ENVIRONMENT

BRIAN KATEMAN: Innovation and technology are doing big things for animal welfare and the health of the planet. Meatless burgers from companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are now mainstream in a way few could have imagined 20 or 30 years ago. Fermentation is being used to make dairy products without using cows. Scientists are exploring the use of cell-cultured meat as a potential climate-friendly source of nutrition for humans. We’re watching in real time as new technology makes it easier and more palatable for people to buy fewer animal products, especially those that come from…

SMU: Researchers from Singapore Management University (SMU) have released a study that reveals a positive relationship between people's psychological well-being and their willingness to consume cultivated meat. The research, titled 'Higher well-being individuals are more receptive to cultivated meat: An investigation of their reasoning for consuming cultivated meat', which has been published in international research journal, Appetite, provides the first ever empirical evidence to support this correlation. The research also found that individuals' higher willingness can be motivated by the…

NICOLE MEYER: A new PETA TV spot airing this week during similarly grim movies The Day After Tomorrow and Zombieland is pointing to animal agriculture as a leading cause of the climate catastrophe and asking viewers, “Are you a bad parent?” while urging them to safeguard their children’s future by banning environmentally devastating meat and dairy from their homes. Much like The Last of Us’ Ellie (played by vegan Bella Ramsey), PETA’s protagonist is a young orphan trying to navigate a post-apocalyptic world. In the video, she lists the rules her mom enforced—such as not touching the stove…

VEGCONOMIST: The Italian government becomes the next in a growing list of those proposing restricted labelling on plant-based meat from using “meaty” terms, in a move ProVeg describes as “misleading and backwards.” The bill notes that its efforts represent an attempt to protect livestock production in the country, even though animal agriculture is responsible for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions globally... “Plant-based foods emit half the amount of greenhouse gases as animal-based foods, so we need to introduce policies that actively encourage people to switch to more flexitarian…

ROZALI TELBIS: According to the Vegan Society, veganism seeks to “exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.” By definition, there are no additional prerequisites needed; vegans are not required to subscribe to a number of additional causes in order to adhere to this belief system that centers non-human animals. But intersectional veganism is no longer being promoted in niche online communities only. It’s now being more accepted across vegan communities and organizations in which vegans…

LUCIANNE TONTI: One of the fastest growing areas in the quest for next generation materials is vegan leather. Although these alternative leathers – whether they are plastic or plant-based or both – are marketed as a sustainable alternative to real leather, the jury is still out on their long-term impacts. Since most of them contain a type of plastic called polyurethane (PU), there are legitimate concerns about harmful microfibre shedding, their durability in shoes, and whether they’ll sit in landfills for decades post-use...  Angela Winkle, the chief sustainability officer at boot maker…

INDIA TV: Maa Ka Doodh: Uncovering A Nation’s Dairy Disaster is an investigative feature-length documentary film that follows the journey of Dr. Harsha Atmakuri who undertakes an investigation to find out the untold stories behind the success of India’s White Revolution - The World’s Largest Dairy Production and Development Campaign. The documentary also explores the ethical, cultural, environmental, religious, economic, and political complexities the consumption of dairy in India has created since millennia. . The film follows Dr. Harsha Atmakuri who travels over 20,000 kilometres across…

JORDI CASAMITJANA: In the last decade or so, the identity of vegan and animal rights persons have overlapped a lot, to the point many may assume they are the same. In the past, though, they were more clearly separate. Especially for those who have recently acquired either of them, it may be worth looking at their similarities and differences to see how they intersect... Veganism and animal rights are indeed philosophies, in the sense they are particular systems of thought relating to the understanding of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Also, they are both…

FIONA JACKSON: We're all used to seeing the gruesome images of black lungs and rotting teeth on packets of cigarettes, designed to put smokers off the unhealthy habit. Now, scientists say that slapping similar stickers on packs of meat in supermarkets could help to shame buyers. The stickers could include sad images of animals, accompanied by messages such as: 'Animals suffer when you eat meat.' They could also include images of decimated forests with the words: 'The Amazon rainforest is destroyed when you eat meat.' A study from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands found that…

PIERS FULER: Only vegans need apply. This might be a reasonable stipulation if you are choosing a like-minded flatmate, but can you put it on a job description? Animal rights group SAFE makes being “dedicated to a vegan lifestyle” a requirement of those applying for its jobs and not everyone’s happy about it... SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation) has a reputation for its staunch, sometimes confrontational, advocacy of animal rights... Wellington woman Lily, 23, who did not wish to disclose her surname, wanted to apply for a digital marketing role, but was disappointed not being a vegan…