Climavores: The magic of trees

10/18/22 • 52 min

1 Listener

The vast majority of habitable land on our planet is either agriculture or forests. So when cropland and grazing land expands, forests shrink. This is a problem because forests soak up about a quarter of the carbon dioxide we emit.

Mike and Tamar talk a lot on the show about ways to make more food with less land. Why? Because doing that helps stop the deforestation that’s transferring carbon from trees to the atmosphere. In the current climate emergency, reducing emissions isn’t enough. We need negative emissions, and trees are the best technology we’ve got.

But fixing the world’s deforestation problems, and its food and climate problems, is more complicated than just planting more trees. In this episode, Mike and Tamar answer a listener question about the negative carbon footprint of fruit and nut trees. Then they dig in on everything from agroforestry and using forests as carbon offsets to burning trees for energy and national and international forest policy.

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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Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

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

Previous Episode

Climavores: Keeping climate change anxiety from crippling the next generation

Last month, The Washington Post ran a story about college campuses offering therapy for climate change anxiety. The American Psychological Association found that nearly half of younger Americans say eco-anxiety affects their daily lives. And, globally, a study in The Lancet found that 59% percent of people aged 16-25 are very worried about climate change.

In this episode, Mike and Tamar respond to a question from a Bay Area pediatrician caring for teenagers with climate change anxiety and depression. Specifically, she asks how worried kids should be about climate change and if there’s any way to shift their emotions around it.

With the effects of climate change all around us – massive flooding in Pakistan, unprecedented drought in China, catastrophic ice melting in Greenland, raging forest fires in California – it’s easy to get caught up in apocalyptic speculation and hysterical warnings. But Tamar and Mike say some of the facts can be reassuring and even empowering for young people.

Resources:

American Psychological Association: Addressing climate change concerns in practice
The Lancet: on climate anxiety in children
The Washington Post: on colleges offering therapy for climate change anxiety

Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

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

Next Episode

Climavores: Are GMOs the worst? Or the best?

In the food world, conversations around GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) have been polarized and vitriolic for decades. Fights over the very early genetically modified corn and soy that were resistant to glyphosate, the herbicide in RoundUp, set the tone for an argument that we’re still having a quarter-century later.

Yet human beings have modified almost all of our crops and livestock for years. That’s the whole point of breeding programs. But people feel differently about it when scientists tinker with the genome.

In this episode, Mike and Tamar dig in on whether GMOs are the scourge of the earth or humanity’s salvation. Tamar looks at the nutrition and environmental health facts of GMOs and whether they’re actually bad for us. And Mike weighs in on advances in genetic engineering, “Frankenfoods,” and the sea of misinformation surrounding GMOs.

Resources: