On Tuesday, July 6, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Assembly Bill No. 1437, which requires all sales in California of shell (whole) eggs for human consumption to comply with the state’s Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. This act prohibits the confinement of egg-laying hens in a manner that does not allow the birds to fully extend both wings without touching the side of an enclosure or other egg-laying hens, effectively banning the use of battery cages.

http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/california-bans-battery-cage-eggs-as-of-2015/.

As simple and humane as this sounds, it has been very controversial — opponents quibble over the language of what it means to ‘extend both wings’ — and predict the egg industry will move out of California. They resist the idea that the public is recoiling from what they are learning about how food animals live.

Wondering what the oil spill looks like on the front lines? Lynn Dirk sent us this compelling pictorial:

Photo Gallery « Gulf Oil Spill Facts.

Another good reason to eat your vegetables!

“The overuse of antibiotics in farming may have significant health consequences for consumers, according to testimony from the Food and Drug Administration. Now lawmakers are looking to curb the use of antibiotics in raising livestock, a move that puts them at odds with agribusiness interests.”

via FDA Calls Antibiotic Use In Farming ‘A Serious Public Health Threat,’ GOP Ignores Mounting Evidence.

Oh, the plight of sealife in the Gulf is so, so sad. There are many commendable rescue efforts underway… I hope they’ll help. Alas, no one mentions in this story that sea turtles travel far and wide to return to the shore of their birth when it’s their turn to lay eggs. Three decades to maturity – I hope the oil is gone by then.

In other news, I’m glad to hear the concerns of animals caught in burning oil has been heard:

“…federal officials said that surface burning of oil has resumed after being called off on account of high seas. But now, unlike before, there are federal observers on every “burn team” to make sure no turtles are incinerated by mistake.

…the Sea Turtle Restoration Project have demanded that the government halt the release of hatchling sea turtles from Padre Island National Seashore in Texas into the Gulf of Mexico, for fear that they would enter the oil slick and die. But Crouse, from the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Friday that officials believe those turtles are far enough away from the spill zone. “We think they have a good chance of making it in the southern Gulf,” she said. “We don’t want to disrupt their orientation behavior and food-searching behavior.”

Here, via the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, is “a heartbreaking video from YouTube, posted by an activist group known as Sea Turtle Oversight Protection.” Shot on the evening of July 10, it shows “activists attempting to guide some tiny sea turtle hatchlings in the right direction, i.e., toward the ocean. Unfortunately, the little dudes keep heading straight for the lights of Port Everglades, A1A — or for the bright chandeliers of an empty ballroom.”

via Turtle Rescue Efforts Are Guided By Hope And Guesswork, Not Data VIDEO.

Along the coast, droplets of oil are being found inside the shells of young crabs that are a mainstay in the diet of fish, turtles and shorebirds.

And at the base of the food web, tiny organisms that consume oil and gas are proliferating.

If such impacts continue, the scientists warn of a grim reshuffling of sealife that could over time cascade through the ecosystem…

via Business & Technology | Scientists say Gulf spill altering food web | Seattle Times Newspaper.

“There are millions of birds at risk,” says Ken Rosenberg, conservation science director at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “It’s safe to say thousands will die.”

He fears the BP oil spill, which began April 20, “could erupt into a much bigger disaster as oil continues to come to the surface.”

via USATODAY.com.

Overuse of the antibiotics helps create antibiotic-resistant strains of diseases.

The audit “shows clearly the need for quick action by Congress to place some reasonable limits on the use of antibiotics in farm animals,” says Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who has more than 100 co-sponsors on her bill to ban seven types of antibiotics from being used indiscriminately in animal feed.

via Beef not tested for chemicals, audit says.

Groups like WWF and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have pushed companies to be more aware of their palm oil supply chains and to clean them up if they are sourcing from suppliers engaging in unsustainable practices.

http://m.greenbiz.com/17574/show/338a5d9ba922c76098c955fbd8f64033/

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — Kevin Costner's company has sent an oil-skimming vessel to help clean some of the crude that has fouled the Gulf of Mexico.

The actor told workers and visitors Thursday who had come to see the latest in the fight against the oil spill that “the machine I once dreamed of is here to help you.”

via Kevin Costner’s Oil Spill Cleanup Machine Now At Work In The Gulf (PHOTOS).

The waters around the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo are covered in a thick film of oil that has left the once lush mangroves looking like burnt twigs covered in grease. The air reeks of crude.

“I struggle everyday,” said fisherman Gaagaa Giadom, 60, paddling his blackened canoe through the meandering oil-coated creeks.

via Oil spills blight Nigeria’s creeks.