Cool Beans Editorial Standards
mission:
Cool Beans is your guide to cooking delicious food that just happens to be better for the planet. Why sweat sustainable eating? Because a person’s diet represents one of their biggest contributions to human-caused climate change, and switching to an eating style that’s rich in plants and low on waste can cut any individual’s planet-warming potential more significantly than revamping their home energy usage or transportation habits. It’s way easier, too.
objectivity, transparency & ethics:
People have been turning to Cool Beans for tips, recipes, and advice for eating more sustainably since 2023, and we’re serious about maintaining trust in our advice and recommendations. Decisions about what to cover sit solely with the editorial team; members of our sales, marketing, ownership, or other teams have no influence over the editorial work we publish on the site, in our newsletters, or on any of our platforms. Similarly, advertisers in no way dictate the products we recommend or any other facet of our content. Any branded or sponsored content will be clearly labeled, and any staff involvement in making that content will be made clear. Advertisements will always be clearly labeled.
We’ll disclose any potential conflicts that may influence coverage. We require our editorial teams (both staff and freelance) to be up front about relationships they have that could influence the objectivity of their reporting. No one on the Cool Beans editorial team has any financial connection in the companies we cover. We generally don’t participate in junkets—i.e., trips companies pay for to get journalists access to their news—but, on the off-chance that we do, we’ll be honest that someone other than ourselves has paid our way. All our reporting and writing is original, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism.
Our product reviews and recommendations are solely guided by our expertise, research, and experience. We buy most of the products we taste test, but companies will send us samples as well; where we got the goods, however, will never influence our recommendation. We receive no affiliate commission from any of the companies whose merchandise we cover.
accuracy & accountability:
The Cool Beans editors are committed to delivering the best possible advice and recipes to our audience. Everything we publish—from a recipe for plant-based chicken soup and an exploration of food transportation emissions to the posts that appear on our social channels—passes through at least one editor. That editor is responsible for ensuring the quality, clarity and accuracy of the content. All our original recipes are tested in a real kitchen.
Errors do happen, and we don’t push them under the rug. When a reader or source raises an issue with something we’ve published, an editor will re-check the facts in question against our sourcing, consult additional resources as needed, and determine if it’s necessary to issue a correction. If warranted, we’ll update the relevant parts of the text and insert a note disclosing the error in the story itself. We will never “ghost edit” a story by making a correction without disclosing it.
All the stories we publish are written and edited by real humans. We don’t use any generative AI tools to do that work for us—though we do use spellcheck. We may, from time to time, tap generative image-editing tools to make non-substantive changes to photos and other artwork, such as extending a background or removing crumbs from a tabletop, but we will never alter the content and/or context of an image.