Sixty to seventy percent of Mexico’s terrain is classified as arid or semiarid desert, typically with no rain for eight to nine months a year. La pipa, the water truck, brings enough water to supply farms for a day or two at most. Meanwhile, 86...

Fish farming, a form of aquaculture, is now the fastest-growing form of factory farming worldwide. This rapid expansion can be attributed to the industry’s emphasis on buzzwords such as “climate,” “conservation,” and “sustainability.” While discussions about land-based farmed animals, such as cattle, pigs, and...

Fur has been an essential part of human survival, culture, and self-expression. For tens of thousands of years, humans relied on animal hides for warmth, protection, and practical clothing needs. Over time, fur became a symbol of status, artistry, and cultural identity. Today, it...

Microplastics, plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters, can be found in land, air, and water, and have infiltrated our food chain, resulting in far-reaching health consequences for humans and nonhumans alike. In 2020, scientists discovered the “highest level of microplastic ever recorded on the...

The need to protect populations from environmental harm or contamination is not new. Whenever human welfare was imperiled, those in power within most ancient civilizations passed laws to address these issues. ...

Consciousness, at its basic level, is an individual’s self-awareness, comprising both external and internal phenomena; it may constitute any kind of cognition, experience, feeling, or perception. Awareness can be a continuously changing continuum, or it may shut down or be...

For millennia, horses have shaped human civilization. From the chariots of Ancient Egypt and Rome to the gilded ceremonial carriages of India and Japan, these gentle, easily trained animals symbolized power, artistry, and ingenuity. In cities from the grand boulevards of Paris to the bustling...

The night sky—the silent dark between stars—is a living commons bridging Earth, life, and spirit. As the 13th‑century Zen master Eihei Dōgen taught in Keisei Sanshoku or “The Sound of the Streams, the Shape of the Mountains,” rivers, forests, mountains, and night are not...

Hunting is considered critical to human evolution by many researchers who believe that several characteristics that distinguish humans from our closest living relatives, the apes, may have partly resulted from our adaptation to hunting, including our large brain size. ...

When the first drops of whiskey were distilled in medieval Ireland, a silent helper stood nearby. Furred, four-legged, and always ready to deal with unwelcome mice, the cat thus began its long relationship with the distilling industry. ...