Beef is on the chopping block (so to speak) at Cannes, one of the world’s biggest film festivals, whose organisers acknowledge it is the “biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions” in the food system.

While there may be some beef over Sebastian Stan’s turn as a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, there will be no actual beef served at the premier film festival of the EU’s largest beef supplier.

As part of a list of environmental initiatives, the ongoing Cannes Film Festival has introduced a ban on beef from its meals and cocktail receptions. The initiative is slated to help reduce its carbon footprint, but goes contrary to the French government’s own stance on meat.

This does not apply to events hosted by third parties in Cannes during the course of the festival (May 14-25), or non-accredited visitors of the event – but it’s a big move by one of the film industry’s most revered festivals, and a sign that climate change is finally creeping into the movies.

Cannes beef ban important for meat-hungry France

In its list of environmental guidelines, Cannes’ organisers explain that the festival’s caterers are respecting a “responsible” statement of requirements that include commitments to favouring local and seasonal products, short food supply chains, offering vegetarian options, tackling food waste, and limiting overall waste.

“As a complementary measure, for the meals and cocktail receptions that it organises, the Festival de Cannes is committed to increasing the number of vegetarian options and to no longer serving beef, which is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions,” it says.

Beef is associated with the highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions per kg, twice more than the next most polluting food (dark chocolate). The festival has cited research that suggests beef production releases 4.5 times more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere than white meat, prompting the Cannes organisers to implement the ban as an “effective and acceptable way of reducing the carbon impact of food”.

But while the festival in southern France might be favouring beet over beef bourguignon, on the other end of the spectrum lies the national government. Last year, its agriculture minister promoted factory farming in the country so that it can produce more meat, and for cheaper. It went against the grain of the EU’s Farm to Fork policy, and was a regressive move for the climate targets of what is the bloc’s largest beef supplier.

The industrial farming nod also came two weeks after it proposed an extensively restrictive labelling ban for plant-based meat companies, which barred them from using words like ‘sausage’ or ‘ham’ on their vegan analogues. That ban, which came into effect in March, has since been suspended by the country’s top court, which cited “serious doubts” about the move’s legality.

French people are already eating more meat than recommended, with health and climate experts urging the national dietary guidelines to suggest a decrease in meat intake for both human and planetary health. This is why Cannes’ move is significant – it attracts the world’s attention during its 12-day run on the French Riviera.

Cannes Film Festival’s sustainability initiatives

The beef ban is one of a number of other climate-friendly initiatives at this year’s film festival – Cannes bosses want to align the event with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal, which states that entities should aim for at least a 21% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, and ideally 43%.

The Cannes Film Festival, whose emissions cuts have so far been marginal in the last five years, is guaranteeing a 21% decrease by the end of the decade (representing at least 10,300 tonnes of CO2e), and says it is working towards the 43% target too.

Last year, more than 90% of its footprint came from the number of participants and their journeys into Cannes. To tackle that, the festival has been charging an “environmental contribution” of €20 per participant since 2021, all proceeds of which are donated to carbon reduction and sequestration programmes – these include marine restoration, rewilding land and reforesting initiatives (although any commitments around tree-planting and carbon offsets should be taken with a pinch of salt).

Moreover, its entire fleet of vehicles comprises electric cars, while festivalgoers are encouraged to walk when and where they can. The event has also reduced the size of its red carpets and is changing it less frequently, saving 1,400kg of material (59% of the carpet’s traditional volume). There are also no plastic water bottles, with the festival setting up water fountains across its spaces.

It must be noted that while yes, white meats have a much smaller environmental footprint than red meats like beef, lamb or mutton, poultry still pollutes the planet much more than plant-based meat analogues, and the Cannes Film Festival would do well to reduce all meat – not just beef – and increase the presence of alternative proteins. To its credit, it has committed to “making sure that our menus and buffets offer more and more vegetarian options”.

The film festival has always implored celebrities to use its electric vehicle fleet, but many are still flying in from their private jets. In 2022, Tom Cruise landed in hot water when he arrived in a helicopter to promote Top Gun: Maverick. That said, Cruise’s 2023 film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, was one of only three Oscar-nominated movies this year to pass the Climate Reality Check (which explores the visibility of climate change on-screen in the style of the Bechdel Test).

In fact, less than 10% of movies in the last decade have passed both criteria of the test – climate change exists, and a character knows about it – according to climate story consultancy Good Energy and Colby College’s Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, which devised the test. They found that films mentioning climate change have incidentally made more money, but they also misrepresent the reality of the crisis.

Beef bans like the ones at Cannes are a good first step towards a more climate-aware film industry. The question is whether Hollywood and other film festivals can catch up.

The post No Meat On the Riviera: Cannes Film Festival Bans Beef to Reduce Carbon Footprint appeared first on Green Queen.

There’s a new luxury vegan hotel in Santorini, with biodegradable toiletries, bamboo slippers, and, of course, a plant-based breakfast. Co-owner Artemis Sorotou spills the beans on the Ethos Vegan Retreat.

While the world of ethical and sustainable hospitality is booming, some have been doing it for years. Ethos Santorini, the family-run company championing veganism and eco-friendly living, is one of them.

In 2021, it opened the Ethos Vegan Suites in Fira, the capital of one of the most popular islands in Greece. The five-room hotel was built with natural materials on Santorinian architectural principles, and provided a blueprint for cruelty-free hospitality offerings.

In the years since, it has gained a cult following (and exemplary ratings), which led to its owners – the wife-husband duo of Artemis Sorotou and Coskun Piskin – opening a second location this month. Situated in the village of Imerovigli, the Ethos Vegan Retreat builds upon the brand’s sustainability credentials, with four private villas exuding luxury and slow living with climate-friendly food and amenities.

With bookings available from May to September, guests are treated to a breakfast platter that veganises local Greek dishes and international classics, as well as three-course meals traversing various cuisines, and vegan alcohol options. The sustainability aspect extends to all parts of the property, from the zero-waste slippers and biodegradable toiletries to glass water bottles and pottery containers.

Each villa has two bedrooms and bathrooms, with large indoor and outdoor spaces that encourage a tranquil environment. All the residences have a heated pool too, extending Ethos’s ethos of unwinding and rejuvenating in Santorini’s stunning landscapes.

We spoke to Sorotou about the decision to open the new property, its vegan and sustainable offerings, and her plans for the future.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.

Green Queen: What made you decide to open a second location? Why open it only seasonally?

Artemis Sorotou: With the resounding success of Ethos Suites in Fira, we were inspired to dream bigger. After two years of operation and an outpouring of love and positive feedback from our guests, we knew we had something special. This success, coupled with the unwavering support of my family – who stepped in to invest in the land – has paved the way for our new location to become a reality. 

At Ethos Retreat Imerovigli, we are excited to offer a unique and more laidback style of vacation. From cooking classes to retreats, we are committed to sharing more with our guests. However, due to weather conditions, we have decided to operate the residences seasonally to ensure we can maintain the high level of experience we strive to offer. Certain things, like keeping the pools warm and clean, just aren’t possible year-round.

GQ: Who is your target customer?

AS: Our commitment to veganism and nature is at the core of our brand. We have created a safe environment for vegans, where they can relax, knowing everything is made with respect to animals and nature. However, our ultimate goal is to attract more non-vegan guests and show them that they can enjoy life and vacations without any animal abuse and with a deep respect for nature. 

After three years, we can proudly say that our success extends beyond the vegan community. Many of our guests aren’t vegan but return with glowing feedback. This achievement signifies our ability to cater to a diverse clientele, making them realise that a vegan lifestyle can be delicious, luxurious, and cruelty-free.

GQ: How would you differentiate your first property from your second for customers looking to choose between the two?

AS: Both properties are distinct and luxurious in their own unique way. Ethos Suites in Fira caters to those who prefer to be in the city centre. The location allows them to be in the midst of the action, explore easily, and use public transportation conveniently. However, they can still retreat to a cosy and stylish space with all the amenities and even a private hot tub. They can find a tranquil oasis when they step into Ethos.

