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German meat consumption continues to decline as more people shift to ‘healthier, climate-friendly diets’, according to data released this week
The ongoing decline in German meat consumption has been described as a ‘clear sign of progress’ when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.
According to the data, published by Germany’s Federal Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL), per capita consumption of meat fell by 4.2 kilograms in 2022.
Per capita consumption currently stands at 52 kilograms – the lowest since records began in 1989.
Jasmijn de Boo, Vice President of global food awareness organisation ProVeg says the decline is partly down to people adopting more flexitarian diets.
She said: “We’re really pleased to see the continued decline in meat consumption in Germany, which has been helped by people following flexitarian diets.
“This is good news for the environment, for people’s health and, of course, for animals. Animal agriculture is responsible for about 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, along with widespread deforestation, and the pollution of waterways.
“It is imperative that policies are implemented to ensure that the trend seen in Germany is replicated elsewhere.”
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German meat consumption
According to de Boo, there is a significant need to overhaul the food system if we are to fight climate change and ensure a more sustainable future.
ProVeg cited a March 2023 study showing how ‘high methane producing foods like meat and dairy products will push the planet past the 1.5C international target by the end of the century if left unchecked’.
An earlier German study, published by Bonn University in April 2022, noted that ‘rich countries will need to reduce their meat consumption by up to 75 per cent’ to meet those international climate targets and to avoid ecosystem collapse.’
Speaking about the connection between animal agriculture and the environment, de Boo said: “We can no longer ignore the need to significantly transform the food system to ensure a more sustainable future for all.”
She added that the good news is that ‘the solutions are already out there to reduce meat and dairy consumption by encouraging a flexitarian diet’.
Among her suggestions on how to create widespread food system change were public procurement of plant-based foods and policies that encourage the growth of the plant-based industry.
ProVeg has also called for investment in alternative protein product research and innovation, and incentives for farmers to transition away from meat and dairy production.
How James Cromwell met his newest friend is a full-circle moment for the Babe actor.
Cromwell, 83, helped saved a piglet who fell off of a truck on the way to get fattened for slaughter and named him Babe in honor of the very film that inspired him to go vegan.
“Having had the privilege of witnessing and experiencing pigs’ intelligence and inquisitive personalities while filming the movie Babe changed my life and my way of eating, and so I jumped at the chance to save this real-life Babe,” Cromwell said in a statement from PETA.
“Every pig deserves to live in peace and joy at a sanctuary, choosing when to frolic, where to forage, and how to spend their time, yet few do.”
According to the statement, the Succession star had to meet the creature after he was found scraped, bruised and covered in mud just before Easter (where ham is a popular dish served on the holiday) — and did so on Zoom Friday.
The actor shared a recording of his virtual meeting with Babe on Twitter, writing, “This sweet little guy is NOT Easter dinner. He jumped off a transport truck and will now be traveling to an animal sanctuary to live a peaceful life. That’ll do pig. That’ll do. @peta.”
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In the clip, Cromwell greeted the baby pig: “Hello there, little man. I understand your name is Babe. I knew a pig named Babe. What a smart little pig she was. Bet you are too.”
“I hear you’re rather an extraordinary pig — besides being sleepy,” he said as the piglet nestled in a blanket. “So you jumped off a truck so you wouldn’t be Easter’s dinner. What a great thing to do.”
“Nobody should have any animal for dinner. ‘Invite the animals to dinner,’ that’s what I say,” he asserted.
He continued, “We’re going to go to a sanctuary and you’re gonna meet a lot of other incredible animals.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting you and all the other animals, and I’ll see you there,” Cromwell said of Indraloka Animal Sanctuary, where he will help transfer Babe once the animal is healthy enough, according to the statement.
Cromwell then repeated the same last words he said in the ending of Babe: “That’ll do pig, that’ll do.”
Babe (1995) tells the story of the titular piglet as he escapes becoming Christmas dinner when Farmer Hoggett (Cromwell) wins him at a county fair. The film inspired Cromwell to go vegan, and the actor has been a longtime PETA advocate — participating in protests and even serving as an honorary director of the organization.
FEATURE — Deer are common visitors to landscapes even in urban and suburban areas. Fencing is the most effective way to protect your plants but is not always practical or desirable. Your community may have restrictions on fencing, your budget may not support this option, or you prefer not to hide your plantings behind a fence.
