Bird flu has been a costly disease. The government has spent billions to manage it, including compensating egg and dairy producers for their losses, while consumers have spent an additional $14.5 billion on eggs in 2024 & 2025 alone, according to one estimate. So will we ever get it under control?

Myths about our ancestors' meaty diets animate modern politics and culture wars about food and identity. But the history of human diets tells a different story about food's past and lets us be more rational about its future. @gnrosenberg.bsky.social & I for @vox.com www.vox.com/future-perfe...

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...

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.

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...

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

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...

"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...

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:

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...

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.

“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 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.

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

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.

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

New from me -- the cheapest way to prevent animal cruelty. Gift link here: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

EPA already caved - multiple times - on similar issues in regards to confined livestock production: kicking down the can for air and water (via studies that take forever), and withholding CAFO data that states share by law... What's the lesson? I'd say 1) we need states to pick up the slack...

JBS is the largest meat processor in the United States; its workforce is also highly dependent on refugees and asylum seekers.

In which Jasmine, Mariann, and I talk about that awful NYT article about animal rights activism in Sonoma. Have a listen.

This is a great piece by @kennytorrella.bsky.social - and not just because I am quoted and my work is mentioned! It’s critical to dismantle the false narratives that big ag puts out with great fanfare to hide the reality of consolidation. The “small farm” is a central deception in that narrative.

The ag lobby -- and even govt. regulators! -- argue against farm pollution limits on the basis that the US has "2 million farms" and that it's infeasible to regulate so many farms. But there's a big problem with this talking point: It's just not true. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

This sounds insane to speak out loud, but is a real statistic: The global seafood industry kills at least 1 trillion wild fish every year to supply 1% of the world’s food. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Dairy farms are often portrayed as quaint and bucolic, but they're some of the most dangerous workplaces. This is a heartbreaking story, not uncommon, and also preventable -- if Congress is willing to strengthen labor laws and fund OSHA.

New story from me: FarmKind, a new-ish nonprofit, encourages people to donate to effective animal charities to offset their meat consumption. In other words, it's a "meat offset." The idea makes me a little uncomfortable, but I also think it’s necessary.

Beyond Meat is simplifying and shortening its ingredient lists and launching more "natural" veggie products. Meanwhile, Impossible is leaning into its meatiness. Which approach will win over consumers?

I don't get to write about a lot of good news, but this is a really big deal — the global fur industry has collapsed over the last decade. My rundown on the numbers and how it unfolded: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Last night I was at an event where someone told me that they only drink Fairlfie milk; Their employer stocks the company fridge w Core Power shakes. I’m still shocked that Fairlife has largely been able to maintain its public perception as “one of the good ones.” story by @kennytorrella.bsky.social

Fantastic piece by @kennytorrella.bsky.social on the extensive animal abuse and humanewashing at Fairlife. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Fairlife, a brand that didn't exist before 2012, is now the 2nd most popular milk in the US. It's a reflection of how dairy manages to continually rebrand & reinvent itself. But the reality behind Fairlife, like all dairy, is an unmitigated horror show www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Sue and Mike McCloskey built a dairy empire — including the ever popular Fairlife brand — with promises of humane treatment and transparency. A slate of investigations have torn that narrative to bits. Read all about it in my new feature on Fairlife:

The Trump administration and the GOP are doing a lot these days to boost the pork industry's campaign to lock pigs in tiny cages. Here's my round-up on the madness:

Just finished Chapter 8 of @mikegrunwald.bsky.social’s “We Are Eating The Earth” which describes the carbon farming hype of the past few years in great detail

People disagree about nearly everything in the climate space. EXCEPT BIOFUELS. Absolutely everybody thinks using corn & soy for fuel is a terrible idea - except the people who stand to gain from it, and the people who want those folks' votes. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Attn animal writers: Current Affairs wants your pitches! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A New report maps a “severe” shortage of local journalists in the U.S.: www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/new-... I looked at the details for @niemanlab.org The report "finds that more than 1,000 counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist."

The list of terrible things done to farmed animals is so long, and meat/dairy/egg companies don't have to disclose them. That'll soon change in Switzerland — at least for one set of really awful practices. New story today in our Processing Meat newsletter:

Cc @mikegrunwald.bsky.social @waiterich.bsky.social In downtown Kensington, Maryland.

A new study has found that the documentary film Dominion is quite good at persuading people to eat less meat. I wrote about it, and whether the animal advocacy movement gave up on public persuasion too soon: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

A very smart piece on how to think about the Trump administration's move away from cruel animal experimentation in light of its broader war on science. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

The one drug RFK Jr. should actually ban: ractopamine. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Billions of animals are tortured for meat each year. Millions of slaughterhouse workers suffer too -- physically and mentally: www.vox.com/future-perfe... This quote really stands out: “Public demand for meat creates ongoing, present, and future exposure to trauma and continual retraumatization.”

New from me:

The details of this lawsuit are stunning. Three Guatemalan college grads came to the US on J-1 visas for an educational experience, and ended up having to work grueling hours on an industrial pork operation. sentientmedia.org/cultural-exc...

Rachel Fobar has a great story for us today on what the hell is going on with animal experimentation under the Trump administration, balancing a lot of threads very well - give it a read! www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Meet The Replacement: a bi-weekly newsletter on the global transition away from animal testing. ✨ Coverage of animal testing & research policy often flies under the radar, but it's more urgent than ever. I'm here to round up the news for you. 🫡 Please share widely! thereplacement.substack.com