Ethos Retreat in Imerovigli is ideal for laidback holidays, for families, friends, couples, or even solo travellers. This is an ideal escape for those who really want to relax and disconnect, and aren’t as interested in being in the middle of the action. Of course, with our assistance, they can still experience and explore the whole island.

GQ: What are some of the highlights from your breakfast and à la carte menus?

AS: We offer complimentary breakfast and a special experience dining menu (not a traditional à la carte menu), which includes Greek mezze platters, fruit platters, a three-course dinner or lunch, cooking classes, champagne service, and a sunset picnic. The three-course dinner or lunch is themed either Greek, Italian or Middle Eastern.

For breakfast, we offer a different selection daily consisting of one savoury and one sweet option, homemade jams, fresh juices, and more. A few special breakfast dishes that we offer include a veganised version of my grandma’s pancakes, called tiganitous; Kagiane, which is traditionally a dish made with scrambled eggs (I use tofu and spices), and crêpes with tahini and tart apples.

GQ: Do you plan to serve plant-based meats too, or have a whole-food approach? And what milks will you serve?

AS: We cook mostly whole-food plant-based, with many local ingredients. I’ve also veganised many traditional Greek recipes so guests can enjoy the cuisine without the cruelty. A few other traditional Greek dishes that we serve include moussaka, pastitsio, baklava, spinach pie, mushroom gyro, bougatsa, and more.

For plant-based milk, we use soy, almond and oat milk.

GQ: The retreat uses Nespresso pods – but coffee capsules are notoriously bad for the climate. How do you deal with the waste created?

AS: We chose Nespresso because it is the only company that allows us to collect the capsules and send them back with no extra cost for recycling. For coffee, we didn’t have many options. We also offer fresh herbal tea leaves produced in Greece, served in pottery made at the locally owned Earth and Water Studio.

GQ: How did you approach the design, in regards to sustainability and local heritage?

We worked with a Santorini-based architecture team called Kapsimalis Architects to blend sustainability with local design. The exterior design incorporates the island’s aesthetics – domes and straight lines, as well as colours and fabrics. Most of the furniture and tableware are made by local carpenters and pottery artists.

GQ: What other sustainability initiatives have you undertaken for the new property?

AS: We don’t use any plastic toiletries – we utilise biodegradable certified vegan pods for shampoo, conditioner and shower gel made by Biorama, a family-owned company based in Crete. We also provide bamboo amenities and slippers made from hotel towel waste.

We are trying to eliminate plastic by using glass bottles of water, providing tea and sugar in pottery, no plastic or paper bags, using biodegradable toilet paper that can be thrown inside the toilet, separating waste and recycling, and doing our own compost to manage food waste. 

Unfortunately, the location of Ethos in Imerovigli doesn’t provide us with a connection to the public water system (it’s not safe for human consumption), so we have to purchase glass bottles of water. However, at Ethos Suites in Fira, we have installed a water filter, so we’re able to provide guests with water in refillable glass bottles daily.

We also only use eco-friendly and vegan cleaning products throughout the property.

GQ: Where do you see the company in five years? Do you envision more locations in the future?

We hope to inspire more businesses to take a more sustainable approach to hospitality and, of course, help more people enjoy a vacation with less cruelty and less of an environmental impact.

If we say we don’t envision more locations, it would be a lie. But that’s still far away, as we are just a single family running this business. This requires considerable financial investment and constant work. I have a few more Ethos projects that I hope one day will come to fruition, but for now, they are dreams.

The post Q&A with Ethos Santorini’s Artemis Sorotou: ‘Our Ultimate Goal is to Attract Non-Vegans to Our Hotel’ appeared first on Green Queen.

Veganuary will soon host the first Choose Chicken-Free Week, as part of a wider rollout of mini-campaigns to complement its annual month-long initiative.

On the back of its most successful campaign to date, Veganuary is initiating additional initiatives throughout the year to encourage people to eat fewer animal products and more plant-based food.

It’s starting with the Choose Chicken-Free Week, which will run from April 29 to May 5. For the campaign, Veganuary has already captured the attention of restaurants and brands selling egg- and chicken-free food, including TiNDLE Foods, Next Level Burger, Loma Linda and The Mushroom Hub.

“There are many simple and surprising ways to replace eggs in your favourite recipes,” said Veganuary US director Sandra Hungate. “From everyday ingredients like banana and apple sauce to culinary innovations like aquafaba – the liquid from a can of chickpeas which can be whipped into a beautiful meringue – there’s an egg-free swap out there for everything from breakfast to dessert.”

Why Veganuary is targeting the chicken industry

Coinciding with Respect for Chickens Day (May 4), the campaign will see several of these brands and foodservice operators unveil new offerings and discounts on their products. Next Level Burger and its subsidiary Veggie Grill will launch limited-edition menu options in May, and Ike’s Love & Sandwiches will promote three vegan chicken sandos.

TiNDLE, meanwhile, will be running a two-for-one offer on its products, Vitacost and FireRoad Foods will provide a 15% discount, PLNT Burger will let consumers buy one chicken sandwich and get another for half the price, Loma Linda will put its starter pack (chicken in broth and BBQ sauce) on sale for $6.49, and The Mushroom Hub will roll out a pulled jerk lion’s mane experience box.

Brands will provide recipes using either plant-based chicken or egg – such as TiNDLE’s vegan garlic parm wings, Vitacost’s deviled eggs, and Atlantic Natural Food’s chicken enchiladas – or do away with chicken-related products altogether (think teriyaki tofu burgers by Nasoya and pulled jerk lion’s mane by The Mushroom Hub).

These efforts are to promote a shift away from the chicken industry, which is associated with intensive farming, health risks, animal cruelty and environmental pollution. Though chicken is the most popular meat of all, over the last few years, bouts of avian flu have led to a chicken shortage and subsequent price hike, which has coincided with the cost-of-living crisis – and this trend is set to continue this year.

In the US, almost all chickens (99.97%) are farmed in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) – that amounts to 8.9 billion birds, versus the 3.6 million that aren’t raised in factories. Globally, as of 2021, over 73 billion chickens are slaughtered around the world each year, according to the FAO. The UN food body has actually advocated for a shift from red meats like beef to poultry, which it argues is less polluting.

While that is technically true, factory-farmed meat has a huge environmental footprint, and poultry meat is still near the top end of the highest-emitting foods, far above plant-based ingredients that are typically used to make analogues.

“For hens used for eggs, suffering is inherent in all methods of egg production – including free-range. Their lives are short, and for male chicks, very short indeed,” Veganuary explained on its website. “They are the wrong sex to lay eggs and the wrong breed for meat, so their lives are deemed to be worthless, and they are killed in the hatchery.”

Veganuary will launch more campaigns after ultra-successful 2024

Veganuary has been on an upward trajectory ever since it was launched in 2014. This year, 1.8 million people officially signed up to the campaign – more than doubling the number from 2023. But separate surveys commissioned by Veganuary have shown that in reality, that figure is much, much higher: the campaign estimates that around 25 million people decided to eat exclusively vegan in January 2024.

Its official survey found that the success rate during the challenge was 45%. And of those who ended up maintaining a plant-based diet throughout the month, 30% intended to continue doing so. If you aggregate that with its official signup numbers, this year’s campaign effectively influenced 540,000 people to ditch meat, dairy, eggs and other animal products.

Even among people who didn’t see Veganuary through, 95% said they’ll reduce their consumption of animal products to some extent, with 74% saying they’ll cut this by half or more. And 73% are very or extremely likely to give veganism a go again in the future.

People found eggs the second toughest animal food to part with during Veganuary (only behind cheese, though by a significant distance). Meanwhile, animal welfare was the number one driver of Veganuary participation this year. So it makes sense for Veganuary to introduce a campaign that touches upon a much-loved food in a much-derided industry.

