We’re arguing for a shift in focus: away from recipes and instead toward ingredients.

When you prioritize ingredients, you buy what looks vibrant and heavy at the market first, then decide what to do with it later. You stop forcing a winter tomato to behave like a summer one. We all know that off-season food tastes worse, but it’s also stressing out our topsoil. It’s bigger than the watery tomato taste.

We often think of the “food system” as a vast, impersonal network of industrial farms, global logistics, and grocery giants. But the truth is, the most transformative part of that entire chain happens in a space about 100 square feet in size: your kitchen!

How we choose to cook—or not cook—is the ultimate lever for change.

Shocker: Cooking is political!

Tired of hearing that “everything is political”? What can we say, welcome to the real world, babe!

Cooking isn’t just about feeding yourself or keeping up with a hobby; it’s also a political and environmental act. There is a difference between ultra-processed convenience to scratch cooking, and when we start becoming more aware of that, we aren’t just changing our dinner—we are rerouting the demand that dictates how land is used, how farmers are paid, and how much waste ends up in landfills.

Here are three ways cooking can reshape the world:

🌱Biodiversity: Industrial food relies on a handful of monocrops (corn, soy, wheat). Home cooking allows us to reintroduce seasonal & diverse plants that the mass market ignores. It can also be an opportunity to eat food that helps maintain our topsoil rather than contributing to a system that is destroying it.

🌱Waste Mitigation: The professional and home kitchen is the frontline for upcycling. Turning “scraps” into stocks or wilting greens into pestos creates a circular economy at the micro-level.

🌱The Value of Labor: Cooking forces us to reckon with the time and effort required to produce nourishment, fostering a deeper respect for the entire supply chain.

🌱Market Change: Demand shapes industry, demand shapes policy. Industries respond to consumer habits. Companies work to fill a demand created by us. So yes, we can change the system with something as small as our cooking habits.

If we want a food system that is resilient and equitable, we should probably take a hard look at our own kitchen first.

🎙️ New Episode Alert: How Cooking Shapes the Food System

We dive deep into these themes in the latest episode of the podcast. We explore the bridge between cooking and systemic change, discussing how the simple act of heating food changed human evolution—and how it might just save our future.

Listen to the latest episode of The Agriculture Season

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but included below are the YouTube and Spotify links to Episode 8 of The Agriculture Season – How Cooking Shapes the Food System.

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

🌱Please listen and share! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place.

Episode 9 (the last episode of The Agriculture Season🤯) is out on Thursday 5/14!

xx

Ari & Lexi

Happy May, everyone!

Today, we’ve got a hot take from Billie Eilish to share, news you should know about, updates on our podcast series “The Agriculture Season,” and our May lists. Lots to cover! Grab a snack, a drink, get cozy, and keep reading.🙇🏻‍♀️

We want to hear from you!

Have you been following the The Agriculture Season? We want to know what you think! Your feedback has immeasurable value to us. Send us an email to info@hotelearth360.com or a DM on Instagram (@hotelearth360) to let us know your thoughts, comments, and compliments—or concerns (🫣).

We worked very hard to deliver this story in a way that both gives you the facts AND sparks hope for change (& so has Bob—our audio/video aficionado—thank you, Bob)! If you think we met that goal, we’d love to know what resonated. If you think we fell a bit short, we want to know what we can do to improve.

Every view, listen, like, share, review, and rate helps us immensely. So please, if you haven’t already, tune into the podcast, give it a thumbs up, and share it with your friends. Links to listen/share below:

• Spotify

• Apple

• YouTube

If you like what we’re doing here, please consider supporting our platform!

With enough support, we’d be able to focus on this awesome project full-time (the dream!!). Producing podcast seasons more frequently, investing in better equipment to increase your viewing / listening pleasure, writing more content, and creating a bigger and better impact!

Please support if you can!

Finally,

Please make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel and following us on Instagram.

We appreciate (and need) all the support we can get!

xx

Billie Eilish has a hot take about meat consumption.

In a recent Elle interview, Billie Eilish gave the public not one, but TWO hot takes:

1. “Eating meat is inherently wrong.”

2. “Two things cannot coincide: ‘I love animals’ and ‘I eat meat’. You can’t do both.”

Lexi took to TikTok and Instagram to respond. Here’s the video:

Comment what you think. And a VERY important thing to remember: this is a nuanced conversation. TLDR: everyone who CAN eat less meat, SHOULD.

WE STILL LOVE YOU, BILLIE!! Thank you for being an environmental champion.

Funny enough, we covered this topic at length as part of The Agriculture Season. Check out the relevant episode below:

📢A message from us to you: you have a lot more power than you think.

