Is eating beef really bad for the planet?

Environmental activists often claim cattle are a major driver of climate change, deforestation, water shortages, and biodiversity loss. From methane emissions to land use, the beef industry has become a central target in the modern environmental movement.

But how much of this narrative holds up under scrutiny?

In this episode, David R. Legates examines the scientific claims behind the war on beef—looking at methane emissions, land use, water consumption, and pollution. He also explores what critics often leave out: how livestock fit into natural carbon cycles, how modern agriculture has become far more efficient, and why ruminant animals may play an important role in global food systems. 

Along the way, he considers another overlooked dimension: nutrition. Beef remains one of the most nutrient-dense foods available, providing high-quality protein, iron, zinc, and essential vitamins that are difficult to obtain elsewhere.

So is beef really destroying the planet—or has the story been oversimplified?

In this episode, we take a closer look at the science behind the headlines.

https://www.beefresearch.ca/topics/environmental-footprint-of-beef-production/

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/beef

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For more than fifteen years, the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding has been the legal foundation for sweeping federal greenhouse gas regulations—impacting everything from your car to the power grid. But what if the ruling that launched trillions of dollars in climate policy wasn’t the purely scientific document we were told it was?

With repeal now back on the table in 2026, new scrutiny reveals troubling questions about how the original decision was made, who shaped it, and whether politics—not science—drove the process from the start 

Was the Endangerment Finding a neutral assessment of climate risk—or a “decision ready to go” before the evidence was fully considered?

In this episode, we unpack what’s really at stake, why this fight isn’t over science alone, and why the potential rollback could mark one of the most consequential regulatory reversals in modern U.S. history.

Is this finally the end of the Endangerment Finding—or just another false alarm?

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2026/02/09/trump-set-to-repeal-landmark-climate-finding-in-major-regulatory-rollback/88600365007/

https://govoversight.org/the-evidence-is-in-endangerment-finding-was-pre-cooked/

https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/greenhouse-gas-endangerment-finding/

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With headlines declaring the end of climate extremism and federal withdrawals from global climate bodies making waves, many are celebrating what looks like a turning point. But is it really over?

In this episode, David R. Legates argues that while the federal government may be stepping back, the climate agenda is far from defeated. From sweeping state-level “NetZero” mandates to massive electrification plans, offshore wind expansion, hydrogen schemes, and the redesign of entire communities, the push for decarbonization is accelerating closer to home.

Drawing on personal experiences from the final days of the Soviet Union, Legates offers a sobering reminder: ideologies rarely disappear—they adapt. Climate alarmism, he contends, is no exception.

Before we celebrate victory, we need to ask a harder question: Are we winning the battle, while losing the war?

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Is capitalism wrecking the planet—or is that the biggest environmental myth of our time?

From Naomi Klein in This Changes Everything to Karl Marx in Das Kapital, and even Pope Francis in Laudato Si', influential voices have argued that free markets are fundamentally incompatible with environmental protection. The claim is bold: if you care about the Earth, you must abandon capitalism.

But does history actually support that narrative?

In this episode, Cal Beisner launches a powerful new series examining the real-world environmental records of socialist and capitalist systems—from East Germany and the Soviet Union to Mao’s China. The evidence is sobering, and it raises uncomfortable questions about property rights, poverty, prosperity, and political freedom.

If you’ve ever been told that saving the planet requires rejecting free markets, this series is for you.

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Most people think the electric grid is a giant battery—store power when there’s extra and pull it out when you need it. Simple. And completely wrong. 

In this episode, David R. Legates explains how the electric grid actually works: a just-in-time system where electricity must be generated and consumed almost simultaneously. Using clear analogies, he walks through generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption—and shows why reliability depends on energy sources that can be used when needed. 

The discussion also explores why wind and solar, which are non-dispatchable, cannot keep the lights on without constant real-time backup, and how rising demand, grid operators like PJM, and policy choices affect reliability and cost. 

If you want to understand why blackouts happen, why electricity prices are rising, and why the grid is far more fragile than most people realize, this episode is for you.

Sources:

https://www.caesarrodney.org/post/delaware-s-energy-crossroads-rising-demand-shrinking-reliability

https://16f05e07-790c-4e37-8967-e07503198f80.usrfiles.com/ugd/16f05e_950ecbbff4b54cbc8b9223d8dc890591.pdf

Visit our podcast resource page: https://cornwallalliance.org/listen%20to%20our%20podcast%20created%20to%20reign/

Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

Migraines are a debilitating neurological condition affecting millions—and no one who has experienced one takes them lightly. In the United Kingdom alone, an estimated 10 million adults suffer from migraines, costing millions of lost workdays each year. So when headlines recently declared that scientists have pinpointed a reason migraines are on the rise, it sounded like an important public-health breakthrough. 

But there was a familiar twist. 

According to the popular press, the culprit is—of course—climate change. Rising temperatures, turbulent weather patterns, and even anxiety about climate change itself are now being blamed for an alleged migraine “epidemic.” But does the evidence actually support these claims? 

