I have many thoughts on this paper but for starters, these proponents of the UPF concept have a lot of nerve basically arguing "it is the empirical evidence that's wrong for contradicting our theory," as though they have some long-accepted theory about the world like gravity or natural selection

The ultraprocessed food conversation has well and truly jumped the shark. Now its proponents are opposing fortification, urging us to ignore the nutritional properties of foods, & conflating the extent and purpose of processing. Put this schema out of its misery already. www.bmj.com/content/392/...

This paper, brought to you by the nutrition team who created the NOVA system & "ultraprocessed" foods, argues "don't worry about nutrients, bc even the idea of healthy processing food contradicts our narrative; any evidence that says otherwise is wrong". 1/ www.bmj.com/content/392/...

The "Clean Food Facts" campaign of the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is funded by the meat industry, is an #astroturfing effort targeting #plantbased meat alternatives thru manipulative strategies: the illusion of credibility, emotional #manipulation and… (1/2) doi.org/10.1108/978-...

The DGAC, the official, legitimate science behind Dietary Guidelines, which RFK rejected, came to an unambiguous conclusion: "The systematic review findings emphasize the health benefits of increasing beans, peas, & lentils while reducing red & processed meats" 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/o...

Proud to announce that I'll be the Inaugural Coordinator of NYU's new Food Impact Program! foodimpact.org/about/ Please register and come to our launch even on February 6, online or in-person at NYU foodimpact.org/fip-launch-e...

"To the extent the guidelines ... represent an agenda, it is not simply to facilitate a particular outcome favored by meat corporations but also to invert good governance liberalism." @gnrosenberg.bsky.social & I on the new food pyramid for @newrepublic.com. newrepublic.com/article/2051...

The point I wish I'd made clearer in our coverage: It's not that the new guidelines happen get some stuff right & some stuff wrong, but rather they fundamentally lack methodological rigor, don't pre-register their questions or criteria for answering them, & therefore, as Matt says, cherry-pick 1/

More is coming to light about how we got the inconsistent & contradictory new guidelines. Much of it came about because the evidence was cherry-picked. 1/

More here from @kcklatt.bsky.social , plus a gift article from @mbolotnikova.bsky.social about how rushed, contradictory, and vibes-based the new Dietary Guidelines are.

We got the upside-down dietary guidelines from political maneuvering, not a science-based process. It has a scientific committee, touted as backing this report, but it likely installed to justify pre-held beliefs of RFK Jr & MAHA, who love animal products 1/ www.businessinsider.com/rfk-new-diet...

My New Year's resolution is improve how I start Bluesky threads. I forget to announce what they're about. So: please check out this thread if you're either highly critical or gung-ho about the merits of the Green Revolution, "land-sparing" and maximizing yields using industrial agriculture.

I liked this conversation. I recommend it. But, in the hopes that listening to it doesn't just reaffirm people's prior attitudes, I want to highlight where @mikegrunwald.bsky.social & @adamcalo.bsky.social seem to talk past each other, regarding what causes deforestation, where and at what scale. 1/

To add to @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social's commentary, while Tyson agreed to halt its "climate friendly beef" in the suit settlement, there is still an open door: an expert would have to be agreed upon by all parties to allow "climate-friendly beef" or any similar climate-branded product to go to market

It's not the processing. It's how we process - added salt, saturated fat, sugars, and refined starches, often in the same food package. The arguments in this article to the contrary are not convincing me otherwise 1/ www.npr.org/2025/11/10/n...

Brazilian meat giant JBS just settled a false advertising lawsuit with the NYAG for a million dollars. It's a small win, but it shines a light on the pervasiveness of greenwashing by the meat industry, which will only get worse at COP30. My latest @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2028...

European countries want Brazil to increase forest conservation (it certainly can). But some of the world's best opportunities to spare & restore carbon in native forests—while displacing the least food production—actually lie in Europe. Our analysis shows this: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Lately there have been heightened anxieties about ingesting enough protein, too many contaminants, and too little meat.

A new study from U of Michigan researchers finds that the diet footprint of cities varies by 3x, primarily driven by variation in where & how beef is sourced & produced. I'm skeptical though, and think that their methods exaggerated real world variation 🧵 1/N www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Confusing results from EAT-Lancet 2025 about seafood production/consumption that I'd like some help answering! Whether you're part of the commission or just another interested reader in the community. See thread below 🐟 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The new Planetary Health Diet has been released by the EAT-Lancet commissions. Despite hearing years of talk about major methodological changes, the new recommendations look...basically the same as first one! Image from the Guardian. Links below

Similar takeaway here. A common thread was "we're tackling the root causes of climate change", which ranged across structural inequity, military industrial complex, forced labor, or using any agrochemicals. The phrase is a stand-in for funder perceptions & priorities, potentially biases.

It was a great pleasure working with @scmcclelland.bsky.social at NYU for the past year and a half, and I recommend folks follow her here and on LinkedIn for great research on ag and nature-based solutions to climate change!

This article doesn't cover real stakes of this ban. Yes, celebrity chefs hawk products. But PFAS aren't all equal. PTFE in pans is relatively inert & foolproof for home cooking provided you use wood utensils. Ceramic just isn't as effective. A ban could backfire & cause more takeout & snacking

What if wealthy nations could lock in high methane emissions and still claim climate neutrality? That’s the risk with “temperature neutrality”. Here’s the plain-English version of our new study: medium.com/@colmduffy/h...

