PAUL GILDING: 'In mid-July, as a brutal drought decimated crops, some European dairy and meat farmers were forced to cull their herds early to reduce the number of animals they needed to feed... That is why now is the right time to start a serious conversation about animal agriculture. The animal agriculture industry is not only vulnerable to the observed and predicted effects of climate change; it is also a key contributor to the problem. In fact, the farming of animals for meat and dairy products accounts for 16.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions... Beyond climate pollution, a…

ALEX DEROSIER: 'A federal jury decided Friday that the world’s largest pork producer should pay $473.5 million to neighbors of three North Carolina industrial-scale hog farms for unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks... The jury awarded $23.5 million in compensatory damages and $450 million in punitive damages, which will be reduced to a total of $94 million under limits in state law. The jury found that Smithfield Foods owes compensation to six neighbors who complained in their lawsuit that the company failed to stop “the obnoxious, recurrent odors and…

DEREK BERES: 'Environmental research has revealed much about the impact of our nutrition decisions. According to Ben Houl, director of the John Muir Institute of UC Davis, one-quarter of climate change is attributed to food choices, which create twice as much global pollution as cars... For example... a six-ounce steak is equivalent to driving a car for three miles... and contributes 330 grams of carbon to the environment, when you factor in growing the animal and transportation... By contrast, an equal serving of chicken produces 51 grams of carbon, while fish produces 40 grams. If you go…

GRAIN: 'More than a decade ago, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published the first global accounting of greenhouse emissions from meat and dairy, demonstrating global livestock’s role in exacerbating climate change. Subsequent studies have backed up this initial assessment. Despite these findings, the biggest meat and dairy companies remain committed to growth levels that are completely at odds with the agreement reached in Paris in 2015 by the world's governments to keep the global temperature rise to "well below 2 degrees Celsius (°C),” with the goal of…