The Future of Food | Climate Trailblazers: Reimagining Our Future
Summary
TLDRThe video highlights the urgent need to address climate change, emphasizing how human actions are driving environmental crises such as rising temperatures, sea levels, and extreme weather. It explores innovative solutions in food production, including vertical farming, plant-based meats, and lab-grown alternatives, which aim to reduce carbon emissions and resource use. New technologies, from efficient farming to producing food from air, are revolutionizing agriculture. The message calls for a shift towards sustainable food practices, empowering consumers to play a key role in mitigating climate change.
Takeaways
- 🌍 Climate change is a global crisis, with rising temperatures, sea levels, and extreme weather events.
- 🚶 Human activities are the primary cause of climate change, and urgent action is needed to address it.
- 🌾 Agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, using vast amounts of land, water, and energy.
- 🚜 Vertical farming is a more efficient and sustainable method, producing 100 times more per square foot than traditional farming.
- 🌱 New agricultural technologies, like seed genetics and vertical farms, aim to decouple growth from emissions.
- 🍔 Plant-based meats, like the Impossible Burger, reduce environmental impact by using fewer resources compared to traditional meat production.
- 🐔 Alternatives to livestock farming, such as plant-based chicken and microalgae, are being developed to reduce emissions.
- 🧬 Cultivated meat, grown from stem cells, offers a sustainable way to produce real meat without raising animals.
- 🥛 Companies like TurtleTree are using cellular agriculture to produce milk, which uses fewer resources than traditional dairy farming.
- 🔬 Future foods, like Solar Foods' protein made from air, represent innovative solutions to sustainably feed a growing population.
Q & A
What is the main cause of climate change according to the script?
-The script states that human actions are the main cause of climate change, specifically pointing to activities like industrial production and energy consumption.
Why is there a need for a new industrial revolution?
-The script emphasizes that the current industrial model has led to high emissions and resource consumption. A new industrial revolution is needed to decouple economic growth from emissions to mitigate climate change.
How does modern agriculture contribute to greenhouse gas emissions?
-Modern agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas emissions through deforestation for farming, the use of fuel-burning machinery, fertilizers with a high carbon footprint, and long distribution distances which increase food miles.
What advantages do vertical farms have over traditional farms?
-Vertical farms are more efficient, producing 100 times more per square foot. They use technology to optimize growing conditions, reduce food miles, and can grow a wider variety of crops, including those that are too fragile for long-distance transport.
How are companies like Bowery improving sustainability in food production?
-Bowery improves sustainability by using controlled environments to grow crops with higher yields, reducing the need for pesticides, and locating farms near cities to decrease distribution distances and related emissions.
What is the role of seed genetics in vertical farming?
-Companies like Unfold are developing seeds that are specifically optimized for the controlled conditions of vertical farming. These seeds improve yields and quality, making vertical farming more efficient.
How does plant-based meat, like the Impossible Burger, reduce environmental impact?
-Plant-based meat uses fewer resources compared to traditional meat. The Impossible Burger uses 87% less water, 96% less land, and produces 89% fewer carbon emissions than beef from cows.
What is the environmental impact of plant-based chicken like Tindall?
-Tindall’s plant-based chicken reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 88%, water consumption by 82%, and land use by 74% compared to traditional chicken farming.
What potential does microalgae have in sustainable food production?
-Microalgae can be grown quickly with fewer resources and can replace traditional protein sources like soy. It also contains essential amino acids and vitamins, making it a nutritionally rich and sustainable alternative.
What are the environmental benefits of cultivated meat compared to traditional livestock farming?
-Cultivated meat is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%, as it is more efficient in using calories to grow meat and eliminates the need for raising animals, which consume vast resources and produce emissions.
Outlines
🌍 Climate Change: The Defining Crisis of Our Time
The first paragraph highlights the pressing issue of climate change, driven by human actions, with rising sea levels, extreme weather, and a warming world. The narrator emphasizes the need for a new industrial revolution to decouple economic growth from emissions. They mention their efforts to measure the impacts of climate change, aiming to find strategies for slowing the damage.
🌱 The Growing Demand for Food and Agriculture's Environmental Impact
This paragraph discusses the challenge of feeding a growing population as food consumption increases. Current agricultural practices are resource-intensive, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. It calls for change, introducing vertical farming as a more efficient alternative. The Bowery farm model is highlighted for its productivity, technology-driven control, and reduced environmental impact by being closer to cities and using fewer resources.
🍔 Innovative Meat Alternatives and the Future of Food
The third paragraph introduces plant-based meat alternatives, such as the Impossible Burger, which mimics the taste and texture of real meat. The focus is on the environmental benefits of these products, like reduced water and land use, and fewer carbon emissions compared to traditional meat. Innovations like heme from plants enhance flavor, and plant-based chicken alternatives, like Tindall, provide a sustainable option with similar benefits.