“Veganuary is not a short-term phenomenon that comes to an end in January. With initiatives like #ChooseChickenFree, the Veganuary movement continues to grow as both individuals and businesses embrace plant-based year-round,” said Hungate.

The popularity of Veganuary is pretty apparent if you walk into a grocery store in most countries during January. It’s hard to escape it, and there are numbers to back that up. This year, more than 2,000 new products and dishes were unveiled during Veganuary. But given we need to accelerate our efforts to change how we eat, the campaign says it wants to have a longer-term effect, and has been working with individuals to support them with dietary shifts, and companies and restaurants to increase the number of vegan options across the calendar year.

This is why Choose Chicken-Free Week is just the start. “Over the summer, Veganuary will run additional campaigns such as Choose Fish-Free Week, BBQ Month, and Choose Dairy-Free Week, aimed at educating the public about the benefits of trying vegan,” said Hungate.

Whether these campaigns will have quite the effect of the main show at the beginning of the year, no one knows. But you only need to look at this year’s participation to know that there’s a strong precedent for them to work.

The post Choose Chicken-Free Week: Veganuary Announces First of Multiple New Campaigns appeared first on Green Queen.

Unilever has unveiled Wonder Wash, a new laundry detergent that is designed specifically to meet the growing trend of short washing cycles, and cuts emissions, water and energy use too.

A laundry detergent built for the time-strapped, sweat-laden, hybrid-working consumers that delivers energy and water savings and has a lower climate impact – that’s what Unilever is promising with Wonder Wash.

Part of its Dirt is Good brand – known as OMO, Persil, Surf Excel, Breeze, Rinso, Ala or Skip internationally – the new detergent leverages artificial intelligence and robotics to solve what the CPG giant calls a “new consumer need”.

It notes that changes in lifestyle have brought about a “seismic shift” in the laundry world – 70% of the clothing we wash now has no visible stains (but instead invisible sweat, dust and grime), while 78% of washing machine owners now choose a cycle lasting less than half an hour at least once a week. The rise of “malodour-retaining athleisurewear”, remote working patterns, and washing machines featuring cycles as short as 15 minutes, have also contributed to this shift.

So Unilever is swooping in to address this need, with the Wonder Wash line of products able to perform effectively in short, cold-water cycles. It suggests that an efficient short-cycle wash can save 30% of water and 60% of energy, and its new innovation can reduce emissions per wash by 20% compared to other Persil products.

“As part of Unilever Home Care’s Clean Future Strategy, not only is this about delivering an unmissably superior laundry experience, but reducing environmental impact by encouraging the use of shorter, energy-saving cycles,” said Eduardo Campanella, business group president of Unilever Home Care. “Using over a century in detergent development, we’ve overcome a real technical challenge to offer outstanding performance even in the shortest timeframe and the difficult washing conditions of the short cycle.”

Addressing consumer pain points through AI

Wonder Wash was developed at Unilever’s R&D centre in Port Sunlight, UK. “To make this formulation, we deconstructed and reconstructed how a laundry detergent is created,” a company spokesperson told Green Queen. Its scientists explored the types of grease and grime consumers are looking to get rid of in a quick wash.

The conglomerate says conventional liquid detergents aren’t designed for the short cycle, as they struggle to dissolve and rinse fully within the rapid timeframe, and certain ingredients need longer to activate. This can lead to sticky residues and lingering odours on clothing.

“Unilever scientists leveraged state-of-the-art robotics plus AI-accelerated digital testing to create a technology – Pro-S technology (Pro-Smell, Pro-Scent, Pro-Speed and Pro-Sense) – that makes ingredients activate instantly as soon as the short cycle begins to remove dirt and malodour,” the representative explained. “This makes this laundry detergent specifically designed for short and cold wash cycles.”

The Pro-S technology is at the heart of Wonder Wash, and is built to perform better than its competitors against what Unilever calls the four biggest pain points of short-cycle users: malodour removal, absence of residues, freshness and fabric care.

To tackle these challenges, its team developed a blend of fast-acting ingredients and enzymes (some of which have never been used in laundry before), which activate as soon as the cycle begins and fight grime and odour compounds in minutes. “Liquids was chosen as the format for Wonder Wash as it dissolves faster than powder,” the spokesperson said.

There’s also a better fragrance at the end due to the use of long-lasting scents. “The fragrance was expertly designed using a combination of compounds to create a desired olfactive character and was selected due to its performance in a short cycle,” they added.

Unilever provides update on carbon labelling

The representative explains that Wonder Wash “shares many ingredients with regular detergent but contains new technology. which helps to release malodour compounds from fabrics and deliver unmatched fragrance in short, cold wash cycles”. Highlighting the depth of innovation, the product has 35 patents pending, which – if you’ll believe the company – can create a new category of laundry products in a short-cycle category that’s set to grow by 21% annually and be worth €2B in two years.

The products are available in three variants – Speed Clean, Ultra Care and Odour Defy – costing between £7-10 (depending on the size), which is on par with conventional Persil products. It’s now available in the UK, Ireland and China, with a wider international rollout expected later this year, with France likely to be the next destination.

“Understanding consumer needs is key to our laundry innovation and until now, detergents have not kept pace with changing behaviours,” said Campanella. “By harnessing people’s enthusiasm for short cycles for everyday stains, we’re opening up the potential for a new category of short cycle products within laundry.”

He added: “This breakthrough in fast-acting cleaning will come to consumers around the world under Dirt Is Good, one of Unilever’s 30 Power Brands – where we’re really focusing our investment and bringing through bigger and better innovations,” he added. “We believe it’s going to be a truly transformative product for the category.”

Adding to the sustainability claims is the product’s transparent packaging, which is made up of 35% recycled material and is 100% recyclable. This results in lower plastic weight per bottle and more efficient transportation.

Speaking of sustainability, Unilever had committed to introducing carbon labelling for all 75,000 products globally by 2026. But this hasn’t really materialised yet. Asked about progress on this front, the company representative said: “In terms of carbon labelling, it is possible that some of our brands may wish to communicate product carbon footprints in the future, and for this having accurate data is essential. We also know information must be provided in context to be meaningful to consumers.”

They added that the company is “committed to improving transparency of GHG emissions” in its value chain: “We are focusing our efforts into programmes such as the Pathfinder for Carbon Transparency, hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which is working to standardise industry measurement and reporting of product greenhouse gas footprint data. Our collection of more accurate data will help Unilever to make more informed procurement decisions as we work towards our climate targets.”

The post Wonder Wash: Unilever’s AI-Driven Eco Laundry Detergent is Built for Short Cycles appeared first on Green Queen.

Japanese eco materials startup Spiber has secured ¥10B ($65M) in funding to accelerate mass production of its fermentation-derived Brewed Protein for use in the fashion, automotive and personal care industries.

In what is a major capital investment for the Yamagata-based startup, Spiber has closed a ¥10B ($65M) investment round to further expand production of its climate-friendly Brewed Protein materials, taking its total funding to $489M.

The financing included participation from existing shareholders, and will be used to accelerate the mass production of its fermentation-derived fibres, resins, films and other materials, and facilitate its global expansion. It will also seek to strengthen its production system and R&D platform to meet an expected growth in demand and more diversifying needs.

“We are grateful for the continued support and confidence from our investors, financial institutions, and partner companies who deeply understand the value of our technology platform, development materials, and business prospects,” said Spiber co-founder and CEO Kazuhide Sekiyama. “Despite the challenging fundraising environment for startups amidst the global economic landscape, we have been able to sustain our growth thanks to their recognition and expectation.”

Using microbial fermentation to produce future-friendly materials

Fiber was founded in 2007 by Sekiyama, Hideya Mizutani and Junichi Sugahara, and uses microbial fermentation to turn produce into eco-friendly materials for fashion, automotive and personal care products.

The company leverages synthetic biology and material science to make its Brewed Protein materials, which can act as alternatives to animal-based, plant-based, as well as synthetic materials for multiple applications, including textiles, which is Spiber’s current primary focus.

