In a critical step towards global sustainability, the United Nations (UN) adopted seventeen Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in 2015. SDG12 addressed consumption and production. Its third indicator target (SDG 12.3) focused on food waste and loss. The UN set a target of halving food waste by...
In 1992, Brewster Bartlett, a science teacher at Pinkerton Academy in New Hampshire, started a citizen science project encouraging his students to use email. Driving back to the school one day, he passed a dead skunk on the side of the road. He decided that...
On June 28, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 20 the International Day of Happiness following a resolution introduced by Bhutan, who famously declared that it would track national progress via a Gross National Happiness metric rather than GDP. The annual World Happiness...
New York City has more than its share of celebrity residents. It is, therefore, perhaps not surprising that the city may also find itself all atwitter because of the presence of avian celebrities. Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who took up residence on one of...
This year, 2024, is the centenary of the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child by the League of Nations. That Declaration was drafted by Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of the Save the Children Fund, and states that all people owe children the right...
The animal healthcare industry faces a formidable challenge: a persistent shortage of veterinarians and veterinary technicians. The shortage stresses existing practitioners, resulting in prolonged wait times for companion animal clients, inadequate care in equine and bovine practice sectors, and significant challenges in shelter medicine. Furthermore,...
In 1700, so many beaver pelts were stored in Montreal warehouses that they threatened to glut the market, something that traders had already experienced in previous years. So, fearing that prices in Europe would crash, orders were given to pile up and burn fully three-quarters...
February and March bring crocuses and daffodils to the Northern Hemisphere and extensive media coverage of “clothing and other fashions” in Milan, Paris, New York, and London. In mid-March last year, there were numerous media reports that the Labrador retriever had been deposed as America's...
In 2017, the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus closed down, reportedly because of declining attendance. However, the circus had also been a target of escalating protests by animal advocates. Shows involving wild animals in Las Vegas have also been under attack by animal...
Thousands of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) are working worldwide to improve the well-being of dogs. Still, providing even a rough estimate of the global impact of these dog welfare projects has proved very challenging. Some organizations – such as the Soi Dog Foundation – have and...
