Marina Bolotnikova
@mbolotnikova.bsky.social
Senior reporter for Vox thinking about factory farming & animal rights, ag, economics, science & its discontents, cities, housing, transit and ✨ideas✨ marina@vox.com ~Skeptical of epistemic authority I live in Madison, WI
"The animal movement’s 'central unsolved problem,'...is its lack of a deeply felt sense of community... It would be silly to think that food-serving businesses alone can fix this problem, but they are important third spaces in most of the modern world." mbolotnikova.substack.com/p/do-we-stil...
Do we still need vegan restaurants?
Mine closed, which led to a crashout and also some more serious thoughts about the food environment.
mbolotnikova.substack.com
our beloved neighborhood vegan cafe closed last week, and @mbolotnikova.bsky.social went out and examined why: what's gained from now-ubiquitious vegan options and what's lost when that competition closes "miniature utopias" 🐰🌱 🎁 www.vox.com/the-highligh...
Where did all the vegan restaurants go?
And what does it mean for the plant-based movement?
vox.com
Who's going to @4sweb.bsky.social meeting in Toronto next week? Check out my work on the politics of scientific data—from EPA to DNA—in 2 panels (the former presented by my wonderful supervisor and co-author) @nicolecnelson.bsky.social ! #STS #4sToronto26 (Date not shown – both Sat. 10/10)
How I'd summarize what these places mean to me 🥲
Marina Bolotnikova@mbolotnikova.bsky.social · 2w agoI became very angsty about the great dying of vegan restaurants after my neighborhood spot announced its closure this month. I wanted to know whether this is a real trend (& found that it's indeed probably real) & to what degree it actually matters for the animal movement, beyond 1/
“Plant-based restaurants, on the other hand, make veganism feel less like a prohibition than an invitation; hospitality rather than horror” Yes! I added my comment on @mbolotnikova.bsky.social thread re: the continuing potential I see for cultural influencers in the vegan movement.
Marina Bolotnikova@mbolotnikova.bsky.social · 2w agoI became very angsty about the great dying of vegan restaurants after my neighborhood spot announced its closure this month. I wanted to know whether this is a real trend (& found that it's indeed probably real) & to what degree it actually matters for the animal movement, beyond 1/
I became very angsty about the great dying of vegan restaurants after my neighborhood spot announced its closure this month. I wanted to know whether this is a real trend (& found that it's indeed probably real) & to what degree it actually matters for the animal movement, beyond 1/
Where did all the vegan restaurants go?
And what does it mean for the plant-based movement?
vox.com
If anyone here directly knows the folks at HappyCow and can help me get in touch, I would be so grateful!!
It's obviously impt not to let the AI labs write their own regulation, but I feel like if Exxon researchers HAD spent the 1970s raising the alarm about CO2, some of us here woulda decided ""climate change"" was a monopolistic conspiracy against 3rd-world state-owned oil & working-class automobility
just wanna note my appreciation for @marisul.bsky.social & @jasminsinger.com 🌱 Vegan/animal rights world media is important. And nothing compares to audio experientially for making it feel like they're in your home, at the table with you
All the available evidence suggests Americans don't simply prefer to live in a car-dependent wasteland, & I wrote about it!! Our shortage of places where it's possible to walk to places is one of the most tangible but rarely voiced ways that we lack freedom & choice
America is built for driving. There’s hidden demand for something better.
What can we learn from the European cities Americans love to visit?
vox.com
I have no stake in this b/c I like both things but just find it noteworthy! “The most successful 'add more plant-based stuff to the menus to decrease meat consumption' interventions did not add modern meat alternatives to the menu, but more traditional vegetarian options, like curries.”
Traditional veggie options often outperform modern ones
reconciling a new preprint showing no meat reduction effects from introducing modern meat alternatives to other papers that look at traditional veggie options.
regressiontothemeat.substack.com
Amazing to live in a country where the secret police are handling inter-chud beefs. It's like the Night of Long Knives playing out in the parking lot of a Dollar General.
Justin Baragona@justinbaragona.bsky.social · last mo.Laura Loomer is taking credit for Milo getting detained by ICE.
