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Whether Veganuary Works Long-Term, It’s Certainly Better Than Nothing

Perhaps you’ve seen people taking the 31-day “Veganuary” challenge on social media and wondered: what exactly is that — and does it work? Veganuary was founded in the UK in 2013, then launched in...

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How Overconsumption Affects the Environment and Health, Explained

Of all the human practices that are gradually destroying the environment, overconsumption is one of the most significant and least discussed. We are using up our planet’s resources faster than they...

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The Bill Gates Bug-Eating Conspiracy, Explained

If you are someone like me — interested in issues like climate change, food systems and alternatives proteins — and you engage with these topics online, you may find yourself inundated with comments...

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Cows Play and Have Best Friends — But Are Rarely Given the Chance

There are around a billion cows on the planet, but most of us know very little about them. Despite the fact that they are ubiquitous, visible and instantly recognizable creatures, most people think of...

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Fish Feel Pain, Science Shows — But Humans Are Reluctant To Believe It

The number of fish who die annually from human activities surpasses that of any other vertebrate, and yet many people still believe that it’s more ethically permissible to kill a fish than, say, a pig...

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Colostrum Claims To Be a Superfood — But It’s Meant for Newborn Calves

While health and beauty trends come and go, the general message often remains exactly the same: with one simple (and often costly) product, consumers can achieve an unparalleled level of wellness....

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Antibiotics in Chicken and Other Animals Is a Big Public Health Risk

Animal agriculture’s widespread use of chicken antibiotics, along with the use of antibiotics in other farmed animals, contributes to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance (AMR). As the World...

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8 Important Laws for Animals to Watch Out for in 2024

Twenty twenty-three was a landmark year — the first time the Supreme Court sided with animal welfare in its decision to uphold Proposition 12. But the future legal status of animals in the U.S. is...

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How To Explain Lab-Grown Meat Simply (For People Who Aren’t Scientists)

Winston Churchill once wrote that in the future, “we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable...

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Animal Testing for Cosmetics Is Still (Unnecessarily) Common

For almost a century, cosmetic companies have tested their products on animals. But it’s an inhumane practice of questionable reliability, and countries around the world are beginning to recognize...

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If Factory Farming Ended, What Would Happen to All the Animals?

Factory farming is a destructive process that erodes the land, pollutes the air and inflicts untold suffering on animals. As more and more people learn about the disturbing realities of factory...

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The Best & Worst Milks for the Environment, Decoded

Breast milk is the first food  we eat as newborns, and for many people, some kind of milk continues to be a dietary staple for the rest of their lives. But the production of dairy milk is bad for the...

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5 Ways Taxpayers Bail Out Factory Farms

Roughly every five years or so, Congress passes a new iteration of the Farm Bill — an appropriations measure that pays for our  food production by way of, a system that has become increasingly...

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The Best & Worst Protein Sources for the Environment, Explained

Protein is one of the fundamental building blocks of life, and an essential part of our diets as humans. We can’t survive without it, and yet many protein sources inflict serious harm on the...

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Amazon Deforestation Is Falling Under Brazil’s New President — but Is It Too...

The Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, and plays a crucial role in maintaining Earth’s ecosystem. It’s also being slowly destroyed from within by cattle farmers,...

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Do Plants Feel Pain? No, and Here’s How Scientists Know

When vegans and vegetarians argue against eating meat because of the pain it inflicts on animals, they’re often met with a pithy-sounding retort: What if plants feel pain, too? You can’t prove that...

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Mangroves Fight Climate Change, but Shrimp Farming Threatens Them

Mangroves are among the most important ecosystems on the planet. Though unassuming in appearance, these collections of trees and shrubs are crucial sources of biodiversity across the planet, and play...

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What a Plant-Based Diet Is — and Isn’t — Explained

If you eat animal products with any regularity, the prospect of switching to a plant-based diet may feel daunting. Meat, dairy and eggs are central to most meals in the West, and figuring out how to...

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The Top Pork Producer in the U.S. Is Owned by China, but Harming Local...

Pork is the most-consumed meat in the world, and American pork farms play a major role in facilitating this. There are over 66,000 pork farms in the U.S., with an average of 1,089 pigs on each farm,...

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What Veguary Is, and Why It Matters, Explained

One of the most common misconceptions about veganism is that it’s just for privileged, affluent Americans. In fact, diverse communities — especially those from the global African diaspora — have been...

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