How We Survive

If you have ever bitten into a plant-based burger and felt dissatisfied, or even grossed out, you’re not alone. In this episode, we explore the uncanny valley of meat and dive deep into what makes meat so … meaty. Plus, “The Splendid Table” host Francis Lam joins Amy Scott for a taste test of cultivated meat and shares his go-to recipes for climate-friendly proteins.

Climate change is changing what we eat. As the planet heats up, foods like salmon, chocolate and coffee might be harder to come by and more expensive to buy. In this episode, the “How We Survive” team goes on a food tour around Northern California to find out how tech entrepreneurs are finding new ways to make all sorts of foods that are under threat from the impacts of the climate crisis. 

Imagine a future where chocolate and coffee are rare and expensive; where cheap, nutritional staples, like corn and wheat, are threatened.The climate crisis is a food and agriculture crisis. A third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from what’s on our plate. Cow burps, deforestation, water use and food waste all feed into making our planet unlivable. And it’s a double-edged sword, because as the planet heats up, staple crops are withering, soil is losing its nutrients, and droughts and famines will become more common. Our food systems are hurting the planet, and the hotter planet is hurting our food systems. To survive, we need to drastically cut down our use of farmland and we need to find alternative meat sources that don’t give consumers the creeps. How will we keep feeding millions of people? And how will we do that with less land? This season of “How We Survive,” we’ll take you on a food tour of the future. May we interest you in some lab-grown chocolate or some cell cultivated salmon (that is, if you’re not in Florida)? We explore the uncanny valley of meat and visit farmers in our nation’s breadbasket where hotter, drier, less predictable weather has global consequences. Finally, we’ll take you on the ground into one of the more demonized (and misunderstood) parts of the agricultural system: Factory farms.

We’re dropping into your feeds today to share this special bonus episode.It’s a conversation between host Amy Scott, Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Elizabeth Kolbert. We talk about how the accelerating climate crisis is creating economic disruption. And we get into some of the solutions that are giving us hope right now.  This conversation was recorded live, over Zoom, in front of an audience. It’s presented by Odoo with additional underwriting support from The Economist. 

Bill McKibben, a seasoned climate writer and activist, discusses his new book on solar power. He highlights the explosive growth of solar energy and the barriers to its adoption in the U.S. compared to countries like China and Pakistan. McKibben shares inspiring grassroots initiatives and the emotional landscape of the climate crisis, blending hope with the challenges we face. He emphasizes the need for significant shifts in climate policies and showcases Texas's strides in renewable energy, presenting a vision for a sustainable future.

Shannon Osaka, a climate zeitgeist reporter at The Washington Post, dives into the implications of the recently signed 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act' on clean energy. She discusses how this law drastically reduces incentives for renewable energy, setting back efforts against climate change. Osaka also highlights the urgency for consumers to act quickly to benefit from remaining tax credits, while analyzing the challenges of bipartisan support for climate legislation. Tune in for insights on navigating the political landscape and fostering action in the renewable energy sector.

June marks the start of hurricane season but thanks to the climate crisis we’re dealing with extreme weather year-round. Just in the past month, deadly storms have devastated Kentucky and a brutal heat-wave is surging across the country. With the recent cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service, weather stations are understaffed and weather forecasting might be impacted. In this episode of Burning Questions, host Amy Scott talks with former National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellinni to find out how the cuts to NOAA impact all of us. 

Can we invest our way out of the climate crisis? That’s the question we started this series with, and in this episode, we try to answer that question. Host Amy Scott pops the hood of her own retirement investments to look at how to reduce their carbon impact, and she shows you how you can too. We visit a battery storage farm in the Bronx to see how New York City is leveraging its shareholder power to accelerate the energy transition. Finally, we look at a phenomenon that has emerged in the wake of backlash against environmental, social and governance investing — something called “greenhushing.”

Dive into the dramatic downfall of ESG investing, exploring how it transformed from a respected strategy to a contentious issue. Discover the political forces and legislative moves in Texas that have sparked a backlash against it. Hear insights from key players in the fossil fuel sector who challenge supposed financial discrimination against them. Unpack the intertwining of industry motives with anti-ESG sentiment, alongside concerns about the implications for renewable energy and public health. An engaging investigation into a cultural and economic battleground.

To understand the fierce and widespread backlash to environmental, social and governance investing — and more specifically, climate-conscious investing — it helps to first understand its humble origins. Part of that history began about as far from Wall Street as possible, spiritually anyway, with faith-based investors.  In this episode of “How We Survive,” we travel to the hub for religious investors: the God Box in New York City, aka The Interchurch Center. We trace the parallel tracks of religious investors and Wall Street stakeholders back in time to find out how ESG became the polarizing strategy it is today.