Cows > COP
The climate conference you didn't hear about
I asked my husband over packing for our Thanksgiving road trip if he knew what COP was. He didn't.
He has a college degree. He gets news from multiple sources. He works a white-collar job. He cares about the planet—after all, he lives with me. You'd think he would "know better."
But here's the thing: I didn't pay much attention to COP this year either, to be honest. The algorithms wanted me to think it was kind of a shit show. All I saw were headlines of collapsing agreements, private jets, and fires at the venue. Someone closer to the event might actually know and share a more grounded review. Maybe I'm wrong and time will reveal that too.
But honestly? Most people don't really care about climate because they don't know how it affects them.
And that's the problem, isn't it?
The Disconnect Effect
I could get on my soapbox about how "climate policies" and "green initiatives" provide meaningful, scalable, and profitable ways to meet rising energy demand, keep your costs stable, improve the declining nutrient density in our food, and represent one of the few large-scale efforts for meaningful job creation. You know, things people actually care about.
Since I work closely in those spaces, I'm guessing COP wasn't talking about it either. Or not in a way that makes our lives easier or brings funding where it matters. The conversations happening in those massive conference halls feel disconnected from the conversations happening in our living rooms, our third spaces and workplaces.
Meanwhile, I wrote about cows last year—about that Midwestern tradition of yelling "COW!" when you spot one on a road trip. About understanding where our beef comes from, what CAFOs are, and how the beef industry shapes everything from our health to our environment.
That post probably did more for climate awareness than most COP coverage (over 5,000 people read it!) and so instead of ranting into the void, while I’m sending an email on perhaps one of the worst days of the year to send an email, I’ll at least include something important and useful…
The Cow Counting Guide, 2026 Edition
In case you’re hitting the road for long drives this holiday season, I've rebooted last year's coloring sheet to help you (or your passengers in need of entertainment) identify and count breeds of cows on your journey. Understanding where your food comes from, how it's raised, and what that means for your health and the planet is worth more than any policy document that most people will never read.
May you have a barbaric yawp this holiday season when you see a cow out your window on the road, driving around places that are different from where you live, but still part of this country we live in, together. May we work, just a little, to make it just a little better.
The simple act of noticing—of connecting with the landscape, with your food, with the life happening outside your car window—can do more for climate awareness than a thousand conference halls ever could.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends. Keep it real, keep yelling for change and keep yelling “COW!”