To make the Brewed Proteins, the startup uses agricultural waste as feedstock, which helps advance its mission of achieving a circular economy. This can be turned into fermented polymers that can substitute cashmere, fur, wool, leather and silk, plus fossil-fuel-derived, plastic-based synthetic fabrics.

The Brewed Protein platform is completely bio-based, biodegradable, and cruelty-free. It means the company requires much fewer resources to produce its materials, and has a much lower climate footprint as a result. For example, its Brewed Protein fibres can emit up to 75% fewer GHG emissions than cashmere, while using 94% less water and taking up 86% less land. Similarly, it needs 86% less land than merino wool, too, and 97% less water.

In 2018, it began constructing a commercial-scale facility in Thailand (which is now operational), and is currently building another in Iowa in the US. “We remain committed to the establishment and enhancement of the biotechnological foundations essential for realizing a circular society, as well as fulfilling our responsibility for social implementation as a frontrunner in this sector,’ said Sekiyama.

A host of brand collaborations underline Spiber’s success

The company’s materials have been refined through 17 years of research, which it says are meticulously designed at the DNA level. Their potential has been recognised by investors – as can be evidenced by the sums it has raised – and industry players alike. It’s engaged in joint projects with various apparel brands and has had 15 companies launch products using its materials.

These include Pangaia, The North Face, Yonetomi Seni, Goldwin, Nanamica, Cavia and Woolrich in the fashion industry, Shiseido Japan in the cosmetics space, and Toyota in the automotive world (which launched a concept vehicle using its Brewed Protein fibres last year). And, as part of its circular economy initiative, the startup has rolled out a biosphere circulation project that promotes biodegradable textile waste as a new material, working alongside partners like Kering, Eileen Fisher, Johnstons of Elgin, and DyStar.

Spiber has also benefited from labelling conventions, with the International Organization for Standardization revising the definition of “protein fibre” in 2021 to include not just naturally-derived proteins, but also those produced synthetically, alongside setting the minimum protein content required for such fibres at 80%. This made it the first time synthetic structural protein materials have been recognised internationally as a new material category.

And, earlier this month, the company unveiled a new denim fabric made in collaboration with fellow Japanese manufacturer Ueyama Textile, which uses 35% Brewed Protein fibres and 65% organic cotton. It represents an upgrade from its current denim made with 5% Brewed Protein and 95% cotton from denim giant Nihon Mempu.

The post Japan’s Spiber Raises $65M to Scale Up Production of Eco Materials Made from Fermented ‘Brewed Protein’ appeared first on Green Queen.

By one tally, 401(k)-type plans are providing $46.5 billion to Big Oil right now.

By Barbara Grady

People often debate the best things individuals can do to help solve the climate crisis — ditch your combustion engine car for an electric vehicle? Stop eating meat? Go solar? Vote? Though each of these can add up to a big impact, there’s another action that people haven’t paid much attention to until recently: steering money saved in their retirement accounts away from fossil fuels.

U.S. residents are saving more than $7 trillion in 401(k) retirement plans offered by corporate employers, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. When similar plans offered by state and local governments and nonprofits are added, Americans have $9.9 trillion in employer-sponsored retirement savings plans.

That’s a hefty amount of financial power. Consider that transitioning the economy to net zero emissions by 2050 — as scientists say is necessary to avoid the very worst, irreversible effects of the climate crisis — will require an investment of $4 trillion a year, according to the International Energy Agency. So putting even just a portion of the money socked away in 401(k)-type retirement savings plans into climate-friendly investments could do a lot of good. Likewise, ridding your 401(k) savings plan of fossil fuels investments might also help the climate. By one tally, retirement savings plans are providing $46.5 billion to Big Oil right now.

That’s the rallying cry behind #RetireBigOil, a virtual march on Wall Street launched in February 2024 by 37 environmental organizations and sustainable investment firms. Organizers calculate that a fifth or more of the market value of oil majors is money invested from 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts, or IRAs. As environmental activist Bill McKibben posted on X, “More than 25% of ALL money invested in U.S. oil, coal, and gas companies comes from our 401(k) retirement savings.”

If those investments were not available to companies drilling for oil and gas or mining and burning more coal, the effect might be the equivalent of removing 22 tons of carbon a year from the atmosphere, according to FossilFreeFunds, which provides a tool for searching fossil fuel holdings in mutual funds based on data from Morningstar.

That 22 tons a year is more than would be removed by a collective shift to solar or EVs, march organizers say. Of course, getting there would require cooperation from everyone who participates in 401(k)s and it assumes selling those oil stocks and bonds won’t just result in someone else owning them and supporting these companies. The reality is that there are many eager buyers of oil and gas and even coal stocks, especially since their profits have surged since the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused an energy panic. This has stymied efforts at divestment.

Of course, Big Oil stock prices are extremely volatile, just like crude oil prices, and they are vulnerable to steep declines as happened during the early lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy found that oil and gas stocks, while they did well in 2022, underperformed against the S&P index between 2017 and 2022. Likewise, a McKinsey & Co. study found oil and gas returns underperformed over the past 15 years.

As people learned when many high-flying financial stocks tanked during the 2008 financial crisis, selling stocks as they are falling out of favor is a recipe for losing a lot of money. So dumping oil and gas stocks now, at the current elevated levels, may be a smart financial move for 401(k) plans.

But perhaps the bigger problem is that lots of people, probably most, do not even know whether their 401(k) is heavily invested in oil stocks.

“This issue hasn’t gotten more traction because most people, when they hear 401(k), they tune out, it’s boring or they don’t understand,” said Alex Wright-Gladstein, initiator of the #RetireBigOil march, in an interview. Her concern led her to found Sphere, an organization offering information on the fossil fuel content of many company 401(k) plans as well as a fossil-fuel-free index fund. “The focus of our campaign is to make people aware.”

For two weeks in February, more than a thousand people “marched” or posted on social media that they wanted to get oil out of their 401(k)s. Those posts and media stories received millions of impressions, she said.

A host of other organizations have also been raising red flags about retirement plans’ substantial investments in oil and gas.

Financial risks of climate change

Extreme weather disasters intensified by climate change caused 492 deaths and $93 billion in damages in 2023 in the U.S. alone. Worldwide, extreme weather disasters caused $360 billion in damages in 2022. If the mounting toll sours investors on companies whose operations contribute to climate change, investment fortunes could turn quickly.

“The vast majority of the $35 trillion in American retirement assets are invested without consideration of the financial risks posed by climate change,” writes sustainability nonprofit Ceres, my former employer, referencing not only 401(k)s but also public pension funds and IRAs. “From flood and fire risk in the real estate market to transition risk in the energy sector, the life savings of retirement participants need to minimize losses to ensure a secure future for savers.”

As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group for environmentally and socially responsible investing, says, “When retirement plans offer fund options containing high-carbon fossil fuel bonds, employees are exposed to greater climate risk. As the climate becomes destabilized by climate-related emissions, investors, including employees, are at greater risk of financial losses from extreme weather, stranded assets, systemic risk, and spillover effects.”

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, sole trustee of the state employees retirement fund, has gotten out ahead of this risk. He, his department, and his board developed a climate action plan for the $260 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund that gradually reallocates more of the portfolio away from fossil fuels and toward low-carbon investments, climate solutions, and climate-resilient infrastructure investments.

“Climate change is an increasingly urgent risk facing all investors, and I am determined to protect the state’s pension fund by keeping it at the forefront of efforts to mitigate risks to our investments,” DiNapoli said in a recent statement. “This reduces our fund’s exposure to fossil fuels. Consistent with my fiduciary duty to maximize investment returns for the benefit of our members and retirees, these actions should help accomplish the goals of our Climate Action Plan.”

The fix

So why don’t we all just go change out our 401(k) selections to get rid of oil?

It isn’t that easy.

