HEALTH

PIONEER PBS: In 2020, Minneapolis-based PURIS, the largest processor of pea protein in North America, opened a plant in Dawson. For the past year, Pioneer PBS’ public affairs program Compass has been exploring what the growing popularity of plant-based proteins has meant for Dawson. As consumer demand for plant-based alternatives to meat grows, so does the demand for new methods of farming and food production. What impact will it have on the residents of Dawson and the surrounding rural communities? “Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” will air on Pioneer PBS on Thursday, March 21 at 9…

JACOB R. PEACOCK: Animal welfare, environmental, and public health advocates believe plant-based meats present a valuable opportunity to mitigate significant negative externalities of industrial animal agriculture, like animal suffering, greenhouse gas emissions, and antimicrobial resistance... The private and public sectors have taken note as well; in 2022, the “plant-based meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy companies” foods industry attracted at least 1.2 billion in private investment activity and at least 874 million in public funding... This enthusiasm has been propelled in some significant…

ALEXANDRA TREMAYNE-PENGELLY: The Bezos Earth Fund, a philanthropic organization launched by billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2020, is ramping up its commitment to food system transformations with a $60 million investment in alternative protein. The funds will establish the Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein, a series of research centers focused on boosting the quality and nutritional benefits of sustainable protein products. The initiative also aims to enhance the flavor and texture of alternative meat, in addition to bringing down prices—two challenges alternative meat startups have had to…

THE UP COMING: Dartmouth Films has set 19th April 2024 as the release date for the insightful and provocative documentary 'I Could Never Go Vegan' across the UK and Ireland. Directed by Thomas Pickering and featuring executive producers, including the well-known actress and vegan advocate Alicia Silverstone, the film embarks on a comprehensive journey to dissect the numerous objections that people have towards adopting a vegan lifestyle. Despite the rising trend of veganism, the documentary delves into the reasons why the majority are hesitant to reduce their consumption of animal products.…

GEORGINA GUSTIN: When researchers at the United Nations published a bombshell report in 2006 called “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” the livestock industry soon realized it had a major public relations challenge on its hands. Media outlets around the world covered the report and its main findings: Livestock are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions that need to be reined in, and cutting emissions from the industry should become a focus of public policy, on par with cutting emissions from fossil fuels. It was the first time such a high-level report had come to this conclusion. In the…

CHARLOTTE POINTING: 'Feeding Tomorrow' is the people who grow food and the people who eat food working together to transform the entire ecology of the planet,” says farmer Mark Shepard in the new documentary Feeding Tomorrow, released on January 23. The film, which has already won multiple awards, including Best Feature Documentary at the Ceres Food Film Festival, guides viewers through the current reality of the food system, which prioritizes fast and cheap production, and as a result, is destroying ecosystems, fuelling climate change, and threatening our health. But, as the name suggests,…

BEN DE GROEVE: Attitudes toward vegans can be markedly ambivalent. On the one hand, vegans may evoke admiration among omnivores for their moral commitment to their vegan diet and lifestyle. On the other hand, vegans may be subjected to stigmatization for appearing to display moralistic traits indicating arrogance and overcommitment. This ambivalence in stereotypical impressions has recently been termed the “vegan paradox”  and is theorized to stem from the cognitive dissonance people may feel from eating meat: Omnivores may view vegans as morally committed because they embody care for…

VEGETARISK FORENING: On February 8th 2024, a lower court in Denmark, the court in the city of Hjorring granted the vegan movement in Denmark a milestone win. A Danish court has now ruled that vegans are protected under Article 9 of the European Court of Human Rights. The ruling is the first of its kind in Denmark, and the Vegetarian Society of Denmark is proud to have taken this case to the courts and won. The case was about the right of vegan children in public daycare institutions to be able to eat vegan food. A Danish kindergarten (and the municipality running it) had refused to prepare…

BRIELLE BENYON: Patients with prostate cancer may experience fewer sexual and urinary side effects if they take on a plant-based diet, according to recent research published in the journal, Cancer... The study included 3,505 individuals with non-metastatic prostate cancer who filled out food-frequency questionnaires and had their quality of life calculated by the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite, which, according to the National Institutes of Health, is a 15-item questionnaire that measures urinary incontinence, urinary irritation, as well as bowel, sexual and hormonal health-related…

SILVIA PANIZZA: In their daily practices, many ethical vegans choose what to eat, wear, and buy among a range that is limited to the exclusion of animal products. Rather than considering and then rejecting the idea of using such products, doing so often does not occur to them as a possibility at all. In other cases, when confronted with the possibility of consuming animal products, vegans have claimed to reject it by saying that it would be impossible for them to do so. I refer to this phenomenon as ‘moral impossibility’. An analysis of moral impossibility in animal ethics shows that it…