Something we keep coming back to this season is this fact regarding our capitalistic market: Demand shapes industry.

The corollary: demand shapes policy.

In Episodes 6 and 7 of The Agriculture Season, we laid out how we have the ability to rewrite the rules of our unjust food system using case study examples, like the Tuna Boycott of 1988, as well as ways we can use our consumer buying power to reshape the agriculture industry and create a better system.

First, start with Episode 6 to explore current agriculture policy and see how everyday people—NOT industry lobbyists—have historically steered the industry toward progress:

Then check out Episode 7, for a deep dive into the real impact of your consumer dollar. This episode highlights how grassroots heroes are fixing the gaps in our broken food system:

🚨For your radar

☠️The pesticide “Liability Shield” has been removed from the 2026 Farm Bill!

Classic case: elected officials putting corporate interests above our health. But this time, our mighty efforts resulted in a win.🏅

We shared our full two cents in this post. Check it out!

For more info on the removal, follow the link below to Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna’s (author of the passed amendment) website.

Read more here.

🇺🇸House Passes 2026 Farm Bill amid environmental backlash

It’s great that the “Liability Shield” was successfully removed, but we’re still facing an uphill battle. On April 30, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. While supporters celebrate its stability for producers, critics are sounding the alarm over:

• Funding cuts: a roughly $1 billion cut to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

• Regulatory loopholes: a last-minute provision that limits oversight on air pollution from farm equipment.

• Climate resilience: critics argue the bill lacks the necessary investments for farmers to adapt to the increasing frequency of weather-related disasters.

The Bill is on its way to the Senate for consideration. Contact your senator NOW and tell them to DENY this legislation (Lexi called hers this morning😎).

Read more here.

⚡️Conflict in Iran triggers “modern history’s largest” energy supply shock.

The ongoing war involving Iran and Israel has escalated into a massive environmental and energy crisis. With Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent blockades, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports the largest fossil fuel supply disruption in history.

With oil prices having surged through the roof, will nations now accelerate their pivot to renewables to ensure long-term energy security and decouple from volatile fossil fuel markets?

Read more here.

Lists of the month🐞

Ari’s List:

1. To try: a book club/book community. I’m really enjoying my friend Veronica’s initiative, Melograno!

2. To read: ’s Substack posts slap me with the truth daily.

3. To watch: The Agriculture Season on YouTube!! (please.)

4. To listen: this podcast episode of Know Thyself (hosted by ) with Dr. . Woah. DISCLAIMER: I don’t agree with everything he says (esp the part about “thank God for fossil fuels”, and “stop storytelling”, although I see where he’s coming from), but this man is OVERFLOWING with wisdom. It’s an incredibly insightful conversation that I’ve never heard anyone talk about before. Definitely worth a listen.

5. To remember: Remember to play.

Lexi’s List:

1. To drink: 2020 Trader Joe’s Barbera Nizza Bersano Platinum Reserve Lot # 117.

2. To remember: I wanted this.📚🎓

3. To watch: Now accepting recommendations for shows to watch when not (stu)dying for the bar!

4. To listen: Getz/Gilberto Album by João Gilberto and Stan Getz, March 1964.

5. To dine: Club Waziema, an Ethiopian eatery with a jazzy history on Divisadero Street.

Thank you for reading❤️

We’re so happy you’re here. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check your email throughout the month for communications regarding big announcements, new episodes, articles, YouTube videos, Book Club, etc.

Green regards,

Ari & Lexi

In March of 2026, the Republican-led House Agriculture Committee proposed the pesticide “Liability Shield”. And no, this was not liability for farmers to protect them from harmful pesticides, but rather for glyphosate manufacturers to have legal immunity from getting sued for illness or disease contracted from use of their products.

Bayer—a multinational pharmaceutical company that bought out Monsanto (agriculture biotech company) in 2018—is the world’s primary producer of RoundUp, a glyphosate-based herbicide. Companies like these are trying to protect themselves from lawsuits if product exposure leads to cancer and other chronic illnesses. There is now a mountain of published peer-reviewed evidence and jury verdicts linking glyphosate exposure to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Classic theme: elected officials putting corporate interests above our health and natural resources.

Throughout our latest podcast series, The Agriculture Season, we’ve been emphasizing that consumers shape policy. DEMAND shapes policy. And the removal of this proposal from the Farm Bill as of Thursday, April 30th is a prime example of how that is true.

We learned something here: if we pay attention, if we educate ourselves, if we understand the power of our voice and our dollar, WE can shape policy.

