This week, food delivery apps are generating tons of waste and vegans are making ice cream in a laboratory, but first...

The blame game is on for the Amazon fires

The Amazon rainforest is burning at a record rate, and it seems that fans of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are to blame.

Three weeks ago, Portuguese-language news site Folha de Progreso reported that farmers have organized a “Day of Fire” to attract the attention of Bolsonaro and show him that that they want to work. Because hey, that’s what you do when you want your favorite celebrity to notice you — you set fire to the world’s largest tropical rainforest.

Environmentalists are saying that Bolsonaro is to blame for encouraging the farmers to explore (more like exploit) the Amazon’s economic potential.

Bolsonaro has hit back with a very presidential Facebook Live video, where he claims that, in fact, it’s the environmentalists themselves who are setting fire to the forest to make his government look bad.

Who knows whose fault it really is? Not to point fingers here, but we’re pretty sure environmental advocates don’t go around starting forest fires. Just saying.

China’s food delivery apps are convenient for many people, but mostly inconvenient for the planet

We thought going digital meant zero waste. Or at least, less waste. Why else would we send you this newsletter via email and not, like, through the post?

For China, however, it seems going digital meant more waste. The culprit? Food delivery apps.

With an estimated $70 billion worth of orders delivered in 2018, China’s online takeout business is flying high, fueled by inexpensive delivery fees, generous discounts, and just plain laziness.

Look, we’re not judging the laziness. We’ve all been there. But we’re judging the amount of plastic trash it generates. In 2017, food delivery apps in China generated 1.2 million tons of waste from plastic containers alone, according to a report from The New York Times.

What’s with the plastic containers? These symbols of modern-day conveniences get really oily and will need to be washed first, so scavengers find it inconvenient to recycle them. Oh, the irony.

Ice cream is cashing in on the genetically modified bandwagon

What if we tell you that you can now eat ice cream made from milk that’s grown in a laboratory, and not from, well, inside a cow?

It’s gonna be a pretty extravagant ice cream though. For $20 a pint, this cultured ice cream might soon be making its way to our grocery shelves, courtesy of Perfect Day, a biotech company founded by two vegan bioengineers.

Made using whey protein and casein from genetically modified yeast, Perfect Day’s ice cream is the latest trend in genetically modified food, like this lab-grown steak here.

GMOs have unfairly gained a bad reputation in recent years, thanks in large part to “the world’s most evil corporation” (hint: it’s Monsanto), but GMOs can actually help fight global warming by reducing the environmental footprint caused by traditional animal raising and food processing methods. And you know us here at Earthsider: if it’s good enough for the environment, then it’s good enough for us.

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