How I Learned to Love Shrimp

Josh Balk on using shareholder activism to win change from the world’s largest food companies

October 18, 2023 Amy Odene & James Ozden
How I Learned to Love Shrimp
Josh Balk on using shareholder activism to win change from the world’s largest food companies
Show Notes Chapter Markers

In this episode, we speak with Josh Balk who is the co-founder and CEO of The Accountability Board. Previously, he was vice president of farm animal protection for The Humane Society of the United States. In addition, he is a co-founder of EAT JUST, a food technology company.

We spoke to him about a promising new strategy that he’s trying out, which is shareholder activism. In a nutshell, that involves doing something that seems counterintuitive, buying shares in the largest food companies that use animals as products, and trying to get them to change. On top of that, we also speak about the successes he’s had through ballot initiatives in the US. such as prop 12 in California, the EATS act, and US politics more generally.

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Episode preview
Intro
A view that most animal advocates would disagree with
Josh's journey into animal advocacy
Prop 12
What inspired The Accountability Board
How does shareholder activism actually work
The challenge of enforcing companies welfare commitments
The Accounability Board going forward
Prop 12, in slightly more depth
Banning production to banning sales
How bad is it to lose a ballot initiative?
EATS Act
Future challenges and struggling to maintain those big wins
How to get involved in politics for animal advocacy