Because of the public outcry from citizens like you and me, from farmers, from people who understand that the right to at least SUE for injury related to harmful products should always be upheld, the Liability Shield was removed from the pending legislation. This is a big deal, and an invitation to continue the conscious participation in policy shaping as we fight for a better, healthier, and more just food system. One that doesn’t exploit the land, cause climate change, limit access to nutrition to low-income and BIPOC communities, one that doesn’t punish the farmers that work so hard every day to feed the planet.

This is a small win in a large and ongoing battle, but KEEP IT UP. And thank you for reading this and being here. Your participation matters, now more than ever!

xx Ari & Lexi

What their shelves offer is controlled by a collaborative—often competitive—process involving retail buyers, manufacturers, and distributors. But who has the ultimate say of which products stock the shelves?

YOU.

Consumer engagement and acquisition is what every business is vying for. We see that in the proliferation of targeted ads, fueled by our very own consumer data. This arrangement may only be circumvented by a complete disassociation from modern conveniences: cash only; no social media; little to no internet use; ditch your smartphone; pay a “wipe my personal data” site to do whatever it is they do; etc.

But what if we said there is a better alternative?

One with ripple effects beyond our individual choice. The option we offer is simple: consumer rebellion.

Demand shapes policy. Episode 6 covers that at length. So if we put our consumer dollar toward a fairer, safer, better future, industry will respond in kind. It has to in order to survive. The beauty of this plan of action does not stop at our dollars spent, however. It is propelled by our social choices, too.

Tucker Garrison (a recurring guest this season) compared food to public education: just as we agree as a society that educating children is something worth funding publicly, we need to agree that feeding people healthy food is an essential part of a harmonious and free society, and prioritize it through policy.

Yesterday, we released episode 7 of The Agriculture Season. In this episode, we highlight perspectives—like Tucker’s—and offer ways to begin building a better future NOW.

Listen to our latest podcast episode and start rebelling.

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but included below are the YouTube and Spotify links to Episode 7 of The Agriculture Season – The Consumer Rebellion.

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

🌱Please listen and share! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place.

Episode 8 is out on Thursday 5/7!

xx

Ari & Lexi

For some reason the release of undercover media from a tuna boat killing dolphins isn’t hitting the same in 2026 as it did in 1988. 

It’s possible that the oversaturation of horrific, planet-destroying, life-altering media has something to do with that. Perhaps we’ve become desensitized, perhaps your algorithm is not pushing that kind of content to you, perhaps greenwashing and really effective communication campaigns have effectively made most of us believe that there isn’t really an issue. Or, if there was, they’re on top of it with their “all natural” products on the shelves. 

This episode is, instead, overflowing with ideas to make a difference and a plan to get us out of this mess! This manifesto is titled “Consumer Rebellion.”

Visit our Substack for the HE360° list of Organizations Filling the Gap.

_____________________________________________________________

To stay on top of Hotel Earth 360° updates, check out our links below

Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/ 

Instagram: @hotelearth360

TikTok: @hotelearth360

Website: hotelearth360.com 

To receive the Hotel Earth newsletter, for environmental news, episode announcements, book club updates, and more, subscribe to our Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/subscribe

📧 For business inquiries: info@hotelearth360.com 

Thank you for watching! If you enjoyed it, rate us & share!

Green regards,

Ari & Lexi

by Lexi Moorehead

I am less than a month out from beginning bar prep. EEEEEK! In an attempt to make future Lexi’s life easier, the test kitchen has been in full swing. I’ve been brainstorming recipes for: breakfasts with complex carbs and protein; drinks containing moderate amounts of caffeine; snacks that motivate without being boring; and satiating lunches to get me over the finish line. Can you tell I’m procrastinating actually studying?🤭

So far, the Hotel Earth 360° April Produce Guide has kept me inspired! Peas have been in several dishes (you MUST try this)—and asparagus has been a fan favorite—but this recipe takes FULL advantage of the berries in season.

In fact, this recipe also just so happens to be one meal that has surpassed all my bar prep tests, and then some!

Check out the Hotel Earth 360° April Produce Guide for more inspiration!

Consumers can shape policy

Case studies like the Tuna Boycott of 1988 show how consumer demand can drive policy change. Real, meaningful, GLOBAL change. We argue that consumer demand for agricultural reform could beget similar results.

Right now, the US and EU are experiencing parallel legislative and grassroots shifts. Both are pivotal moments for food policy. Episode 6 of The Agriculture Season – Rewrite the Rules: Food System Policies EXPOSED, explores these parallels, which begs the question:

Sometimes policy leaves gaps unfilled

Let’s take the 2026 Farm Bill for example.