In this file photo, a deer forages in Zion National Park, Utah, June 3, 2021 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Growing a beautiful garden despite the deer is possible but takes planning, persistence, and flexibility. You must be willing to change strategies as needed to minimize deer damage.
Deer dining patterns can vary from one part of your neighborhood to another and from year to year. You have probably reviewed deer-resistant plant lists only to find a few of the plants frequently damaged in your yard included on the list.
No plant is immune from hungry deer, but some are a bit less palatable than others.
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Look for plants with these characteristics next time you go plant shopping. Include plants with fuzzy or hairy leaves, those with prickly or thorny stems, thick and leathery leaves, and strong fragrances that deer tend to avoid.
Even though this is not one hundred percent, plant selection should be part of your strategy for reducing the risk of damage. Make note of the plants selected and how the deer responded. It will help as you make future additions to the garden.
Daffodils on the Dixie Garden Tour, St. George, Utah, circa 2011 | Photo courtesy of Kim Ence, St. George News
There are toxic plants that deer avoid, including daffodils, ferns, false blue indigo, poppies, euphorbias and bleeding hearts to name a few. Some of these are also toxic to people and pets so do your research before adding them to the landscape.
Some gardeners find combining the less favored plants with those the deer love helps discourage feeding. Planting strongly scented lavender next to roses or surrounding a garden of deer favorites with thyme can help discourage deer browsing. Diversifying plantings is also a good strategy for reducing the risk of insects and diseases infecting and destroying gardens filled with just one type of plant.
Look for pathways frequented or used to enter your landscape. Find ways to disrupt their regular routes to keep them moving along past your landscape. A trellis or a few posts covered with vines may be enough to limit access. Points of access are great places to apply repellents like organic Plantskydd (plantskydd.com).
The deer take a whiff and move along before taking a bite out of any plants. The same holds true for those key plants favored by deer. It’s rain and snow resistant so you don’t need to apply it as often as other repellent products.
Plant a deer-deterring hedge. Some gardeners use deer favorites, allowing the deer to munch on these plants as they continue past your yard. Other gardeners fill the hedge with prickly, smelly, and less desirable plants. Deer will take a bite and move along. Plant these close together to discourage deer from pushing through in search of better-tasting plants.
Design round or square beds with more space in the middle and less perimeter. Long narrow beds allow easy access to all the plants in the garden.
Keep in mind deer are focused on finding food while you have other priorities to consider. You need to be vigilant and persistent, adapting as the deer’s eating habits change to be successful. Your efforts will be rewarded as you grow an attractive garden without the help of a fence.
FILE – Tigers are visible at the Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur, India on April 12, 2015. India will celebrate 50 years of tiger conservation on April 9, 2023, with Modi set to announce tiger population numbers at an event in Mysuru in Karnataka. (AP Photo/Satyajeet Singh Rathore, File)
BENGALURU, India (AP) — It was a celebratory atmosphere for officials gathered just hours away from several of India’s major tiger reserves in the southern city of Mysuru, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Sunday to much applause that the country’s tiger population has steadily grown to over 3,000 since its flagship conservation program began 50 years ago after concerns that numbers of the big cats were dwindling.
“India is a country where protecting nature is part of our culture,” Modi proclaimed. “This is why we have many unique achievements in wildlife conservation.”
Modi also launched the International Big Cats Alliance that he said will focus on the protection and conservation of seven big cat species, namely, the tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah.
Protesters, meanwhile, are telling their own stories Sunday of how they have been displaced by wildlife conservation projects over the last half-century, with dozens demonstrating about an hour away from the announcement.
Project Tiger began in 1973 after a census of the big cats found India’s tigers were fast going extinct through habitat loss, unregulated sport hunting, increased poaching and retaliatory killing by people. It’s believed the tiger population was around 1,800 at the time, but experts widely consider that an overestimate due to imprecise counting methods in India until 2006. Laws attempted to address the decline, but the conservation model centered around creating protected reserves where ecosystems can function undisturbed by people.
Several Indigenous groups say the conservation strategies, deeply influenced by American environmentalism, meant uprooting numerous communities that had lived in the forests for millennia.
Members of several Indigenous or Adivasi groups — as Indigenous people are known in the country — set up the Nagarahole Adivasi Forest Rights Establishment Committee to protest evictions from their ancestral lands and seek a voice in how the forests are managed.
