This piece appears in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of Current Affairs. It’s comprehensive and unflinching. I am so proud of this piece and I hope you’ll read it
Essays
Some facts about small farms
What do you assume about small farms? In the last few months, I’ve been focusing on two large writing projects. One is a piece which will soon come out in a well-known publication and the other is a paper I’ll be presenting at the Marx in the Anthropocene conference. During this time, I revisited the…
Welcome to the Edge
A Guyana travelogue We recently (autumn 2024) spent just over three spectacular weeks in Guyana. It’s a nation on the edge – of a continent, in biodiversity, of the Caribbean and Latin America, of oil exploration, and of being centre of attention after decades of indifference (unless it served US interests). And this indifference let…
Closure of an ancient meat market
The closure of Smithfield and Billingsgate markets in London is nothing more than the contemporary age catching up One of the big pieces of news coming out of London is Smithfield and Billingsgate markets are closing. Smithfield is the land animal flesh market and Billingsgate is the sea beings market. Whilst it’s a big deal when something…
Revisiting an Angela Davis quote
In March 2024, I wrote this piece about a quote widely attributed to the great Angela Davis. The quote is as follows:
Baby animals
Everyone seems to be obsessed with Moo Deng, the baby hippo, and the baby penguin, Pesto. They’re adorable, obviously, and we cannot help finding them immensely lovable. I’ll be the killjoy on this and ask to please stop and think of their circumstances Moo Deng and Pesto are both prisoners born of imprisoned parents with…
A stark example of animals as objects
Animals in agribusinesses are only regarded as objects for exploitation and sale. The most obvious instance is what happens after any devastating storm or accident. Is a payout all life is worth? In 2018, storm Florence hit South Carolina. The death toll for farm animals was approximately 5,000 pigs and 3.4 million chickens and turkeys…
Advocate for animals as if your life depended on it
Imagine your life or freedom depended on someone advocating for you or those like you. Who would you want on your side? 1: someone who is unequivocal about your right to be alive and free. 2: someone who makes exceptions to your right to be alive and free in favour of those who want to…
Turkey’s street-living dogs
Thoughts in light of Turkey’s controversial “adoption” law In response to a growing population of street-living dogs and approximately 75 human deaths attributed to such dogs, Turkey is on the verge of adopting a controversial law which will mandate the rounding up of all street-living dogs. The law has been approved by the legislature and is awaiting…
Should our ethics remain when we’re no longer here?
Some considerations for vegans in death or incapacity Preliminary info This is an unusual piece because it’s about a practical aspect of veganism. I don’t often write about practicalities and yet this piece is still about ideas because I’ll never be conscious of the outcome of this very practical thing I’ve done I first wrote…