LUKAS JASIUNAS: 'One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about how urbanization influences wildlife populations is movement restriction. Our widespread infrastructure of cities, highways, motorways, railways, and pathways divide and fragment nature into a mosaic of sorts. Often, when enforced by safety fencing, this subdivision leads to splitting of animal herds, packs, and groups... Via urbanization, more and more animals encounter our presence and often end up altering their behaviors to accommodate for the invasion of space or time... Just last year, a group of scientists…

KATELYN REINHART: 'A recent study shows that religion and morality often impact what foods people buy. The online study with answers from over 1,700 participants across the U.S. found that among both religious and nonreligious contributors, morality played a role in food choices. Researchers from ASU, the University of Wyoming and Oklahoma State University conducted a series of experiences to judge how one's moral values affected the types of food they consume. For example, one experiment prompted participants to rate how religious they are and then choose either an organic or gluten-free…

EZRA KLEIN: 'Industrial animal agriculture relies on engineering broiler chickens that grow almost seven times as quickly as they would naturally. It relies on pumping a majority of all the antibiotics used in the United States into farm animals to stop the infections that overcrowding would otherwise cause. A list like this could go on endlessly, but the point is simple: Industrial animal agriculture is not a natural food system. It is a marvel of modern science. Although we live in a moment when technology has made animal cruelty possible on a scale never imagined in human history, we…

JEANETTE SETTEMBRE: 'The biggest meat producer in the U.S. is going meatless. Tyson Foods, the maker of hot dogs, steak strips, and chicken nuggets, announced last week it plans to debut a vegan protein this year, marking its foray into the plant-based meat market as the demand for vegan options reaches an all-time high. Noel White, president and chief executive at Tyson Foods said during its first-quarter earnings call that the brand aims to make “protein alternatives.” The company first invested in California-based vegan meat alternative company Beyond Meat in 2016. It also reported a…

JULIA SHAW: 'Do you think animal torture is evil? And do you also eat factory-farmed meat? Many people who would strongly disagree, in principle, with animal cruelty also eat meat that has been raised in terrible conditions... By reframing the same issue and adding a price tag we make some acts seem far less offensive. We can’t see them first hand, so they feel like they are unrelated to us. All we can see is the price. Why? When we understand why we eat meat that we know has been raised in poor conditions, we can begin to understand many other forms of behaviour that conflict with deeply…

TOM LEVITT: 'Nearly a fifth of the EU’s total budget – more than £24bn of taxpayer money – goes to support livestock farming across Europe, according to new research by Greenpeace. At a time when scientists are calling for significant reductions in meat consumption, the report’s authors say taxpayers’ money should be redirected away from grain-fed, industrial animal farming. Last month, the Eat-Lancet Commission of scientists called for a new plant-focused diet to help avoid dangerous levels of climate change and the destruction of wildlife. Such a diet would require cutting red meat…

LAVANYA RAMATHAN: 'The next time you’re at the grocery store, take a closer look at the shelves. Products emblazoned with the term are popping up in every aisle and in every form: plant-based plantain yogurts, seitan sausages, kale chips, pea-protein shakes, oat milks. The number of new U.S. food and drink products that mentioned “plant-based” grew 268 percent between 2012 and 2018, according to consumer research company Mintel... While there are plenty of cultural underpinnings for the plant-based explosion, few are more powerful than the phrase itself. “ ‘Plant-based’ is as close as you…

OLIVER MILMAN: 'The vast majority of the world’s largest species are being pushed towards extinction, with the killing of the heftiest animals for meat and body parts the leading cause of decline, according to a new study. While habitat loss, pollution and other threats pose a significant menace to large species, also known as megafauna, intentional and unintentional trapping, poaching and slaughter is the single biggest factor in their decline, researchers found. An analysis of 362 megafauna species found that 70% of them are in decline, with 59% classed as threatened by the International…

JIM KEEN: 'In December 2018, the US Senate introduced legislation called the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now (KITTEN) Act, the companion to a bipartisan House bill of the same name targeting outdated food safety experiments at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). As Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) explained when he introduced the bill, “The USDA breeds up to 100 kittens a year, feeds them parasite-infected meat in order to have the parasite’s eggs harvested for use in other experiments, and then kills the kittens. This bill would essentially stop this process.” To date, the project…

LZ GRANDERSON: 'There are some bright spots to the Lakers disappointing season, and high among them has to be the play of JaVale McGee. The last four seasons, the onetime Shaquille O’Neal punching bag has gone from being a joke, to a bit player on two championship teams, to a fairly important piece in the Lakers’ fleeting postseason hopes. Though it’s not unusual for an athlete to have a late-career surge, the reason for McGee’s is: his began when he gave up meat. “I was in Dallas and I had gained weight and knew becoming a vegetarian was the quickest way to lose it,” he said. “I just wasn’t…