Climate Change and the Animals

Many of us want to protect the planet not only because of what climate change will do to us humans, but because of the terrible suffering it’s inflicting on all the other animals.

More Faces from the Past

A few weeks ago, I went over to see the spectacular cave wall paintings at Indian Canyon Cave. Not far from there is another dome cave that’s quite different, though just as fascinating in its own way.

The Dogs of War

Where do we draw the line between trust and exploitation, especially when we involve dogs and other animals in our very human wars?

Deep Thoughts

Three and a half billion years ago, as a huge moon circled much closer to Earth than today, raising enormous tides of scalding water, and in a poisonous atmospheric mix of methane gases, something amazing, mysterious, but perhaps entirely common happened: Life appeared.

Mitt Romney Spoke the Truth

If our justice system can view a corporation a person, like Romney said, perhaps one day it will be able to see at least some of our fellow animals as persons, too.

PETA, Porn and Propaganda

PETA’s plan to develop a www.peta.xxx website, where they can reach out to porn viewers by mixing sexually explicit content with animal rights messages and videos, has already drawn comment from hundreds of news and web sites around the world.

Faces from the Past

At the time when the Roman Empire was collapsing, here in the American Southwest it was the birth of the Ancestral Pueblo people. A visit to their cave paintings at Indian Canyon.

Can a Non-Human Be a ‘Person’?

Laws that protect animals from cruelty are granted as acts of kindness, not inherent rights. One attorney is setting out to put a crack in the legal wall that separates humans from nonhumans.

Going Ape

One of the main ethical conundrums surrounding experimenting on chimpanzees has always been that if you justify doing these experiments on the basis that chimps are very similar to humans, you have a harder time justifying it morally.

Killing Shelter Pets Is Never the Answer

How do we bring an end to the killing of homeless pets in shelters? It’s simple: We stop killing them. Only when you take killing off the table do you start looking for real alternatives. First comes the commitment, then come the solutions, and that’s how we get to be a no-kill nation.

Is It Real? Or Is It a Summer Movie?

The fact that a sci-fi movie may well become a case of truth being stranger than fiction is just one of the paradoxes in this year’s crop of animal-themed summer movies.

My Uninvited Guest

Miss Popsicle, my orange kitty, seemed to be eating a lot more food suddenly. And why was she was making a mess of the counter and opening cupboard doors?

Mr. Vick Goes to Washington

The Humane Society of the U.S. is lobbying for a bill that will crack down on dogfighting and cockfighting. But is Michael Vick their best spokesman?

Is It Time to Ban Kosher Slaughter?

Several European countries have banned kosher and halal animal slaughter. The Dutch may soon follow. Jews and Muslims are angry. Which is more important: religious tradition or animal protection?

Dancing the Night Away

Casey Anthony, who danced the night away while her child lay dead, probably in the back of her own car, has managed to rivet the attention of millions of us. How, we wonder, could anyone behave like that?

The End of the Economy?

Forty years ago, a ground-breaking publication called The Limits to Growth concluded that by the middle of the 21st Century the Earth would no longer be able to sustain our escalating obsession with growth.

Summer Snowstorm at Cedar Breaks

I was expecting fields of spring flowers. Instead, the entire national monument at Cedar Breaks was covered in several feet of snow, and it was 32 degrees and actually snowing.

In San Diego Attack, Dogs Were Victims, Too

Everything we know of San Diego dog attack so far makes it a classic case of criminal negligence and irresponsibility on the part of the dogs’ guardian.

Should Will and Kate Skip the Rodeo?

Britain’s new royal couple, Will and Kate, have landed themselves in the middle of a public relations nightmare as they prepare for a visit to Canada. Should they go to the rodeo?