🦠 Microalgae and Lab-Grown Proteins: A Sustainable Solution
This paragraph explores the use of microalgae as a sustainable protein source, grown quickly with fewer resources. It highlights how microalgae can replace traditional flour in plant-based products, with benefits including essential amino acids and B vitamins. Additionally, lab-grown meat from stem cells, like those developed by Upside Foods, offers a promising way to produce real meat without animals, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
🧬 Lab-Grown Dairy and Revolutionary Food Production
In this final paragraph, Turtle Tree's lab-grown milk technology is introduced, using stem cells to create milk without animals. This process reduces greenhouse gases, water usage, and land needs. The future potential of producing milk from various mammals, including for infant formula, is also mentioned. The section concludes with Solar Foods' process of producing protein from air, offering a vision of food production that is independent of traditional agriculture and potentially carbon-negative.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Climate Change
💡Greenhouse Gas Emissions
💡Vertical Farming
💡Plant-Based Meat
💡Methane Emissions
💡Food Miles
💡Cultivated Meat
💡Carbon Sinks
💡Microalgae
💡New Industrial Revolution
Highlights
Climate change is accelerating with rising sea levels, more intense extreme weather, and human actions are responsible.
The need for a new industrial revolution that decouples growth from emissions is emphasized as the solution.
Agriculture as we know it is unsustainable due to its high land, water, and energy usage, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
Forests, essential carbon sinks, are being cleared for farming, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere.
Vertical farming, such as Bowery Farm, grows food more efficiently, producing 100 times more per square foot than traditional farming.
Vertical farms use technology to control every aspect of the environment, increasing yields, flavor, and crop diversity.
Plant-based alternatives like Impossible Burger use 87% less water, 96% less land, and produce 89% fewer carbon emissions compared to traditional meat.
Tindall's plant-based chicken alternative reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 88% compared to traditional chicken.
New food production methods using microalgae offer a faster, more sustainable source of protein with all essential amino acids and B vitamins.
Upside Foods grows real meat from stem cells, with potential emission reductions of up to 90% compared to traditional meat production.
Turtle Tree produces milk from stem cells, reducing emissions, water, and land use by up to 96% while offering a sustainable dairy alternative.
Solar Foods produces a protein called solene from air, using CO2 and renewable electricity to create a carbon-negative food source.
New technologies like lab-grown meats and plant-based alternatives drastically reduce the environmental impact of food production.
The global food production system needs to evolve to meet a growing population and increasing food demand sustainably.
Consumers play a crucial role in driving change by switching to more sustainably produced foods, becoming climate trailblazers.
Transcripts
[Music]
our climate is changing the world is
warming
sea levels are rising faster than ever
and extreme weather is becoming more
frequent and more intense
the science is clear
human actions are to blame
climate change is the defining crisis of
our time
we are in a climate emergency
i spent most of my career trying to
measure the climate impacts of our
actions in the hopes that governments
can identify the best policies or
businesses can find the right strategies
to help us slow the damage
since the industrial revolution the
world learned to produce everything
faster and cheaper
as societies got richer we produced more
and consumed more energy more materials
and more food what we need is a new
industrial revolution a new playbook
that decouples growth from emissions
that revolution is gaining momentum
[Music]
food
it sustains us and so much more
but it could soon run out
affluence is driving up consumption so
is growth in populations
at the rate we're eating the world needs
to grow as much as 70 percent more food
in just 30 years
an unthinkable target if how we eat and
grow our food remains unchanged
[Music]
this is agriculture as we know it today
a land water and energy intensive
industry
also well-known is its greenhouse gas
emissions
[Music]
forests are nature's carbon sinks and
when that's cleared for farming more
carbon is released to the atmosphere
modern agriculture also involves
machinery which burn fuel and there's
fertilizers which also have a carbon
footprint
and since farms are located far away
from cities the food miles also drive up
carbon emissions
even before it reaches our plates food
would have already released 10
of all greenhouse gas emissions globally
vertical farms grow fruits and
vegetables much more efficiently
this is a bowery farm
it's a hundred times more productive per
square foot than a traditional farm
it's also packed with technology that
controls every aspect of the farm's
environment
our system can say based on what we see
and what we know but also what we expect
what tweaks and changes to the
environment around this specific crop
that we want to make and those changes
get pushed out and automatically
adjusted so you have this powerful
recursive learning loop that's iterating
testing watching iterating testing
watching at a very large scale which is
helping to drive not only increases in
yields but really exciting fun vibrant
taste and flavors in the crops that we
grow themselves
because conditions are so carefully
controlled barry grows a diverse variety
