From seafood to steak and potatoes, the core of the American meal has remained largely unchanged over the years. However, we are only just beginning to explore the climate impact of the ingredients that make up these staples. In his insightful and thoroughly researched book, The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos, ecologist and greenhouse gas accountant Mark Easter passionately examines the ecological consequences of these and other ingredients. Easter is a research affiliate at Colorado State University and an ecological consultant at Farm, Table & Sky Consulting. In his meticulously researched work, he addresses the environmental implications of the soil required for growing various crops, as well as the issues surrounding fish farms that overshadow their financial advantages—among many other concerns currently on consumers’ minds.
The Blue Plate outlines the challenges of managing carbon emissions within our food systems and highlights innovative pioneers across the U.S., including regenerative agriculture farmers, researchers investigating changing ocean conditions due to climate change, and entrepreneurs enhancing composting programs in areas such as Boulder, Colorado. Food Dive spoke with Easter to gain insight into what surprised him during the research and writing of The Blue Plate, why he dedicated an entire chapter to our reservoir systems, and whether we can genuinely eat our way out of this crisis.
FOOD DIVE: What motivated you to write a book about the carbon footprint of our food systems? Was there something compelling about compiling all this data into a book?
MARK EASTER: I, along with other scientists studying climate change, realized some time ago that we weren’t effectively communicating our findings to the public in a meaningful way. The public is our most significant stakeholder, and it’s crucial to engage them with our discoveries and their implications. I wanted to illustrate that significant emissions originate from agriculture. Interestingly, most of these emissions aren’t from combustion but rather from microbes in the soil, animal digestion, landfills, lagoons of dairy manure, and irrigation reservoirs. I believed this was an important and potentially compelling narrative to share.
The Blue Plate offers much to digest. For readers involved in food systems or policy, how would you summarize the key messages you wish to convey?
One of the most intriguing connections I make in the book is that farmers respond to incentives. Specifically, these are agricultural programs designed to assist growers in transitioning to practices that not only enhance their profitability but also help them adapt to increasingly severe climate variability. Whether through financial support or technical assistance, farmers can be encouraged to adopt methods like cover crops. We consistently find that when funding is coupled with effective technical guidance, the adoption rate is substantial. Cover crops show immense promise in reversing soil carbon emissions and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil.
Your chapter on regenerative farming discusses a practice that has been around for a few decades, yet you uncovered some fascinating innovators in this field. Can you share what impressed you about the regenerative farmers you interviewed?
I discovered that when livestock are integrated into cover crop systems, grazing on those crops provides nutrients for subsequent crops and helps address weed issues. Additionally, organic matter accumulates more rapidly when livestock are included. Moreover, growers can reduce their reliance on synthetic fertilizers or other amendments to support their crops. This area of research is particularly exciting as it aligns with opportunities to enhance growers’ profitability.
When discussing our water systems, you describe them as “river-destroying, methane-emitting reservoirs behind towering dams.” Why did you choose to address reservoirs?
Writing this book was a journey of discovery for me. The realization that reservoir systems emit considerable greenhouse gases, especially methane, is only recently gaining attention, despite being studied for decades. Initially, we recognized this problem mainly in tropical regions. However, new data indicates that these issues exist almost everywhere, particularly in reservoirs plagued by toxic algae blooms, where emissions can be 10 to 100 times higher than in unpolluted water bodies. Ironically, while hydropower is often touted as a climate solution, these reservoirs impose a significant climate burden that could persist for decades, if not centuries.
You’ve been featured on podcasts discussing The Blue Plate, and many hosts have been surprised by your findings on the low carbon footprint of shellfish. Why do you think this research has shocked so many?
It surprised me too! Oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into their shells. Essentially, they transform this greenhouse gas into rock, which remains intact unless subjected to extreme conditions. The fact that they can sequester CO2 and convert it into carbonate within their shells astonished me, even though I was aware of this process. However, I had never connected it to a climate solution until I spoke with researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The mollusks highlighted in my book have one of the lowest carbon footprints of any animal protein source, generating less than a pound of carbon dioxide equivalent per pound. That’s remarkable.
Emerging from your book is the question: “Can we eat our way out of the climate crisis?” It seems your answer is a partial yes, but we need to reframe that question. How so?
When conducting research like mine, it’s easy to become overly optimistic about the role changes in agriculture can play. While they can make a considerable difference, they cannot solve everything. The stark reality is that we are burning fossil fuels at such unprecedented levels that the Earth’s ecosystem can only do so much to mitigate those emissions. Once we cease burning fossil fuels, the advantages of regenerative agriculture could extend for decades into the future.
As for another name for calcium citrate, it’s essential to recognize that this compound plays a role in various agricultural and environmental contexts, particularly when discussing soil health and nutrient management, which are crucial for sustainable farming practices mentioned in The Blue Plate.