“Nagarahole was one of the first forests to be brought under Project Tiger and our parents and grandparents were probably among the first to be forced out of the forests in the name of conservation,” said J. A. Shivu, 27, who belongs to the Jenu Kuruba tribe. “We have lost all rights to visit our lands, temples or even collect honey from the forests. How can we continue living like this?”
Jenu, which means honey in the southern Indian Kannada language, is the tribe’s primary source of livelihood as they collect it from beehives in the forests to sell.
The fewer than 40,000 Jenu Kuruba people are one of the 75 tribal groups that the Indian government classifies as particularly vulnerable. Adivasi communities like the Jenu Kurubas are among the poorest in India.
Some experts say conservation policies that attempted to protect a pristine wilderness were influenced by prejudices against local communities.
The Indian government’s tribal affairs ministry has repeatedly said it is working on Adivasi rights. Only about 1% of the more than 100 million Adivasis in India have been granted any rights over forest lands despite a government forest rights law, passed in 2006, that aimed to “undo the historical injustice” for forest communities.
India’s tiger numbers, meanwhile, are thriving: the country’s 3,167 tigers account for more than 75% of the world’s wild tiger population.
Tigers have disappeared in Bali and Java and China’s tigers are likely extinct in the wild. The Sunda Island tiger, the other sub-species, is only found in Sumatra. India’s project to safeguard them has been praised as a success by many.
“Project Tiger hardly has a parallel in the world since a scheme of this scale and magnitude has not been so successful elsewhere,” said SP Yadav, a senior Indian government official in charge of Project Tiger.
But critics say the social costs of fortress conservation — where forest departments protect wildlife and prevent local communities from entering forest regions — is high.
Sharachchandra Lele, of the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, said the conservation model is outdated.
“There are already several examples of forests used actively by local communities and tiger numbers have actually increased even while people have benefited in these regions,” he said.
Vidya Athreya, the director of Wildlife Conservation Society in India who has been studying the interactions between large cats and humans for the last two decades, agreed.
“Traditionally we always put wildlife over people,” Athreya said, adding that engaging with communities is the way forward for protecting wildlife in India.
Shivu, from the Jenu Kuruba tribe, also wants to go back to a life where Indigenous communities and tigers lived together.
“We consider them gods and us the custodians of these forests,” he said.
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Aniruddha Ghosal in New Delhi, India, contributed to this report.
Long before we knew birds could ‘see’ Earth’s magnetic field, Albert Einstein discussed the possibility of animals with super senses in his fan mail to other researchers.
A long-lost letter from the scientist to an inquiring engineer in 1949 turned out to be extraordinarily prescient in the fields of biology and physics.
The original inquiry from engineer Glyn Davys, which started the correspondence, has since been lost, but judging from Einstein’s reply, Davys’s question had something to do with animal perception and what it can tell us about the physical world.
“It is thinkable that the investigation of the behavior of migratory birds and carrier pigeons may someday lead to the understanding of some physical process which is not yet known,” Einstein wrote in his reply.
More than 70 years later, we now know Einstein’s hunch was right on the money. Evidence now suggests birds can sense Earth’s magnetic field using special photoreceptors in their eyes that are sensitive to subtle shifts in the planet’s magnetic field. This is what allows them to migrate thousands of kilometers without getting lost.
Other animals, like marine turtles, dogs, and bees, also show an uncanny ability to sense our planet’s magnetic fields, although not necessarily through the eyes.
“It is amazing that [Einstein] conceived this possibility, decades before empirical evidence revealed that several animals can indeed perceive magnetic fields and use such information for navigation,” wrote researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2021, where the letter was donated.
Still, the Nobel Prize winner did have some clues to guide his thinking. At the time the letter was written, biological science and physical science were beginning to merge like never before. Bat echolocation had recently been discovered, and radar technology was beginning to take root.
In fact, Davys himself was a researcher in this field, which is probably why he was interested in other strange animal senses, like those shown by bees.
In Einstein, he found a like-minded soul. It seems the famous physicist was also fascinated by biological science as a window to unseen physical forces.
His return letter, which was undiscovered until Davys’s death in 2011, is short, but it confirms Einstein was similarly fascinated by the behavior of bees.
(Dyer et al., J Comp Physiol A, 2021)
In the type-written note, Einstein admits he is well acquainted with Karl von Frisch, who had recently figured out bees navigate using the polarization patterns of light.
Einstein is known to have attended one of von Frisch’s lectures at Princeton University six months before the letter was sent. He even had a personal meeting with the researcher, and these interactions clearly left an impression.
