We’re (unfortunately) used to talking about how livestock farming fuels deforestation in the Amazon, but what gets less attention is the indirect impacts of raising and fattening up all those bovines. Around three-quarters of the world’s soybeans are grown to be livestock feed and about 20% become food for people—mostly in the form of veggie oil. With trade tensions and tariffs cutting of U.S. soybean exports to China, Brazil is increasingly stepping in to fill the void, The Guardian reports. The portion of soybeans and corn coming out of the Amazon has jumped nearly 300% in the last decade, and Brazil became the world’s top soy exporter earlier this year. The best thing any of us can do about this? Skip the beef.
“Climate change” is now a dirty word. At least that’s what the Trump administration’s Department of Energy has declared. According to an email obtained by Politico, the DoE has banned the use of many words vital to describing a key, consensus-driven reality of the modern world: climate change is real and human-made emissions are the cause. The memo—directed to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which handles federal funding for clean technologies—tells employees to not say “climate change,” “green,” “sustainable,” “emissions,” “energy transition,” and a handful of other terms in both internal and external communications and documents. Hot on the DoE’s heels, Secretary of State Pete Hegseth admonished a rarely-before-seen gathering of top military leaders for being unnerved by “climate change distractions.”
Continuing its push to revitalize the coal industry, the Trump administration announced Monday plans to open up 13 million acres of federal land for mining and provide $625 million in subsidies to modernize and restart coal-fired power plants. In addition, the EPA is delaying enforcement of seven wastewater regulations for coal plants and has opened a public comment period on proposed changes to air pollution standards. Interior Secretary and climate-change denier Doug Burgum pitched the move as a job-creating, economy-boosting return to energy dominance, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright echoed the message, each using the eye-rolling phrase “beautiful, clean coal” in their remarks. Not exactly, fellas. Jenny Harbine, Northern Rockies managing attorney at Earthjustice, told Newsweek: “Coal is still on its way out. But the administration’s insistence on prolonging coal’s exit will mean more air and water pollution, a hotter climate, and missed opportunities to fully embrace the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy.”
The City of Brotherly Love is showing anything but to companies using the How2Recycle labels on their packaging. Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against SC Johnson, which owns Ziploc, and Bimbo Bakeries USA, whose brands include Sara Lee, for what it calls a “coordinated campaign of deception” to trick customers into thinking their bags are recyclable. How2Recyle labels encourage customers to drop spent bags in receptacles at stores like Target and Walmart, which, while true, also leads shoppers to believe the sacks can go in the regular curbside bin. “The How2Recycle label’s primary purpose is not to help consumers navigate recycling, but to protect the illusion that plastic recycling works,” Peter Blair, policy and advocacy director for the zero-waste nonprofit Just Zero, told Grist.
In a speech Wednesday marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’—the 2015 letter to bishops that called for environmental protection and linked the destruction of the earth with social injustice—Pope Leo urged world leaders and citizens not to abandon the fight for our planet. After an intro by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Leo framed environmental action as a moral and spiritual imperative and pushed for unity ahead of November’s COP30 U.N. summit in Brazil. Pope Leo emphasized the lopsided impact climate change has on the world’s poorest, noting that caring for the planet is the same as caring for humanity. “Hope is not passive,” he said. “It must inspire action—for the Earth and for each other.”