PLS READ: California's pro-housing turn is facing one of its hardest tests yet. The state is on track to create an exception to a law mandating that local govts allow more density on single-family lots for Altadena as it rebuilds from last year's fire 1/ www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The most sympathetic case for NIMBYism is still wrong
Wildfires leveled thousands of homes in California. Now the state could block even more from being built.
vox.com
"The fires have already taken enough from the region; they ought not be allowed to scorch the housing reforms that had begun to open up a more abundant future." - @mbolotnikova.bsky.social on the harm done by SB 1090, which just passed the Assembly.
The most sympathetic case for NIMBYism is still wrong
Wildfires leveled thousands of homes in California. Now the state could block even more from being built.
vox.com
"Should I buy cage-free eggs or slightly lower-carbon but even crueler caged eggs?"
>cage-free reforms have been a good thing, because they have made a terrible system that we can’t simply wave away with a magic wand less bad. But more profound change will require consumers to demand something more than cheap animal products ~ @mbolotnikova.bsky.social 🎁 www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Cage-free eggs are worse for the climate. Does it matter?
Here’s what to consider instead.
vox.com
"The law also includes a surprising twist: You can get married under 18, but you can’t get divorced." The GOP state senator defending this on "parental rights" grounds has run unopposed twice in a row www.wpr.org/news/child-m...
Child marriage with parental consent is still legal in Wisconsin. Republicans have blocked Democratic efforts to change that
During the most recent legislative session, Senate and Assembly child marriage bills sat in committees led by state Sen. Chris Kapenga and state Rep. Patrick Snyder. The bills died without a committee...
wpr.org
Godlewski is not only the second Dem Lt Guv nominee in a row here in Wisconsin to be named Sara(h) but also to have previously worked for the government of my home county of Arapahoe -- in the Denver, CO suburbs. #WiPol Follow me for more politics news you can use!
thank u to @sabs.bsky.social for, among other things, mentioning the giraffe weevil, who is a great Little Guy to know about defector.com/theres-big-n...
Lotta bangers from @mbolotnikova.bsky.social lately but I wanna share some love for this interview with #LosAngeles mayor candidate Nithya Raman, who seems to be thinking carefully about how to build a Left-YIMBY synthesis 🎁 www.vox.com/future-perfe...
A new housing politics is taking shape on the left
Can democratic socialist Nithya Raman make Los Angeles build?
vox.com
I wrote out some thoughts on the Hank Green situation cuz I thought both poles -- the anti-AI mob, and the backlash to the anti-AI mob -- are wrong, and I've been surprised by the low quality of discourse on this matter!!!
Sean Carroll@seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 2mo agoA good essay on responsible AI use - a rare find in the wild - by @mbolotnikova.bsky.social. So much of it just comes down to enjoying and cherishing, rather than trying to replace, what your brain can do. www.vox.com/future-perfe...
A good essay on responsible AI use - a rare find in the wild - by @mbolotnikova.bsky.social. So much of it just comes down to enjoying and cherishing, rather than trying to replace, what your brain can do. www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Everybody needs a personal AI policy. Just ask Hank Green.
How can we reap AI’s benefits without melting our brains in the process?
vox.com
I like this answer from @nithyaforthecity.bsky.social in her Q&A with @mbolotnikova.bsky.social www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Some ppl in my intellectual community don't agree with me but I believe it's important to have a prosperous economy. & one of my master theories about the world is that we squander SO much of our natural resource base on animal agriculture, which is not economically important. 1/
Rare, amazing opportunities for someone based in the UK to report or edit factory farming stories at the Guardian: workwithus.theguardian.com/job-search/e... workwithus.theguardian.com/job-search/e...
Reporter, Animals Farmed
Join our team at the Guardian and be a part of a diverse and inclusive global organisation that delivers fearless, investigative journalism, and holds power to account. Our team of award-winning journ...
workwithus.theguardian.com
Cartoonishly malicious administration
Joel Rose@joelrose.bsky.social · 3mo agoNEW from me: Transportation officials have removed a growing list of safety measures that reference bikes from federal websites. The push began after DOT Secretary Duffy’s social media post vowing to end funding for “DEI bike lanes” earlier this month. www.npr.org/2026/07/23/n...
Today, in violations of the rule of law that would be sufficient for impeachment in any other American presidency but aren't in this one because pathological partisan loyalty has rotted the constitutional order:
tony romm@tonyromm.bsky.social · 3mo agoNEW: In a stunning admission, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that it canceled billions in energy grants to states "based solely" on politics -- and whether that state was represented by Democrats and backed Harris in 2024. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...