While Davys seems to be most interested in how this new biological knowledge can inform future technology, Einstein argues we need more biological research.
“I cannot see a possibility to utilize those results in the investigation concerning the basis of physics,” he replied to Davys.
“Such could only be the case if a new kind of sensory perception, resp. of their stimuli, would be revealed through the behavior of the bees”.
Since the letter was sent, we’ve learned a lot about bee behavior and how these curious insects perceive the world. Just as Einstein predicted, that knowledge is already helping us improve technology, like the cameras on our iPhones.
Despite decades of research, however, there’s still a lot of mystery left. The exact mechanisms by which animals perceive light or sense the Earth’s magnetic field are still being teased apart, and it might not be the same for every species.
Bees, for instance, appear to sense the magnetic field in their abdomen, while birds and dogs seem to do so predominantly through special photoreceptors in their eyes called cryptochromes.
Even human cells make cryptochromes, and recent research reveals these cells respond dynamically to changes in the magnetic field.
This is ironic because it’s what you would expect from a unique quantum reaction. For a photoreceptor to sense a magnetic field, it would require electrons within the cell to become entangled, and Einstein at the time had rejected this idea, calling it “spooky action at a distance”.
Clearly, Einstein wasn’t always right, but even when it came to fields of science outside his expertise, the man had brains.
It’s been a winter few in Yosemite valley will ever forget.
After wildfires left the national park’s dramatic views shrouded in smoke over the summer, winter brought a series of historic storms that left the region inundated with snow. The deluge buried homes, cars and fire hydrants, chewed into stretches of winding mountain roads and downed trees along the park’s slopes.
As conditions intensified, officials opted to close the park, forced to turn away the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come from all over the world to take in its iconic scenery.
Park personnel worked for weeks to dig the valley out of shoulder-high piles of snow, repair crucial infrastructure and prepare for the imminent threat of melt-off flooding.
Snow in Yosemite national park is still piled overhead in some areas even as the weather turns sunny and crisp. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian
But on a crisp and sunny morning last week, a surge of visitors trickled back into the valley. The park had partially reopened in mid-March, just in time for spring break. A churn of cars circled across the valley floor and pedestrians dotted the roads and meadows as the snow ceded ground to soil below.
“It isn’t as bad as we thought it would be,” said Nicole Torres, who had booked her family’s spring break eight months out, long before it became clear that California would be in for a wild winter. “Getting some sun and not having to worry about snow chains – it has been really nice.”
“Even though there is snow everywhere it feels like the quintessential California day,” added Stephanie Sanchez, who was there with the Torres family.
Jason and Shannon Smith, who own Airbnbs tucked into the slopes, had also ventured into the valley to see how the park fared. The couple was surprised by the ease in access, given the severity of the weather that had hit them in recent weeks.
Near their home and business, hundreds of power poles were toppled in the storms. The couple lost power for weeks, Jason said, and had to cancel bookings.
Intense winter storms caused landslides that damaged infrastructure in Yosemite. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian
The danger hasn’t completely passed. Water is still cascading around three sides of their home, which is sandwiched between storm runoff, a drainage ditch, and the Fresno River. Jason’s worried about the snow still waiting to melt, and whether the area will get hit with another late-season storm. Even a smaller-scale event could wreak havoc on the sodden hillsides, he said.
This year’s winter offered just a taste of what is possible when the weather grows more intense, he added. “I don’t want to see it,” he said. “From what we went through, with power poles failing and people just living out of the pantries with whatever they had.”
Park officials share their fears. Threats posed by the enormous snowpack, supercharged with water content, loom large.
“This winter has been one for the record books and California keeps on setting new ones,” park officials said in a post online, noting that the snow along its Tioga Pass had measured higher than 162in. Just eight years ago, they added, it reached only 11.5in at the same time and place.
Even on a balmy day in the park, signs of severe impact are showing, and to scientists and conservationists it’s clear that the rich and diverse ecosystems are taking a hit.
“Yosemite is ground zero for climate change,” said Beth Pratt, who, along with being a local resident and regular among the wilderness areas of Yosemite, serves as the California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation. Wildlife is feeling the weather whiplash, she said: “We go into this winter, coming off of drought for a decade. I have never seen anything like it.”
