Climavores: Are processed foods evil?

09/27/22 • 49 min

Don’t miss our live episode of Climavores in New York City on October 20! Sign up here for a night of live audio and networking with top voices in climate journalism.

Draw a Venn diagram of people who care about the climate impact of their food and people who are suspicious of processed food, and you’ll see an awful lot of overlap. People love to hate on processed foods.

But historically, food processing actually freed women from the literal daily grind of putting food on the table. And from a climate impact standpoint, more processed foods actually contribute to less food waste. So what gives?

This week, Mike and Tamar dig into the pros and cons of processed foods. From Impossible Burgers to Doritos, almost everything we eat is processed. But there’s a difference between processed and ultra-processed and the impacts each has on our health and our planet.

Resources:

Cambridge University Press on the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing

Have a question about food and climate change for Mike and Tamar? Leave a message on the Climavores hotline at (508) 377-3449. Or email us at [email protected]. We might feature your question on a future episode.

Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

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Don’t miss our live episode of Climavores in New York City on October 20! Sign up here for a night of live audio and networking with top voices in climate journalism.

Resources:

Cambridge University Press on the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing

Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Climavores: The protein we love to hate

Don’t miss our live episode of Climavores in New York City on October 20! Sign up here for a night of live audio and networking with top voices in climate journalism.

When a lot of people think of soy, they think of allergens, overly processed food, and man boobs. There’s even a current full-court press in some corners of the nutrition community to blame seed oils like soybean oil for disease and obesity. And that’s not even taking into account environmental concerns around deforestation in the Amazon and heavy pesticide and herbicide use in soy monocultures.

The U.S. grows 90 million acres of soybeans annually, second only to Brazil in global soybean production. And almost all of that U.S. soy is genetically modified, another red flag for environmentalists.

But Mike and Tamar say soy has gotten a bad rap. And it’s time to set the record straight.

This week, they dig into the nutritional and environmental benefits of soy and ask how soy became a proxy for the evils of industrial agriculture.

Resources:

National Institute of Health on the myth of man boobs
GOOP on seed oils
farmdocDAILY on lower fertilizer use in soy vs. corn
Our World in Data on soy’s bad reputation and whether it’s justified

Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

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Next Episode

Climavores: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on 'climate-smart commodities'

Don’t miss our live episode of Climavores in New York City on October 20! Sign up here for a night of live audio and networking with top voices in climate journalism.

Climate change is a touchy topic in farm country. But one third of greenhouse gas emissions come from food and agriculture, so it’s crucial that the industry becomes part of the climate change solution.

For years almost all the action on climate change centered on energy – solar and wind and electric vehicles taking on coal and gas and oil. But now Washington is suddenly buzzing about “climate-smart agriculture,” and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is in the middle of the action. He just announced $3 billion in grants for “climate-smart commodities.” The Inflation Reduction Act is sending the USDA $20 billion for climate-smart projects. It’s incredible how quickly the food and climate issue has moved to the center of the plate.

This week, Mike and Tamar welcome Secretary Vilsack as their first Climavores guest. They dig in on everything from regulating farmers to regenerative agriculture to subsidies as a bridge to market solutions. And of course Mike pushes the Secretary on his favorite topic – biofuels.

Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

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