Climate headlines can be overwhelming and tough to swallow. It’s tempting to shy away completely, but being informed has half the battle for making Earth-friendly decisions. Each week, we focus on a few hopeful headlines to credit those taking action and inspire climate positivity.

Impossible Whopper drives 5% of Burger King’s Q3 US comp sales

By Julie Littman on Restaurant Dive, October 28.

  • The introduction of the Impossible Whopper (a meatless burger patty) led to Burger King’s strongest quarter of growth since 2015.
  • The Impossible Whopper seemed especially attractive to sustainably-focused millennials and Gen Z consumers.
  • Burger King may expand its plant-based products into Latin America and Asia.
  • The success of the Impossible Whopper has driven Wendy’s and McDonald’s to consider plant-based burgers.

Lawsuit aims to kill stalled $2B methanol refinery project

By Gene Johnson, AP News, November 12.

  • Conservation and health groups Columbia Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility have filed a federal lawsuit to keep the $2 billion methanol refinery from being built in Kalama, WA.
  • The refinery would be the largest in the world turning “fracked natural gas from Canada into methanol for shipment to China to make plastics.”
  • A U.S. company owned by the Chinese government, Northwest Innovation Works, is the proposed refineries primary backer.

One of the country’s biggest climate denier groups just did an about-face

By Emily Pontecorvo in Grist, November 13.

  • Lobbying group U.S. Chamber of Commerce has was dubbed the “Chamber of Carbon” for its anti-climate agenda and efforts to spread climate change denial. However, recent additions to its website may suggest an about face (or a fresh coat of greenwash).
  • Despite initially backing Trump’s withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, its “Our Approach to Climate Change” page now reads: “Greater collaboration between governments and businesses is essential to build the best models to tackle climate challenges, which is why the Chamber supports U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement” (emphasis added).”
  • “In April, the group updated a page on its website titled, “Climate Change: The Path Forward” to state, “Our climate is changing and humans are contributing to these changes. Inaction is simply not an option.””
  • The Chamber also formed a “Task Force on Climate Actions” in late September.

Feature photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash.