The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has found that as much as half of the natural pasture land on Earth has been degraded by the impacts of climate change and overexploitation, putting a sixth of the planet’s food supplies at risk. The new UNCCD report — Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands […]
Humans have an enormous impact on planet Earth, but from both an animal welfare and an environmental perspective, perhaps nothing is more important than our diets. In 2022, more than 82 billion livestock animals were slaughtered for meat, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, with the majority of those animals […]
A new study has found that 58 banks in the United States are “sabotaging” their own net-zero commitments by providing financing to meat, dairy and animal feed corporations. Research for the report, Bull in the Climate Shop: Industrial livestock financing sabotages major U.S. banks’ climate commitments, was conducted by U.S. environmental nonprofit Friends of the […]
The European Union has been investing four times the amount of money into animal agriculture — which makes “artificially cheap” diets that heavily pollute the planet — than it has into plant-based farming, according to a new study. The European Union spends almost one-third of its budget on subsidizing its common agricultural policy (CAP), reported […]
The architect of the Grand Canyon — the Colorado River — is the lifeblood of the West. The river and its tributaries supply water to more than 40 million people in several major cities, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix. New research has found that more than half of the mighty river’s […]
More heat waves and unpredictable rainfall could destroy vineyards from California to Greece by 2100, according to a new study, while at the same time creating ideal conditions for wine growing in the United Kingdom and other unexpected regions. “Climate change is affecting grape yield, composition and wine quality. As a result, the geography of […]
The UN’s latest Food Waste Index Report, compiled in collaboration with the charity WRAP, reveals that food waste has skyrocketed, with over 1 billion meals wasted per day and over $1 trillion worth of food waste generated per year around the world. The report found that 783 million people lived with hunger in 2022, and […]
After a plant suffers an injury, metabolites called terpenoids are released to enhance its defenses. A new study led by scientists from Tokyo University of Science (TUS) has found that rose essential oil (REO) has the ability to stimulate defense genes in the leaves of tomato plants. REO also attracts herbivore predators that protect plants […]
New research by environmental scientists with Switzerland’s Food Packaging Forum Foundation has uncovered 68 per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) “forever chemicals” in food packaging — including plastic, paper and coated metal. Used by manufacturers for decades in products like nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics, cosmetics, firefighting foam and food packaging, more than 12,000 of the […]