The Month in a Minute: January 2022

Busy month? We’ve got you covered. Welcome to the Sentient Media Month in a Minute. Every month, we’ll recap the top stories and give you the low down in just one minute.

January was an incredibly active month in the media for animal protection with a lot of mainstream coverage including TIME’s report on China’s 5-year plan for food security. For the first time, China included cultivated meats and plant-based products as part of its blueprint. 

We’ve selected a recommended reading list for those with more than a minute to spare to help you keep on top of the news. 

January’s Reading List: 

• New year, new laws as California’s Prop 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3 go into effect, requiring that veal calves, sows, and hens be given enough room to stand up, lie down, and turn around. (Humane Society)
• “We won’t be able to be in business if we don’t stop climate change. Nobody will be in business,” said Ruaraidh Petre, Executive Director of The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef in a new report about the industry’s sustainability problems. (Food Dive)
• Animal rights activist Matt Johnson, in court on criminal charges, is suddenly dismissed. (The Guardian)
• New York could make history with a fashion sustainability act. (The New York Times)
• Study: Plant-based diets could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 61%. (The Beet)
• School of Psychology at the University of Kent published a new paper about animal agriculture’s link to infectious diseases. (University of Kent)
• USDA released years of slaughterhouse records, giving the public an intimate first look at what has been going on behind closed doors. (Sentient Media)
• Veganuary reached 600,000 participants and vegan chicken nuggets went viral. (This Morning)
• Scottish Government banned glue traps. (OneKind)
• The fur industry launched Furmark, a global certification greenwash aimed at assuring concerned consumers of high environmental standards. (FurMark)
• The UK decided not to implement its new animal welfare policies that ban trophy hunting imports and exports of livestock. The British government was, however, happy to introduce other laws like allowing the shooting of wild birds in order to protect game ones. (The Guardian)
• Bird flu continued to spread across Asia and Europe resulting in massive culls and human infection, while new research suggests people still largely fail to recognize animal agriculture’s link to infectious diseases. (Euronews / BBC)
• Swan deaths in a British nature preserve were likely caused by bird flu. (BBC)
• New bird flu has a higher risk of spread to humans, according to animal health specialists. (Reuters)
• President Biden pledged 1 billion for smaller meat farmers, in a kind of suffering stimulus package, or Veal New Deal if you will. (CNN)
• Mysterious gene found in Georgia sewer water resists the most powerful antibiotics. (Fortune)
• Hunters killed 20 Yellowstone wolves that roamed outside of the park. (ABC News)
• Finland, Sweden, and Norway plan to cull parts of their wolf populations. (The Guardian)
• Maryland man receives first successful pig heart transplant (National Hog Farmer; also covered in The Guardian and other outlets)