Kenny Torrella

We may never get bird flu — or egg prices — under control That déjà vu you’re feeling? Blame the chicken meat industry.

Bird flu is back, and outbreaks have already led to the culling of 7.3M farmed birds. The US has effective vaccines, and I wrote about why we don't use them (and why we should): www.vox.com/future-perfe...

The mysterious rise of cancer among young adults in the Corn Belt Communities across the Corn Belt are confronting a rise in cancers among young adults — and few clear explanations.

Great to see @washingtonpost.com cover cancer rates in the Corn Belt but nitrate pollution is mentioned as an aside while glyphosate is the "center of the controversy." This ignores reporting from @sentientmedia.org @investigatemidwest.bsky.social & others and research from... wapo.st/3Le1yXo

Terrific explanation by @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social in @vox.com of why you don't have to worry about lead in your protein powder.

Setting unrealistic target levels for contaminants and then testing stuff and claiming it's unsafe has a long and storied history.

No, your protein powder isn’t poisoning you New testing finds two-thirds of popular protein powders exceed lead limits — especially plant-based brands. What you need to know before your next scoop — and why the reality is different.

You may have read that your protein supplements are giving you lead poisoning. That's not the case. If you want to have protein shakes, that's fine. But whether you need to and whether they're safely regulated is a different story. My latest for @vox.com.

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

S14, Ep7 | How the Animal Ag Industry Obstructs Climate Policy Investigating the obstacles to action on climate change.

There's increasing awareness of the role the animal ag industry plays in climate obstruction, but this new book brings all the peer-reviewed research on the subject together in one place and it's 🤯.

drilled.media/podcasts/dri...

At #COP30 next month in Brazil, the animal ag (and broader ag) industry is likely to be as active as the fossil fuel guys obstructing commitments to emissions reductions. I got a crash course on how they work from the great @profsecchi.bsky.social and Kathrin Lauber and terrific new @cssn.org book

How soybeans took over America — and the world This technology could feed a world of 10 billion. We’re squandering it, and the trade war with China could make it worse.

Excellent soy primer by @mbolotnikova.bsky.social for @vox.com.

"Humans use too much soy, a magnificently productive crop, for perilously unproductive purposes."

Soy is an amazing crop! But it's a symptom of our meat addiction.
www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry The industry became the world’s second largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.

"How much soy we produce shouldn’t be a barometer for how well our agriculture sector is doing, but for how unsustainable it is."

I wrote for @newrepublic.com that the trade war with China shows we grow too many crops to feed not people but factory-farmed animals.
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Animal abusers are getting off easy How Trump and his Supreme Court made a big problem even worse.

Gift link: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

USDA enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act just keeps getting worse. According to a new analysis, the (recent) blame could lie with SCOTUS and the Trump admin:

hard agree

The Protein Pact, a coalition of meat and dairy companies and trade groups, sponsored a panel put on by the climate events company Nest Climate Campus, which listed one of Protein Pact’s representatives — who spoke on its main stage — as a “climate action expert.” The Protein Pact is also a leading sponsor of Regen House, an agriculture events company that hosted several days of Climate Week programming. Meanwhile, the Meat Institute — the founder of the Protein Pact — sponsored events put on by Food Tank, a nonprofit think tank. It would be one thing if the Protein Pact were open to compromise on environmental regulation and spoke more honestly about their industries’ climate impact. But many of its members lobby against environmental action and downplay the industry’s environmental footprint. Some even participated in the campaign against EAT-Lancet’s first report. Given this track record, it’s hard to see the industry’s presence at Climate Week as anything but a reputation laundering effort. The Meat Institute, Food Tank, Nest Climate Campus, and Regen House didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Important reporting from @kennytorrella.bsky.social on how the meat lobby has infiltrated NYC climate week, including sponsoring Regen House and Food Tank events. Full story here: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

And beyond climate, there's also deforestation and air/water pollution. Ag is a huge part of these problems (#1 for deforestation).

Reducing fossil fuel use isn't mutually exclusive to reducing meat, plus ~15% of fossil fuels are used in food systems. As article stated, even if we ended fossil fuel use, business-as-usual food systems will tip emissions past 1.5C. Also, article doesn't talk about veganism.

correct! (bc of deforestation, and I'd presume pollution helps too)

If A.I. Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights?

two of the more outspoken people on this issue are vegan (Jeff Sebo and Kyle Fish).

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/t...

The climate movement’s biggest weakness What the climate movement is getting dead wrong.

The most effective way to avert a climate change catastrophe: People in wealthier countries have to eat more plant-based foods and less red meat, poultry, and dairy.

Animal agriculture is ~14.5-19.6% of GHG emissions, leading cause of deforestation, and a top/air water polluter.

The rich must eat less meat Scientists say rich countries need to eat a lot less meat. Will the environmental movement finally listen?

“For the past 2 decades, scientists have…landed on the same takeaways—esp. that rich countries must shift their diets to be more plant-based. But that message has, with few exceptions, failed to incite action by governments and food companies, or even the environmental movement itself.” #EatLancet

This really hits home, particularly after attending the FAO Sustainable Livestock Transformation conference this week which - over 3 days - remained silent on the issue of overconsumption…

The rich must eat less meat Scientists say rich countries need to eat a lot less meat. Will the environmental movement finally listen?

Gift link: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

The new EAT-Lancet report is out and I wrote about it -- and also what I saw at Climate Week NYC: An environmental movement still cozying up to Big Meat, and still unafraid to confront scientific consensus on food, agriculture, and livestock.

Jane Goodall on stage being interviewed at the Global Climate Action Summit in California in Sept 2018. Behind the people is a scene of a lush forest.

RIP Jane Goodall. As someone who learned about her work in elementary school, it was pretty cool as an adult to see her in her 80s on stage at the Global Climate Action Summit in 2018, talking about the advantages of eating more plants/less meat for animals, our health, nature, and the climate. 💚

Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds Sentient Media reveals less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as source of carbon emissions

Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds

Ag Secretary Hints at a Boost to Beef in Upcoming Dietary Guidelines Public health groups have raised concerns that the Trump administration may reverse course on saturated fats, despite scientific evidence linking these fats to negative health outcomes.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins gave a glimpse inside the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans, saying the recommendations will boost demand for U.S. beef and whole milk.

Without financing solutions, farmers have to leave money — and environmental benefits — on the table | Growing Returns This op-ed was originally published in Hoard’s Dairyman. Since its initial publication, the financial uncertainty for farmers engaging in conservation practices has grown substantially. Ongoing trade ...

blogs.edf.org/growingretur...

Uh, so EDF is now republishing op-eds from a dairy industry publication:

But... But... Aren't commodity growers the original stewards?

A root problem is that the USDA allows companies to say pretty much whatever they want about welfare. But there are some countries that have implemented widespread welfare forms, and are also reducing meat consumption, like Germany, Sweden, and I think the Netherlands.

I think that’s a valid concern, and I worry a lot about humane washing and have written about it a lot. I want to see welfare reforms instituted but I really don’t want their benefits to be overstated. Slower growing chickens still have it really bad, but not as bad as fast growing chickens.