Fewer than 5% of 401(k)-type plans even offer climate-friendly or fossil fuel-free funds, according to Plan Sponsor Council of America data cited by Ceres. Most plans let employees choose from a handful of fund options that consist of big index funds that include some of every stock in an index, like the S & P 500 Index or the Russell 1000, and target date funds that consist of both stock and bond index funds and are structured to produce income around a specific retirement target date. Also, most participants don’t even choose a fund. They just stick with the default option in their 401(k) that the employer provides at the outset.

Many popular index funds include shares of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66, and Valero as well as oil drillers like Pioneer Natural Resources, which are all in the S & P 500. Broader index funds based on the Russell 1000 or the MSCI also include oil company shares. According to As You Sow, bond index funds are even worse climate culprits because oil, gas, and coal companies tend to pay for new extraction and pipeline projects with bonds. Looking at fossil fuel bond funds in the 401(k)-type plans offered by 43 employers, it estimates Americans are investing $46.5 billion in oil, gas, and coal expansion through their workplace retirement plans — many of them unwittingly.

For instance, the average Verizon Communications Inc. employee participating in the company 401(k) has invested $13,085 in fossil fuel stocks and bonds, according to Atmosphere.Oursphere.org, a web-based tool that lets you look up fossil fuel investment in the 401(k)s of more than 100 companies. At Procter & Gamble, employees invest an average of $16,972 in fossil fuels, according to the Atmosphere tool. Even climate-conscious companies that have reduced their operational emissions to net zero or pledged to do so also have 401(k) plans with significant fossil fuel investments. Apple, Microsoft, and Walmart — all climate leaders when it comes to operations — offer employee 401(k) plans that invest in fossil fuels.

Some experts believe part of the problem is a lack of awareness. Companies typically choose a 401(k) financial adviser to set up the employee 401(k) plan and those advisers typically turn to big asset managers such as Vanguard, Fidelity, State Street, or BlackRock. Accountability is two steps removed from the funds offered. The typical 401(k) plan list of funds offered rarely spells out what company stocks are held in each fund, which is subject to change anyway.

“It’s often just lack of information,” said Steven Rothstein, managing director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets at Ceres, as to why retirement plan sponsors, such as employers, might not be aware of the climate-related financial risks embedded in the plans.

But in this era when hurricanes can destroy infrastructure and droughts can wipe out an entire season’s crop and cause prices to spike, many investors and regulators see climate risk as financial risk. Indeed, an entire sub-industry has grown up around investing screened for environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, risks.

The Biden administration has been concerned about whether retirement plans have fully assessed the potential impact of the climate crisis on retirement savings. In December 2022, the administration issued a rule clarifying a Department of Labor regulation that has governed employer-sponsored retirement plans for decades, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The change reversed a Trump administration tweaking of that rule that had restricted fund managers from considering risks from climate and other ESG factors. Biden’s rule says fund managers can consider any factor that influences the financial risk/reward of an investment. That clarification received overwhelming support, and the administration considers it so important that Biden used his first veto to overturn a Republican attempt to quash it.

“There is extensive evidence showing that environmental, social, and governance factors can have a material impact on markets, industries, and businesses,” Biden said at the time of the veto, adding that the Republican-led resolution “would force retirement managers to ignore these relevant risk factors … jeopardizing the life savings of working families and retirees.”

The politics of climate-smart investing

Climate-smart investing also has become part of the culture wars. Despite hundreds of billions in damages in recent years from droughts, floods, and wildfires, huge disruptions to businesses, and higher costs in agriculture, shipping, insurance, and other industries, 14 Republican-led states, most of them dependent on oil, gas, and coal revenues, have passed laws restricting state agencies, state pension funds, and municipalities from doing business with financial firms that consider climate risk. Similar proposals in other states failed when officials determined the bans would prevent them from carrying out their fiduciary duties to protect investors and would cost taxpayers or plan participants money.

Wright-Gladstein and others say the ESG backlash by some Republicans appears to be contributing to a reluctance by big financial institutions to provide climate-friendly investment options in 401(k)s. The big fund managers like Vanguard and State Street have begun to back away from some of their public climate commitments, while Fidelity has been quiet about climate issues. Although these big investment companies do offer mutual funds that are sustainable or even fossil fuel-free, they are not typically offered as part of 401(k) platforms or as the default funds that automatically become a 401(k) mutual fund if an employee doesn’t make a choice. The 401(k) plan advisers that have vast sway on companies as to what plans are offered have shied away from sustainable funds because of “the politics of ESG,” Wright-Gladstein said.

This article by Barbara Grady was originally published on Yale Climate Connections. It is republished here as part of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.

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The Body Shop has announced that its UK and German operations have gone into administration, with its business in other countries also in jeopardy. How did it get here, and what’s next?

A pioneer of cruelty-free beauty and a beloved brand for millions around the world, The Body Shop last week entered administration in the UK and Germany, three months after it changed hands in a deal worth £207M.

The move puts the jobs of more than 2,600 people at risk, and has left its fair trade suppliers in vulnerable countries with over $1M worth of ingredients and stock that may never be paid for. It comes after the brand witnessed disappointing sales over the Christmas period, and it emerged that the cosmetics label had insufficient working capital.

The 48-year-old business is now in jeopardy. Here’s what happened, and what happens next.

The rise and fall of The Body Shop

Founded by human rights and environmental activist Dame Anita Roddick, the Body Shop grew from a small shop in Brighton to a global business with about 3,000 stores in over 70 countries. Famed for its emphasis on ethics, it was the world’s first cosmetics brand to commit to zero animal testing, way back in 1989.

Roddick was a champion of ethical consumerism and was the face of the company as it won over consumers – especially teenagers – for its cruelty-free products, including bath pearls, body butters, fruit soaps, White Musk fragrance, Hemp hand cream, and the famous Dewberry Perfume Oil.

After three decades of family ownership, The Body Shop entered the corporate world after Roddick sold it to French personal care giant L’Oréal for £652M in 2006. This attracted criticism from many of the brand’s consumers, who labelled it as a betrayal of its ethics and identity, given that L’Oréal’s products had been linked to animal testing and the company was part-owned by Nestlé.

In 2017, L’Oréal sold The Body Shop to Brazilian beauty giant Natura for £880M. But by this time, The Body Shop was no longer the be-all and end-all of the ethical beauty world. After the EU had introduced a blanket ban on animal testing in cosmetics in 2013, its brand identity wasn’t as distinguishable as it once was.

Its product portfolio became more dictated by trends, eliminating fan-favourite SKUs and introducing items thought of as untrue to its identity. There was also a case of too many launches, which clouded out the focus and fuelled already existing overconsumption patterns. The company has – like many – been forced to raise prices, but that has diverted many towards cheaper replicas of its products as the cost-of-living crisis bites.

Many of its customers flocked to competitors like Neal’s Yard, Aesop, Bath and Body Works, and Lush. The latter, for instance, is a business that champions animal welfare, sustainability and workers’ rights too, but is, crucially, still independently owned. There was a sense that The Body Shop – a company that had always been ahead of its time – had stopped evolving with time. Winning over newer consumers, especially Gen Zers, became a challenge.

Last year, The Body Shop – which employs over 10,000 people – was sold once again, but this time to a German private investment firm called Aurelius, which hoped to reinvigorate the brand. However, less than three months later, the cosmetics label is now in all sorts of trouble.

Financial woes lead to administration

Reports began surfacing earlier this month that The Body Shop – which transformed its entire portfolio to be vegan-friendly last year – was set to appoint administrators, a move aimed at saving the business from liquidity or collapse.

It came a month after Aurelius announced it was selling off The Body Shop’s loss-making operations in most of mainland Europe and parts of Asia to “an international family office”, which is understood to be Alma24, whose majority shareholder Friedrich Trautwein has close ties with Aurelius. The Body Shop’s Ireland and Japan businesses are part of the deal.

