Food Left Off the Table at Climate Talks

From Stephanie Feldstein, Population and Sustainability Program Director

The COP26 talks in Glasgow ended with the United States still failing to make crucial commitments to address the climate emergency. While the global climate treaty framework acknowledged fossil fuels for the first time, the language is weak and leaves the door open to false solutions. And despite the leading role that meat production plays in methane emissions and deforestation, no targets were set for reducing it. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack went so far as to claim that Americans can keep eating as much meat as they want — even though studies show we can’t meet global climate targets without reducing meat consumption.

Read on for more updates on COP26, how to navigate the holiday shopping season, and a groundbreaking new report that shows why wool isn’t as eco-friendly as marketing claims would have you believe.

A group of Girl Scouts in New York was the first to earn the conscious consumer patch created by the Center in a sold-out program that addressed biodiversity, threats to wildlife, and what we can all do to reduce our impact on the planet. If you’re interested in bringing one of our original programs to your Girl Scout troop, email Population and Sustainability Organizer Sarah Baillie.

Wool, Fashion and the Biodiversity Crisis

Wool is often marketed as a sustainable fiber simply provided by nature, but the reality is that it’s a product of industrial, chemical, ecological and genetic intervention that’s anything but eco-friendly. While the environmental impacts of the meat industry have gained significant attention, the role of farmed animals used in the fashion industry has not. In a new report released this week by the Center for Biological Diversity and Collective Fashion Justice, we expose the hidden climate and biodiversity costs of wool production. Read Shear Destruction: Wool, Fashion and the Biodiversity Crisis.

Here’s one thing you can do: Tell eco-conscious clothing brands to phase out or reduce their use of wool and replace it with sustainable, plant-based materials.

‘Big Baby’ Urges Leaders to Consider Population

World leaders at the summit in Glasgow were greeted by a 23-foot tall inflatable baby. Population Matters brought “Big Baby” to the conference to encourage people in high-consuming countries to think about choosing a smaller family as a way to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, while encouraging policymakers to ensure everyone has access to education and voluntary family planning. As leaders discussed critical climate actions, Population Matters Director Robin Maynard said Big Baby was there to remind people “that tackling population growth will help all those other solutions work better.”

Here’s one thing you can do: At a climate summit side event, Project Drawdown launched a new policy brief, Girls’ Education and Family Planning: Essential Components of Climate Adaptation and Resilience. Read the brief to learn more about the importance of health and education as climate solutions.

Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions

The global supply chain crisis will make fulfilling holiday wish lists a challenge this year. But what if, instead of scrambling for the hottest toys and gadgets, we changed the way we made those lists in the first place? A New York Times essay makes the case for shopping local, shopping small, and even buying nothing new this holiday season.

Traditional gifts often come with a high carbon price tag, excessive plastic packaging and other environmental impacts. And once they reach our homes, all that packaging contributes to an enormous amount of waste. The United States produces 5.8 million tons more trash in December than in any other month. Check out our gift guide for meaningful, wildlife-friendly alternatives that won’t be disrupted by broken supply chains.

Here’s one thing you can do: Watch our Simplify the Holidays webinar for tips and hacks for a low-waste and less stressful holiday season.

Talking About Parenthood in the Climate Emergency

Research has shown that young people are worried about having children in the climate crisis, out of concern for both the future of the planet and the future their children will endure. An article in The Guardian offers guidance for how people considering their reproductive futures can look beyond social pressure and climate anxiety, including thinking through how they’d address future risks and build resilient communities. The article also offers advice on how to have meaningful conversations with young people grappling with these issues.

Here’s one thing you can do: Listen to the Center’s Sarah Baillie and Kelley Dennings talk about the importance of sex ed, destigmatizing sex, and increasing access to contraception on The Overpopulation Podcast.

Humans vs. Woolly Mammoths

New research from the University of Adelaide and University of Copenhagen has found that humans were responsible for hastening the extinction of woolly mammoths, who were hunted for meat, skins, bones and ivory. This is the first time researchers have been able to distinguish between the roles that hunting and climate change played in the decline of the mammoths. Now, 4,000 years later, the survival of the animals’ modern relatives is again threatened by a combination of climate change and human hunting.

Here’s one thing you can do: Urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the import of elephant trophies and help save these magnificent animals from extinction.

Wildlife Spotlight: Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn sheep are among nature’s greatest mountaineers, leaping from crag to crag even as young lambs. Their strong limbs, agility, and keen eyesight help keep them on the move to escape predators and find food on steep, rocky terrain.

The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep was the first species listed under the Endangered Species Act in the 21st century. Thanks to that protection, the bighorn came back from the brink of extinction and gained more than 400,000 acres of critical habitat. Unfortunately, domestic sheep grazing still occurs in high-risk areas on private lands, putting endangered bighorns at risk of transmitted disease.

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Photo credits: Sheep via Canva; Girl Scout patches by Linda Rico/Center for Biological Diversity; wool and deforestation illustration by Ari Liloan; COP26 by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; paper-chain holiday ornament by tommanyc/Flickr; smokestack by Señor Codo/Flickr; woolly mammoth model by Thomas Quine/Wikimedia; bighorn ram courtesy NPS.

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