The Business of Compassion and the Twilight of Eco-Activism

I recommend Krzysztof Stanowski’s column, which - surprisingly - is gathering good reviews even among authentic social activists. I know, for many it’s hard to swallow because the text appeared on Zero.pl, but the journalist did a solid job there. Without sugarcoating the mess, he described the pathology that plagues Polish animal fundraisers and the so-called “petbusiness”.

Pathology Under the Guise of Help

We are talking primarily about Pogotowie dla Zwierząt (Emergency for Animals) by Grzegorz Bielawski - an organization that “saves” its charges in the glare of flashbulbs, using the intervention mode (Article 7(3) of the Animal Protection Act), and then keeps them in conditions documented by veterinary inspection protocols - 258 pages and over 40 irregularities. Bielawski has valid convictions for misappropriation of animals, and in 2018 the court in Poznań ordered the dissolution of his association, stating explicitly that members “were supposed to help animals, but took them from owners and killed them without their consent” in a “habitual and intentional” manner. He opened a new one under the same name and continues to operate.

The problem is not the seizure itself, which is sometimes necessary. The problem is what happens afterwards: pumped-up fundraising campaigns (BLIK), lack of supervision, lack of accountability, and a system in which self-appointed “foundations” have powers that the District Veterinary Officer does not possess. Stanowski aptly points out that the tail is wagging the dog.

It’s worth reading before you feel the impulse to click “send BLIK” under a photo of a sad dog on FB again. What we see in social media are often powerful, PR-pumped financial machines turning over millions. I will repeat it again: MILLIONS. As accurately put by the Black List of Pro-Animal Organizations - a profile run for 9 years by an anonymous activist monitoring pathologies in the industry:

“If someone defends a den erroneously called an ‘asylum’ only because it is run by their idol, they are not an animal lover, but a lover of the guy who manages the den. (…) You can abuse animals with impunity if you only have good PR and are surrounded by a group of followers with a sectarian bent”.

The argument that “it’s important that they do anything at all” does not appeal to me. Lack of regulation has created a systemic pathology where emotional fundraising replaces real help - and money and animals disappear into a black hole without control.

Last Generation - Another Manipulation of Emotion

The same mechanism, i.e., manipulation of emotion and no measurable effect, reach in social media and citations instead of real change, can be seen in another segment of activism. Last Generation (Ostatnie Pokolenie), which started with road blockades in the name of cheap tickets and climate protection, today on its official pages runs a list of companies to boycott Israel and a petition for sanctions. The main page of the climate organization looks like a BDS portal with a touch of railways. Combining the fight for zero emissions with the Middle East conflict might be ideologically consistent in an academic seminar, but in public communication it does exactly one thing: it ridicules both causes at once. It is also sad that Prof. Malinowski, whom I respect, supported and continues to support young people without understanding that their actions cause more harm to ecological postulates. Especially in the times of MAGA and the changes that are taking place.

And this is not about my opinion. There is hard data on this. According to CBOS (survey “Opinions on climate change and energy transformation”, December 2025), support for moving away from coal has fallen to 55%, which is the lowest since 2015 and 19 percentage points less than in 2021. The EU zero-emission target by 2050 is supported by only 26% of Poles, compared to 48% three years earlier. In turn, the IBRiS survey for Flora Food Group shows that the percentage declaring high ecological awareness fell from 44% (2021) to 29%, and saturation with climate topics increased from 9% to 16%. Do intellectuals dealing with ecology, such as Professor Malinowski and people I know from the ecology segment, understand what the real effect of the actions of the Last Generation is?

Of course, there are many reasons for this retreat - inflation, energy prices, geopolitics. But it is difficult not to notice a correlation: exactly in the period when the climate movement bet on vandalism (110,000 euros in damages to the Brandenburg Gate), blocking ambulances, and an ideological hodgepodge, society turned away from pro-ecological attitudes. As ciekawy.blog aptly points out: “What Last Generation is doing undermines the last remnants of sympathy and shows a lack of capacity for self-reflection.”

Pumping Emotions for Cash

The mechanism is the same. Playing on the simplest instincts: pity for dogs or fear for the future of the planet has already become a business model. In one case, the currency is transfers, in the other, political capital built on radicalism. What is the effect? Visible and measurable. Animals continue to suffer in filth, and support for the green transformation is scraping the bottom. As long as we feed cynics with our emotions, nothing will change. Well, maybe except for the state of their accounts and our feeling that we have been taken for a ride again. Maybe it’s time to audit pseudo-activism, start looking at people who are later excused that “they lacked skills, but had good intentions”.

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