In this episode of Created to Reign, David R. Legates takes a closer look at what the studies really say, what they don’t say, and how correlation is being dressed up as causation. From daily and seasonal migraine patterns to the role of stress, diagnosis, and media framing, this episode asks a simple question: are migraines increasing because of climate change—or because climate change has become the go-to explanation for everything?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15422347/Scientists-pinpoint-reason-people-getting-migraines.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/health/article/migraines-climate-change-weather-heat-pressure 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9664747/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s10194-021-01276-w

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$7.56 billion. 321 grants. One federal judge. And a big question: who should be spending your money? 

In this episode of Created to Reign, Dr. E. Calvin Beisner breaks down the Department of Energy’s attempt to cancel billions in clean-energy and climate grants—and why a federal court just forced those projects back onto the taxpayer’s tab. Were the terminations a long-overdue effort to stop wasteful spending? Or a politically clumsy move that handed the courts an easy win? 

We unpack the legal ruling, the politics behind the grants, and the uncomfortable reality of government picking winners and losers with other people’s money. Along the way, Dr. Beisner asks the harder question Washington never wants to answer: Why is the federal government in this business at all? 

If you care about energy realism, fiscal sanity, and the growing habit of reaching into your pocket to fund someone else’s pet project—this episode is for you.

Show notes: 

https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-wright-announces-new-policy-increasing-accountability-identifying-wasteful

https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-termination-223-projects-saving-over-75-billion

https://news.oilandgaswatch.org/post/trump-cancels-billions-in-clean-energy-grants-while-increasing-subsidies-for-oil-and-gas

https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-new-jersey-clean-energy-projects-funding-cuts/

file://C:\\Users\ECalvinBeisner\Downloads\Mehta decision.pdf

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/judge-says-trump-admin-illegally-cut-billions-in-grants-from-blue-states-climate-projects-5969995

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has been called the “mothership” of climate science. So when reports claimed the Trump administration was planning to shut it down, the reaction was explosive—headlines screamed “destruction of knowledge” and “war on science.” 

But is that what’s actually happening? 

In this episode of Created to Reign, David R. Legates cuts through the hysteria to examine what the administration really said, what NCAR was created to do, and how decades of federal funding have fueled an entrenched climate alarmist narrative. Is science being silenced—or is ideological spending finally being challenged? 

This is a conversation about power, money, and whether climate research can survive without the federal gravy train.

Sources:

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/shaman-performs-pagan-ritual-over-world-economic-forum-leaders-at-davos-summit/

https://x.com/russvought/status/2001099488774033692

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/16/trump-dismantle-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/87798771007/

https://theweek.com/politics/trump-vought-climate-national-center-atmospheric-research

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/major-climate-research-center-trump-administration-dismantle-climate-alarmism/

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/17/trump-team-breaking-up-top-climate-research-center-00694887

https://apnews.com/article/trump-colorado-climate-research-lab-1eaf91b1e737809b80497f44d45b6c03

https://nypost.com/2025/03/05/business/john-podesta-375m-epa-slush-fund-gave-billions-to-newly-formed-charities/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/22/trump-stalin-national-center-atmospheric-research

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Psalm 104 offers a bracing corrective to the modern habit of treating the world as fragile, chaotic, or fundamentally out of control. In this episode of Created to Reign, Cal Beisner walks through one of Scripture’s most vivid portraits of creation—not as a system teetering on the brink, but as a world actively governed, sustained, and ordered by God’s wise and joyful providence. 

Adapted from Cal’s book Psalms of Promise, this episode explores what Psalm 104 teaches about God’s ongoing care for the natural world and humanity’s place within it. From daily provision to cosmic order, the psalm reminds us that creation is neither abandoned nor autonomous—and that confidence in God’s rule changes how we think about stewardship, responsibility, and trust.

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Some efforts are so disproportionate to their impact that they border on the absurd—like bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon. In this episode of Created to Reign, David R. Legates takes aim at one such effort: a Silicon Valley–style geoengineering startup selling “cooling credits” by launching weather balloons filled with sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. 

On paper, the idea borrows from real science—volcanic eruptions do cool the planet, after all. But when you scale the math, the economics, and the physics, the entire enterprise collapses into a case study in symbolic action masquerading as climate policy. Along the way, Dr. Legates explores the risks of solar geoengineering, the difference between meaningful solutions and virtue signaling, and the growing tension between private experimentation and public oversight. In the end, it’s a classic Sisyphean tale—lots of effort, lots of money, and virtually no effect.

Links: 

https://makesunsets.com/

https://www.greenprophet.com/2025/04/make-sunsets-is-launching-geo-engineered-cooling-credits-with-vc-money/

https://cepa.org/article/solar-geoengineering-a-transatlantic-split-under-the-sun

https://legal-planet.org/2025/11/11/should-private-firms-be-involved-in-cooling-the-planet/

https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-demands-answers-unregulated-geoengineering-start-launching-sulfur-dioxide-air

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.