The Anthropocene is an old idea, dating perhaps to the first atomic bomb, given fresh scientific imprimatur this spring. More than 500 million years after life took hold on earth, humans are having such a drastic effect on it that we are now the dominant geologic force. This designation comes not from the usual concerned voices seeking recognition from distracted media and political elites, but from a key body within the international union of geological scientists. As these folks like to say: rocks don’t lie.

Nor do temperature readings. New Delhi soared to 118 degrees this month. It was 100 degrees in San Francisco, the highest temperature ever recorded there for June. Wildfires are now a springtime feature inside the Arctic Circle, and temperatures in Greenland were as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit above average this year.

None of this will shame the worst threat to the planet now — the American president. The best way to do something about climate change is to vote the Anthropocene Cover Boy out of office. He thinks windmills cause cancer. He loves dirty coal. His gutting of Obama-era policies will lead to hundreds of premature deaths of fellow Americans every year , according to an early analysis by his own administration.

But in the meantime, there is the protein we put on our plate. While weaning people off animal flesh, the new burgers hardly meet Michael Pollan’s admonition that we should never eat food our great-grandmothers wouldn’t recognize. But Pollan is a fan, saying fake meatballs might help save the world.

Plant-based eggs, nuggets and burgers are far less likely to hasten the inevitable last act of the Age of Man than the food sources they replace. And the free market — judging by soaring sales and a bullish roar from Wall Street to Beyond Meat, a company that was briefly worth more than Macys or Xerox by market capitalization one day this week — is lining up with the environment on this one, as carnivores take notice. If it takes disruptive capitalism to help solve a problem that a clay-headed president will not, more power to the plant dog and soy burger masquerading as meat.