“This further prioritises the Body Shop’s strategically important markets and global head franchise partner relationships, which it will look for opportunities to build,” the company told Retail Week at the time. “The Body Shop will also focus on more effectively reaching customers by strengthening digital platforms, developing new sales channels, and via differentiated retail experiences.”

And last week, the company – which recorded a £71M loss in its latest accounts in 2022, down from a £10M profit – appointed administrators for its home market of the UK, where it has over 200 stores, as well as a head office and a distribution centre. “The Body Shop has faced an extended period of financial challenges under past owners, coinciding with a difficult trading environment for the wider retail sector,” said the administrators.

This was swiftly followed by the company entering administration in Germany, where it has more than 400 employees and 60 stores. Staff in Belgium were told that the operation there would face the same fate soon. “The actions being taken may not be wrong, but it is how it is being done that is breaking people’s hearts,” one source told the Guardian. “People are being told with no notice: ‘You work for an unnamed family company,’ when some of these people have been with the company for years, some 30 years. It is so painful.”

Aurelius has faced criticism for its cut-price takeover of the beauty brand, which valued the company at £670M less than what Nature had paid for it six years ago. The private equity firm is facing allegations of failure to make payments worth £3M to around 20 former employees last month.

Is The Body Shop closing down?

It’s unlikely that The Body Shop will completely disappear, but there will likely be a sea change in the business’s operations. “Administrators will now consider all options to find a way forward for the business and will update creditors and employees in due course,” the company has said, while conforming that it will continue to trade during this period, both in-store and online.

It’s important to note that this doesn’t spell doom for The Body Shop everywhere. While it’s expected to fall into administration in Ireland, Austria and Luxembourg too, its Canada and Australia operations – where it remains successful – are anticipated to remain open.

It’s unclear what this means for The Body Shop in the US, or even in France, Sweden and Spain, where directors haven’t signed documents finalising a transfer of ownership. As the company explained, the administration period “provides the stability, flexibility and security to find the best means of securing the future of The Body Shop and revitalising this iconic British brand”.

While it’s too early to tell how things will pan out, some say there will be a focus on cost reduction – including on property and rents – and building greater online presence. Others expect the brand to survive, but with far fewer stores (numbering 100 in the UK), with Aurelius a likely buyer for a diluted business. Next, the UK’s largest clothing company and parent of Reiss, Victoria’s Secret UK, GAP UK and Cath Kidston (among others), is also thought to be in the running.

One industry expert told the Guardian that The Body Shop wasn’t a brand that could work as a wholesaler. Instead, it would require a chain to ensure efficient communication about ethical sourcing. “If you stick a few products on a shelf in Boots, you would lose the magic,” they said.

It highlights the problem for the cruelty-free beauty pioneer – no one can seem to agree on what to do next. There are hopes that the company can be restructured to appeal to younger shoppers and compete with the likes of Lush, for instance. But there’s a feeling that e-commerce might be the most viable course of action next. For others, there’s a brick-and-mortar charm that is irreplaceable for a company like The Body Shop.

Most agree on one thing though: this is a brand steeped in nostalgia, and they don’t want to see it go. At a time when animal welfare, ethical sourcing, environmental sustainability, and vegan personal care are crucial, it would be against the grain for The Body Shop to say goodbye. Time will tell if it can bounce back.

The post The Body Shop: How the Ethical Beauty Pioneer’s Fortunes Soured, and What Happens Next appeared first on Green Queen.

Christina Dean, founder and CEO of Redress and The R Collective, speaks to Green Queen about the evolution of sustainable fashion, what she’s learnt in her 17 years as an activist, and the impact of online shopping and e-commerce.

A decade ago, we spoke to sustainable fashion icon Christina Dean, founder of the Hong Kong-based charity Redress, who said she felt a personal responsibility towards a green, low-impact lifestyle. “I do what I can throughout my life streams, from the values I teach my children about not wasting resources and about caring about what happens to our future world to the consumption choices I make on a daily basis,” she said.

Then, five years on, we caught up with Dean again, who had begun The R Collective, an offshoot fashion brand from Redress. She reflected upon the future of sustainability, female leadership, and zero-waste supply chains. “We all have a slightly different relationship with fashion, and it is okay. Wherever you are within the fashion industry, make your bit more sustainable,” she suggested.

The Redress charity was founded in 2007 and works on inspiring positive environmental change and promoting sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption. The R Collective, meanwhile, was launched in 2017 as a circular fashion brand that uses rescued textile waste, sourced from luxury brands, mills and manufacturers and upcycling these materials into elegant clothing pieces. A quarter of its profits go back to Redress. “We all need to satisfy our desire for creativity, but it should not come at the cost of the planet,” Dean explained in 2019.

Now, we touched bases with the activist and entrepreneur again, exploring the changes she’s seen in the fashion industry, her growth as a leader, and the evolution of Redress, 17 years from launch.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

Green Queen: We interviewed you 10 years ago (and five years ago too). A lot of the data shows waste is getting worse. How much has changed when it comes to fashion, waste and the Redress mission?

Christina Dean: Redress is 17 years old, and it was fashion’s horrific waste rates that led me to start an NGO focused on reducing textile waste. I stumbled upon fashion’s waste and pollution problems purely by chance as a journalist writing on environmental pollution. At that time (2005/06), fashion’s waste was a ‘hush-hush’ issue, basically swept under the carpet.

Seventeen years on, the cat’s out of the bag on fashion’s highly wasteful and polluting ways. We have data that makes everyone – from the C-suite to everyday citizens – sit up and take notice. One headline estimates that the equivalent of one dumper truck of textiles is either landfilled or incinerated every second around the world. As if that wasn’t a smack in the face, it’s estimated that textile waste is set to increase by about 60% between 2015 and 2030. Left unchanged, the fashion industry is projected to use 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. So, this spells very bad news for the planet.

So with a worsening situation, you might wonder what on earth have we been doing for 17 years if all that we’re seeing is a worsening textile waste landscape! Yes, the reality can be quite dispiriting because, on a bad day, we might feel like we’re on a sinking ship. But on all good days, which are most of them, we continue to strongly believe that the fashion industry is a highly impactful industry to influence positively, so we forge on.

In terms of our mission, over the last 17 years, we have adapted our first founding mission three times to reflect the changes in the problems and solutions that we seek to influence. We’ve gone from “promote sustainable fashion” to “reduce waste in fashion” to now “accelerate the transition towards a circular fashion system by educating designers and consumers to reduce fashion’s negative environmental impacts”. Despite these apparent changes, the essence of our spirit and resolve is unchanged, and that is, basically, to shift fashion from being a polluter to a pioneer.

GQ: How much have you changed as a leader and activist in that time?

Christina Dean: I’ve grown up so much in 17 years, in so many aspects of my life and work. Looking at the fashion industry, I’ve gone from the early days of pointing angry fingers at various parts of the fashion industry to now wholeheartedly understanding that we must embrace the industry and work within the reality of business and its various parameters. I am very pro-industry as a sustainable way to drive long-term change.

I have also put my pointy fingers away when it comes to consumers. I used to be relatively frustrated and judgmental about what could be considered rather negligent consumers who shop until they drop, so to speak. I am now humbler and more understanding about why consumers love to shop, the deeper psychological desires underpinning this, and I also accept why many are not really that interested in sustainable fashion issues, with so many other competing worries, like how to pay their bills being one obvious example.

I guess 17 years of life – that saw us found Redress and The R Collective and have four kids and get divorced – has given me a better understanding of life and self. So I’m more accepting of the disorder around me, whether that’s in the office, in the supply chain, in an ESG report, or in my own head! Despite this acceptance, I’ve not mellowed at all. I see the urgency to act as being greater than ever before, and so my focus and resolve are as they ever were. I just realise that change happens slowly and that our work is just a few little sprinkles of goodness at this point in time.

GQ: What’s your biggest learning, 17 years later?

