California’s Proposition 2 takes effect in less than a week! What a different world it is today compared to when the measure was enacted in 2008. (Click here for a timeline of events in California from 2008 to the present.) The Santa Rosa Press Democrat has a good summary of the situation as it stands right now, and NBC ran a very worthwhile segment on it last night, too.
As the Golden State’s public policy takes effect, the private sector is acting, too. Starbucks announced a new animal welfare policy this week, including a move toward banning the caging of chickens in its supply chain. And NPR has a great piece this week looking at what common egg carton labels mean—and don’t mean.
As we move forward into 2015, some in the pork industry seem insistent on remaining not just stuck in the past, but really in the Dark Ages. I published an op-ed on the topic in the Chicago Sun-Times this past week.
Finally, to end the year with two pieces of inspiration: (1) Here are HSUS’s top 10 advancements for farm animals in 2014; and (2) Last week a federal court ruled in HSUS’s favor and said the war on wolves must end in the Great Lake states, a ruling the meat industry is already lamenting.
Happy holidays!
P.S. Video of the week: What I imagine some of my friends’ holiday dinner tables looked like this week.