Changing the world, one opinion piece at a time
Originally published by One Green Planet. It’s tough, in the midst of a global pandemic, to find a cause for celebration this World Rainforest Day. And the smoke still lingers from the Amazonian fires that lit up the headlines nearly a year ago. From their ashes have crystallized the realization: There is no just or sustainable return to life Read More
This photo — two women’s hands, one black and one white, gently intertwined — has long been one of my favorites that I’ve treasured up to this moment, nearly 14 years after it was taken. I’ve cherished it because it represents love and unity between two women transcending racial divides, a sentiment that remains powerful even more than a decade after that romantic relationship ended. But I’ve also cherished it because it evokes a dark, formative memory that will forever haunt me — and, more importantly, remind me that true unity and solidarity can’t be sustained by a fleeting moment of anger or an empty hashtag.
This letter to the editor appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 6, 2020. As slaughterhouses shutter, meat cases may start looking quite different, with empty shelves and fewer options (May 5, “Region’s Grocery Stores Set Limits on Meat Sales”). Yet this impending “meat shortage” isn’t a crisis. It’s an open door for an important Read More
(Originally published on Medium) Four years ago this month, I penned a piece at The Dodo defending an organization to which I had dedicated nearly five years of my life managing animal rights campaigns: PETA. In it, I described a bill being considered by the Virginia legislature that would redefine an animal shelter’s purpose as existing to Read More
This article was originally published by One Green Planet. (By Laura Lee Cascada) We all know and love Esther the Wonder Pig, the “micro pig” who fell into the arms of Canadian couple Derek Walter and Steve Jenkins and then kept growing, and growing, and growing. At 650 pounds, today she fills Facebook, Instagram, and Read More
(Reposted from The Every Animal Project.) It was 7 p.m. on a Thursday night in late winter. Instead of catching the tail end of happy hour with friends after a long day of editing scientific manuscripts, I was hunched over the kitchen floor with a soiled rag in one hand while the other groped around Read More
(This post originally appeared in HoneyColony’s Buzzworthy Blogs.)
In the summer after my first year of college, I was living it up, like many 19-year-olds do. I took an internship in Washington, D.C., where I could get lost in a maze of people and discover myself all at once. In those first few weeks, I made friends, navigated relationships, and even shared an almost magical moment with a 31-year-old painter who wooed me in a deep Spanish voice. It was a summer of whimsies—that is, until a flesh bacteria entered the picture.
(This post was written for The Dodo.) In Virginia’s General Assembly, a seemingly innocuous bill is poised to change the definition of an animal shelter under state law. If enacted, Senate Bill (S.B.) 1381 will require that private shelters operate for the basic purpose of “finding permanent adoptive homes” for animals. With nearly 3 million Read More
(The below comment piece originally appeared on CounterPunch and was then picked up by the Ecologist.) When I was growing up, a popular show on television ventured into the unique backyards of kids across the country who lived adjacent to theme parks, chocolate factories, and any other imaginable delight under the sun. I wanted more than Read More
(The following post originally appeared on PETA’s blog.) A horse who is forced to pull carriages through New York City’s congested, noisy streets bolted over the weekend while being bathed on the sidewalk, raced up 11th Avenue in Manhattan with police cars in pursuit, and shocked pedestrians and motorists who were looking on. An eyewitness, Jonathan Read More
(The below piece was written by me for One Green Planet, where it originally appeared.) Every year around this time, shops lining the beach city boardwalks fill their familiar wire cages with curious critters. Tourist children ogle as golf-ball sized crustaceans cling to the wires, and to one another, with hairy purplish legs and almost menacing, if not so Read More
This month, temperatures plunged to record-breaking low levels in Virginia. During our 18-degree weather in the region’s “polar vortex” I joined a colleague of mine in a lettuce bikini to hand out free veggie burgers downtown in Norfolk. The Virginian-Pilot was nice enough to send out a shivering reporter to cover our adventure, although he did Read More