A horrific scene from a Humane Society undercover video.Photo: Humane Society of the United StatesI was privileged this week to participate in a New York Times Room for Debate discussion on the government's vs. consumer's role in "Preventing Cruelty on the Farm," inspired by the paper's coverage of the spate of ag-gag laws pending in several states (although it appears Florida's ag-gag bill is now dead). Our discussion featured an excellent lineup of experts including Nicolette Hahn Niman, Temple Grandin, Joel Salatin, law professor Joseph Vining, the Cato Institute's Walter Olson, economist Daniel Sumner, and Wayne Pacelle, president of the …

Oil industry leaders will testify before Congress today. Their message: Cutting oil subsidies is discrimination! Expand oil and gas production, instead, because that’s somehow good for everybody. And, anyway, oil companies pay more than enough taxes, if you ask the oil companies. If you ask anyone else, they pay a lower rate than the average American. The U.S. is already expanding offshore oil production: Shell just received permission to start a new drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing could possibly go wrong with offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, right? Renewable energy projects, on the other hand, …

Douglas Adams, who died 10 years ago today, was the best writer of humorous science fiction who ever lived. (Note that I did not say "arguably," all objective-journalist style. I will hear no argument. The best.) If, like me, you can recognize and recite parts of the passage on the towel he's draped himself with in the above video, you don't need me to say any more about that. But he was also a committed environmentalist who devoted a chunk of his post-Hitchhiker's Guide career to increasing awareness about endangered species. Try this on for activism: He climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro …

The Fish and Wildlife Service has promised to evaluate the endangered status of 251 species in the next six years, if only so those pesky enviros will be quiet for a bit. The country's largest rooftop solar-energy field will be installed in New Jersey, at a Toys "R" Us distribution center. No word on when the Barbie Dream House will go green, though. Three senators released a bill that would cut subsidies to oil companies. Don't pat yourself on the back for flying on a plane that uses biofuels: If the fuel comes from palm oil grown on land converted …

Although climate change guarantees that all penguins are screwed in the long term, some are more screwed than others. On the Antarctic peninsula, Adélie penguins have lost almost 90 percent of their population over the past three decades -- while the population of gentoo penguins, which don't need ice to survive, has grown by 14,000 percent, according to The New York Times. South of the Antarctic Peninsula, though, in the Ross Sea, the Adélie penguins are having a bit of a renaissance. Human-caused environmental f*ckery is actually increasing the ice cover in this area, for the moment; winds shifted by …

Centuries ago, the Chesapeake Bay was filled with oyster reefs so large they sank ships. Today, in search of a cleaner bay, Maryland is looking to revitalize its once-booming oyster population. But to do that, the state needs oysters -- lots of 'em -- and to get oysters, the state needs scientists at the University of Maryland to encourage those mollusks to get down and dirty. As in one of those last man-last woman on earth scenarios, the future depends on a small group's ability to produce as many offspring as possible. Seeding the bay involves dumping loads of baby …

The House voted yesterday to fast-track new offshore drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia. Look for $0.99 gas within a few weeks. As a group, the drilling bill's primary sponsors raked in more than $8.8 million in donations from the oil and gas industry. Climate change is damaging the world's food supply, according to a new study by Stanford researchers. Over the past 30 years, they found, corn production dropped nearly 4 percent and wheat production dropped 5.5 percent. President Obama will tour an Indiana plant that makes hybrid vehicle technology this …

Presumably everybody knows the basic depressing mechanisms of natural selection: In response to a cruel and unforgiving environment, those creatures that can adapt best or are already best-suited survive to reproduce, and everyone else dies horribly. It's all red-in-tooth-and-claw-y, and humans are well out of it, right? Yeah, well, about that: Turns out that now we've become the cruel and unforgiving environment. Whoops. An article (behind a reg wall, so we'll give you the highlights) in this month's New Scientist collects the effects humanity has had on shaping our fellow creatures: Tuskless elephants: In Zambia, the proportion of tuskless female …

How's this for a hands-on approach to saving the natural world: When this baby hummingbird was attacked, this guy rescued it and nursed it to a healthy adulthood in a stirring montage set to a Jack Johnson tune.  The dude says: when she thought she was ready to leave (and she was) she flew off to her favorite patch of the back yard, and her instincts instantly kicked in, and now she's just like all the other hummingbirds. for those that are concerned that she has imprinted on humans and wouldn't survive in the wild, don't worry, she is thriving. …

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Have you heard of the underground backyard chicken movement, and would you recommend it for people who want chickens, regardless of city ordinances? DenineWestminster (no state specified, maybe to protect innocent chickens) Some chickens have to keep a low profile.Photo: Taber Andrew BainA. Dearest Denine, Don your feathered fedora, pull it low over your eyes, and let's venture into the subterranean realm of secret backyard chicken coops. (Perhaps they will be the new speakeasies.)  First, anyone interested in the issue should peruse this immensely thorough and useful piece by Jill Richardson about …