
Stop Cruel Imports: Talk & Group Email Writing Workshop
Co-founder of Animal Policy International, Rainer Kravets, will be giving an overview of API's theory of change to Stop Cruel Imports of animal products that don't meet NZ laws. The talk will include recent developments in the campaign including the announcement of a member's bill, and will finish with an email writing workshop. This is a quick and impactful action to support the campaign.

Oven Baked Pizza Social
We'll be having our first event of the year this Monday getting to know each other and running through some basic concepts of EA.
Free food as always. This is the perfect event for those that have never been to an EA Christchurch Universities event before.

Stop Cruel Imports Petition Handover
It’s time to stop cruel imports! Join us on Tuesday, May 6th at 12:00 PM at Parliament to witness the delivery of Animal Policy International’s petition urging the Government to stop cruel imports and require animal product imports to meet New Zealand’s animal welfare standards. This is our opportunity to show the Government that Kiwis don’t support offshoring cruelty. If it’s too cruel to produce in New Zealand, it’s too cruel too import!

The Right Kind of Weird?
The Effective Altruism world is pretty unique, which has its perks but also comes with its own special set of hurdles. Catherine will talk about some of the risks and challenges the EA community faces, while also taking time to celebrate what makes us awesome.

Pub Social
Next meet up is on Tuesday 11th at Fork and Brewer! 5.30pm, see you there 😊🍻

Intro to EA Discussion
We'll be having our first event of the year this Monday getting to know each other and running through some basic concepts of EA.
Free food as always. This is the perfect event for those that have never been to an EA Christchurch Universities event before.

An Introduction to Wild Animal Suffering
It is estimated that almost all sentient beings in the world are wild animals, and on plausible assumptions most wild animals live lives that are barely worth living. Could intervening in nature to improve ecosystems therefore be an important cause area?

The Giving Game
Come along and join us for the Giving Game! Each person who arrives will be given free $10 to donate to a charity of their choice!
Do you care more about global development, the future of AI, reducing global catastrophic risk, or animal welfare? We will have a short summary of a diverse pool of effective charities and causes on display, and what they aim to accomplish.

Holiday Social
We will be catching up for a social event on the 17th. All are welcome. Finger food and non-alcoholic drinks are on us. Hope to have lots of us there and chat about what you are doing this summer & this giving season!

Fireside Chat with GiveWell CEO + Senior Researchers
We’re excited to invite you to GiveWell’s virtual end of year event. Join us for a unique fireside chat where GiveWell CEO Elie Hassenfeld will lead a discussion with two of their senior researchers, Alex Cohen and Julie Faller.

Comparing Global Health with Animal Welfare
We will be meeting to discuss Global Health and Animal Welfare. These two cause areas have a lot in common at first sight, but donation and career opportunities look a lot different in the details.

Safe Water Can't Wait: A Decade of Progress and the Opportunities Ahead
Join us on November 20th for this webinar tackling one of the most pressing global challenges of our time. You’ll hear from Evidence Action’s Safe Water Now program leadership about the urgency of the water crisis, the importance of water treatment to ensure its safety, and the immense opportunity we have to improve the health of millions of people.

Resilience to Catastrophes
In this free online talk, we will hear from Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters (ALLFED).
ALLFED seek to identify various resilient food solutions and to help governments and companies implement these solutions to feed everyone in the event of a global catastrophe. They focus on events that could deplete 5% or more of global calorie output, or access to those calories. In this talk Dr David Denkenberger and Ana Luísa Monteiro will discuss their research and what they have been working on.
The session will be held both online and in person at the University of Canterbury (Link 309 Lecture Theatre).

Mental Health in Aotearoa
Tomorrow, we have Thomas talking about mental health. His presentation will describe what mental health is, the current barriers, challenges and successes in the mental health sector in Aotearoa— and a look into what the future holds.

Artificial Intelligence vs Artificial Wisdom
This Tuesday, Chris Leong will argue for a provocative thesis: that the ML field’s decision to focus on training increasingly intelligent systems was a crucial mistake.
Chris will make the case that refocusing the field around training wisdom provides a potential path forward, and that training wise AI advisors is a particularly promising path within this.

Risks at the Intersection of AI & Biology
This Tuesday we have Andy Morgan speaking to us about potential risks that might arise at the intersection of AI and biology. Andy is a policy professional whose current work focuses on biotechnology and it's effective regulation.
His talk will cover the potential risks that Large Language Models and biological tools might present, both now and in future, and potential policy options to address there risks.

State of Play in AI Governance
This week we're joined Aidan Homewood, an independent AI governance researcher. He recently completed the Pivotal Fellowship in London.
His talk will describe progress made so far by governance researchers and policymakers around the world, existing problems, and what future governance systems might look like. He'll also cover the new AI policy direction Secure Futures is pursuing.

Minimum Wages
What are minimum wages for? And what effects do they really have?
Join us on Tuesday to hear Dean Hyslop, Senior Fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research institute, discuss these questions. Dean will go over the evidence from his 2021 working paper, along with some more recent analysis.

Giving Green— How to Save the Earth
Climate change is one of the defining problems of our generation, but knowing how to address it can be challenging.
This talk is about identifying ways for you to help the planet as effectively as possible. A collaboration between UC Greens and Effective Altruism Christchurch Universities, hosted by Baxter and Grace.

How to have a Good Disagreement
We can’t all agree with each other all of the time. Sometimes disagreements are trivial and can be quickly moved on from or resolved. But often a disagreement is a sign that there’s something important and worth discussing. So what do we do then?
Come along to this interactive session to learn about how to have a good disagreement. You’ll practice disagreeing about important topics in constructive ways, and maybe even change your beliefs about something!

The Estimation Game
Tonight at 5.30pm, Max will be leading us in the Estimation Game!
The Estimation Game is an online contest that runs once a month. Competitors make back-of-the-envelope estimations and then compare their results with other groups around the world. This month’s theme is "extreme numbers"
This session will be held in room KK204 at Kelburn Campus. We hope to see you there!

Biorisk: a talk on man made pandemics
Future pandemics are bound to happen, and many could be far worse than COVID. However, there are some people (especially in Effective Altruism) who suggest that a man-made pandemic would be far worse, and even carries a substantial risk of causing human extinction in the next century.

Land Economics & Georgism
This week Max will talk about the often ignored economics of land ownership, and the once-popular economic theory Georgism.

Games Night
Join us for a games night, where we spent an hour or two playing whichever games the group decides on (feel free to bring along your favourite game!)

Existential Risk/Philosophy Interactive Session
In this interactive session, Max Clarke will discuss with us why we might prioritise existential risks (things that might cause the extinction of humanity, or something equally bad). We will also discuss how this relates to long-termism (the idea that future people matter just as much as present people.

Effective Altruism NZ & Charity Analysis
Rowan, Operations Manager of Effective Altruism NZ, will lead a talk and discussion session on the organisation, as well as the global sister organisation Centre for Effective Altruism. After a short discussion time, Rowan will then talk about an evidence-based charity analysis.

Using Your Career For Good
Lots of people say that it is important for them to “do good” or “make a difference” in their job.

Games Night
Join us for a games night, where we spent an hour or two playing whichever games the group decides on (feel free to bring along your favourite game!)

Planning Meeting
We’re having a planning meeting, to decide what topics or activities we should do over the next couple of months! Everyone welcome

The Estimation Game & Pub Catch-Up
This week we will take part in the May Estimation Game and then a pub catch up! It was a hit last time so let's give it another go.