The Dairy Industry: A Shocking Look Behind-the-Scenes
When you think about dairy farms, you’d like to imagine a bucolic pasture with cows leisurely munching green grass. Most cows aren’t so lucky. At factory farms, cows frequently suffer cruel and inhumane treatment practices. Photo by Oriol Pascual on Unsplash...
Life Cycle of a Single-Use Compostable Product
Many of us share the goal of reducing the harm we do to the world around us and the animals with whom we share it. One of the ways we can pursue this goal is through the rejection of single-use plastic products in favor of compostable alternatives. While avoiding...
What Lies Beneath: A Look at the Destruction Caused by the Commercial Fishing Industry
by Keara Klose As someone who loves visiting the beach as often as I can (which is not frequently given I live in land-locked PA), a trip that includes the ocean in its sprawling glory is always a treat. There are sun-soaked days spent jumping waves and peaceful...
Plastic is Choking Our Oceans — But You Can Help
In honor of Respect for Fish Day (August 1), I watched two thought-provoking yet disturbing Netflix documentaries — Seaspiracy and A Plastic Ocean. It’s common knowledge that plastic pollution is invading our oceans, but I didn’t comprehend the extent of the...
Alert for Bird Lovers: Remove Your Feeders, For Now
A few weeks ago, hubby and I moved to a house nestled near a wooded area that’s teeming with beautiful birds. Eager to welcome our new neighbors, my husband foraged through the moving boxes to find our bird feeder. Then we read a disturbing alert advising bird lovers...
Gardening for Animals and the Earth: June Update
Readers might remember that in March, I started my first ever vegetable garden. If you haven’t followed the story, here are a few reminders about why gardening is not only good for you, but for animals, too: Gardens help you to eat a more whole-foods plant-based diet....
Contacting Legislators
The United States of America is the world’s oldest democracy, founded on the principle that citizens should have a say in how they are governed. While not a true democracy, we do have a representative democracy, where we elect officials to represent our interests....
Ownership of Reptiles Banned in Pittsburgh
This Spring, HAP is celebrating a major victory for reptiles: “On Tuesday, March 23, Pittsburgh City Council unanimously passed Ordinance No. 36, which bans the ownership of any Crocodilian species or any Red-eared slider, which includes alligators, crocodiles,...
Gardening for Animals and the Earth: Part 1
I don’t know how everyone else feels, but the milder weather outside this past week in Pittsburgh has me thinking Spring! My partner and I moved into our first house back in the Summer of 2020. Until then, I’d always lived in apartments without any usable outdoor...