This is encouraging to see amidst a slew of "the rise of meat" articles. www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/d... Chef Daniel Humm says that reintroducing meat was about being more inclusive and improving profits. But anyone can enjoy a plant-based meal for an evening, so what remaining reason does that leave us with?

Yes, we need to plant some trees, but in way fewer places than we tend to assume. Seed banks are everywhere. They'll reestablish themselves in *most* places as long as we get out of the way.

Regenerative agriculture, pseudoscience, and anti-regulatory fervor continue to clash in weird but predictable ways with RFK's appointment, this time with an endorsement of "biodynamic farming" which is based in mysticism. 1/ www.agriculture.com/partners-rfk...

Still shocked that a senior official would endorse biodynamic farming. I don’t know a single serious ag or environmental expert who supports it. Some back organic or regenerative—I disagree with them, but at least there’s debate. But biodynamic? It's based on mysticism, not science. t.co/4ZNJ5gv4rq

At @drkatemarvel.bsky.social‘s book talk at NYPL “Earth is the best planet. All these billionaires want to go to Mars but they won’t even move to Jersey.”

🎉 Thrilled to announce I've been granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor at NYU Environmental Studies this fall! This wouldn't have been possible without my generous professional network—both in & beyond academia—and especially the immense unwavering support from my department. Thank you!

The NZ govt's & livestock sector's reactions to our open letter both seem to refuse Paris-aligned targets, which we & their own Climate Commission advised them to follow. Instead, they made a new panel, which crafted industry-friendly advice, ie 'no additional warming' www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

I signed this letter bc "no additional warming" is blatant dodge. Major livestock countries can clearly do better than "keep warming constant" & I would argue that large herds in one country don't even do so, as the global total is still rising. This meager target ignores international obligations.

It was a pleasure consulting with @climatetown.bsky.social on this breakdown of everything that's being done to glamorize, healthwash, and greenwash the overconsumption of milk in the US. I only helped a bit with the last part; they do incredible thorough research! www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQiL...

Time and again, offshore aquaculture and industrial fishing for their feed displace the subsistence and artisinal small market fishers. Our own research shows that carnivorous fish farms continue to consume more fish from the oceans than they produce from farming www.desmog.com/2025/05/22/r...

Great coverage in the Cornell Chronicle of our paper including quotes from me and @dominicwoolf.bsky.social. Read here ➡️ tinyurl.com/yfmwy34h

Yes, climate mitigation means trying stuff that is prone to failure. But some orgs, economists & physical scientists were banging drums about which mitigation measures are cheap/easiest vs. hard/costliest for years. CDR always winds up toward bottom, but it captures disproportionately high funding!

Reminder: this is tomorrow!

How much can regenerative crop production (cover crops, no-till) sequester soil carbon and reduce GHGs? Our work, led by @scmcclelland.bsky.social shows: a lot! 32.6 Gigatons by 2050. BUT at a cost to yields. Without affecting yields, mitigation is only 4.4 Gt. Our maps highlight some win-win areas

If you have any interest in food, climate change, or nature-based solutions, this event is for you! w/ @projectdrawdown.bsky.social, @refed.bsky.social, and Tilt Collective. It's a pleasure to collaborate with these dynamic, data-based, and visionary organizations us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

🚨 Some 20–35% of human-generated greenhouse gases come from food, agriculture, and land use. And those emissions are growing. Register today! 📣 For a far-ranging discussion focused on food, agriculture, and land use. @refed.bsky.social @matthewhayek.bsky.social us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

I think @georgemonbiot.bsky.social is right. Emissions-neutral beef does not exist. Science shows this. But polished, non-peer-reviewed reports from high-profile voices continue to drown this out. Most recently from a British organization funded by McDonald's www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‪NOVA nutrition researchers: We should focus on categories of FOODS, not scientifically identified nutrients. Also NOVA nutrition researchers: Let's see if we can p-hack the impact of hundreds of individual food additive clusters to find a relationship to diabetes. journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...

Overblown press releases have consequences. Yes, university academics, this means you too www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

A recent study found no differences in muscle synthesis between eating a complete animal protein (lean beef) vs incomplete plant protein (e.g. only black beans). This is *despite* funding from the beef industry. doi.org/10.1016/j.tj...

If the 2010s were marked by techno-solutionism, then the 2020s might be the decade of "natural solutionism". Both are flawed, disdain the regulatory state, and in both "expertise is treated as suspect, corrupt, or altogether illegitimate, with anecdotes and mantras replacing verifiable data"

One day late for 'World Rewilding Day', I'd love to share and discuss this incredible example of rewilding a corner of New Zealand--the Hinewai Reserve on the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch. It exemplifies so much of what can go right with rewilding and upends conventional conservation wisdom 🧵

Our research showed that aquaculture's sustainability metrics like fish-in:fish-out (FIFO) have been underestimated *and* miss large parts of aquaculture's full environmental impacts

To date, this is the wildest headline that I've ever been quoted under 🐟💦 www.vox.com/future-perfe...