Christina Dean: I’ve come to respect the fashion industry, its suppliers, its spinners, weavers, farmers, etc., very deeply, and I see such wonderful and enormous talent, generosity, determination, and humanity and love throughout the business. I’ve met the most incredible activists working in the fastest and cheapest of the big fast-fashion brands; I’ve met recyclers with bigger brains than their machines; and I’ve met CEOs with more conviction for change than prolific activists.

So I’ve come to realise that the humans behind the machines, spreadsheets, steering wheels, and boardrooms of fashion are pretty amazing people, who bring optimism to the challenges at hand. We are all only human, against some inhumanly complex issues, so I’m lucky to work with incredible people.

GQ: Did you plan for Redress to become this big? Was this always your plan or did it get bigger than your original ideas?

Christina Dean: Redress becoming what it is today is a bit of an accident really. When I founded it, I never thought for a moment that 17 years on, I would still be as passionate and excited about the mission as the day I decided to start it. I’m lucky that I am a curious and collaborative person and that this, coupled with a good sense of humour and a glass-half-full nature – which is important when certain things hit the fan! – have enabled Redress to rise from a toddler, tween to teen.

It’s my dream that Redress survives without me – I’m always watching out for that bus; you just never know! We are well on our way now, with a strong board, great executive director and senior management team, and with a longer-term strategy and fundraising approach.

We have a saying at Redress: “I’d rather be a pirate than join the navy.” And this sums up our spirit, so each day remains a hustle in the office as we’re always on our toes for the next rollercoaster ride.

GQ: Did you foresee the negative effects of e-commerce and online shopping?

Christina Dean: Not really. I would not call myself highly astute at consumer trends and habits. That said, it’s obvious that when something becomes cheap and convenient, it takes off. This is as true for takeaways as it is for buying clothes online. So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the proliferation of e-commerce, especially during COVID, has changed the way we buy clothes – i.e., more, more, more – as indeed e-commerce has changed how some clothes are produced – i.e., more poorer quality fabrics can get away with it online.

I remain shocked by e-commerce’s high return rates, which are around 30% of all purchases globally. I’m personally not a very ‘typical’ fashion consumer, in that I don’t sit around online surfing for clothes that I don’t really want/need, so I find it surprising that people would overconsume styles and sizes and then post clothes back. I’ve seen firsthand the waste this creates because many businesses are unable, for various reasons, to get their customers’ returns back.

The post Q&A with Redress & The R Collective Founder Christina Dean: ‘Our Work is Just a Few Little Sprinkles of Goodness Right Now’ appeared first on Green Queen.

With Gen Alpha deemed to be the eco-warrior demographic growing up in an increasingly volatile climate (literally), it’s never a bad thing to teach children about the real world – here are seven of the best climate change books for kids.

Generation Alpha faces a bigger climate threat than the rest of us – 2020-born children could experience seven times more extreme weather events (especially heatwaves) than those born in 1960 – and the cohort has already begun seeing some of its effects.

So perhaps it’s unsurprising that, if you believe one survey from 2021, 67% of kids aged six to nine say saving the planet will be the central mission of their future careers. And their perspectives are touching their parents too, 80% of whom have been influenced to change their consumption behaviours or actions to be more eco-conscious.

It feels like we could learn a thing or two from our children. But if you’re looking to support this generation’s knowledge-building, there are a host of resources out there that can help. Some of them are in the form of climate change books – here are some of the best ones you can get for your kids.

The Lorax

By Dr Seuss

One of the OG climate change books for young ones, Dr Seuss’s 1971 classic stands the test of time even today. The Lorax explores the dangers of taking the Earth for granted through the lens of Once-ler and the Lorax, a creature who speaks on behalf of the trees. There are rhymes and playful illustrations, which help readers better grasp the ideas of greed, deforestation, and short-term profits – all linked to climate change. What’s even better is that the book is printed on recycled paper, which is a great way to introduce the concept of recycling to kids. (There’s also an animated film adaptation of The Lorax from 2012.)

You can find The Lorax by Dr Seuss (recommended for ages four to eight) online and at various bookstores for $16.99.

Moth: An Evolution Story

By Isabel Thomas (illustrations by Daniel Egnéus)

Isabel Thomas’s 2019 book, Moth: An Evolution Story, explains climate change through the evolution story of moths. With powerful visuals, the critically acclaimed title shows how living creatures need the environment to survive, but how human evolution and the changing climate have affected their natural selection. Moths, for example, evolved to have darker wings so they could camouflage themselves better on trees covered with soot, telling a striking tale of climate adaptation and industrial pollution.

You can find Moth: An Evolution Story by Isabel Thomas and Daniel Egnéus (recommended for ages six to 10) online and at various bookstores for $18.99.

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez

By Andrea Beaty (illustrations by David Roberts)

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez is a great book for budding climate activists. It centres around a second-grader whose grandfather hurts his ankle on a local landfill (Mount Trashmore) and can no longer walk her to school every day. Sofia goes to the city hall to get permission to build a park on the site, but is denied permission. With a catchy rhyming scheme, the book tells the story of youthful persistence, as Sofia garners support and finally gets the mayor’s attention. The message is simple and effective: you’re never too young to change the world.

You can find Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts (recommended for ages five to seven) online and at various bookstores for $18.99.

Our House is on Fire

By Jeanette Winter

The poster child of Gen Z climate activism, Greta Thunberg’s iconic World Economic Forum speech in 2019 serves as inspiration for Jeanette Winter’s Our House is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet. The book charts Thunberg’s journey through illustrations and descriptions, including where she learned about climate change, what actions she’s taken (like skipping school every Friday to spark what is now a global climate protest), and how she shows that youngsters can bring about change.

You can buy Our House is on Fire by Jeanette Winter (recommended for ages three to eight) online and at various bookstores for $17.99.

Princess Olivia Investigates: The Wrong Weather

By Lucy Hawkins (illustrations by Zoe Persico)

The first edition of her latest series, Lucy Hawkins’s Princess Olivia Investigates: The Wrong Weather follows Princess Olivia of the Kingdom of Alez, which decided it didn’t want a royal family anymore, leading to the girl losing her home. But she’s excited: she can quit her boring royal lessons and explore nature. However, she’s horrified when she learns what’s happening to the Earth, sparking her mission to help reverse climate change. The book is dotted with facts from scientists, and serves as a driver for children who want to become activists.

You can find Princess Olivia Investigates: The Wrong Weather by Lucy Hawkins and Zoe Persico (recommended for ages six to 10) online and at various bookstores for £7.99.

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge

By Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus, the celebrated book series that began in 1986, is known for taking readers along the ride for Ms Frizzle’s educational school trips. In The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge, the students are taken around the world and shown all the places experiencing the impact of climate change – think melting ice glaciers and rising sea levels. The comic-style book explores greenhouse gas emissions, with students seeing ‘invisible’ CO2 through special glasses and turning into UV rays at one point, and offers solutions to the crisis in the series’ trademark simplicity.

You can find The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen (recommended for ages seven to 10) on Amazon for $23.99.

Climate Change, the Choice is Ours

By David Miles (illustrations by Albert Pinilla)

David Miles’ 2020 interactive reference book Climate Change, the Choice is Ours: The Facts, Our Future, and Why There’s Hope! revels in the binary. Every left-side page covers climate change topics like deforestation, greenhouse gases, rising sea levels, extreme weather, agriculture and more, while every right-side page has a spin wheel that offers readers a choice: leave climate change to do its thing, or address the issue and do something about it. It’s a more advanced book and doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable realities – but it does offer recommendations and hope.

You can find Climate Change, the Choice is Ours by David Miles and Albert Pinilla (recommended for ages seven to 10) on Amazon and various bookstores for $24.99.

The post Generation Eco: 7 of the Best Climate Change Books for Kids appeared first on Green Queen.

In Cool Food, Robert Downey Jr and climate author Thomas Kostigen unveil a new category of food: one that’s better for you and the planet. There’s talk about ancient grains, future foods, meal kits, shopping lists, recipes, and the Iron Man actor’s diet (which isn’t vegan).

