The Meat Industry Loses Its DC Friends, Gen Z Ghosts Pork, and Big Beef’s Climate Cover-Up | Rising Anxieties

This week, Mariann finds herself in a suspiciously good mood despite a roster of horrors: ag-friendly lawmakers are departing Washington, Western states are busy “euthanizing” wolves in the most creative misuse of that word yet, and 2,400 pigs died in a barn fire that somehow produced “no injuries.” On the bright side, Gen Z is apparently ghosting pork, the hog market is in freefall, and a new report confirms what everyone already suspected—Big Beef knew about its climate impact back in the ’90s and chose deception. Also: cancer-causing fire retardant in your fish meal, supermarkets begging governments to stop yanking every last mackerel out of the sea, and your tax dollars hard at work building a dairy industry in a country full of lactose-intolerant people. Plus, a shout-out to Cat Phipps, the grassroots activist proving one person can actually ruin a multi-country live animal export operation.

• Farm lobby loses its Congressional cheerleaders: Dozens of lawmakers with big ag ties are leaving Washington, and the industry is very sad about it, which is a promising sign for anyone who isn’t a factory farm
• Shooting wolves is not euthanasia: Colorado and other Western states are reintroducing wolves and then killing them the moment they do what wolves do; calling it euthanasia doesn’t make it euthanasia
• Gen Z is not buying pork: Hog market hits “historic lows” as younger consumers cut their per-capita pig consumption, and industry veterans find this “puzzling”
• Big Beef’s ’90s climate disinformation campaign exposed: Newly surfaced documents show the National Cattlemen’s Association knew about livestock’s methane problem decades ago and opted to lie about 
• Cancer-causing fire retardant in fish meal + US dairy expansion in lactose-intolerant Indonesia: Because nothing says “agricultural innovation” like poisoning farmed fish and exporting lactose to a country that can’t digest it

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Join hostesses Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan on this unique and fun award-winning podcast that focuses on changing the world for animals.

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