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What the beef industry knew about its environmental impact — and how it spent decades blocking climate action. Immediately following yesterday’s article on the BS Myth that ‘grass-fed’ beef is better, Vox published an article about the livestock industry’s four-decade-long effort to hide the massive impacts of livestock production. You can read the entire article…
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For many years, I’ve been a critic of cattle production. I have mainly focused on public land grazing because that is one area where citizens can have a voice in management. More recently, concern about livestock’s contribution to climate warming has garnered more attention. The punch line is that any kind of beef is bad…
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The recent blaze that destroyed much of Altadena, California was an urban fire ignited by wind-driven embers. Photo by George Wuerthner A new report from Headwaters Economics concludes that 1,100 communities scattered across the country are vulnerable to urban wildfires, such as the recent Altadena and Pacific Palisades blazes in California. While the origins of…
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From our friends at Population Balance, comes their latest podcast with historian and author Jean-Baptiste Fressor. To get all the ways to listen, click here. There is no energy transition – only ongoing and symbiotic energy addition. Historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, author of More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, joins us. Highlights…
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Top Line: Like bankruptcy, the death of the Northwest Forest Plan has proceeded slowly and might end quickly. Figure 1. An old-growth forest of Douglas-fir and western redcedar. Source: Sandy Lonsdale (first appeared in Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness). Note: I wrote the following without considering President Trump’s recent executive order pertaining to federal forestlands. I didn’t want the…
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Ghost Bull, named for his ability to avoid tribal hunters outside of Yellowstone National Park. Photo by George Wuerthner I watched Ghost Bull grazing just outside of Yellowstone National Park’s northern border. Ghost Bull is a name given to the bison by wildlife advocates because he seems to come and go, eluding tribal shooters who…
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The wild bison in Yellowstone National Park are the last major herd of buffalo, the least domesticated members of their genus left in the United States. When Yellowstone was established in 1872, an estimated 25 wild bison roamed the park, a relic of the great herds that once roamed the entire West. With protection, the…
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After years of public outcry and several lawsuits from grassroots environmental groups, Point Reyes National Seashore is finally shedding (most of) its commercial ranching operations. Although long-overdue and less than fully comprehensive, a settlement between plaintiffs, the National Park Service, and the ranchers themselves was announced in early January of this year. The plaintiffs in…
