Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well fires burning
Speaker 1: across Europe and right now in California, catastrophic flooding in Kentucky,
Speaker 1: unprecedented heat wave in the UK. These are just a
Speaker 1: sample of the extreme weather that we've covered here in
Speaker 1: recent weeks. The big picture, though, is our planet is
Speaker 1: at steak. We've got a great voice on this. He
Speaker 1: writes a column each week for The Guardian. He's written
Speaker 1: quite a few books, including Heat, How we Can stop
Speaker 1: the planet from burning, and his newest is ReGenesis, Feeding
Speaker 1: the World without devouring the planet. George Monbio is joining
Speaker 1: us now. He's a columnist at The Guardian, joining us
Speaker 1: via zoom this afternoon. George, it's really good to have
Speaker 1: you with us. How are you, thanks Tim, yet doing
Speaker 1: all right despite the stage of the planet. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: that's what I want to talk to you about, because
Speaker 1: this new book that you wrote is all about environmental
Speaker 1: destruction that we don't necessar really talk about a lot.
Speaker 1: It's not about the fossil fuels that you know, go
Speaker 1: into the atmosphere as a result of us commuting. It's
Speaker 1: it's not about poisoning rivers, you know, with with chemicals
Speaker 1: as a result of manufacturing. It's about how we survive,
Speaker 1: how we eat. Talk to us about that. Yes, so
Speaker 1: the food industry, we don't really want to go there.
Speaker 1: You know. We much prefer to criticize fossil fuels. But actually,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to say that the most destructive industry on
Speaker 1: Earth is farming. It's the biggest cause of habitat destruction,
Speaker 1: the biggest cause of species loss, of extinction of land,
Speaker 1: use of water, use of soil, erosion of one of
Speaker 1: the biggest causes of water pollution, of air pollution, and
Speaker 1: one of the biggest causes of climate breakdown. Now, obviously
Speaker 1: we need farming and we need to eat, but we
Speaker 1: need a long, hard and realistic conversation about the devastating
Speaker 1: effects that the way we farm is having on the
Speaker 1: living planet on which we also depend. Well, I guess
Speaker 1: this is where I'm curious about the government here, because
Speaker 1: in the United States, I believe most of farming is
Speaker 1: subsidized by the US government. So where what is their
Speaker 1: role in all of this? Thanks? Pretty well, worldwide government
Speaker 1: suspending half a trillion dollars on farm subsidies five hundred
Speaker 1: billion dollars, and almost all those subsidies are destructive environmentally,
Speaker 1: that they are subsidizing damaging practices. Now we could radically
Speaker 1: repurpose those subsidies and pay farmers to be protecting the
Speaker 1: planet and in some places to stop farming, because there's
Speaker 1: certain kinds of farming, and I'm afraid the kinds of
Speaker 1: farming which has a lot of myths and warmth towards
Speaker 1: which has extensive livestock farming ranching in other words, which
Speaker 1: are peculiarly damaging. I mean, they exert a far greater
Speaker 1: impact than the amount of food they produce warrant. And
Speaker 1: so to be paying farmers to getting to get out
Speaker 1: of that farming all together and to restore the land instead,
Speaker 1: that would make a really massive contribution towards protecting our
Speaker 1: life support systems. George, let's continue with solutions here, And
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this on a governmental level,
Speaker 1: but also want a personal level. And I always want
Speaker 1: to know when I talk to people like you, who
Speaker 1: put so much work into writing a book like this,
Speaker 1: and all the work that you've done over your career,
Speaker 1: personal steps that we can take when we're in the supermarket,
Speaker 1: when we're buying food, what should we be doing at
Speaker 1: the personal level. Well, the first thing to say is
Speaker 1: that we're much more effective as citizens than we are
Speaker 1: as consumers. And a lot of the changes which need
Speaker 1: to take place are political, but we also do have
Speaker 1: power in our choices, and one of those when it
Speaker 1: comes to food. The biggest change we can make of
Speaker 1: all is to switch away from eating meat and milk
Speaker 1: and eggs animal products towards the plant based diet. And
Speaker 1: I know that's doesn't play very well in the United States,
Speaker 1: but I'm not in the business of telling people what
Speaker 1: they want to hear. I'm in the business of retailing.
