By Chloe Sorvino,Forbes Staff

Copyright forbes

Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace speaks onstage during the 2025 Forbes Sustainability Summit at Forbes on Fifth on September 22, 2025 in New York City.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Hello from the throes of New York City’s Climate Week! I’ve been absorbing what I can from some very inspiring speakers, including Dr. Jane Goodall at the Forbes Sustainability Leadership Summit as well as chef Alice Waters and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress, at Food Tank’s event on Keeping Farmers On The Land.

What’s stuck with me the most is what the legendary Goodall told the Forbes audience: “Have courage.”

It’s really that simple. 2030 is just four years and three months away. We need urgency now.

I’ve also been hearing a lot of talk this week about big corporations’ promises to do more around regenerative agriculture, like McDonald’s creating a $200 million initiative that over the next seven years will “help promote and accelerate regenerative grazing practices, habitat restoration, water and wildlife conservation on cattle ranches spanning 4 million acres across up to 38 states.” I’ve also heard some critics say that there’s no point to regenerative farming without a commitment to organic as well.

Refusing to use any synthetic pesticides or herbicides is courageous, and I heard countless stories of how during the panel I moderated on Monday with Jen Berliner, head of brand & innovation for Patagonia Provisions, as well as Lundberg Family Farms chief growth officer Suzanne Sengelmann and Sarela Herrada, cofounder of SIMPLi. All three brands are regenerative organic certified, sourcing from a network of farms that has grown to 20 million acres nationwide. That’s a milestone, and still a lot more farms are needed to scale these farmers’ sustainable practices to a significant portion of Americans.

And there’s a lot of money behind protecting the status quo. Pesticide makers have even been securing new wins amid a battle in D.C. over the right to sue them for damages over health, as the New Lede reports. The OpenSecrets lobbying data speaks for itself: So far this year, $10 million has been spent on officially influencing politicians by fertilizer and pesticide companies. According to OpenSecrets, publicly traded Indianapolis-based Corteva tops the list with more than $2.2 million spent.

If you’ve been in town this week, I hope you’ve been getting inspired to make change, and, if you’re elsewhere, I’d suggest playing back some panels or tuning in virtually to what’s left—for a dose of hope!

— Chloe Sorvino

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Mushrooms, Dandelions and Kelp: Foraging has been a tool of survival for at least 12,000 years, and I enjoyed this piece from the Associated Press on foraging’s revival. Who wants to go looking for weeds? I’ll meet you there.

New York City’s Climate Week isn’t over yet!

Thursday, September 25, 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.

Join me for the world premier of episode four of the series The Price of Milk. And stay after the screening for a short panel I’ll be speaking on with producers from the film. What a time to be talking about this all — who else clocked whole milk’s big win in the MAHA report? I’m featured as an expert in the documentary but have only seen the first three episodes, which launched at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.

Cooper Union Great Hall Foundation Building at 7 E 7th St.

Register here.

Friday, September 26, 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.

I’m moderating at Food Tank’s afternoon session on Regenerative Food Systems: Scaling Impact – Soil to Shelf. Our 2:20 p.m. panel called “From Soil to System: Farmers Driving Climate Solutions” will feature four farmers: Patrick Brown, Fourth-generation farmer and Director of Farmer Inclusion at Nature For Justice, Clara Coleman, second-generation farmer, farm consultant and founder of Real Farmer Care, John Moore, farmer of St. Croix Farm and Jamie Ager, farmer, and cofounder and CEO of Hickory Nut Gap. It’s streaming, too!

WNYC NPR Studios at 44 Charlton St.

SOLD OUT (more info on live-streaming here)

See you soon!

Field Notes

EMERY SORVINO

Happy new year, from my family to yours! I made my annual Rosh Hashanah chicken with figs, jalapeños, shallots, garlic and a fair bit of paprika and honey. I also served sautéed cabbage, gigante beans, jeweled rice with dried dates and pine nuts, as well as fennel and butternut squash topped with pomegranate molasses. My mom made kugel and my sister brought sourdough challah.

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