Humane Thinking, from HRC

The Humane Research Council is very pleased to announce the availability of results from our latest collaborative research project, the "Animal Tracker." The first in a series of annual surveys of attitudes and behavior among U.S. adults, the new report provides a baseline assessment of key perceptions and actions taken on behalf of animals. The full report is available only to registered HumaneSpot.org users, but here’s a taste of what the results show...

A survey of public opinion can be very informative, but it covers only a snapshot in time. Without the ability to compare and contrast results over years, even decades, it’s difficult to know if the results were influenced by external factors (e.g., a major news item). With tracking studies, however, the results are more like a video than a snapshot. Tracking polls provide consistency, comparability, and context for otherwise isolated data – and that means more meaningful results for advocates.

The so-called "developing" world is growing quickly and in most cases adopting Western lifestyles and diets as they do so. Feeding a global population of more than 9.3 billion (by 2050) will therefore mean the consumption of billions more animals. With references to Thomas Malthus and a recent study by David and Marcia Pimentel, we take a closer look at this population problem.

My last post on in vitro meat production argued that the new technology will render animal farming obsolete, but I also admitted that the change will take a while. In the meantime, overall meat consumption will rise dramatically in spite of the immense gap between the world's wealthy (and well-fed) and its poor (and malnourished). Here we take a closer look at the diets of nine families in nine very different countries, through the lens of photo-journalist Peter Menzel.

So-called "lab meat" is the future of farmed animal advocacy, with the potential to completely replace the hundreds of billions of animals consumed every year throughout the world. While it still faces major science- and business-related hurdles, the promise of in vitro meat is eliminating the vast majority of animal suffering caused by humans. More than just another example of "system-wide change," the successful commercialization of lab meat would be downright revolutionary.