VEGANISM

TOVE DANOVICH: As anyone who has ever been on a team or a tight friend group knows, an unresolved conflict can tear a group apart. Sometimes it can be easier for a third party to step in to keep the peace and calm everyone down. Humans do this but studies have also shown the behavior in wolves, primates and birds. A new study published in Animal Cognition this month finds that pigs too adopt a strategy of “triadic contact” to resolve conflicts within their groups. First study author, Giada Cordoni at the University of Turin wrote in an email that they were surprised to see a “consolatory…

CALUM CHACE: Jacy Reese Anthis is a polymath and rising star in the fields of Effective Altruism (EA) and artificial intelligence (AI). He is a co-founder of the Sentience Institute and the author of the 2018 book “The End of Animal Farming”. EA is the project of identifying the most impactful strategies to help others, and the book grew out of EA research into the best ways to help animals. He explains his thinking on animals and AI in the latest episode of The London Futurist Podcast. Many people think that factory farming is one of the most pressing ethical problems in today's world. A…

IATP: This report for the first time estimates the methane emissions of five of the largest meat corporations and ten of the largest dairy corporations. Their combined methane emissions are roughly 12.8 million tonnes, which equates to over 80% of the European Union’s entire methane footprint. These companies’ emissions represent around 3.4% of all global anthropogenic methane emissions and 11.1% of the world’s livestock-related methane. The report also provides the latest estimates for the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the same companies, which amount to around 734 million…

JANET FORGRIEVE: Despite global concerns for the earth and the animals, taste, price and the craving for new options are still the key drivers of consumers’ decisions to add more plant-based products to their diets. In a survey earlier this year of 3,500 consumers by research firm Veylinx, 77% of respondents said they could be swayed to purchase more plant-based products, with 35% saying improved taste would drive that decision and 28% citing a lower price. In contrast, concerns for the environment and animal welfare ranked last on the list of reasons respondents cited. In fact, warnings…

JENNIFER HAHN: Animal rights organisation PETA has launched the Vegan Wool Challenge, calling on designers and researchers to develop a vegan alternative to sheep's wool with a lower environmental impact. The competition will award $1 million to the first entrant who develops a bio-based or bioengineered material that mimics the look, feel and performance of wool and is adopted by a major fashion brand. The hope is that this will help to cut emissions from the wool industry and support PETA's ongoing campaign against animal cruelty. "Even on 'sustainable' and 'responsible' farms, workers…

OPHELIE VERON: I am excited to share a new volume that I co-edited with my colleagues Paul Hodge (University of Newcastle), Andrew McGregor (Macquarie University), Simon Springer (University of Newcastle) and Richard J. White (University of Sheffield Hallam), and published by Lantern in March this year. Veganism as an ethics and a practice has a recorded history dating back to antiquity. Yet, it is only recently that researchers have begun the process of formalizing the study of veganism. Whereas occasional publications have recently emerged from sociology, history, philosophy, cultural…

KLAUS MITCHELL: Plant Based News (PBN) founder Klaus Mitchell gave a talk on the environmental impact of animal agriculture at COP27. The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference started on Monday, November 6. It is this year taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The annual event sees world leaders gather together to work on plans to address the climate crisis. It is thought that around 90 heads of state and representatives from more than 190 countries will be in attendance. Previous COP events have proved controversial due to their omission of discussion of animal agriculture.…

LOOK TO THE STARS: More than 200 prominent individuals have united through an international open letter to call on world leaders at the COP27 climate conference to end factory farming and transform our global food system. The letter – organized by Compassion in World Farming as part of its new End of the Line for Factory Farming global campaign – highlights the urgent need to transform our global food system and calls on world leaders to support and deliver a global agreement on food and farming at the United Nations General Assembly. It is being released on Solutions Day at the conference.…

RUBY RAMSDEN: Japan is a country with a long history of government-enforced meat bans. The first meat-ban, enacted in 673 CE, prohibited the consumption of horses, dogs, chickens, and monkeys, and was likely issued to promote rice cultivation and dissuade citizens from hunting during the spring and summer seasons. Other meat bans had various motivations, from economic to religious. In his book Animal Care in Japanese Tradition, W. Puck Brecher points out that local Japanese religion typically encouraged good treatment of animals, in contrast with Judeo-Christian teachings, which have long…

BJORN OLAFSSON: If you don’t know who “MrBeast” is, your kids almost certainly do. He’s massive with the Gen Z demographic, consistently trending on TikTok and YouTube, most famous for eye-grabbing philanthropic stunts or Squid Game recreations, sometimes reaching over a billion views a month. He’s also the latest influencer to collaborate with Undeniably Dairy, a massive, multiyear, marketing campaign designed to boost sagging sales of milk worldwide. But this campaign isn’t a ‘how do you do fellow kids’ cringey faux pax. These videos are popular, cool even: Iced coffee hacks. Cooking…