of crops
that includes many that are just too
fragile for traditional farms and long
distribution journeys
the farm is just outside the city so
distribution is cheaper and faster and
produce fresher when it reaches the
stores
we think about sustainability as being
multi-dimensional so it's of course the
component of resources but it's also
economic sustainability and commercial
sustainability and so we think a lot
about how do we make sure that we can
democratize access to high quality fresh
produce everybody should be able to try
great flavorful produce all the time
[Music]
while bowery makes farms more efficient
unfold selects and develops seeds that
are more productive for vertical farming
there's been a lot of investment in the
sector but it's really been focused on
the infrastructure of the farm really
amazing state-of-the-art facilities to
grow the crops what was missing was the
genetics or the seed that really is
optimized to be grown under those
conditions
unfold works on seed genetics and
digital solutions to offer new seed
varieties for fruits and vegetables
they want to help people worldwide get
fresh local and great tasting produce
so you want to have seed that actually
can respond to all that environmental
control that really is optimized for
production under artificial light with a
you know the systems that control all
the other environmental pieces one of
the ways you can optimize the
performance of that seed so that they
can overcome those challenges and
provide not just a product that works
for them but a product that really
delivers at the consumer level the kind
of quality that the consumer is looking
for
another type of farming is headed for a
reboot
livestock makes up half of global
methane emissions
methane is a greenhouse gas and it's 26
times more potent than co2
but new technologies in our midst are
making us rethink what we know of meat
the impossible burger
it's claimed to taste exactly like meat
but it's made from plants
it even bleeds like a medium rare burger
the protein packing burger is made from
soy and potatoes
and the fats come from coconut and
sunflower oils
there's also a mix of flavor ingredients
along with heme which provides the look
feel and taste of meat
heme is not only responsible for the
flavor of meat it's also a basic
building block of life on earth and it's
it's present in every cell whether it's
an animal or a plant it just happens to
be more abundant in animal cells and so
what our scientists discover is you
could also get that from plants we
started by extracting heme from the root
nodules of soybeans and that's why our
heme is called soy like hemoglobin
so we then adapted to do a fermentation
process which is the same process used
for belgian beer
or for making cheeses
um and so we use that process it's much
more scalable and essentially you're
growing that same heme the same heme
that's found in the roots of soy
but you're growing it in yeast um and
and then that makes it
much more efficient much more scalable
and so we're able to provide that
ingredient into our product at a low
cost
impossible is sold as meatless
alternatives in restaurants and
supermarkets in the u.s hong kong and
singapore
in the u.s the plant-based meat market
including impossible and others is worth
1.4 billion us dollars
making up 2.7 of all u.s retail packaged
meat sales
impossible says 9 out of 10 of its
customers are traditional meat eaters
meat made from impossible versus meat
made from a cow uses 87 less water 96
less land 89 less carbon emissions and
contributes 92 percent less water
pollution if you were to purchase one
pack of our retail product in store
that would be equivalent to saving 250
bottles of water and those are the big
bottles the bottles that are 500
milliliters
just with that one pack of impossible
burger
other meats are heading in a similar
direction
like chicken by far the most consumed
meat worldwide
tindall is a plant-based chicken
alternative with just as impressive
carbon savings
if you look at a tindo and compare it to
animal chicken it's about 88 less
greenhouse gas emissions eighty-two
percent less water consumption and
seventy-four percent less land
tindall's plant-based chicken is made
like this there are nine ingredients
that go into it
water soy wheat gluten wheat starch
sunflower oil natural flavoring coconut
oil methyl cellulose and oat fiber the
sunflower oil and natural flavoring are
what makes lippy a proprietary emulsion
lippie gives tindall the aroma taste and
cookability of chicken
put in a simple way it's chicken fat
made entirely out of plants it's an
emotion
made with natural ingredients entirely
from plants that recreates all the
experience you would expect from chicken
fat all of it will come inside the
fibers before the product is created
when you're cooking you will see it
manifest in itself through the browning
the smell the taste and when you eat it
you can definitely resemble
that delicious chicken taste that we all
love
tindol which is based in singapore was
developed in collaboration with local
chefs
singapore was where tindo launched its
global debut
and now has over 100 restaurant partners
across the world
when singapore did set itself to become
a let's call it a silicon valley of food
tech the amount of transformation that
has been happening has been quite
substantial
if you compare back to 2018 17 to today
it's a completely different environment
in terms of venture capital in terms of
startups in terms of multinational
companies with the r d centers here and
universities developing as well
they are programs around sustainable
food
[Music]
among more recent entrants joining the
fold is one startup that's making meat
from microalgae
where there is water there is microalgae
you can find it anywhere on this planet
in the ocean in the fresh water