Speaker 1: Just so I understand it. Completely eradicate meat. That would
Speaker 1: be the best thing you can possibly do for the
Speaker 1: living world. It's a big ask for everybody. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who don't wrong I'm
Speaker 1: a vegetarian, but for a lot of exactly yeah, um, well,
Speaker 1: let's let's start there. Then. How much of a case
Speaker 1: do you think you'd have to make for for people
Speaker 1: to get on board to actually care about the the
Speaker 1: destruction that the environmental destruction at a time, By the way,
Speaker 1: when food scarcity is a major issue in food prices.
Speaker 1: I think it record has it is, And one of
Speaker 1: the reasons for that is that a great deal of
Speaker 1: the food that we produce goes to feeding animals rather
Speaker 1: than feeding humans. And that's actually a really inefficient way
Speaker 1: of feeding us, because a lot of that food value
Speaker 1: is lost when it passes through the animals. So that
Speaker 1: is actually another very powerful reason to be moved being
Speaker 1: towards a plant based diet. You know, we we can't
Speaker 1: afford it either as human beings off as far as
Speaker 1: the rest of the living world is concerned. We can't
Speaker 1: afforward to keep eating these animal heavy diets. And now
Speaker 1: actually we have some very good substitutes coming forward, not
Speaker 1: least in the shape of this precision fermentation. It's basically
Speaker 1: an enhanced form of brewing, and it produces protein rich
Speaker 1: and fat rich foods. It will soon be very cheaply
Speaker 1: and there'll be much better than a lot of the
Speaker 1: plant based substitutes that we're seeing at the moment. So
Speaker 1: I think we're on the verge of a big food
Speaker 1: revolution which will help people make the right choices. Well,
Speaker 1: some people, I think would argue that part of that
Speaker 1: food revolution includes different agricultural methods, and I'm wondering where
Speaker 1: you fall on vertical farming because it's really hot right
Speaker 1: now here in the US. But there's been a lot
Speaker 1: of pushback on the environmental impact of it. So in
Speaker 1: the last minute and a half that we have with you,
Speaker 1: talk to us about that. Well, I've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of investors lose their shirts and and I think they'll
Speaker 1: continue to do so. And this isn't an environmental argument,
Speaker 1: this is a business argument. They they're going head to
Speaker 1: head with horizontal farming, which doesn't require those big infrastructure costs,
Speaker 1: those load bearing structures which are required, and also of
Speaker 1: course doesn't require the artificial light which is needed in
Speaker 1: vertical farming because horizontal farmers get their sunlight for free.
Speaker 1: So I just don't think it's economically viable and I
Speaker 1: think the entrepreneurs investing in it will continue to see
Speaker 1: their businesses fold. George, in the last forty sconds we
Speaker 1: have with you leave us with one thing, apart from
Speaker 1: not eating meat, that kind of gives you hope for
Speaker 1: the switch towards perennial grain crops, grain crops where the
Speaker 1: plants last from one year to another and you can
Speaker 1: keep harvesting. These are being pioneered by the Land Institute
Speaker 1: in Selena, Kansas, and it's really inspiring to see what
Speaker 1: they're doing because this causes far less damage, and those
Speaker 1: crops are which more resilient to climate shocks and other
Speaker 1: environmental disasters too. They could be one of the formulas
Speaker 1: for for helping us survive the terrible impacts that we're
Speaker 1: seeing at the beginning of this century. George, you've given
Speaker 1: us a lot to think about. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: You're staying up late in Oxford, England and taking the
Speaker 1: time to join us on Bloomberg Business Week. George Monbiau,
Speaker 1: the author of ReGenesis Feeding the world without devouring the planet,
Speaker 1: that is going to do it for this edition of
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week. This is Bloomberg Radio.