Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy
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Wild Birds: Human & Animal Welfare, Environment, and Global Sustainability
No full textBirds provide many ecosystem services and contribute to human well-being, but their numbers are falling worldwide
What if plants compute?
No full textThe unexpended cognitive capacities of plants suggest the possibility of combining them with advances in computation. It is important to explore such a new field of research despite the incompleteness of the empirical support for it
Cognition is not evidence of sentience
No full textThe ability of plants to detect their environment, including other organisms within that environment, is unquestioned. The ability of plants to differentially process, integrate and respond to complex combinations of environmental information could perhaps be described as cognition. But no amount of evidence for cognitive abilities in plants equates to evidence for plant sentience. Nor is plant sentience required to understand or interpret the behaviour of plants in their environment
A Swift Kick in the Pandemics: Identifying Spillover Dynamics
No full textThe spillover of viruses from wild animals to cause human disease is a complex ecological process. A recent paper connects the dots
Animal Agriculture Is The Missing Piece In Climate Change Media Coverage
No full textFor many years now, climate researchers have been warning that the world can’t meet its Paris Agreement climate goals of limiting global warming to 1.5°C without reducing meat consumption. Multiple studies have affirmed that between 11.1 and 19.6% of global emissions come from meat and dairy production, and leading global food and climate agencies are also in agreement, recommending that people, particularly those in the Global North, reduce meat consumption in favor of a plant-rich diet.
The effects of animal agriculture on the environment and climate are vast: It is a leading cause of deforestation, it’s responsible for significant biodiversity loss and pollution, and emits large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly methane. Methane alone is the cause of over 25% of global warming, for which reason reducing methane emissions is critical. If emissions continue as they are now, the food sector alone is enough to push global warming past that 1.5°C limit, while just reducing meat consumption could get the world much closer to our emissions goal. In the United States, this reduction would mean that the average person would consume about 70% fewer animal products on a daily basis, with the greatest reductions coming from red meat and chicken—92% less red meat and 81% less chicken, according to EAT-Lancet Commission recommendations.
Despite the extensive research supporting the reduction of animal product consumption, there’s long been a disconnect between what the research shows and what the public understands. According to a recent consumer study conducted by Purdue researchers: “The belief that ‘eating less meat is better for the environment,’ which is strongly supported by many climate and environmental researchers, is at an all-time low” (Lusk & Polzin, 2023). The reason for this disconnect is multifaceted, but at least one factor is the information the public receives regarding the connection between animal agriculture and climate change.
Given the role of the media in informing the public about important issues like climate change, this partner project between Faunalytics and Sentient Media sought to understand how the media communicates the environmental implications of animal agriculture to readers. By analyzing recent climate articles from top U.S. media outlets, we drilled down on how often the media makes the connection between animal agriculture and climate change when reporting on climate issues, and how reporting on animal agriculture in relation to climate change misses the mark
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Revisited
No full textAvian flu threatens biodiversity and human well-being. What is it, and what can be done
Coping with Captivity: The Tragic Journey of Willie B.
No full textThis tale is the first in a three-part series about Willie B., Atlanta’s iconic ape and one of the most famous gorillas in the world
The Asian Elephant and its Interaction with People and the Environment
No full textIs the Asian Elephant an example of a self-domesticated species, and if so, how should the species be managed
Does Having a Pet Really Benefit Your Mental Health?
No full textA study in the United Kingdom of the effect of pet\u27s on owner\u27s mental health during the COVID pandemic produced surprising results. The owners of pets did not have improved mental health and those owners who were more attached to their pets were more depressed and lonelier than less attached owners
Living with Lions
No full textLions face many challenges in the modern world. We have written about lion breeding and conservation and lion trophy hunting in previous WellBeing News posts. But lions also suffer the consequences of human-wildlife conflict, and many are poisoned or killed by exasperated livestock owners when the lions prey on domestic animals. Recently, in a webinar on the lions of Zimbabwe by Dr. Andrew Loveridge of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (Oxford University), a new method of preventing human-lion conflict was described