On Animal Welfare

The eventual success of solar wasn’t augured by carefully constructed models of possible future outcomes. Rather, the decision to double down during one of solar’s pessi -mistic periods would have been an expression of determination that the future isn’t set in stone, but is shaped by idealists who take bold action in the face of uncertainty. When ... See more

Chinese people don’t reject common vegetarian foods because there is something fundamentally more valuable about meat. They do so because of perceived value — associations of plants with poverty and meat with prosperity

Faced with sloppy, conflicting, and at times disingenuous messaging over a product that still costs more and tastes worse, it seems only rational if consumers continue to fall back on a simple heuristic: What would your grand -mother eat?

This is misleading at best. At its worst, it’s plainly wrong: There is no definitive evidence that eating plant-based meat leads to better health outcomes. And there’s no definitive evidence that it doesn’t.

The first issue is that nearly all studies purporting to show health consequences of eating (usually red) meat or health bene -fits of plant-based diets are observational. Observational studies are the backbone of nutrition science; they outnumber controlled trials in one estimate by more than 7-to-1.

“Ethical cannibalism” is the idea that — wait, I’m kidding, come back. I’ve talked about everything from battery cages to zooplankton. What about the actual humans who produce the food? Well, I care about them too. I try to keep up with boycotts, to buy slavery-free chocolate, etc

There are no legal mandates anywhere on earth that food fish or shrimp be killed in a minimally painful way. Often, they asphyx -iate after being hauled into boats. It can take hours. Tofu is cheap. So are beans.

What to do? I could find a new guy with twenty chickens. I could find a farm where I can go look at the chickens and verify that they aren’t in tiny cages and can do chicken business . But mostly, because I’m on a budget, and because none of my neighbors have twenty chickens, I buy tofu.

Adult oysters or mussels are sessile, meaning that their mobile larvae settle into one place and live stuck there for the rest of their lives. The choices afforded to these animals are few. Their nerves are centralized but not to the extent of full brains. They probably have fewer total neurons than, say, an ant. And a hearty mussel or oyster is mu... See more