Proving that humans are somehow “better†than non-human animals is a priority for some, including philosophy professor Richard Polt. Writing in The New York Times, he takes umbrage at comparisons between human and non-human animals: “wherever I turn,†he writes, “the popular media, scientis… Read full post »

Pigeons are watching you, and they don’t forget a face.

A new study shows that pigeons can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar human faces, according

to Mat McDermott at Care2.com. The study was published in Avian Biology Research. Researchers seemed surprised, ap/… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

Slaughterhouses aren’t supposed to be in cities. We expect them to hide in remote, rural areas where the majority of Americans, urban-dwellers that we are, don’t have to think about how living animals become hamburgers and pork loins. Ralph Wald… Read full post »

Recently I appeared on the Fox Business Network's Varney & Co. to defend a lawsuit against a Los Angeles zoo that neglects its elephants and cages them in conditions that harm their health.

An L.A. Times article about the suit notes that Billy, the elephant at issue in/… Read full post »

Filmmaker Joss Whedon is among the greatest feminist talents of our time, "Dollhouse" notwithstanding. I don't usually go for action flicks but this was Joss, on the big screen – so I had to see "The Avengers." I paid double for the 3-D.

My husband and I arrived early and got… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

The human population is too big to really comprehend. Seven billion — how does one imagine that many people? And by 2050, we are projected to reach nine billion — two billion more individuals in under 40 years. That is so many that it is practically mea… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2

Tens of millions of animals are prisoners in research labs where scientists conduct experiments on them. Some experiments are lethal; the subjects of others live to see another day — and another experiment. Much of this research is not only cruel, it is u/… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

What if you could make one immediate change in your life that would significantly decrease global warming and other damage to the environment? Great news: you can. Stop eating meat.

Perhaps the best thing you can do to save the environment is eat a plant-based diet… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

Kreider Farms is hell on earth for egg-laying chickens. The Humane Society of the United States released a mercifully short video summarizing its investigation of the conditions at Kreider.

According to HSUS, the investigation revealed:

• Bird/
… Read full post »

Unpaid internships exploit the labor of well-to-do young people, disadvantage their peers who cannot afford to work for free, replace paying entry-level jobs, and are often, but not always, illegal. Recently some of these interns have started to strike back by suing for backpay. Last year, interns fo…

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A new study described in The New York Times found that ravens can recognize the voices of old friends after years of separation. Current Biology reports that a group of birds lived together for three years, then were separated for three years. Researchers recorded the calls of som/… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

We’ve all heard about the antibiotic crisis: overuse has led to bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, opening the door to superbugs for which we have no cure. Those superbugs cause infections that are fatal in 30-60 percent of cases.

What we haven&… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

The national tendency to blame the homeless for their plight collided with the war on drugs to kill an innocent woman near St. Louis last September. 29-year-old Anna Brown, a homeless mother of two, went to the hospital seeking treatment for a sprained ankle and le… Read full post »

As far as beer commercials are concerned, women might as well be blow-up sex dolls — as long as they’re pretty dolls. But in what looks (at first) like a win for feminism, Newcastle Brown Ale is running a TV commercial featuring a female brewmaster. The commercial goes on and on… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2

Following the lead of Atlanta, Florida and, bizarrely, US Airways, among others, an Indiana town is trying to ban males from wearing their pants “hanging around the buttocks,” according to WSBT.com. The NWI Times reports that in Merri/… Read full post »

Women earn less than 78 cents for every dollar men earn. Weren’t we supposed to be past this by now?

Women earn more degrees. Time Magazine says we are soon to be the “richer sex.” There is no plausible argument that our work is less valuable than men’/… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

If you want to know how to cure diseases in humans, you want to test experimental treatments on whatever else is most similar. For years scientists have tested their hypotheses on non-human animals, like mice and rats. But extrapolating the results of medical and o… Read full post »

Originally published on Care2.

No place is safe for elephants in Thailand right now, including sanctuaries and rescue centers.

The trouble started with tourist centers clamoring for more baby elephants because they draw tourists, and tourists spend money.

Thailand’s government al… Read full post »

As far as beer commercials are concerned, women might as well be blow-up sex dolls — as long as they’re pretty dolls. But in what looks (at first) like a win for feminism, Newcastle Brown Ale is running a TV commercial featuring a female brewmaster. The commercial goes on and on…

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Check out my “Dose” on workplace bullying at Dame Magazine: “Office Bullies, Listen Up: Sign this anti-bullying petition, or I’ll steal your lunch money.” And while you’re there, check out my friend Amy Klein’s great essay on the very awesome Hunger Games. Tw…

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I have joined the fantastic progressive activism site Care2 Causes as a blogger. Please visit my Care2 blog at http://www.care2.com/causes/author/piperh!   Tweet This Post

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We’re coming up on summer, season of internships. Many students take unpaid internships for the learning experience or because they will look good on a resume, but some of them are being cheated out of the wages they should be earning. Under a federal law called the Fair Labor Standards Act…

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The pole-dancing fitness craze has hit my gym, planting one more stumbling block on the road to healthy body images for local women. Learning to dance like strippers is just one more way women and girls succumb to the pressure to be sexually desirable. It is hard to underestimate how powerful…

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Read my review of Caryn Ginsberg’s book “Animal Impact” at http://www.ourhenhouse.org/2012/03/book-review-animal-impact-secrets-proven-to-achieve-results-and-move-the-world-by-caryn-ginsberg/. She explains how to use marketing strategies to improve political advocacy and activism.…

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The pay gap between women and men shrank by 1% in 2011 – that's the good news. The bad news: it's not because women's pay increased – it dropped. But men's pay dropped more. Lowering everyone's earning power to close the gender gap echoes the story of Midas, who wished for wealt/… Read full post »