This isn’t just a piece of legislation; it’s a high-stakes pivot point for the future of our food system. In the episode, we break down the tension between the “climate-smart” branding of the new Farm, Food, and National Security Act and the reality of a scaled-back regulatory landscape. From the “persistence problem”, where carbon gains from cover crops vanish the moment government checks stop, to the “methane loophole” incentivizing mega-dairies and industrial agriculture, we’re looking past the bipartisan buzzwords.

We dive into how direct soil health incentives and AI-driven “proving grounds” are meeting a wave of federal rollbacks, asking the hard question: Are we building a resilient framework for 2026, or are we just subsidizing the status quo while the data goes dark?

Sources referenced above:

• Farm Bill Tracker

• Methane Digester Funding Analysis

• USDA Data Blackout

• USDA ERS Persistence & Cover Crop Data

Listen to our latest podcast episode to learn more

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but included below are the YouTube and Spotify links to Episode 6 of The Agriculture Season – Rewrite the Rules: Food System Policies EXPOSED.

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

🌱Please listen and share! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place.

Episode 7 is out on Thursday 4/30!

xx

Ari & Lexi

What does a can of tuna have to do with agricultural policy? More than you’d expect! Case studies like the Tuna Boycott of 1988 show how consumer demand can drive policy change. Real, meaningful, GLOBAL change. The girls argue that consumer demand for agricultural reform could beget similar results.

Right now, the US and EU are experiencing parallel legislative and grassroots shifts. Both are pivotal moments for food policy. This episode explores these parallels, which begs the question: if demand requires us to move away from traditional "subsidize and produce" models and toward "climate-smart" and "fair-access" frameworks, what policies will we need to support our farmers as well as our environmental goals? Moreover, are our policymakers ready to rise to this occasion?

_____________________________________________________________

To stay on top of Hotel Earth 360° updates, check out our links below

Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/

Instagram: @hotelearth360

TikTok: @hotelearth360

Website: hotelearth360.com

To receive the Hotel Earth newsletter, for environmental news, episode announcements, book club updates, and more, subscribe to our Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/subscribe

📧 For business inquiries: info@hotelearth360.com

Thank you for watching! If you enjoyed it, rate us & share!

Sources cited in this episode:

[https://www.animallaw.info/article/overview-dolphins-under-marine-mammal-protection-act](https://www.animallaw.info/article/overview-dolphins-under-marine-mammal-protection-act)

[https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20210916STO12704/the-eu-common-agricultural-policy-its-reform-and-future-in-brief]

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919225002040]

[https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7567/text]

[https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376]

[https://sustainableagriculture.net/publications/grassrootsguide/local-food-systems-rural-development/food-insecurity-nutrition-incentives/]

[https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10707921/]

[https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6716]

[https://apnews.com/article/european-union-farmers-protests-brussels-agriculture-ministers-c97ce9a135b74e8668ef5cdeec292f68]

[https://apnews.com/article/farmers-environment-eu-elections-tractors-protests-9e6369d9fb4c06c31c26c71a30ec2f40]

[https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/113870/EIB-293-summary.pdf?v=41760]

[https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/environmental-agriculture-and-community-groups-applaud-extended-pause-of-manure-digester-federal-funding]

[https://www.csis.org/analysis/last-us-hunger-data-what-we-lose-termination-usdas-household-food-security-united-states]

[https://www.ncallianceforhealth.org/congress-can-act-now-before-snap-cost-shares-wreck-state-budgets/][https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/news/delay-until-december-2026-and-other-developments-implementation-eudr-regulation]

[https://green-forum.ec.europa.eu/nature-and-biodiversity/nature-restoration-regulation-implementation_en]

[https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2810425-white-house-proposes-cuts-to-usda-budget]

#USFarmers #farmers #Agriculture #Geopolitics #GlobalEconomy #climatemedia #HotelEarth360 #environment #environmentalimpact #environmentalscience #environmentalawareness #environmentalpolicy #soil #agriculture #regenerativeagriculture #agriculturalindustry #agricultureindustry #foodsystems #foodequity #foodaccess #fooddesert #foodpolicy #politics #tunaboycott #getinvolved #consumerchoice #consumerpower #consumerawareness #consumerdemand #policyshift

Food deserts… or food apartheid?

Food deserts – a debated term – are geographic areas where residents have limited access to affordable, nutritious food. But how do they come to exist? A ‘desert’ is a natural condition, whereas an area lacking access to food is anything BUT natural. The absence of healthy food in a neighborhood is not somehow inevitable or geological. Communities with limited access also face issues like food insecurity.

When we discuss food security, we must also consider food sovereignty, however. The idea that access to ‘food’ alone is not enough. People should have democratic agency over what is grown, how it’s distributed, what it costs, and whether it reflects the identity of the people it serves.

