Compassionate Killers

Nicole Miraglia

The idea of going back to the basics for self-sufficient living is hardly new, but many people are choosing to do just that for a variety of reasons and in various levels of commitment. In 2011, Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, pledged to  eat only animals that he killed himself. Although his personal challenge lasted just one year, it sparked an interest of living off the land for many. The Eat What You Kill Movement has supporters from survival, nutritional, and ethical standpoints. Survivalists argue that self-sufficient living allows one to rely and live off of the land, completely independent from societal norms such as trips to the local supermarkets. Those following the trend for nutritional purposes, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Joe Rogan, are attempting to avoid antibiotics and hormones commonly found in store bought meats. Ethical supporters of the movement believe that they are being compassionate to the animals they are eating.

Mayogate Controversy: Epic Food Fight Over Meaning of ‘Mayo’

Spencer Lo

[Update 12/20/14: Unilever has dropped its lawsuit against Hampton Creek, without gaining any concessions in return. As public health lawyer Michele Simon observed, “It’s clear that Unilever realized its mistake and just wanted the whole thing to go away, and just in time for the holidays. It’s a fitting end to a colossal PR blunder.”]

Creating and mainstreaming superior food made solely from plants—especially one that cuts into a giant competitor’s profits—can get you sued: that is what Hampton Creek Foods, a vegan food technology company striving to create more sustainable and affordable food, recently learned soon after its eggless mayonnaise Just Mayo landed in national retail chains. Unilever, the owner of Hellmann’s and Best Foods, feeling it could no longer ignore Hampton Creek’s growing success, has filed a lawsuit against the start-up company alleging false advertising and unfair competition. Their central claim? Just Mayo deceives consumers into falsely believing that the eggless mayo product is real mayonnaise, when it is not, since “real mayonnaise” must contain eggs—according to both common dictionary definitions and the Food and Drug Administration’s standard of identity for mayonnaise. The deception, according to Unilever, allegedly caused it to suffer “great and irreparable injury” warranting injunctive relief and significant monetary damages.

Half of Earth’s Animal Population Gone in Just Forty Years

Carmen Parra

The Living Planet Index (LPI) from the World Wildlife Fund reported that between 1970 to 2010 there has been a 52% decline in vertebrae species populations on Earth. The study considered 10,380 populations of 3,038 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The most dramatic decline, 83%, was seen in Latin America. Freshwater species were the most impacted with a decline of 73%. The report also found that the primary causes of the decline are habitat loss, degradation and exploitation through hunting and fishing.

It is clear that the culprits are humans. The report states that we need 1.5 Earths in order to “meet the demands humanity currently makes on nature.” In other words, humans need to reduce their overall ecological footprint, most significantly carbon emissions. The United States utilizes 13.7% of the world’s resources landing second only to China who accounts for

Love it…list it…stuff it? African lion listing open for public comment

LionAid photo; click image

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations

From the Have Your Cake & Eat It Too Department: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has announced that it intends to list the African lion as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) … while continuing to allow the importation of lion trophies by American trophy hunters under a permit system.

Who’s hailing this decision as a victory?

Safari Club International applauded the proposal as a win for hunters and a loss for conservation groups that sought the endangered designation that would have prohibited the importation of trophies, a big lure for hunters.

“This conclusion is a blow to the anti-hunting rhetoric put forward by organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States and International Fund for Animal Welfare,” the group said. ~The Washington Post