EMILY COSTELLO: 'The word “vegan” was invented in 1944 in Leicester, England by Donald Watson and his future wife Dorothy Morgan. That year, Watson and others founded The Vegan Society. Research into the society’s early publications shows that their key focus was arguing for an end to animal exploitation. Veganism was ethical from its birth. In 1946, Watson wrote: “Human existence does not depend upon the inconceivable tyranny now existing against animals.” In 1950, the Vegan Society adopted its first official definition of veganism, agreed at their annual general meeting and published in…

EARTH DAY NETWORK: 'A report titled “Climate Change and the American Diet,” released by Earth Day Network and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, found that half (51%) of Americans surveyed said that they would eat more plant-based foods if they had more information about the environmental impacts of their food choices... But, 70% rarely or never talk about this issue with friends or family. Nearly two-thirds of the Americans surveyed report having never been asked to eat more plant-based foods, and more than half rarely or never hear about the topic in the media... However,…

SARAH LAWTON: ' 'Livestock' welfare has been a recent topic of conversation, as environmental activists have decried the low meat prices that can only be maintained through dismal living conditions for the animals... A commission led by former Minister for Agriculture Jochen Borchert issued its proposals for reshaping "animal husbandry" in Germany. By 2040, they expect that all animals will be at a minimum kept in conditions that adhere with Level 2 of those in the planned Animal Welfare Labelling Act. This requires creating more space and better climate conditions in stables. To pay for…

JACY REESE: 'Joaquin Phoenix has gotten his share of mockery for talking about factory farming and animal rights in his Oscars acceptance speech. As usual, the petty commentary on a celebrity’s supposed self-indulgence is obscuring the far more important fact: Phoenix is absolutely right. The way we treat our fellow sentient beings is absolutely unacceptable, and our descendants will look back on animal farming as a moral atrocity... We need to ask, as the conservative writer Charles Krauthammer did, what are the moral blindspots of our generation? What common and unquestioned practices…

MICHELLE SLATER: 'Animal rights group Aussie Farms has declared it will be "business as usual" for animal activists after the Parliamentary Inquiry into Animal Activists on Victorian Agriculture passed down its recommendations last week. Aussie Farms founder Chris Delforce described the outcome as "definitely good news", but said it missed some opportunities to go even further... "It's still business as usual for us, we will still do everything we can to show the public what's going on and what it needs to see," Mr Delforce told The Express... Mr Delforce was buoyed by some recommendations…

JULIET GELLATLEY: 'It is time to finally make the connection between animal agriculture and environmental destruction, antibiotic resistance and disease outbreak... The coronavirus (WN-CoV), the viral disease outbreak that has captured headlines, has shut down cities and continues to spread while the rest of the world looks on with horrified abandon. Coronaviruses are a common type of virus that cause mild illnesses, such as the common cold, but can cause more serious respiratory problems... Where did it come from? How is the virus transmitted and what are the symptoms? Will face masks…

JUSTIN MCCARTHY: 'Nearly one in four Americans (23%) report eating less meat in the past year than they had previously, while the vast majority (72%) say they are eating the same amount of meat. Very few (5%) report eating more meat this year than in the past... Asked how often they eat meat -- such as beef, chicken or pork -- two in three U.S. adults say they eat it "frequently" (67%) while 23% say they eat meat "occasionally" and 7% "rarely" eat it. Just 3% report "never" eating meat. Certain groups are more likely than others to say they have eaten less meat in the past year: Women are…

GEORGE MONBIOT: 'It sounds like a miracle, but no great technological leaps were required. In a commercial lab on the outskirts of Helsinki, I watched scientists turning water into food... We are on the cusp of the biggest economic transformation, of any kind, for 200 years. While arguments rage about plant- versus meat-based diets, new technologies will soon make them irrelevant. Before long, most of our food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from unicellular life. After 12,000 years of feeding humankind, all farming except fruit and veg production is likely to be replaced by…

SAM RIDER: 'On 3rd January 2020, a UK employment tribunal found in favour of Jordi Casamitjana, who claims he was sacked by the League Against Cruel Sports because of his ethical veganism. The court ruled that ethical veganism satisfies the tests required for it to be considered a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010, meaning ethical vegans could be entitled to protection from discrimination in the workplace. The Vegan Society’s legal expert Jeanette Rowley told Welltodo she believes the decision will ensure vegans are provided for in the workplace, in public sector institutions…

GEORGE MONBIOT: 'We are on the cusp of the biggest economic transformation, of any kind, for 200 years. While arguments rage about plant- versus meat-based diets, new technologies will soon make them irrelevant. Before long, most of our food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from unicellular life. After 12,000 years of feeding humankind, all farming except fruit and veg production is likely to be replaced by ferming: brewing microbes through precision fermentation. This means multiplying particular micro-organisms, to produce particular products, in factories... It comes in the…