Our latest podcast episode dives into this uncomfortable topic.

In Episode 5, Calories Aren’t Enough: Food Security vs Food Sovereignty, we plainly lay out these concepts and the answer to the initial inquiry by examining the intersection of agriculture and equity, how food systems operate at various scales, and – ultimately – how the design of our food systems creates inequity, waste and environmental harm.

Sure, waste within a system can be expected, even normal, but we argue that specific economic, political, geographic, and historical influences built the food world we live in.

The first half of the episode confronts uncomfortable truths, like:

• One third of all the food produced on Earth never gets eaten;

• Roughly 783 million people go to bed hungry; and

• One third of humanity faces food insecurity.

But, in accordance with the Hotel Earth 360° mission, we end the episode with a silver lining. Systems are not laws of nature. They are human constructions. They were built by specific people, making specific choices, in specific moments. And that means they can be challenged, deconstructed, and rebuilt. We are stronger together!

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but included below are the YouTube and Spotify links to Episode 5: “Calories Aren’t Enough: Food Security vs Food Sovereignty”.

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

Please listen, learn, and share!! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place 🧡

Episode 6 is out on Thursday 4/23!

xx

Ari & Lexi

We hope April has been treating everyone well! 💐 Spring is a time for reflection, growth, and reconciliation.

On the point of reflection, Spring provides some lovely reminders for us all to consider. This thread from shares a few:

While we’re on the topic of GROWTH…

We want to know what you think about the The Agriculture Season! Honestly, frankly, candidly. Your feedback has immeasurable value to us. Send us an email to info@hotelearth360.com or a DM on Instagram (@hotelearth360) to let us know your thoughts, comments, and compliments—or concerns (🫣).

Here are a few questions for inspiration:

• One thing that really struck me and stuck with me was…

• I wish you had said more about…

• My favorite interviewee was… because…

• Listening to the Agriculture Season made me feel/think about/change…

We have worked very hard to deliver the food story in a way that both gives you the facts AND sparks hope for change (& so has Bob—our audio/video aficionado—thank you, Bob)!

Every view, listen, like, share, review, and rate helps us immensely. So please, if you haven’t already, tune into the podcast, give it a thumbs up, and share it with your friends. Links to listen/share below:

• Spotify

• Apple

• YouTube

If you like what we’re doing here, please consider supporting our platform!

With enough support, we’d be able to focus on this awesome project full-time. Producing podcast seasons more frequently, investing in better equipment to increase your viewing / listening pleasure, writing more content, and creating a bigger and better impact!

Please support if you can!

In addition, please make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel and following us on Instagram. We appreciate (and need) all the support we can get!

Alrighty, residents. Grab a snack or a drink, get cozy, and keep reading for updates, environmental news, and our list of recs this month.

xx

🔔Our recent episode about the meat industry is generating quite a bit of buzz…

LinkedIn community poppin’ off:

🎧Episode 5 — Calories Aren’t Enough: More Than Food Security — is out NOW!

In a food system where insecurity, extreme waste and inequity exist, we must ask ourselves: who does this system actually serve, and who does it leave behind?

In this episode of the Agriculture Season, we plainly lay out these concepts and the answer to this inquiry by examining the intersection of agriculture and equity, how food systems operate at various scales, and — ultimately — how the design of our food systems creates inequity, waste and environmental harm.

Food is NOT fair by design.

Tune in wherever you normally stream your pods!

• Episode 5 on Spotify

• Episode 5 on Apple

• Episode 5 on YouTube

🚨For your radar

🚀Space and humanity

Of the many gifts spurred from mankind’s love affair with space, one of the most unexpected is the profound respect for our own planet. This feeling was first captured best by the public reaction to the photo of Earth taken by the Apollo 17 crew, famously coined “The Blue Marble.” Artemis II’s mission has evoked similar powerful feelings, not least inspired by the crew’s proposal to honor Carroll Wiseman, the late wife of mission Commander Reid Wiseman, by naming a lunar crater after her.

In a time where connection to one another feels tenuous, it pays to remind ourselves of something Carl Sagan wrote in Pale Blue Dot:

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

Read more about the mission here.

🌎Reminder: no one has ever gone to war over renewables.

