Björn Jóhann

the world is a joke sometimes

Banks Are Bankrolling Factory Farms 32x More Than Alternative Proteins How banks are quietly funnelling hundreds of billions into industrial animal agriculture — and what we can do about it.

New from me! Why your bank account may be fueling factory farming...and what we can do about it:

Power Of Meat Report: Younger Shoppers Fuel Record Meat Sales Meat sales reached a record $112 billion in 2025, with pound sales increasing 2% year over year, according to Circana data cited in the 21st annual Power of Meat report released Monday at the Annual M...

Image source: meatingplace.com/power-of-mea...

To reduce meat consumption, we’re going to need to address this narrative, either by increasing the popularity of plant-based proteins, or focus on other nutrients like fiber.

Much of the growth in the meat industry in the US is driven by younger generations — I suspect this is due to the popular link between high-protein and health.

University of Southampton students vote for plant-based menus Plant-based meals will be the standard option for students at the University of Southampton.

The University of Southampton has voted to implement a plant-based default starting next year! These policies are excellent at shifting diets without causing significant backlash.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Eating motives and meat consumption in romantic partners Meat consumption negatively affects planetary health in addition to human health and animal welfare, and choices to eat meat are often driven by motiv…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Interesting new study about meat consumption in romantic partners. If one partner eats more meat and the other eats less, the flexitarian is more likely to be pressured to eat more meat (as opposed to the meat-lover being pressured into eating less) due to cultural norms.

Industry study sponsorship and conflicts of interest on the effect of unprocessed red meat on cardiovascular disease risk: a systematic review of clinical trials Experimental research on the link between unprocessed red meat and cardiovascular disease risk is inconsistent and may differ according to the financi…

Source: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Keep that in mind next time you see the meat industry talking about health! Big Meat is incentivized to distort the truth.

When examining studies on meat’s impact on health, we should always be aware of who funded the study. A report shows that 79% of meat-industry-funded studies found that red meat is good for you, while 73% of independent studies found that red meat is harmful.

The Consequences of Factory Farming Are Too Large to Ignore Factory farming is often brushed aside as a niche concern, but it's one of the largest—and most ignored—sources of suffering, environmental destruction, and human harm in the world today.

In case you missed it, I wrote down basically every reason why we all need to eat a lot less meat. (Turns out, it's a lot!) Here it is:

The Consequences of Factory Farming Are Too Large to Ignore Factory farming is often brushed aside as a niche concern, but it's one of the largest—and most ignored—sources of suffering, environmental destruction, and human harm in the world today.

Read more here: open.substack.com/pub/morethan...

Most animals are factory farmed, yet only a small portion of consumers say their meat comes from farms with inhumane conditions.

This suggests a stark gap between people's values and the food systems we've set up.

The Consequences of Factory Farming Are Too Large to Ignore Factory farming is often brushed aside as a niche concern, but it's one of the largest—and most ignored—sources of suffering, environmental destruction, and human harm in the world today.

New from me!

Sounds like a great time for the government to help these farmers transition from dairy farming to more sustainable and ethical farming practices (ones that are more popular even!)

Reason number 87 why the new health guidelines are extremely silly:

This manure may be polluting waterways or increasing methane emissions far more than we know, because it’s completely untracked and unregulated. Another example of factory farms skirting the law in order to make a buck.

The Paperwork Trick Letting Factory Farms Pollute With Impunity The practice called ‘manifesting’ lets CAFOs make manure pollution legally invisible and evade liability.

This story is blowing my mind: large factory farms are shipping their manure to small, unregulated farms in order to avoid the legal requirement to dispose of it properly.

Full story: sentientmedia.org/trick-lettin...

More is coming to light about how we got the inconsistent & contradictory new guidelines. Much of it came about because the evidence was cherry-picked. 1/

The new US dietary guidelines make a lot more sense when you realize that four of the nine external advisors have financial ties to the meat industry.

Full report: www.vegansociety.com/sites/defaul...

Also, remember that rates of veganism don’t always correlate with meat consumption. For example, Israel has a higher per capita meat consumption rate than Thailand — nearly four times as much!

Keep in mind that not only are the survey questions asked in different ways, but respondents often define “veganism” and “vegetarianism” differently as well. So take these results with a big dose of salt.

What are the most vegan countries on Earth? A new study helps answer: leading the list are India, Mexico, and Israel, while other countries like Thailand, Russia, and China are near the end of the list of countries that were reviewed.

One of the most impactful resolutions you can make in the new year Why we should aspire to eat less meat like it’s 2019.

A little end of year analysis from me on the state of all things plant-based, and why eating a more plant-based diet is still one of the most impactful things people can do for society:

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

More than that, Veganuary has been successful in creating a positive and accessible campaign that has encouraged millions of people to try reducing meat consumption.

Will you try Veganuary this year?

It’s January 1, which means it’s the start of Veganuary!

I’ve written previously about vegan challenges, finding that those like Veganuary have retention rates of 10-28%.

Agriculture Affects Deforestation Much More Than Most People Realize Cattle farming accounts for 80 percent of all deforested land across the Amazon, and 41 percent of all tropical deforestation worldwide.

The majority of deforested land is used for animal agriculture, either directly or indirectly, and the beef industry is the single biggest driver of deforestation. Seth Millstein explains:

Want People to Eat More Plants? Make Them the Default. Making vegan foods the default option consistently boosts sales without significant backlash. Here's the evidence why it's so effective.

In the developed world, #meat is currently the default option in restaurants & #catering. Yet, vegetarian & #vegan options as the default can nudge consumption without being too controversial, as customers are still free to eat meat: morethanmeatstheeye.substack.com/p/plant-base... #plantbased