if I included you but you prefer to be removed.
go.bsky.app/SKnT1a6

Buffalo running.

Can you guys share this to help my old followers find me?

I really depend on the old site for sales but don’t want my work used to train AI.

Can I be added too? 😊

screenshotted text: "it turns out that it’s perfectly possible to live as a free-roaming rhesus macaque in South Carolina, where a more than four-decade-old population of the monkeys resides on the state’s Morgan Island, also known as “Monkey Island.” Originally relocated from Puerto Rico between 1979 and 1980, the Morgan Island macaques now serve as a kind of reservoir of lab monkeys for the US government. Last year, Alpha Genesis won a federal contract to oversee the monkey colony there — in fact, the 43 escaped macaques had originally lived as “free-range” monkeys on the island before they were taken to be used for testing and research purposes, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CBS News in a statement. While these monkeys may not be able to rejoin the Morgan Island colony on their own, the fact that they came from a wild population strengthens the view of them as animals who not only can live in the wild but who deserve to be free." Below the text is a photo of a mother rhesus macaque sitting on a tree branch cradling an infant macaque

One of the wildest details to me behind the escaped monkey story: There's a colony of wild macaques on an island in South Carolina that the federal govt uses as a reservoir for lab monkeys, allowing a private company to oversee it & pluck monkeys for medical testing

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Scientists kill 192 million lab mice each year. Is there a better way? Can laboratories become more humane, or is it time for science to end animal research altogether and replace it with effective alternatives?

“Many research technicians… go into the field of animal research to help the animals, yet their day-to-day work ends up being the killing of animals or being complicit in creating pain, distress, disease, and other noxious states demanded by the research Enterprise.”

bigthink.com/life/scienti...