The Earthly

No one has ever gone to war over renewable energy

It can often be hard to pin down the reason(s) countries go to war and there are often many motivations behind the resort to armed conflict…

Read more

25 days ago · 49 likes · 4 comments · earthlyeducation

Lists of the month🐞

Ari’s List:

1. To try: Lexi’s Rigatoni Carbonara with Spring Peas recipe

2. To read: These fly-by updates from NASA.

3. To watch: The Agriculture Season on YouTube!!

4. To listen: lowkey Harry Styles’ new album 😬🪩

5. To remember: “Since when has it become not cool to try?” - A$AP Rocky✊🏼

Lexi’s List:

1. To try: Good Forchetta’s crema di fava & asparagus recipe! Paired with my homemade sour dough, scarpetta🤌🏻, duh.

2. To remember: Get 10 minutes of morning sunshine, babe.

3. To watch: Kimia Behpoornia reading her essay on fear, Iran, and “the effects of the diaspora” at Essays the Show.

4. To listen: Mac Miller’s 2013 studio album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off.

5. To dine: Creamy mushroom pasta bake—a forgotten favorite, recently remembered.

Thank you for reading❤️

We’re so happy you’re here. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check your email throughout the month for communications regarding big announcements like: new episodes, articles, YouTube videos, Book Club, etc.

Green regards,

Ari & Lexi

_____________________________________________________________

Sources cited in this episode:https://www.usda.gov/foodwaste/faqs

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/29/why-have-americas-black-farmers-disappeared

https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/food-waste-and-climate-change

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8801175/

https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/black-farmers-faq/

https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/data-and-analysis/markets/outlook/medium-term_en

https://drawdown.org

https://natifs.org

https://www.usda.gov/our-agency/initiatives/black-farmers

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/minority-and-women-farmers-and-ranchers

https://www.valleyagvoice.com/regenerative-agriculture-offers-long-term-solutions-for-central-valley/

https://seas.umich.edu/news/food-desert-vs-food-apartheid-which-term-best-describes-disparities-food-access#:~:text=Food%20apartheid%20is%20a%20term%20used%20by,have%20created%20and%20continue%20to%20perpetuate%20inequities

https://www.international.ucla.edu/institute/article/284007 _____________________________________________________________To stay on top of Hotel Earth 360° updates, check out our links belowSubstack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/ Instagram: @hotelearth360TikTok: @hotelearth360Website: hotelearth360.com To receive the Hotel Earth newsletter, for environmental news, episode announcements, book club updates, and more, subscribe to our Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/subscribe📧 For business inquiries: info@hotelearth360.com

Is there such thing as an “ethical carnivore”?

Do we need to stop eating meat altogether?😬

It wouldn’t be The Agriculture Season if we didn’t discuss meat production, its real effect on the environment, and what we can do to make it better.

This particular subject has been at the forefront of many paradigm shift conversations that we’ve had in the 10+ years that we’ve been studying and working in the environment industry. It’s been talked about everywhere, but in case you’re lost: lets me catch you up.

A brief overview:

As we mentioned in Episode 2 of this season, the global agriculture industry is responsible for somewhere between 19-29% of global greenhouse gas emissions (yikes) and meat/dairy production makes up a large portion of that, particularly the greenhouse gas methane. Livestock (meat and dairy) is the heavyweight, accounting for 32% of all human-caused methane globally.

Let’s not beat around the bush: that’s a lot.

For our visual learners: If the global meat and dairy industry were a country, it would be the 3rd largest emitter in the world, trailing only China and the U.S. In fact, the combined emissions of just the top 45 meat and dairy companies are higher than the entire reported emissions of Saudi Arabia—one of the world’s largest oil producers.

THAT IS INSANE.

And what about the ethics of it all?

CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) are industrial agricultural facilities that confine large numbers of animals—meat, dairy, or egg producers—in a small area. No vegetation. Animals shoved on top of each other and pumped with antibiotics and hormones just to survive these horrific conditions.

Let’s dive into this.

In today’s episode, we’re chatting with farmers, land stewards, food sovereignty advocates, and food systems specialists to dive into the meat impact topic and discuss possible solutions. We hope you’ll tune in and learn with us!

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but below we’ve included the YouTube video and Spotify link to Episode 4: Is It Possible To Be An Ethical Carnivore?

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

Please listen, learn, and share!! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place 🧡

Episode 5 is out on Thursday 4/16!

xx

Ari & Lexi

In this episode (EP 4), we're diving into the controversial questions:

Is eating meat killing the planet?

Is there such thing as "ethically conscious meat eating"?

What exactly is meat production's impact on the environment?

Tune into this episode to find out our discoveries after connecting with land stewards, regenerative farmers, and superfood experts to answer our pressing questions!