sometimes you can even find it
in the fossil records
the microalgae is placed in a
fermentation tank and fed food waste
like spent grain okara and molasses
the microalgae grows and it's harvested
within three days and turn into a flower
that's rich in proteins
different strains of microalgae also the
way it's grown or fed could determine
different food flavors resembling
different foods
[Music]
the company plans to work with
plant-based protein producers to replace
soy and other flowers
flour from microalgae grows faster and
uses fewer resources
it will also be a lot more sustainable
when you trying to produce it and not
only that don't forget micro lg has all
the essential amino acids needed by the
human being it even has all the vitamin
b group so nutrition wise it will
possibly be even better than all the
protein flour that we're using so widely
today
plant-based meat alternatives are one
thing
but how about making meat without
animals
upside foods based in california grows
real meat from stem cells in a process
that is similar to fermentation
in 2017 upside foods demonstrated the
world's first cultivated chicken
we take high quality animal cells from
cows and pigs and chickens and we find
the cells that can continue to grow and
double and double and double just as
they would inside an animal at the end
of it when they touch each other they
start forming tissues just like they
would in an animal and then once they
start forming tissues they start
developing thicker and thicker layers of
muscle
and fat and connective tissues and when
we start to cook our favorite foods you
start experiencing food as it should be
with the deliciousness and the
desirability of meat but not the
enormous downsides that come with
raising billions of animals to feed
humans who love eating meat
traditional meat and dairy industries
using livestock farming account for 14.5
percent of total man-made emissions
that's 7.1 gigatons of greenhouse gases
annually
at scale upside expects its cultivated
meat production to emit significantly
fewer greenhouse gases
independent researchers project cuts and
emissions by as much as 90 percent
when we talk about first principles
cultivated meat takes animal cells and
grows them directly into meat
whereas an animal has to do a lot more
in addition to growing meat on it it has
to run around heal broken bones have
babies so it uses a lot of calories for
things that are not going into making
meat so at a very simple level with
cultivated meat
all the calories we feed our animal
cells are being used to make meat so
therefore
by a very vast margin cultivated meat is
going to be much more efficient in the
world to produce meat with less
resources
another singaporean startup disrupts
livestock agriculture in a different way
turtle tree makes milk in a lab
the process also involves stem cells in
this case from freshly expressed milk
stem cells are grown in a bioreactor
then lactation is induced in turtle
tree's patented lactation media a liquid
that contains various components
naturally present in mammals
the process yields milk components and
these could be used to produce various
dairy products
if you look at cellular agriculture
technology it's a lot more efficient
reduces greenhouse emission gas by as
much as 78 to 96
reduces water usage
from 82 to 96 percent
and reduces
land usage by 99 percent so it's a far
more efficient way and humane way to
produce milk
turtle tree says all milk from mammals
could be produced using their process
even infant milk powder currently made
with cow's milk
it's an industry worth 3.5 billion us
dollars annually and growing rapidly
turtle trees technology can make the
industry much more sustainable and give
people of all ages the benefits of human
milk
another new development is the epitome
of future food
imagine if food could be made from just
air
food our thin air sounds like science
fiction but actually at solar foods
we've been producing food out of thin
air for more than two years
what we are going to do next is build
our first commercial facility that we
call the demo it's supposed to be
operating in the beginning of 2023
and after that we scale it to an
industrial scale
the company makes what they call solene
a protein that's produced with materials
that are abundant in nature and a
process that could even be carbon
negative
that's because land now used for
agriculture could be returned so
performing their original role as carbon
sinks
it starts with a microorganism
cultivated in a fermenter
no sugars or other agriculture agents
are used to aid fermentation
water from air is split by renewable
electricity into hydrogen and oxygen
the cells are fed co2 hydrogen and
mineral nutrients
enough co2 for the process could be
captured from the air in an occupied
room
the fermentation process results in a
protein powder which could replace
agricultural products like soy and peas
used in making plant-based proteins
we can go literally to produce this food
in the middle of desert and it doesn't
end there we can go in urban settings
because
every one of us breathe about one
kilogram of carbon dioxide out every day
we can capture even from the ventilation
of buildings carbon dioxide that we
grease out
capture that and put it back into food
in urban settings therefore we can bring
food production very close
to to very urban
settings and
within mega cities of future
an agricultural revolution is underway
turning what was once science fiction
into reality
bold new technologies are reducing the
environmental impact of food production
it's now up to consumers everywhere to
make the switch to more sustainably
grown foods
an opportunity for everyone to be a
climate trailblazer
[Music]
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you
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