Food

Gidon Eshel: The Diet Disruptor

Dr. Gidon Eshel is not the kind of climate scientist who limits his attention to melting glaciers or atmospheric physics. Trained as a physical oceanographer at Columbia University and later a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, Eshel has spent the past two decades changing how the world understands the environmental footprint of food.

Now a Research Professor at Bard College and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, he has become one of the most influential voices connecting daily dietary choices with global ecological outcomes.

With work in geophysics, agriculture and nutrition, Eshel offers a rare, systems-level view of how what we eat shapes the planet. His research has demonstrated, with striking clarity, that food is not merely a personal or cultural matter, but a driver of land use, water demand, and greenhouse gas emissions on a scale that challenges transportation and energy systems.

Your Grass-fed Burger isn’t Better for the Planet

For years, ranchers and some conservationists have argued that grass-fed beef is better for the planet than conventional cattle.

But a study published [March 2025] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences challenges that idea, finding that cattle raised only on pastures do not have a smaller carbon footprint than feedlot cattle, which are quickly fattened on corn and other grains. This held even when the researchers took into account that healthy pastureland can help capture more carbon by pulling it out of the air and storing it in roots and other plant tissues.

How Your Plate Affects Your Planet

Humanity’s growing demand for animal meat is driving a planetary crisis, accelerating climate change, devastating ecosystems, and threatening public health.

Two grim, almost surreal, 26-story buildings tower over the southern outskirts of Enzhou, about 500 miles west of Shanghai in China’s Hubei province. No one would mistake them for apartment complexes despite their neat grid of window-like slots. Indeed, their main inhabitants are not human at all. The buildings are designed specifically to meet the biological and reproductive needs of 600,000 pigs each. Here they will be bred, farrowed, fattened, and finally slaughtered to meet the exploding animal protein needs of China, which consumes half the world’s pork and is also its biggest pork producer.

It is the world’s largest vertical pig farm, designed to manufacture 54,000 tonnes of pork every year. The building’s design reflects its unique function. Each of its six giant elevators can hoist a load of 10 tons, or about 100 pigs, at a time. Every utility and process, from the building’s water supply, electricity, and air conditioning, to its automatic feeding machines and smart air filtration and disinfection systems, can be monitored and controlled centrally from a NASA-like command center on the first floor. A stupendous amount of pig manure is processed daily in a biogas-driven waste treatment system and turned into electricity for lighting and heating the buildings. About 400 such ‘pig-rises’ could meet a part of China’s and the world’s growing appetite for animal proteins.

7 Steps to a More Sustainable Diet

Here are seven steps to a more sustainable diet.

Did you know that food production contributes about 21-37% of human-caused emissions?

To reduce your climate impact, eat more plant-based foods and reducing meat and dairy consumption, as these require fewer resources and produce fewer greenhouse gases.

Protecting Earth’s Lungs

Forests act as the planet’s terrestrial lungs. They provide us with fresh air, clean water, beautiful vistas and a sanctuary for countless wildlife.

But, today, more than ever, our forests are facing unprecedented threats from disease, climate change, mad-made destruction and harmful pests.

Join this documentary as it follows a group of professionals that developed, tested and formulated today’s forest health strategies to preserve the legacy of one of the planet’s most important resources – and to help us better understand and appreciate why we need to protect our forests.

This is a story that affects us all.

Our Broken Planet: How to heal our rainforests

Breathe in. Breathe out. The oxygen flowing through your body is the result of photosynthesis: the natural process through which living things convert sunlight into energy. About 30% of land-based photosynthesis happens in tropical rainforests. Rainforests are also great at sucking up excess carbon from the atmosphere – something we know we’ve got to do more of.

But in recent years, rainforests have been getting constricted: shrinking in size and choked up with smoke.

Listen to this podcast from the National History Museum to find out what’s going on and how we can help rainforests breathe deeply again.

David Goodsell: Molecular Biology Meets Artistry

David Goodsell, a distinguished American molecular biologist and illustrator, is renowned for flawlessly blending his expertise in molecular biology with an enchanting artistic flair.

Holding a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, Goodsell’s molecular artwork graces numerous publications, textbooks, and exhibits, offering a visually stunning insight into the intricate structures of molecules, such as Ebola, Zika, Covid-19, and HIV.

Dr. Darin Detwiler: Shaping the Future of Food Safety

Dr. Darin Detwiler, LP.D., M.A.Ed., is an influential figure in the realm of food policy and technology, currently serving as the Assistant Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies in Boston, MA. In addition to his administrative role, Dr. Detwiler is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Food Policy and leads the MS in Regulatory Affairs of Food and Food Industry program.

With over 25 years of experience influencing federal food policy, Dr. Detwiler is a globally recognized expert in the field with his contributions extending beyond the academic sphere, as he actively engages with industry events and publications.

Reduce Your Risk of Foodborne Illness

Here’s what you need to know about foodborne illnesses in just a few bites.

Beyond Salmonella: Emerging Foodborne Threats

Walkerton, a serene town in Bruce County, Ontario, with a population of under 5,000, embodies tranquil rural charm, where close-knit communities thrive amid picturesque landscapes. Here on May 15, 2000, the local public utilities commission took a routine sample of the water supply and discovered E. coli contamination. The commission didn’t notify public health officials.

In the following days, several people fell ill with bloody diarrhea. The local public utilities commission reassured officials a couple of times that the water supply was safe, even though cases kept rising. By the time health officials finally warned the community against consuming untreated tap water, over 40 individuals had already sought medical attention at the hospital.

The Walkerton E. coli outbreak that saw 2,300 people fall ill, and seven die, was the worst public health disaster involving municipal water in Canadian history.