Are organic plant-based foods better?
What does organic mean? Since 1991 the EU has established rules for products in order to be called organic and get an organic certificate. Organic products in the EU can be recognized by their green leaf certification. To get this, companies have to meet to the following requirements: Not use chemical fertilizer Not use synthetic […]
The suffering in the cocoa industry
Products containing cocoa such as chocolate are regularly consumed by many people nowadays and some people even eat them daily. While cocoa used to be a luxury product, today that’s no longer the case and production has increased dramatically. Since the ’60s the demand for cocoa has trippled and in the last twenty years it […]
Why we are better off without animal manure
Manure causes different kinds of pollution and other environmental problems. In this blog we discuss these problems and possible alternatives for animal manure as a fertilizer. Pollution Greenhouse gases According to research by the FAO, animal manure is responsible for 37 percent of the anthropogenic methane emissions. In addition, 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions and […]
Why palm oil is bad, but boycotting it even worse
In recent years, the negative effects of palm oil cultivation have regularly been in the news. As palm oil cultivation often includes deforestation and human rights violations, an increasing number of people chooses to buy sustainable palm oil or to boycott palm oil. While this may seem quite logical, this does not contribute to solving […]
The pig industry
In the EU 250 million pigs are killed every year, and 9 million of those are born in the UK. About the same number of pigs are slaughtered in the UK as not many living pigs are exported. Quite a lot of the meat is exported though, namely 300.000.000 tonnes of pork a year. However, […]
Why leather is one of the most polluting and cruel products
How is leather made? Most people know that leather is made from the skin of an animal. However, to become leather, the hide has to go undergo several processes. In slaughterhouses hides are kept seperate and sold to a hide trader. The trader will seperate the big pieces of meat and fat from the hide […]