Sources cited in this episode:

https://e360.yale.edu/digest/meat-oil-gas-methane

https://profundo.nl/projects/roasting-the-planet-big-meat-and-dairy-s-big-emissions-/

https://foe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Roasting-The-Planet-ExecSummary-FINAL-16_10_25.pdf

https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food

https://www.fairr.org/resources/knowledge-hub/water-use

https://carboncontainmentlab.org/updates/posts/hidden-in-plain-sight-an-overview-of-rice-paddy-methane-mitigation

https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/activity/mitigating-methane-emissions-rice-paddies

https://farmonaut.com/blogs/almond-milk-water-consumption-2026-vs-dairy-milk

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714

https://www.asas.org/taking-stock/blog-post/taking-stock/2023/06/29/interpretive-summary-study-finds-carbon-footprint-of-lab-grown-beef

https://costa.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/costa.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/one-pager-cows-act.pdf

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/AMMP/

https://www.iatp.org/emissions-impossible-methane-edition

https://changingmarkets.org/report/emissions-impossible-methane-edition/

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216

https://www.waterfootprint.org/resources/Mekonnen-Hoekstra-2012-WaterFootprintFarmAnimalProducts_1.pdf

https://globalaffairs.org/commentary/blogs/livestock-ladders-water-footprint

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391194277_Global_Rice_Paddy_Inventory_GRPI_A_High-Resolution_Inventory_of_Methane_Emissions_From_Rice_Agriculture_Based_on_Landsat_Satellite_Inundation_Data

https://e360.yale.edu/digest/meat-oil-gas-methane

https://foodrise.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Roasting-The-Planet-Report-FINAL-16_10_25.pdf

https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/2021_IATP_COP26_JBS_NetZero.pdf _____________________________________________________________

To stay on top of Hotel Earth 360° updates, check out our links below

Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/

Instagram: @hotelearth360

TikTok: @hotelearth360

Website: hotelearth360.com

To receive the Hotel Earth newsletter, for environmental news, episode announcements, book club updates, and more, subscribe to our Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/subscribe

📧 For business inquiries: info@hotelearth360.com

Thanks you for watching! If you enjoyed it, rate us & share!

Green regards,

Ari & Lexi

Read more about industrial farming methods here:

So, what do we do?

The good news? We can remedy this. There’s no “simple fix”, and it will require change beyond just our farming methods, but why not start there?

In Episode 3 of the Agriculture Season, we’re investigating the following question: If industrial agriculture is killing us…

…can regenerative farming save us?

Tune in for our next installment of our agriculture podcast series. We sit down with farmers, land stewards, food sovereignty advocates, and food systems specialists to discuss what’s needed in the agriculture industry in order for real change to happen. We hope you’ll tune in and learn with us!

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but below we’ve included the YouTube video and Spotify link to Episode 3: Can Regenerative Farming Save Us?

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

Please listen, learn, and share!! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place 🧡

Episode 4 is out on Thursday 4/9!

xx

Ari & Lexi

Most days, I try my best to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season for Northern California. But, after a weekend spent camping, I was not in the mood to think of a new recipe based on what was “in season” for April. Luckily, before I left for camping, I downloaded the Hotel Earth 360° April Produce Guide.

Looking over the veggie section, I noted a familiar favorite: spring peas. One thing about me, I LOVE peas. Feeling motivated by this exciting revelation, I thought about what simple and delicious dish could be enhanced by the humble pea. That’s when it hit me: rigatoni carbonara with spring peas.

So here it is, a truly delicious and simple recipe, fit for any Spring occasion!

Subscribe now

Let us know what you think of the recipe!

Leave a comment

We advocate for seasonal eating around here. It’s one of those fabulous instances where what is best for your health, your wallet, and the environment actually align.

In our current season of Hotel Earth Podcast, The Agriculture Season, we’re doing a deep dive into the environmental, health, and social impact of the agriculture industry.

One thing we’ve learned? Connect deeper to the cycle of life.

Wise words from one of our podcast guests this season, Tucker Garrison!

Eating seasonal produce that is locally grown, sourced from smallholder farmers, and (ideally) organic is one step closer to that cycle.

We are releasing monthly produce guides for regions of the United States and Europe to get you inspired! But please note: this is just a guide. We still recommend checking your specific area as seasonal produce can vary widely, even from city to city! It’s beautiful how much biodiversity exists in our food if we pay attention.🌱

Get your produce guide free this month (usually for paid-subscribers only)

If you get a friend to become a free subscriber to our Substack, we’ll give you the produce guide for free! Just send us a quick message letting us know the name of who you’ve shared our Substack to, and if they subscribed, we’ll DM/email you the April Produce Guide download.

(Focusing on the USA & Europe, but global resources are included <3)

🌸Keep reading below for the April produce guide!

Read more

In this episode (EP 3), we're explaining regenerative agriculture and indigenous farming methods. We dive into how these practices can be used with new technology for a healthier future.

Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

02:06 Topic intro

04:25 What is "regenerative agriculture"?

