Jane Goodall And Other Guests Eat Vegan Lunch At New York Times Climate Forward Event

The New York Times served guests a vegan-by-default lunch at its Climate Forward event, which included speakers such as renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall.

While the growing human population is placing additional pressure on the planet, Goodall told The New York Times that she found hope in the “indomitable human spirit.”

The newspaper described Climate Forward as a “day of live journalism, dedicated to understanding our rapidly warming world.” It hosted the event as part of New York City’s annual Climate Week, which runs from September 22 to 29.

Other Climate Forward speakers also included Chief Advisor of the government of Bangladesh Muhammed Yunus, and President Joe Biden’s national climate advisor Ali Zaidi.

Writing on LinkedIn, Good Food Institute (GFI) founder Bruce Friedrich – who led conversations around food alongside other guests at a “Changemaker Lunch” on the day – praised The New York Times for a “truly spectacular Climate Week event.”

‘Making plant-based the default’

Photo shows the New York Times building in new York City with traffic passing in front — Martin Shields / Alamy Stock Photo The New York Times hosted the Climate Forward event, which it said was “dedicated to understanding our rapidly warming world”

Friedrich highlighted the “off-the-charts delicious lunch” served at the event, which was plant-based by default. According to Friedrich, this meant that guests had to specify that they wanted meat-based foods, and less than 10 percent of diners chose to do so.

Friedrich praised both “the deliciousness” of the lunch itself and the “alignment with climate values” of organizing a menu in this way, which encourages vegan choices.

Katie Cantrell, the founder of Greener By Default, is a proponent of this concept. It’s called “choice architecture,” and originates in the field of behavioral economics.

“Right now pretty much everywhere, meat is the default, and people have to specially opt into plant-based options, which usually only strict vegetarians bother to do,” Cantrell told The New York Times. “We can encourage ‘flexitarianism’ by making plant-based the default and giving people the option to add meat and dairy.”

While many praised the Climate Forward event, some of its other guests proved controversial. Kevin D. Roberts, one of the architects of the 900 page Donald Trump-linked right wing manifesto Project 2025, dismissed the entire concept of the climate crisis as “weather.” Meanwhile, Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub was interrupted by environmental protestors, which some other guests applauded.