Meat Giant Scraps Climate Goals |
From Stephanie Feldstein, Population and Sustainability Program Director |
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Animal agriculture is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and a leading driver of climate change, habitat loss, water pollution, and pesticide use. Yet JBS — the world’s largest meat company — is backing out of its climate and deforestation commitments, even after touting greenhouse gas emissions reductions as a key goal, Inside Climate News reports.
In its most recent annual sustainability report, the company removed its commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and deleted its goal to eliminate deforestation across its supply chains in Brazil, calling the undertaking “an immense challenge.” It’s just the latest example of Big Ag backpedaling on its environmental commitments and appeasing the public with empty promises. Read on to learn about how most meat and dairy “sustainability pledges” are greenwashing, the ubiquity of plastic in our food system, and the Center’s fight to protect diamondback terrapins. |
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Crowded Planet: Roads divide animal habitat and cause deaths from vehicle strikes. In Brazil it's estimated that nearly 9 million mammals die on roads every year. Researchers there are testing rope bridges that let primates cross above traffic. Since 2024 cameras have recorded 15,000 wildlife crossings on these bridges — and no roadkills.
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Shop Back to School Sustainably |
The return to school can come with the pressure to shop. But there are easy ways to get the items you need for the new school year, from clothing to school supplies and electronics, without the cost of buying new — to the planet or your pocketbook.
The easiest way to tackle the school-supply checklist is to reuse items from last year. Check in the back of drawers and closets for leftover supplies and reuse items like backpacks, lunchboxes, and water bottles. Ask your neighborhood Buy Nothing group or visit your local Really, Really Free Market to snatch up supplies your neighbors no longer need. Purchase back-to-school clothes secondhand or host a clothing swap with friends. If you need a new laptop or tablet, look for refurbished options.
Here’s one thing you can do: Check out our Simplify the Holidays Instagram account for more ways to usher in life’s seasons with less stuff and more joy. |
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Tell Trader Joe’s: Carry Monarch-Safe Avocados |
The United States consumes 3 billion pounds of avocados yearly, mostly from Mexico. To meet skyrocketing demand for this “green gold,” avocado plantations are gobbling up Mexican forests where imperiled monarch butterflies spend the winter.
U.S. grocery stores must adopt sustainable avocado-sourcing policies that prevent further deforestation and loss of monarch habitat in Mexico. So far Sprouts has publicly committed to the innovative Pro-Forest Agriculture (PFA) certification program. Costco has also committed to reducing deforestation in its supply chain and engaging its suppliers with the PFA program. Trader Joe’s, however, has remained silent. Here’s one thing you can do: Call on Trader Joe’s to protect monarch butterflies, Mexican forests, and vulnerable nearby communities by adopting the PFA program. |
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These Sustainability Pledges Are Greenwashing |
Big Ag’s sustainability pledges are nothing new, but are they taken seriously? To find out, researchers at the University of Miami analyzed the sustainability claims of 33 of the world’s largest meat and dairy corporations to understand if they’re following through with their sustainability commitments. Unsurprisingly, the researchers found, 98% of the environmental claims made in meat and dairy sustainability reports and consumer-facing websites are greenwashing.
“Like the fossil fuel industry, which has used greenwashing over the last several decades to delay meaningful climate action, the meat and dairy industry may be misleading consumers and investors regarding whether and to what extent they are addressing environmental impacts,” the study says.
Here’s one thing you can do: Check out our U.S. Just Food Transition Roadmap to learn about building power and momentum for a just food transition away from the factory farm model. |
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Plastic in the Food System |
Plastic is everywhere. Since the 1950s manufacturers have produced around 460 million tons of plastic. Plastic pollution infiltrates the very systems that grow, harvest, and process our food. From agricultural soil to seafood and packaged food, plastics have become a part of the food system itself.
The Center’s new fact sheet takes a hard look at the ways plastic contaminates food production — including plastic fishing nets, plastic irrigation systems, and fertilizers coated in plastic — and the wide-ranging consequences for environmental and human health. Addressing this giant problem requires systemic change, but actions like replacing single-use food containers with reusables and expanding “extended producer responsibility laws” can move us in the right direction.
Here’s one thing you can do: Read the fact sheet to learn more about the food system’s plastic problem and solutions to build a safer, more sustainable food system.
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Reduce Plastic Waste: A Community Science Project |
Starbucks serves billions of drinks a year, many of them in disposable cups. Our friends at Story of Stuff have launched a community science project to find out if the world’s largest coffee chain is living up to its own reuse guidelines. Those guidelines call for baristas to automatically serve beverages in a reusable mug or glass at company-owned stores with cafe seating unless the customer specifically asks for a to-go cup.
Reusables are a solution to single-use waste, plastic pollution, and microplastic health concerns. Help Story of Stuff discover if Starbucks is following its own reuse guidelines by participating in the Starbucks survey.
Here’s one (other) thing you can do: You don’t have to wait for Starbucks to follow through on its reuse commitments — in most U.S. restaurants it’s legal to bring your own reusable mug. See our downloadable flier for more details (it’s tailored to Florida but relevant to the 46 states that have adopted the 2013, 2017, or 2022 food code).
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Wildlife Spotlight: Diamondback Terrapins |
Diamondback terrapins have freckled bodies and distinct concentric diamond-shaped patterns on their shells. Adults can live up to 40 years, but only 1% of hatchlings survive to adulthood. These turtles live primarily in coastal marshes from Massachusetts to Texas, where their populations have plummeted by 75% in the past 50 years. Their leading cause of death is drowning in crab traps, though they’re also threatened by habitat loss, sea-level rise, and development.
In 2024 the Center and 20 partner organizations petitioned to list diamondback terrapins as endangered. Last month NOAA Fisheries announced that the turtles have advanced to the next stage of review, which determines whether they warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act — moving them one critical step closer to the protection they need and deserve.
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States |
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