22:40 Harnessing indigenous wisdom

30:35 The truth about the transition

34:06 Europe vs. USA case study

42:06 What does regeneration look like?

57:31 Final thoughts & next episode reveal

Sources cited in this episode:

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/ag-and-food-sectors-and-the-economy

https://abcnews.com/Technology/borlaug-saved-millions-hunger-dies/story?id=8595855#:~:text=He%20was%20known%20as%20the,%E2%80%94%20a%20much%20better%20place.%22https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/life-in-soil.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969708/

https://www.undrr.org/understanding-disaster-risk/terminology/hips/en0019

https://ourworldindata.org/soil-lifespans

https://www.valleyagvoice.com/regenerative-agriculture-offers-long-term-solutions-for-central-valley/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8801175/

https://foodtank.com/news/2020/02/24-organizations-finding-food-justice/

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/data-and-analysis/markets/outlook/medium-term_en

https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/george-monbiots-critique-of-grazing-livestock-its-not-the-cow-but-the-how-the-sustainable-food-trust-responds/

Want to go deeper?

Find a CSA near you: localharvest.org

California Healthy Soil Program: cdfa.ca.govFood Tank's food justice organization list: foodtank.com

_____________________________________________________________

To stay on top of Hotel Earth 360° updates, check out our links below

Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/

Instagram: @hotelearth360TikTok: @hotelearth360

Website: hotelearth360.com

To receive the Hotel Earth newsletter, for environmental news, episode announcements, book club updates, and more, subscribe to our Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/subscribe

📧 For business inquiries: info@hotelearth360.com

Thanks you for watching! If you enjoyed it, please rate and share!!

Modern agriculture practices focus on pretty much one metric: yield. Before we continue with the very serious consequences of industrial agriculture, let us first say: we’re not here to villainize it wholesale — industrial agriculture has brought incredible advancements and allows us to provide large quantities of calories to the world.

However, it has simultaneously led to the destruction of topsoil (the thing we need to grow food, literally), a significant decrease in our food’s nutritional value, the dependency on heavy chemicals, increased carbon emissions, deforestation… not to mention the bankruptcy of smallholder farms as agriculture monopolies quietly take over the entire industry.

So, we ended up here.

A food system capable of producing staggering quantities of calories, that simultaneously degrades the very land it depends on, concentrates power in fewer and fewer hands, and has left millions of people – particularly in lower-income communities – without reliable access to nutritious food.

That's the paradox of industrial agriculture. It solved one version of the hunger problem while silently creating several others.

We’re talking about this at length in our new podcast season.

Episode 2 of our latest podcast series, The Agriculture Season, is out today. In this episode, we speak with multiple farmers, land stewards, food sovereignty advocates, and food systems specialists to uncover the harsh reality of industrial agriculture and it’s impact. We hope you’ll tune in and learn with us.

This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, but below we’ve included the YouTube video and Spotify link to Episode 2: Modern Farming Is Killing Us.

On YouTube:

On Spotify:

Please listen, learn, and share!! Awareness is the first step to making the world a better place 🧡

Episode 3 is out on Thursday 4/2!

xx

Ari & Lexi

In this episode (EP 2), we're explaining industrial agriculture (modern agriculture methods) and it's impact on the planet and people.

Sources cited in this episode:

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/ag-and-food-sectors-and-the-economy

https://abcnews.com/Technology/borlaug-saved-millions-hunger-dies/story?id=8595855#:~:text=He%20was%20known%20as%20the,%E2%80%94%20a%20much%20better%20place.%22

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/life-in-soil.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969708/

https://www.undrr.org/understanding-disaster-risk/terminology/hips/en0019https://ourworldindata.org/soil-lifespans

https://www.valleyagvoice.com/regenerative-agriculture-offers-long-term-solutions-for-central-valley/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8801175/

https://foodtank.com/news/2020/02/24-organizations-finding-food-justice/

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/data-and-analysis/markets/outlook/medium-term_en

https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/george-monbiots-critique-of-grazing-livestock-its-not-the-cow-but-the-how-the-sustainable-food-trust-responds/

_____________________________________________________________

Want to go deeper?

Find a CSA near you: localharvest.org

California Healthy Soil Program: cdfa.ca.gov

Food Tank's food justice organization list: foodtank.com

_____________________________________________________________

To stay on top of Hotel Earth 360° updates, check out our links below

Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/

Instagram: @hotelearth360TikTok:

Website: hotelearth360.com

To receive the Hotel Earth 360°newsletter, for environmental news, episode announcements, book club updates, and more, subscribe to our Substack: https://hotelearth360.substack.com/subscribe

📧 For business inquiries: info@hotelearth360.com