When a meat-based entrée is being served, and people are offered a vegetarian alternative, about 5 to 10 percent will request it.
But what if the choices were reversed? Organizers of the 2009 Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference, which began Monday in Washington, tried an experiment: They made a vegetarian lunch the default option, and gave meat eaters the choice of opting out.
Some 80 percent went for the veggies, not because there were lots of vegetarians in the crowd of about 700 people but because the choice was framed differently.
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I gave a talk in South Texas recently on the environmental virtues of a vegetarian diet. As you might imagine, the reception was chilly. In fact, the only applause came during the Q&A period when a member of the audience said that my lecture made him want to go out and eat even more meat. "Plus," he added, "what I eat is my business -- it's personal." [...more]
Food prices have soared over the past year. One might think that this would provide a welcome boost to the incomes of the world’s poorest people, most of whom are farmers and farm workers. But it doesn’t work that way, as Raj Patel explains [...more]
A vegetarian diet not only protects personal health, but may also help conserve the environment, world health leaders concluded at a conference on vegetarianism hosted by Seventh-day Adventist-owned Loma Linda University in California. [...more]
I witnessed a death two days ago. I am trying my best to get that image out of my mind, but I'm going to write about it here in the hopes that writing will be a catharsis. [...more]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently declared that meat and milk from cloned cows, pigs and goats and their offspring are "as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals." That´s like saying that brand A cigarettes are as safe to smoke as brand B. The question isn´t whether meat and milk from cloned animals pose additional health risks—it´s why would anyone want to consume meat and milk at all?
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The huge increase in growth rates of broiler chickens means more than a quarter of these intensively-reared birds have difficulty walking, according to a comprehensive survey carried out by the University of Bristol. [...more]
Video evidence compiled by The Humane Society of the United States shows inhumane handling methods that may have endangered the health of children. A shocking undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States reveals widespread mistreatment of “downed” dairy cows-those who are too sick or injured to walk-at a Southern California slaughter plant. [...] [...more]
EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby. With an in-depth [...] [...more]
