Glenn Hurowitz’s Post

We need transition minerals to fuel the EV revolution, but can't sacrifice Indigenous rights. Thoughtful comments on a path forward - and a powerful piece of TV journalism on how this is playing out on the ground in Nevada and beyond.

Mighty Earth is getting ready to launch our biggest campaign EVER...here's a quick look behind the scenes at the production studio this morning. A certain company responsible for deforestation may be interested.

Woo-hoo! Big congratulations to our partner Marcel Gomes of Repórter Brasil on winning the Goldman Environmental Prize 2024 (“the environmental Nobel”). We’re of course proud that Goldman bestowed this well-deserved recognition for his intrepid work on Mighty Earth’s campaign to stop deforestation by Brazilian meat giant JBS….though this is just one example of outstanding work by Repórter Brasil. Nonetheless, the JBS story is pretty amazing, as was clear at the awards ceremony last night: At the time, we knew JBS was continuing to drive deforestation and land-grabbing from our satellite monitoring. And several big supermarket chains had adopted – on paper – bans on sourcing beef linked to deforestation.  Yet, they were still selling beef products like Jack Link's Protein Snacks and Prince’s canned beef that had high risk of exposure to illegal deforestation. We called the companies' attention to the problem, but they just wouldn’t perform sufficient due diligence on their own products. That’s where Repoórter Brasil came in. They took satellite and supply chain analysis, and went to the forest frontier in Pará state to get eyewitnesses who could track deforestation (including in legally protected areas) to JBS slaughterhouses. Then, we worked together to  trace beef sold in more than 20 supermarkets from Brooklyn to Amsterdam and beyond to those slaughterhouses.  This work requires a combination of bravery, technical expertise and savvy that is Marcel and Repórter Brasil’s trademark. With Repórter Brasil's research in hand, we presented it to supermarkets and the meat companies themselves before releasing it to the public – and got results: Six major EU-based supermarket chains including Carrefour, Albert Heijn, and Sainsbury’s immediately said they would stop sourcing beef from JBS or Brazilian beef entirely. It was one of the first customer actions at this scale on the beef industry – and received extensive media attention across Europe, Brazil, and the United States, including in financial media. It educated banks and retailers about just how risky doing business with JBS was, leading to some of the first financial sector action. And it created a new norm: that deforestation was unacceptable and would cause commercial consequences. The result: significant momentum to move JBS and change the beef industry. This project was a model of how on-the-ground investigators, activist journalists and civil society can work together with campaigners to drive global impact that is greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, that ability to generate impact makes Marcel Gomes a worthy recipient of this great prize. Fabulous short video from Goldman about Marcel and his work...very much worth the watch: https://lnkd.in/dmQTNntZ Congrats to all the winners!

🙌 UPDATE: Progress for forests in Indonesia!!! I’m pleased to share that the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry has issued a letter ordering Indonesia’s largest forest destroyer to stop its bulldozers. The company, Mayawana Persada (whose origins are in the Alas Kusuma group), has destroyed 100,000 acres of Borneo’s forest, much of it pictured here. Imagine an area twice the size of Washington, DC, much of it orangutan, sun bear, and forest cat habitat, stripped of all its vegetation by a single company.  As I shared in an earlier post, our allies’ investigation a few weeks ago caught the company red-handed excavating deep peat in violation of Indonesian law, as well as destroying the habitat of endangered species. It was painful to look at photos of recently built orangutan nests and sun bear footprints in forest that the company had slated for destruction. But until the Ministry stepped in, the company had resisted pressure from its own customers, financiers, and civil society, as well as a complaint we filed with the Forest Stewardship Council (which unbelievably had certified some of the company’s operations). The Ministry cited the company for undermining Indonesia’s climate commitments to restore approximately 5 million acres of peat and 30 million acres of degraded land. It called on it to not only stop all logging activities but also restore what it has destroyed. As you can see from this video, even as we celebrate what is saved, there's a lot of work to undo this ecological disaster - and we and our allies are monitoring regularly to make sure this company respects the direction of the Indonesian government. Thanks to Minister Siti Nubaya Bakar for protecting #wonderfulindonesia and the civil society coalition of WALHI West Kalimantan, Link-AR Borneo, AMAN West Kalimantan, and Satya Bumi that conducted the investigation.

