Rachel Laudan

Out of the thirty thousand types of edible plants thought to exist on Earth, just eleven – corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, cassava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye, and oats – account for 93 percent of all that humans eat, and every one of them was first cultivated by our Neolithic ancestors. Exactly the same is [...]

Published figures suggest that, in Australia, producing wheat and other grains results in: at least 25 times more sentient animals being killed per kilogram of useable protein more environmental damage, and a great deal more animal cruelty than does farming red meat. How is this possible? Mike Archer, Professor of Evolution of Earth and Life [...]

I was chatting with Mexican friends the other day about the mountains of glossy catalogs that are delivered with newspapers in the weeks running up to Christmas.  It prompted me to re-post extracts that I showed a year or two ago showing the gifts available for everyone from business associates to humblest servant. Here’s a [...]