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Food-animal welfare is a major ethical and social concern. Pork is the most consumed meat worldwide, with over a billion pigs slaughtered annually. Most of these pigs routinely undergo painful surgical procedures (surgical castration, tail docking, teeth clipping), which farmers often reluctant to avoid, claiming it would increase cost and reduce production efficiency. Herein, this study indicates that these procedures compromise pigs’ health and condition. Replacing surgical castration with immunocastration, avoiding tail docking and teeth clipping, and providing environmental enrichment, resulted in significant increase in weight gain, lowered risks for injuries and death, and reduced saliva and hair cortisol, both biomarkers for stress. Testosterone and DHEA analyses confirmed that immunocastration was an effective alternative to surgical castration. Economic models for the entire US swine market revealed that following across-the-board acceptance of this management, pork meat price is expected to drop, while the total annual social welfare (combined consumer and producer surplus) is expected to increase by $US 1.48 to 1.92 billion. In conclusion, sustainable swine farming management can be beneficial for both animals and farmers. Applying such welfare-friendly management is expected to reduce stress, enhance piglet/pig welfare and production, and improve the economics of swine operations in the global agro-food system.

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Energy security constitutes a major challenge for sustainable development of the Kingdom of Jordan. This has led the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to integrate a comprehensive energy master plan for to develop the energy sector by 2029. Of the total residential energy consumption, 61 percent is consumed for heating spaces. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by domestic stock in Jordan are anticipated to increase by 59 percent in 2018. Most households heat their houses using traditional devices such as portable unflued kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves. Combustion of such heaters generates toxic by-products causing symptoms and illness among residents as a result of poor indoor air quality. This paper discusses these issues in view of urban low-middle income apartments in the capital Amman, with a focus on investigating the types of stoves used and health implications associated with using them. A representative sample of 106 low-middle income households in urban Amman were surveyed, through semi-structured interviews, to explore how they responded to the environmental conditions. Results showed that unflued kerosene and LPG stoves were used for heating spaces by around 39 percent and 89 percent of the total households surveyed, respectively. It was also found that almost 65 percent of them used more than one device for heating their apartments. Furthermore, around 50 percent of those households reported different health problems related to asthma which could partially be due to the use of these heating devices. The field study also showed that almost 75 percent of households lived in apartments constructed with external envelopes of hollow cement blocks leading to poorer fabric performance. The paper concludes with calling for thrift retrofit