The diverse ecosystems in Yosemite national park show the signs of severe impact. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian
She pointed at the Sonoran blue butterfly, which typically seeks refuge among the alpine succulents. This year, because of washouts, the essential host plants are in dangerously short supply, Pratt said. Just months ago, during a brutal heatwave that pushed temperatures past 114F, there weren’t enough flowers for the butterflies.
The pica, a resilient, and incredibly cute rodent that lives at high elevations, is also struggling with the intense shifts, she noted. They live under the snow in the winter but this season may prove too much. When the heat comes, the fast-melting snow could drown them. “Every species is impacted by this whiplash” she said, “and at some point they won’t be able to adapt.”
And, as the weather warms and camping season starts to peak, the park and its inhabitants will once again be contending with another pressing dilemma: crowds.
“Yosemite’s visitation pattern has changed – it is a year-round park,” said Neal Desai, a senior director at the National Parks Conservation Association. He worried that with other recreation areas across the Sierra Nevada range socked in with snow into the summer, even more people will push into the snow-cleared sites. “Yosemite valley is going to be a sacrifice zone.”
He and his organization have been pushing the park to commit to a reservation system that would stem the surge of tourists and enable better planning.
Yosemite has opted out this year, but officials say they are working on implementing a permanent solution.
As snow in Yosemite national park has melted, visitors have returned and experts have warned that the surge of tourists must be stemmed. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian
Desai pleaded for more urgency. “It is how we will actually steward this place in the face of climate change,” he said. “The thing that is fully within their control is managing their visitation – and it is their biggest problem.”
“We are over our carrying capacity,” Pratt agreed. “These parks are supposed to be the most protected places on the planet. They are really the only place where the wildlife and ecosystems are supposed to have privacy.”
For now, the gates will be open to those who can snag a campsite or room in the lodge. The snow will melt and the next round of dangers will start to take shape. The shifts will be on full display for crowds coming in as the weather warms.
Pratt hopes those who visit will be able to see the importance of protecting the lands along with the creatures who call them home.
“Yosemite has more biodiversity than Yellowstone – and to that point, there is more wildlife in peril,” she added. “We are risking this incredible center of life in Yosemite and the Sierra with our climate impacts.”
MADISON, Wis.-Wisconsinwildlife officials on Friday released thousands of public comments on a new wolf management plan, some calling for the restoration of a statewide population limit and others urging a total hunting ban.
Department of Natural Resources in November released a draft of its first new wolf management plan in almost 25 years. It would eliminate the existing 350-animal population goal and recommends instead that the DNR work with local advisory committees on whether to reduce local wolf populations, keep them stable, or allow them to grow.
To Dr. William Cornatzer, it was an unforgettable image, one that troubled him deeply.
An avid hunter, Cornatzer was listening to a presentation on thelead poisoningof Californiacondorswhen an x-ray of a muledeerflashed on an overhead screen. The deer had been shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle. Cornatzer was shocked that the deer’s entire carcass was riddled with dozens of tiny lead-shot fragments.
“My first thought had nothing to do with California condors; it had to do with what I had been doing as a hunter myself, and what I had been feeding our kids,” said Cornatzer, a clinical professor of medicine at theUniversity of North Dakota School…
Anoutbreakof avian flu at a Spanish mink farm in October 2022 and several other reported cases of the virus’sspreadto mammals sparked concern of its transmission to humans. But experts say it will take a lot for avian flu to become a full-fledged human pandemic,Sciencereported.
Human cases of avian flu are deadly, but historically rare, according to theCDC. A few have cropped up across the globe in places like China, Cambodia and Chile throughout the past year, but largely from direct contact with infected birds or animals — not from human-to-human transmission.
The H5N1 strain of avian flu has been the one responsible for a majority of human cases to date, but for the flu to become a full-scale, concerning human pandemic, experts say a few key things…
Three domestic cats in the U.S. – two in Nebraska and one in Wyoming – have recently tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza after eating wild birds, scientists say. A dog in Canada died of bird flu last week.
In Wyoming, the State Veterinary Laboratory said in a brief statement that a barn cat tested positive for bird flu near Thermopolis, a small town in Hot Springs County, about 110 miles southeast of Casper.
“This is the first report of HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) in a domestic cat in Wyoming, and it likely became infected from ingesting meat from wild waterfowl,” the lab’s statement said.
There was no information about the cat’s condition, but Dr. Myrna Miller, the lab’s supervisor of virology…
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(Dyer et al., J Comp Physiol A, 2021)
(Dyer et al., J Comp Physiol A, 2021)
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Exposing the Big Game 