Our Favorites Stories of 2025

One of the experiences I’ve valued most at Sentient was reporting about how pollution from neighboring dairy farms is affecting the daily lives of residents from California’s Central Valley and their concerns that the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard will make things worse. That story offered a different view of a program often celebrated for cutting emissions and showed how its impacts can compound health, environmental, and economic burdens in low-income communities.
— Gaea Cabico, Editorial Fellow

The words and imagery in this story on meat and dairy advertising profoundly illuminate the stark contrast between what these industries try to sell to consumers, versus reality and what the animals and environment truly experience. It also helped inform more of my reporting on meat industry myths and misinformation.
— Jessica Scott-Reid, Culture and Disinformation Correspondent

There’s a common narrative that avian flu is decimating the poultry industry. This article revealed that the many of the largest poultry corporations are actually having bumper years, with the support of taxpayer-funded indemnity payments. This article also showed that this indemnity system often failed to incentivize biosecurity practices on poultry farms.
— Grey Moran, Investigative Reporter

I was genuinely shocked when I read the headline “Analysis: 96.2% of Climate News Stories Don’t Cover Animal Agriculture as a Pollution Source.” The role of animal agriculture in contributing food-related emissions is well established in environmental research, yet is practically absent from mainstream climate reporting. That gap matters. Without it, readers lose access to clear information about one of the most direct ways their daily choices influence pollution and climate change. Journalists also miss a critical opportunity to include, or explain, a major emissions source.
— Dorea Reeser, Editor

This story exposes horrific human rights abuses on squid-jigging vessels off the coast of Argentina, drawing connections between the food on our plates, economic hardship and marine ecosystems, and how the U.S., Canada and European countries are complicit unless they step up their lax enforcement of seafood regulations at borders and ports of entry.
— Julian Nowogrodzki, Science Editor and Newsletter Lead

With the carnivore diet and MAHA taking over social media, and meat-free brands like MorningStar un-veganizing formerly fully plant-based products, it’s easy to get swept away by the “vegans have lost” rhetoric. This story is a good reminder to look past short-term sales and negative headlines.
— Tessa Altman, Social Media Manager

I liked this story because it is an extension of previous coverage I’ve followed on the battle of schools vs plant-based milk. Previously, dairy milk was required in school lunches due to a mixture of government policy, federal subsidies and clever marketing. Now, a new proposed bill could allow schools to offer dairy-free milk alternatives as a standard menu item for the first time. Previously, students needed a doctor’s note to receive non-dairy milk, so I was happy to learn that this new bill would allow students to receive plant-based milk with only a parent/guardian note. This feels like a huge shift that has the potential to impact millions.
— Taylor Meek, Development & Project Coordinator