Robert Downey Jr is the quintessential cool guy. He always has been. And it’s a persona that was projected to the world through his 11-year-long stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Iron Man – Downey Jr was an Avenger, or was the Avenger Downey Jr?

Now, five years on from telling Thanos he’s Iron Man, Downey Jr is expanding his cool-guy routine with a debut book that focuses on climate change and food, aptly named Cool Food. Co-written alongside Thomas Kostigen, a New York Times-bestselling author of 10 climate books prior to this one, the title is said to refer to a “game-changing, new food category” and thought of school that can help fix the climate crisis.

It’s not a full cookbook (though it does have around two dozen self-described climate-friendly recipes) – instead, Cool Food covers a broader range of solutions. There are insights from “top chefs, food scientists, farmers, foodies, celebrities, politicians, and more”, centring on revolutionary farming techniques, future foods and alternative proteins, seasonal grocery shopping, and planet-friendly eating.

What is Cool Food?

But wait, what really is Cool Food? I’ll let RDJ spell it out for you. “Cool food is a new category in the food space. It’s a different way to eat to save the planet. It isn’t a diet or a meal plan. It isn’t even so much about food itself,” he writes in the book. “Cool food is really about lifestyle – transformational shifts from little actions, experiences, and different choices. It’s a holistic approach to making the world a whole lot better by simply making more informed decisions about something that each and every one of us does anyway – eat.”

He adds that this book is much more than just a list of which cool foods are best for the climate”. There are commentaries, anecdotes, factoids, and hard science that add up to something we think is worth your time to read from beginning to end,” notes the Iron Man actor.

“Think of cool foods as the equivalent of alternative power sources – food’s solar or wind power. Our book, Cool Food, is about learning and getting in on the future of food now,” adds Kostigen.

The book’s publishers say more than two billion ‘cool food’ meals are already served each year, and that’s a number expected to grow massively. They add that supermarkets, restaurants, fast-food chains, and student cafeterias globally are increasingly designating menu items as ‘cool food’, with some using carbon labels like calorie amounts alongside ingredients and meals.

It’s really a term for low-carbon foods – akin to the World Resouces Institute’s Coolfood initiative – which can help bring the Earth’s temperatures down and mitigate the impact of climate change. This means foodstuffs like “certain nuts, fruits and vegetables, ancient grains, seaweeds, and less-processed foods that keep more carbon dioxide in the ground, or in the ocean”.

What’s in the Cool Food book?

So what does Downey Jr and Kostigen’s book offer? “We look at food as the entry point for stories, like how my wife, Susan, and I fell in love in Montreal and the role maple syrup played in that,” writes the MCU star. “Or like the lightbulb moment I had over a meal in 2019 to start FootPrint Coalition, the company I founded to discover, partner, and invest in climate technologies.”

The book contains data and information, actionable items and recipes to help people tread a more sustainable dietary path, based on the authors’ conversations with global experts. This includes facts like switching a burger for a salad once a week in the US would save pollution from 12 million cars, or sea lettuce is 20 times more efficient at sweeping carbon than land-grown. Donwy Jr and Kostigen also touch upon the power of ancient grains, which are “not old, and definitely not spoiled”, explaining how this is a marketing term that seeks to describe grains that haven’t been altered much by modern farming.

There’s discourse about transformative farming techniques for eco-friendlier food production (such as future foods made from thin air), the pros and cons of plant-based meat, and misleading labels. The latter includes little factoids like how ‘pasture-raised’ only means that animals were outside for some time, but doesn’t detail how much time, and what type of environment the ‘pasture’ really is; or how ‘natural’ labels really just explain if there are artificial colours, flavours or preservatives added, not if antibiotics or hormones were injected into the food.

This kind of myth-busting is a theme throughout the book. The authors do the same for perceptions about food miles, deliveries, virtual shopping, meal kits, food waste, spoilage, expiration dates, organic labels, and more.

“You can just flip open and go: ‘Hey, this is great. Almonds, pretty good. Cashews, better. Mangoes are great,'” Downey Jr told Good Morning America (GMA), alluding to the shopping lists and meal prep tips in Cool Food. “And then when I’m at the supermarket or when I’m making choices on set, or just grabbing a snack for the kids, I’m just kind of inserting this kinda data into our meal plans.”

Kostigen added that we need three things to survive: water, air and food. “Only one of those things has a variety that you can make a choice on, and that’s food. So why not make it better for the planet?” he posited. “For the average person, just being able to go to the grocery store and pick something up that is good for themselves, good for the planet, it’s empowering.”

But is Robert Downey Jr vegan himself?

That said, there are still some curious, contradictory things written in the book. For all the Marvel star’s musings about a planet-friendly diet, he isn’t actually vegan himself. And while that’s fine – a reduction in carbon-intensive food consumption can be viewed as more pragmatic compared to downright elimination – it’s the reasons he gives that perpetuate existing misconceptions, and need some myth-busting of their own.

“I tried going all-in vegetarian – even vegan – but it just doesn’t work for me. Without some animal protein, I find myself with low levels of vitamin B12, calcium, iodine and iron. These are common deficiencies that can result from vegan diets,” writes Downey Jr. “The rumours are true: I’m a pescatarian. That means I eat fish every now and again,” he adds. “Yes, in case you are wondering, I do actually need the iron that animal protein provides.”

This is a common criticism levied at plant-based diets. But it’s been proven that vegans can get just as much of these nutrients as meat-, dairy- and seafood-eaters do. Many plant-based foods – including seed, bean and nut milks, animal meat alternatives, cereals, nutritional yeast, and fruits and vegetables – are good sources of B vitamins, zinc, iron and calcium, among others. These are either found naturally, or through fortification.

New-age meat alternatives using mycelium contain nutrients usually associated with animal protein too. Plus, there are multiple supplements available for vegans as well, ensuring that they’re not deficient in any of these important nutrients. So while everybody is different and should consult medical professionals for tailored advice, Downey Jr could do better than rehashing stereotypes about the planet-friendly diets his book is promoting.

He could just listen to his wife Susan, who is a vegan. “Before that time, we used to love calamari,” he told GMA. “So, we came up with hearts of calipalmy [an analogue made from hearts of palm] because my kids don’t really know the difference.”

The recipes in Cool Food skew similar lines, ranging from a Moroccan okra stew with sweet potatoes and fruit and nut salad with chilli-lime dressing, to a vanilla butter cake made with Kernza and a crispy jellyfish dish. The sentiment is also evident in the section discussing the pros and cons of meat alternatives, which Downey Jr says are “as much as 90% better for the planet than animal meat”, but aren’t necessarily “healthier for you”. “You may be depriving your body of important nutrients such as vitamin B, certain fats, and calcium,” he writes.

This is a rhetoric plant-based meat companies have been fighting against for years, and it’s why giants like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods (both of whose products are fortified with essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, and vitamins B and D12) have doubled down on the nutritional benefits of their products over the last few months, with products certified as heart-healthy by the American Heart Association.

You could just look at brands backed by Downey Jr himself. His climate tech VC fund the FootPrint Coalition backs New York-based Chunk Foods, which makes whole-cut meat analogues. Its flagship Chunk Steak is fortified with iron and B12. The fund has invested in mycelium meat maker MyForest Foods and cultivated seafood producer Wildtype too, though new investment action has been quiet of late.

So as the Oppenheimer actor sweeps the awards shows and stays the favourite for the Oscar, maybe he can ponder upon his own investment activity and narrative around planet-friendly cool food, and really put his money where his mouth is. As he explains in the book, it can be “cheaper and faster” to make vegan meals than anything made from traditional animal meat, if enough supply can be had to drive down costs. Could he drive that demand?

“Spread meat replacement efforts across the more than two hundred thousand fast-food spots in the US alone,” he writes, “and there is a seriously formidable agent of change that could turn things climate positive quickly.”

Cool Food by Robert Downey Jr and Thomas Kostigen is out now at bookshops and online stores internationally at $29.99.

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