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Review
Sentient Writers Share Their Favorite Stories From 2024
Favorite stories from 2024 and reader predictions for 2025.
Review • Food • Food Systems
Words by Jenny Splitter
As we enter the last few final days of the year, we want to send our heartfelt thanks to you, our readers, who read, share and help support our work every day. Here’s a look back at the stories that captivated you, what you expect in the year ahead and our writers’ favorites from 2024.
Your Year in Review
Subscribers to our newsletter, The Core, sent in their fears for 2025, predicting “more wildfires,” “continued cruelty in CAFOs,” “dire consequences related to Project 2025” and fewer regulations.
Sign up here for The Core:
Why Eating Meat Is Bad for the Environment and Climate Change, Explained
And our reporting on policy, both federal and local: Reporting on a proposed Denver slaughterhouse ban
Many of you read our disinformation and fact-check posts. Here are three of the most well-read this year:
The Bill Gates Bug-Eating Conspiracy, Explained
A myth-buster on this old chestnut: Does Veganism Kill More Animals (Spoiler: No).
And this fact-check: What Musk and Rogan Got Very Wrong About Climate Change and Meat
Readers also enjoyed this story about how the science of animal personalities — in this case, wolves — could impact programs that release these carnivores into the wild.
Sentient Journalists Look Back on 2024
I’m very proud of all the articles that I wrote this year from my coverage of national parks as queer spaces to community efforts to shutter slaughterhouses but the article that I’m most proud of is my solutions coverage of Siċaŋġu Co’s food sovereignty initiative. Not only was that my first time filling the role of photojournalist, but I found the story of how Siċaŋġu Nation members are addressing the generations of food apartheid they’ve been subjected to extremely powerful. I’m proud to have been able to provide a platform for their work through my reporting. — Grace Hussain
This story on How to Spot Bias and Misinformation About Climate and Food in the News was beneficial both to write and to share with readers, as it acts as a guide for navigating media and other sources during this time of such prevalent misinformation. I learned a lot from the experts interviewed for the story, and continue to refer back to this piece when researching the intersection of climate change and industrial animal agriculture. — Jessica Scott-Reid
My favorite story that I wrote in 2024 would have to be Why Eating Organic Isn’t A Climate Solution. Learning that organic food is quite often worse for the environment than non-organic food blew my mind, and reminded me how important it is to confirm that the things we assume to be true about the world actually are. — Seth Millstein
I most enjoyed writing the story Are Lawsuits Against Big Meat the Next Path to Climate Justice?, as it was my first introduction to solutions reporting. I especially enjoyed speaking with the authors of the report to learn more about the efforts people are making to hold the industry accountable. — Gaby Sotelo
My favorite story to work on was How a North Carolina Farmer Is Moving Toward a More Sustainable Future. I think stories like Tom Lim’s are particularly powerful because they act as a symbol of hope to other farmers who may be stuck in debt and want to transition to a more sustainable method of farming. — Dawn Attride
The Author
Jenny Splitter
Jenny is the Editor-in-Chief of Sentient Media and an award-winning climate and food journalist with bylines in The Guardian, Vox, The Washington Post, Popular Mechanics and others.
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