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11 Mins Read Genetic uniformity is central to modern farming. It leaves us vulnerable to plant disease breakouts. By Saima Sidik Grist This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. The Mystery of Bipolaris Maydis Nobody really knows how the fungus Bipolaris maydis got into the cornfields of the United States. But by summer of […]
9 Mins Read After the daunting heatwaves and storms of this summer, our cheery visions of the season seem at odds with our climate-changed reality. By Michael Svoboda, Yale Climate Connections This story was originally published by Yale Climate Connections. Officially, the end of summer is marked by the autumnal equinox on September 23. Unofficially, summer ends some weeks […]
9 Mins Read Reframing climate change education around a message of “hopeful alarm” will not only underscore the threats we face, it will also show students how they can act to shape the future. By Jeffrey D. Corbin, Meghan A. Duffy, Jacquelyn L. Gill and Carly Ziter This story was originally published by AGU’s Eos magazine. The Realities of Climate Anxiety Students in […]
8 Mins Read Netflix’s recent Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food documentary made waves across the Internet and media for its detailed exposé of the US food system’s fallacies. Where do we go from there? A whole host of upcoming documentaries are taking a closer look at our food systems and the future of food (and the planet) […]
5 Mins Read A new sustainable fat by Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University (QMU) is the latest to join the fledgling palm oil alternative sector. Using food industry sidestream ingredients, PALM-ALT is said to be 70% better for the environment (emissions-wise) and contains 88% less saturated fat. The researchers claim this is the “holy grail” of eco-friendly palm oil […]
8 Mins Read New data shared by Our World in Data shows that approximately 94% of animals on earth live on factory farms and at least 100 billion are slaughtered each year for meat and other animal-derived products. The analysis shows these numbers continue to rise. This is worrying, given livestock farming’s role in exacerbating the climate crisis. […]
6 Mins Read Last week, the EU finalised a new law designed to curb greenwashing, which will ban the use of terms like ‘carbon-neutral’ from product claims. Who does this affect, when does it come into effect, and what can’t you say anymore? Here’s what you need to know. In March 2022, the EU laid out a proposal […]
4 Mins Read The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched the Global Collaboration Village, a metaverse hub to help craft solutions to the climate crisis. It brings together leaders from across the world virtually to address polar tipping points, which it says have the potential to disrupt the planet’s interconnected systems. Think of climate tipping points like the […]
9 Mins Read Many businesses use carbon offsetting as a way to bring down their emissions totals and mitigate their environmental impact, but a slew of recent investigations into the practice have found that offsets are deeply flawed and not doing what they promise. All businesses are in the business of cutting emissions – and with the acute […]
4 Mins Read While a majority of the food and retail sector’s giants believe regenerative agriculture can be a solution to the climate crisis, 64% of them have not put targets in place to achieve these ambitions, according to a new study. Meanwhile, only 8% have committed to supporting farmers to incentivise the uptake of these regenerative practices. […]
7 Mins Read UK retailer Sainsbury’s has launched a lower-carbon beef from its premium Taste the Difference line, a few weeks after US company Tyson Foods began retailing a USDA-approved “climate-friendly product as part of its Brazen Beef brand. But is low-carbon, climate-friendly beef even a thing – are we just kidding ourselves? The company says the Taste the Difference […]
5 Mins Read Shake Shack has partnered with Californian startup Zero Acre Farms to trial the latter’s sustainable Cultured Oil on select menu items at two locations in New York City. The pilot is part of Shake Shack’s Stand for Something Good commitment, swapping soybean oil for Zero Acre’s better-for-you and eco-friendly fermented cooking oil. Zero Acre’s oil […]
4 Mins Read Non-profit organisation Vegan Outreach has expanded its Green Tuesday Initiative to Vietnam after five years in India. The programme hopes to reduce the impact of the country’s diet on the environment and is in talks with over 100 institutions about eating greener every Tuesday. The Green Tuesday Initiative helps corporations and educational institutions tackle climate […]
5 Mins Read German alt-chocolate brand ChoViva (formerly NoCoa/QOA) has partnered with oat cereal producer Kölln on a new range of vegan muesli that uses the former’s cocoa-free chocolate. Sibling founders Sara and Maximilian Marquart tell Green Queen about ChoViva’s fermentation process, the use of palm oil, and creating a sustainable alternative to cocoa butter. ChoViva, which was […]
10 Mins Read Precision fermentation, described as the third pillar of alt-protein alongside plant-based and cultivated foods, is on the rise. There are at least 62 companies working in this space globally across the supply chain, with a big focus on animal-free dairy proteins. How does this sector stack up with conventional milk in terms of its climate […]
5 Mins Read A high-school student has developed Beach Board Hong Kong, a Monopoly-style game that sheds light on the environmental issues faced by the island’s beaches. Featuring damning pollution facts, action prompts to tackle these challenges, it’s an innovative tool to help educate local schoolchildren about beach pollution, with all proceeds donated to charity. Last year, Carmel […]
4 Mins Read In its annual September event, Apple announced it’s ending the use of leather from all its products – including Apple Watch bands and iPhone cases – to meet its 2030 carbon neutrality target. While it remains tight-lipped on what its new FineWoven material is made out of, it says the eco-friendly micro-twill fabric contains 68% post-consumer […]
5 Mins Read Dutch food tech brand Northern Wonder has made its retail debut with four beanless coffee products at supermarket chain Albert Heijn in the Netherlands. The Coffee-Free Coffee pods and filter grounds are the second iteration of the startup’s original lineup, which now also includes online-exclusive espresso-style grounds. Founded in 2021 by David Klingen, Bas Franse, Andreas […]
4 Mins Read Replacing 50% of our meat and dairy intake with plant-based alternatives by 2050 could result in significant climate benefits, reducing agricultural and land-use emissions by 31% and halting the destruction of forest and natural land, according to a new peer-reviewed study. Shifting to vegan meat and dairy – and reforesting the land spared from livestock […]
5 Mins Read COP28 made headlines last month when it announced it will serve mostly plant-based food – it signposts the increased focus on food systems at this year’s UN climate summit (November 30 to December 12), in contrast to years past. In addition to mostly vegan catering, the conference will see food policy announcements and a Food4Climate Pavilion. […]
7 Mins Read A new report by the Better Food Foundation and Sentient Media analyzed eight news outlets – four each in the UK and the US – and found that five have recipe sections dominated by meat-based dishes. In an effort to find the link between climate media and animal agriculture, the researchers suggested five actions to […]