ALDF: An estimated 9 billion land animals are raised and killed for food every year in the United States – many are subjected to immense cruelty. Whether motivated by concern for animals, the environment, or health, more and more consumers are choosing plant-based products.Students should have that choice too. The Healthy Future Students and Earth Act (H.R. 4108) would help address this problem by providing voluntary grant funding to schools, enabling them to expand access to healthy, plant-based, environmentally friendlier food choices in school meals. Because the factory farming industry…

CATHERINE OLIVER: Beyond the well-documented health and environmental benefits, going vegan can also affect our social relationships... According to recently published research of 16 vegans interviewed in Britain about how veganism changed their lives, vegans are constantly finding that their new lifestyle choices can clash with their life before veganism – especially in social interactions. Here are five ways this manifests: 1. Your veganism might be dismissed as a ‘fad’. Veganism challenges the commonly held idea that a healthy diet requires animal proteins. When people go vegan, their…

VEGAN MAGAZINE: ProVeg International is one of more than 80 organizations who have co-signed an open letter urging the 50 countries that eat the most meat to raise prices for meat and dairy and reduce prices for fruit and vegetables. The open letter has been co-signed by organizations representing over 5,000 companies, investors, banks, farmers, and youth and food organizations in 100 countries, as well as by NGOs working on issues around animal welfare, climate, environment, nature, and public health. The letter will be presented to world leaders at the United Nations Food Systems Summit…

ADITI AHUJA: Vegan food has been generating plenty of buzz in the post-COVID era. A lot of people are switching to the vegan diet, which avoids consuming animal products such as dairy and eggs. Vegan food is said to be healthier for the environment too, this is why many alternative foods such as mock meat are also coming up in the area of a plant-based diet. The Food Safety and Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI) has come up with a set of draft rules for vegan food products and has also introduced a logo for vegan food... vegan food will now be designated by the v-shaped green logo shared…

MARC BEKOFF: A new book shows that veganism isn't a radical view, but rather a practical one that informs the fair and just choices people constantly make... The book by Emilia Leese and Eva Charalambides titled Think Like a Vegan: What Everyone Can Learn From Vegan Ethics, clearly shows that veganism is not a "radical" view, but rather informs the choices we make in numerous situations including politics, law, meal plans (who we choose to eat), friendships, and love in which fairness and nonhuman animals (animals) are involved. Here's what they had to say to Marc Bekoff: MB: Why did you…

AGI KAJA: The campaign for a ‘Plant Based Treaty‘ aims to create bottom-up pressure for leaders to negotiate a global agreement to halt the impact of animal agriculture on the planet... it is a grassroots campaign designed to put food systems at the forefront of combating the climate crisis modelled on the popular Fossil Fuel Treaty... The campaign will work towards 10 million individuals, 10,000 organisations, 10,000 businesses and 50 cities to endorse the treaty by 2023, ahead of the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST). Several high-profile celebrities have given their support…

ALDF: The Animal Legal Defense Fund released 'The Dangers of Ag-Gag Laws', a short film narrated by actress and star... Edie Falco. The film urges action on Ag-Gag laws, which seek to “gag” would-be whistleblowers and undercover investigators by punishing them for recording footage of what goes on in animal agriculture. The 13-minute film uncovers how Ag-Gag laws flout the First Amendment and conceal pollution, food safety threats, and animal cruelty... Ag-Gag laws attempt to ban, is critical to holding the industry accountable for not only the inhumane treatment of animals, but…

JENNA RYU: Experts say these natural, fertility awareness-based methods are especially appealing for strict vegans who take issue with latex condoms, which contain a milk byproduct, or hormone-based contraceptives such as birth control pills... "Lactose is in most forms of hormonal birth control and comes from milk," says Elina Berglund, co-founder of the first FDA-cleared natural birth control app, Natural Cycles. "Most of them also go through animal testing before testing on humans, so in that sense it's not totally vegan"... One popular and inexpensive birth control option is the basal…

GUAN YU LIM: Scientists have found plant-based meats are digested differently from animal-based meats in a human gut model and suggest that these findings may facilitate the formulation of a new generation of plant-based meat analogues with improved quality and nutritional attributes. Conducted by researchers from China and US, a plant-based beef and animal beef were put through a simulated gastrointestinal model, and it was found that proteins and lipids were digested differently in both products... Plant-based meat analogues are designed to mimic real meat products and are typically…

KAT SMITH: On November 1, COP26, the United Nations’ annual climate change conference, will kick off in Glasgow. Over the course of 12 days, the conference will unite nations, businesses, and citizens alike to discuss one of the most urgent issues facing the planet: climate change. In 2015 at COP21, the Paris Agreement—a commitment from countries across the globe to take action to limit global warming—was born. As part of the agreement, countries agreed that every five years they would come back with an updated plan reflecting how they will lower their carbon emissions... Commitments have…