This is a piece we did earlier this year for the return of Satya Magazine.
For many of our years in New York and even more before that, Satya was a monthly magazine that focused on vegetarianism, environmentalism, animal advocacy, and social justice. More holistically, in publisher + co-founder Beth Gould’s words, the magazine endeavored to “spotlight voices working toward a greater understanding of compassion, and ways to discover better how to utilize these lessons in our own lives.”
Nine years after the monthly edition of Satya ceased, Gould + co. published a special, book-length anniversary edition—”The Long View”—which stands as “a reflection on over two decades of activism and where we go from here.” In this studio’s infancy, Beth asked us to contribute a number of times to its pages, which we happily did.
In a February 2006 issue we used full page spreads to communicate (almost) the amount of space egg-layer hens are confined to their entire lives. Beth asked us to reimagine the piece for this anniversary edition, adding to it a fact that often goes unspoken or unnoticed—that, due to the industry standard practice of “culling”—or killing—male chicks, each egg we buy as consumers essentially also means the death of a male chick (assuming roughly 50-50 male-female birth rates with chickens); this on top of the fact that placing a demand on the egg industry causes layer hens a tragically sad, painful, hellish life of confinement.
If you eat eggs, please stop.
And yes, even “cage-free” eggs, which are a far greater boon to marketing and industry profits than they are a benefit to animals’ welfare (see also “humane meat”).
If you’ve got the stomach for it, you can find out more about the industry via PETA or The Humane Society, who also chimes in on the truth behind cage-free eggs, as does this fairly tame Mother Jones article.
Find out more about Satya and order their anniversary issue on their site.
