Animal Rights

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Animal Rights

Guide to Conscious Consumption

Conscious consumption, or conscious consumerism, can be accomplished in a variety of ways, such as shopping for food products that avoid harm to nonhuman animals, using green cleaning products, drinking shade-grown, fair-trade coffee and organic wine free of harmful pesticides, driving small electric vehicles over instead of gas-guzzling SUVs, and boycotting fast-fashion brands and businesses that treat workers unfairly.

This guide will help you make buying decisions that are healthier for you, your family, nonhuman animals, and the planet.

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More About the Observatory

Vicky Bond

Vicky Bond is a veterinary surgeon, animal welfare scientist, and the president of The Humane League.

Lucy Goodchild van Hilten

Lucy Goodchild van Hilten is a writing fellow at Earth • Food • Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute. She has served as assistant editor of Microbiology Today and senior marketing communications manager for Life Sciences at Elsevier. She holds an MSc degree in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology from Imperial College London.

Nital Jethalal

Nital Jethalal is a policy analyst and economist. He currently serves as strategist and policy advisor for the Plant Based Treaty and also oversees economics and policy research for Plant Based Data. Nital is also the president of VegTO and a director at the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank.

Daniel Klem Jr.

Daniel Klem Jr. is the Sarkis Acopian Professor of Ornithology and Conservation Biology and director of the Acopian Center for Ornithology at Muhlenberg College.

Laurel Sutherlin

Laurel Sutherlin is the senior communications strategist for Rainforest Action Network. He is a lifelong environmental and human rights campaigner as well as a naturalist and outdoor educator with a passion for birds and wild places. Follow him on Twitter @laurelsutherlin.

Jenny Canham

Jenny Canham is a leading professional in the global animal protection sector. She is an experienced journalist and works with governments, corporations and the public to achieve critical changes for animals. She is the Director of Outreach and Engagement at Animal Outlook, a leading U.S. animal protection organization.

Alicia Graef

Alicia Graef is a guardian and dog meat campaigner at In Defense of Animals. A lifelong animal lover and freelance writer with a Bachelor’s degree in animal and veterinary science, Alicia has covered issues relating to animals for more than a decade.

Jennifer Barckley

Jennifer Barckley is the vice president of communications at The Humane League.

Leslie Crawford

Leslie Crawford is the author of Sprig the Rescue Pig and Gwen the Rescue Hen, both published by Stone Pier Press.

Andrew deCoriolis

Andrew deCoriolis is the executive director of Farm Forward where he advocates for safe, healthy, and humane animal farming.

Reynard Loki

Reynard Loki is a co-founder of the Observatory, where he is the environment and animal rights editor. He is also a writing fellow at the Independent Media Institute, where he serves as the editor and chief correspondent for Earth | Food | Life.

Laura Lee Cascada

Laura Lee Cascada is the campaigns director for the Better Food Foundation and the founder of the Every Animal Project, a collection of true tales reshaping our relationship with animals.

Karen Davis

Karen Davis, PhD, (1944–2023) was the president and founder of United Poultry Concerns. She was an award-winning animal rights activist and the author of numerous books.

Nina Jackel

Nina Jackel is the founder of Lady Freethinker, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to exposing and stopping the suffering of animals, humans, and the planet. Find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Tia Schwab

Tia Schwab is a former news fellow for Stone Pier Press, a San Francisco-based environmental publishing company with a food focus. She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied human biology with a concentration in food systems and public health. Tia was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and she is passionate about using storytelling to create a healthy, just, and sustainable food system.

Debra Merskin

Debra Merskin, PhD, is a professor of media studies in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon and is a co-founder of Animals and Media.

Sy Montgomery

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and author of 31 books of nonfiction for adults and children. She is the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from the Humane Society and the New England Booksellers Association.

Ginger Fedak

Ginger Fedak is a lifelong animal welfare advocate and horse professional, having spent decades teaching about and advocating for domestic and wild horses.

Jimmy Videle

Jimmy Videle is a farmer, naturalist, and researcher. He is the author of The Veganic Grower’s Handbook: Cultivating Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs from Urban Backyard to Rural Farmyard (Lantern Press, 2023) and the co-founder of NAVCS-Certified Veganic. His writing has appeared in CounterPunch, Countercurrents, and LA Progressive, among others.