🐻 Another huge win for Nature from the Biden Administration: they are restoring grizzly bears to the North Cascades! These extraordinary animals were persecuted for more than a century until the last confirmed sighting in the area in 1996. That's despite the fact that the region, larger than New Jersey, hosts some of the best habitat in the continent. Thanks to all the 12,000 people (including Mighty Earth supporters) who weighed in with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Park Service in support of this rewilding project - and gratitude to NPS Director Charles Sams, FWS Director Martha Williams and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland for their determination to rewild America. Looking forward to getting paws on the ground, and visiting this new population on their home turf. https://lnkd.in/eYmAwCiq

Happy Earth Day! Hope everyone got to enjoy a bit of glorious Nature today.

Join us for an all-star webinar April 16 about the implications of Indonesia President-Elect Prabowo Subianto's election on nature and climate with special guest former US Ambassador to Indonesia and Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, Jr. Indonesia is home to one of the world’s largest tropical rainforests, extensive coral reefs, and huge clean energy potential, but is also the world’s seventh largest climate polluter and its largest coal exporter. For years, Indonesia has made huge strides in curbing deforestation, but recently has experienced an uptick as a handful of rogue companies have evaded conservation requirements. Any change in policy or political climate will impact these issues. There are huge opportunities for Indonesia to benefit from the billions in new capital available for investments in Southeast Asian decarbonization and conservation. But there are questions about how much a new government will continue conservation policies - and whether it sees clean energy as the future. For instance, Indonesia has invested in a massive build-out of its nickel industry, in part to feed growing demand for electric vehicle batteries. However, as a major new Mighty Earth report to be released the day of the webinar discusses, 80,000 hectares of forest have already been destroyed for nickel and up to half a million are on the chopping block. Will the new government channel development onto degraded lands instead of pristine ecosystems and Indigenous territories? Will an erosion in civil society freedom threaten the ability of scientists, journalists, activists, and business to support conservation and climate action? We'll explore threats like these as well as some of the enormous opportunities for the government to drive a new generation of conservation, restoration, and decarbonization. And we'll have some of the best experts on Nature and climate in Indonesia on hand to do it: Andi Muttaqien, Executive Director of Satya Bumi; Atina Rizqiana; Amanda Hurowitz of Mighty Earth; all moderated by one of the world's greatest conservation journalists Hans Nicholas Jong of Mongabay. Register here! https://lnkd.in/eW9cqsgm

While agribusiness lobbies in Brussels to weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation, here's the scene on the ground in Indonesia. These pictures were taken just 10 days ago in Borneo on the land of the notorious company Mayawana Persada, part of the Alas Kusuma Group. This is deep, carbon-rich peat being drained. Our investigation also found new orangutan nests on the land, as well as sun-bear footprints. All are in the way of this paper and palm oil company's bulldozers. This company is desperate to find international markets. The EUDR, the greatest forest conservation law of the last decade, makes that a lot harder. Yet big agribusiness is lobbying to weaken it. In the current goat rodeo of EU environmental policy making, they're somehow getting away with cloaking the agenda of corporate deforesters in the garb of European small farmers. It's complete baloney. Indeed, these deforesters don't even represent their own industry: the palm oil, pulp, and rubber industry have reduced deforestation more than 90%, leaving only the most irresponsible companies to try to undermine it. Europe did a great thing by passing the EUDR, as well as its nature conservation and restoration law - which, shocker, requires conservation of 4% of some farms. These are measures supported by the vast majority of Nature-loving Europeans and many farmers. And they're ones we need to emulate in the rest of the world. Yet many European politicians are negotiating with themselves and preemptively capitulating to a destructive agribusiness lobby. I hope Europe can show it has a spine when it comes to defending Nature and not engage in preemptive surrender. The Nature of Europe and the world depends on it.

