Edition #5 | Environment Forward
Regenerative turkeys, COP26 outcomes, shopping, and trash cleanup.
Hi Y’all! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving week, and welcome to 5th Edition of Environment Forward. Here’s what I’ve been reading lately as COP26 has come to a close and we approach the holidays. As we feast with family and friends this holiday season, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Institute of Culinary Education have shared some helpful tips for reducing food waste and getting the most out of your ingredients for your meals. Be sure to drop me a line to let me know your thoughts and what you’ve been reading (or watching) lately.
COP26 Outcomes
COP26 came to a close in Glasgow on November 12, and the resulting pact sets a vision for eliminating fossil-fuel subsidies and cutting back on coal usage while committing to ambitious climate targets. The Glasgow Climate Pact signals alignment by almost 200 nations on the need to cut emissions. While some experts are disappointed in the language and outcomes in the final pact, companies and countries are preparing for a greener world. Per Keith Tuffley, global co-head of sustainability and corporate transitions at Citigroup Inc., “Glasgow will be remembered as the turning point when companies from all sectors, en masse, are now turning their attention to developing and driving their decarbonization strategies.”
Image credit: Climate Action Tracker via Bloomberg Green
Shopping, Supply Chains, & Climate Change
Given current supply chain constraints and shipping delays, we are talking about supply chains more than ever. With the context of current supply chain challenges, Grist had four writers share their thoughts on how we shop, because our purchases ultimately have climate implications. How we shop has changed - in the era of social media, we now can make purchases from within the Instagram app, shop on YouTube via live streams, and there's even a "TikTok made me buy it" trend. Terry Nguyn insightfully calls attention to social media being a "shopping trap." In light of current chip shortages, Maddie Stone encourages us to focus on the repair and maintenance of our electronic devices rather than treating our technology as disposable. This article will challenge you to consider your purchases carefully and provides some helpful tips that we can embrace even once our supply chains normalize.
Image credit: Grist / Grace Abe
Regenerative Turkey
When choosing a turkey for holiday meals dinner, you may select a heritage breed bird or a tofurkey for your meatless dinner guests, but there's a new option this year which Cream Co. Meats and PT Ranch are referring to as "regenerative turkey." Regenerative turkeys are raised by ranchers using regenerative agriculture practices which promote soil health and improve biodiversity and ecosystem function. PT Ranch in California and White Oak Pastures in Georgia have had their turkeys verified as regenerative through the Savory Institute. White Oak Pastures has summarized 7 reasons why a pasture-raised regenerative turkey might be the right choice for your next holiday meal.
Image credit: PT Ranch via GreenBiz
@traashboyy's journey to collect 500,000 pieces of trash
Henry Ferland, known as @traashboyyy on TikTok, inspires many by cleaning up trash daily in his home city of Boston. He's set a goal of picking up 500,000 pieces of trash, and he takes his followers along on the journey. Rain or shine, he's committed to daily trash collecting in his reusable trash bag and is currently up to 67,875 pieces towards his goal of 500,000.
Image credit: @traashboyyy / TikTok
Nicole Sullivan is the Climate Services Manager at CarbonBetter. When she's not working on sustainability reports and helping clients to decarbonize, she's busy reading about the environment or is outdoors exploring it. Connect with her on LinkedIn and drop her a line to let her know what you thought about these stories and share what you're reading.