Imagine taking 6-20 plates of food and dumping them in the trash, perfectly fresh and edible. Off they go to the landfill. Obviously, none of us would behave so wastefully.

And yet that's precisely the effect each time any of us consumes meat, since the vast majority of the...

This is the true story of how the meat industry is manipulating our legislative process so that it can continue to abuse animals and workers while jeopardizing public health and our environment.

The story begins in 2008 with the nation's largest meat recall: The United States Department of Agriculture...

Battery cages are small wire cages where about 95 percent of laying hens spend their entire lives; each hen is given about 67-76 square inches of space (a standard sheet of paper measures 94 square inches). To get a sense of a hen's life in a battery cage, imagine spending...

There is a battle going on between animal protection advocates and the pork industry over "gestation crates," the 2-foot by 7-foot cages that confine about 80 percent of the United States' 5.5 million breeding pigs. In these crates, pregnant pigs are unable to engage in most of their...

In what has to be his most unlikely movie role yet, Steve-O has narrated What Came Before, a 10-minute film short about three escapees from the American meat industry.

The star, best known for inflicting pain on himself, is on a mission to end pain and suffering...

The product is "so covered in bacteria that researchers at the University of Arizona found more fecal bacteria in the kitchen -- on sponges and dish towels, and in the sink drain -- than they found swabbing the toilet." Thank God, one of nation's top producers of "lean, finely textured...

Ten years ago, oxen Bill and Lou arrived at Green Mountain College, malnourished and neglected. The college offered the pair "considerate and humane care," and for the next ten years, the college considered Bill and Lou to be "de facto campus mascots and integral members of the farm...

A few months ago, the New York Times Magazine ran a glowing cover profile of designer Stella McCartney. The piece was principally focused on how down-to-earth Stella is and how incredibly hard she works. But the part that most interested me, as an animal protection advocate, was the...

Most Americans understand that dogs and cats are individuals with personalities -- that they are someone, not something. At Farm Sanctuary, we provide lifelong care for more than 1,000 chickens, pig, cows, and other farm animals who were abused or neglected. We get to see firsthand how these animals also...

Right now, the USDA is allowing diseased bird organs to be sold for food, in violation of federal law. Because USDA won't enforce the law, thousands of animals are suffering miserably, and the consumers of these diseased products are at a higher risk for a variety of ailments, including type...

Every now and then, a movie comes along that is capable of fundamentally changing the worldview of its audience. Speciesism: The Movie, a new documentary by Mark Devries, is that kind of film.

The word "speciesism," which has been popularized by Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer, refers...

Lent is upon us, the holiest time of the year for Christians -- a time for us to ponder the meaning of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, his proclamation of "Good News" for the poor and downtrodden, and the degree to which our lives align with Christ's vision. Many will...

The past few months have been deeply encouraging for Americans who care about the worst abuses of farm animals, as legislation has been introduced that would -- once and for all -- relegate the barren battery cage to the dust bin of history and the two most well-known pork producers...

Sunday's New York Times and Washington Post agree that the Supreme Court's new term is likely to be, to quote the Post's front page, "the most significant term of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s six-year tenure." For those of us in the animal rights community, that's an...

While most of the United States experiences the onset of scorching summer heat, it's a great day for snowballs in Hell. For 25 years, Farm Sanctuary's Mephistopheles has been the egg industry, which is the most abusive of all the farmed animal industries. And yet today, the egg...

Catholic bishops in the U.K. want to reinstate year-round meatless Fridays, which sounds great to me, except for one thing: They still seem to think that fish are swimming vegetables.

Like all other animals killed for food, fish are sentient beings who value their lives.

As 1.5 million people cheered, Pope John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sunday. The beatification, declaring Pope John Paul II as holy, is a major step toward his likely sainthood.

His...

The most recent example of that old adage "with friends like this, who needs enemies" has come in the form of what I would have called a silly controversy, except that the controversy has had a measurable negative impact.

You may have heard about a "scandal" that rocked the vegan...

Just in time for Earth Day, April 22, European scientists released a groundbreaking report linking meat consumption to nitrogen pollution. Nitrogen pollution? What on earth is nitrogen pollution?

Nitrogen is commonly used to fertilize crops. Between 70 and 80 percent of agricultural greenhouse...

Tax Day is around the corner. While there is ample controversy over various elements of the tax code (and over taxes in general), one new tax that would make tremendous sense is an excise tax on meat, eggs, and dairy products.

Americans have to pay an excise, or "sin,"...