Nutrition professor and advocate Marion Nestle describes how, for decades, the food industry has pushed highly processed, high-calorie, low-nutrition foods that kill Americans in shockingly high numbers, via diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more. Nestle outlines an aspirational advocacy agenda that puts the brakes on the processed food industry.
Summary of a 2024 survey of 200 scientists concludes the only way to achieve climate goals is to drastically reduce production of meat and dairy. For years, climate scientists have been talking about and working on reducing global warming by phasing out fossil fuels. It’s time for governments and legislators to work on animal agriculture.
Short article that unravels conflicting data on meat consumption: Is it increasing or decreasing? The U.S. and Portugal are tied for highest overall meat consumption in the world. Chicken accounts for the largest portion of meat eaten in the U.S., while in Portugal, people prefer seafood. U.S. consumers eat an average of 82 pounds of beef/year, well above the global average of 19.8 pounds/year. Many Americans have swapped beef for poultry – which is why it tops the chart of most-consumed meat. Most meat in the U.S. – beef, poultry, pork — is raised in environmentally destructive, and largely unregulated CAFOs.
Journalist Alicia Kennedy argues that while “lifestyle” writers (e.g., food and fashion) typically steer clear of politics, it is their duty to “engage with the realities of the world.” Lifestyle choices such as what to eat or what to wear have ripple effects that often do concern politics. “One person in the United States’ easy pleasures are another person’s and ecosystem’s burden,” Kennedy writes. Case in point: While you are enjoying a bacon and eggs breakfast in Boston, people in Duplin County, N.Carolina are being sprayed with hog manure.
“Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, milk, and cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act,” sounds like the title of a Saturday Night Live skit. But it’s no joke. It is very real legislation proposed in 2021 by a bi-partisan coalition of politicians from Big Dairy states. You’d think the FDA would have more to worry about than consumers mistaking almond milk for “real” milk, and prohibiting plant-based yogurt, milk and cheese from using those words on labels. Holy Cow!
