Vegan menu is the star of the Golden Globes

The movie the “Marriage Story” may have gotten the most Golden Globe nominations this year, but we at Friends of Animals think the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is the one giving the best performance this year. The nonprofit behind the Golden Globes will be serving a fully vegan menu during its Jan. 5 ceremony—becoming the first award show of its kind to do so, and that’s #givingushope.

The HFPA made a last-minute change to the existing menu, which previously included fish, to set an example for other award shows and increase its sustainability efforts. The new menu, prepared by Beverly Hilton executive chef Matthew Morgan, will feature chilled golden beet soup, mushroom-based vegan scallops with risotto and opera cake for dessert.

“The climate crisis is surrounding us, and we were thinking about the new year and the new decade. So, we started talking between us about what we can do to send a signal,” HFPA President Lorenzo Soria said in a statement released to several media outlets. “We don’t think we’ll change the world with one meal, but we decided to take small steps to bring awareness. The food we eat, the way it is processed and grown and disposed of, all of that contributes to the climate crisis.” The Golden Globes also eliminated plastic bottles and partnered with Icelandic Glacial to serve water in glass bottles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Montreal carriage horse ban goes into effect

Montreal’s carriage horse ban went into effect Jan. 1, prompted by concern over animal welfare and a series of high-profile incidents involving the horses that spawned a wave of outrage and concern from citizens. The law passed in 2018. “It’s something we promised in our campaign very clearly,” City Councillor Craig Sauve told CTV Montreal in 2018. “There have been cases of horses being mistreated, horses dying while doing their caleche activities. There’s issues there and it’s a lot of resources we have to put in on the city’s side, so we decided in the campaign that we’re going to put an end to this industry.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three American species bounce back in 2019

We read with joy the recent National Geographic article that reported that after 37 years as an endangered species, the Monito gecko has finally received a new, official distinction: recovered.

The inch-and-a-half-long gecko, endemic to a single tiny island in Puerto Rico, is one of three formerly endangered species to hit that milestone this year. The others—the Kirtland’s warbler, a petite, chartreuse-bellied songbird, and the Foskett’s speckled dace, a spotted minnow native to two springs in Oregon—join the gecko to become the 25th, 26th and 27th U.S. animal species in history to make it successfully off the Endangered Species Act’s list.