GREAT news for  plant-based protein: where campaigners are pushing retailers to boost climate action, sales of alt proteins are growing rapidly: 🇫🇷 Carrefour beat its 2026 target of €500 million in plant-based sales  two years early. They’ve now boosted their target to €650 million.  🇺🇸 The world’s largest food service company, Sodexo, is making plant-based meals the default at 400 campuses, reaching one million students. The pilot saw a 150 percent increase in students choosing plant-based meals. 🇳🇱 The Dutch Jumbo Supermarkten chain is ending all promotions for meat products. In addition, half of its protein sales will be plant-based by next year, and it will join rival Albert Heijn in reaching 60% plant protein by 2030. Nine other brands are shifting to half plant based products.  🇩🇪 Lidl in Germany announced it will charge the same for own-brand plant-based protein as for industrial meat products….which is rare but shouldn’t be a shocking change given that they typically require at least 80% less resources than their animal alternatives.  🇬🇧 In the UK, Co-op saw sales of its own plant range increase by 18% once it brought price parity, and increased availability and visibility of plant-based protein. These steps also aren’t a coincidence – they occurred in great measure because of inspired campaigns by organizations around the world: 🙋♂️The Dutch animal welfare organization Wakker Dier has been publicly campaigning for supermarkets to end meat promotions Milieudefensie bombarded Albert Heijn’s parent company Ahold Delhaize shareholder meeting with 70 activists calling for stronger climate action 🙋♀️ Pro-Veg (and others) publicly urged Lidl to boost alt proteins 🙋♂️ The Humane Society and NRDC campaigned for American food service companies to boost plant-based options 🙋♀️ And, I’m proud to say, Mighty Earth has been campaigning publicly in France, Brazil and Spain for Carrefour to increase its plant-based sales and reduce animal products. Where advocacy for plant-based protein is happening, growth is occurring (and I haven’t even mentioned the role of advocacy on government policy).  Indeed, globally the market grew by more than 10% between 2022 and 23 to $16 billion – and is expected to keep growing. This growth defies the myth that demand for plant-based food and other alt proteins has somehow flat-lined. Sadly, most retail and restaurant companies are still tucking plant-based products into an obscure corner of the freezer section instead of front and center with the steaks and chicken breasts. They then charge an unjustified premium to customers who have braved the odyssey through the aisles.  And too many governments are still subsidizing the meat industry instead of boosting more sustainable proteins.   That’s the challenge the alt protein community is now tackling. But this progress shows that campaigns for alt proteins deliver – and more are needed to reach the scale we need.

How is this story not getting much more attention? A guy working at an animal feed and biofuel factory left a valve open over the weekend from a fertilizer storage facility, and caused an enormous ecological disaster. 265,000 gallons of fertilizer spilled into a drainage ditch that then made its way into the East Nishnabotna River, then into the Nishnabotna, and into the Missouri - almost completely killing all aquatic life along 60 miles of productive watershed, including an estimated 749,000 fish. The fish lay dead along the riverbanks. It's probably the biggest fish kill in Iowa and Missouri in a decade. Clearly, there's massive negligence here - and the company directly responsible, NEW Cooperative, Inc, should be investigated and held legally accountable based on the evidence (their website is still filled with smiling employees gushing about handing out free ham). Meat companies like Cargill JBS USA and Tyson Foods should reveal if they source from NEW Cooperative and if they will continue to do so. But this terrible environmental disaster also speaks to the systemic negligence in the meat and biofuel industry - and an atrocious lack of regulation. This ecosystem was destroyed by a spill from a single storage tank. Somebody made a mistake here, but the fact that such an error could lead to disastrous consequences is endemic across the meat industry. There are likely hundreds or thousands of storage tanks that could cause similar damage across the midwest, Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay. This storage tank didn't flow directly into a river, but rather into a drainage ditch, but it made its way into the Missouri River ecosystem - one of North America's great rivers. This incident shows powerfully how connected our waterways are, yet the meat industry helped persuade the Supreme Court to limit coverage of the Clean Water Act to major waterways - limiting legal enforcement exactly where it's needed. I think environmental crimes like this one that happen out on a farm sometimes fail to capture the attention of the national media even when they occur at a massive scale. But front-page coverage might expose the real toll the meat industry takes on the environment. https://lnkd.in/eeQS2h3v