Mark Easter is a Colorado-based ecologist and author whose new book is titled "The Blue Plate: A Food Lover's Guide to Climate Chaos." If you care about food and you care about Planet Earth, "The Blue Plate" is a must-read. It explores the production, consumption, and disposal of many of our favorite foods– seafood, salad, bread, chicken, steak, potatoes, ice cream, and more– and offers a thoughtful and nuanced analysis of these foods' impacts on the environment. This is not a gloom-and-doom climate change book, nor does it have the condescending tone that sometimes accompanies many climate-related readings. While Mark is crystal clear about the massive threats facing our planet, this is a book built on the ideals of optimism, ingenuity, and taking action. I loved it. Mark lives and works in Fort Collins and has conducted research in academia and private industry since 1988. He has enjoyed a very successful and impactful career at Colorado State University, and he has authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific papers and reports related to carbon cycling and the carbon footprint of agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. But Mark also has a real gift for storytelling and for breaking down enormously complex topics into understandable and enjoyable writing. His writing is personal, educational, and fun to read, and I credit Mark and "The Blue Plate" with helping me to finally fully understand issues around greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. Mark and I met up a few weeks ago at CSU and had a fun and nuanced conversation about food, agriculture, and the climate. We started by discussing why he refers to himself as a “greenhouse gas accountant,” and he offers an excellent explanation of soil's all-important role in balancing the release and capture of carbon on Planet Earth. We talk about how grasslands, jungles, and mangroves sequester carbon, and how and why the destruction of any of these ecosystems negatively affects the planet. We discuss Mark’s ten-year process of writing this book and how Patagonia Books helped him bring his vision to life. We discuss how methane is produced by everything from reservoirs to ruminants, and why that particular greenhouse gas is more harmful than the others. We discuss regenerative agriculture, meat production, composting, and personal diet choices, and Mark offers a long list of excellent book recommendations. We barely scratched the surface of all of the fascinating topics in "The Blue Plate," so if you enjoy this conversation, I’d encourage you to pick up a copy of the book and dig in. I know you’ll enjoy it and learn a lot. --- Mark EasterThe Blue Plate: A Food Lover's Guide to Climate ChaosPatagonia BooksFull episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/mark-easter/ --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 3:00 - Intro and how Mark describes his work7:15 - Parallels between carbon accounting and business accounting13:45 - An overview of soil and carbon21:30 - Carbon in grasslands vs jungles vs mangroves25:00 - How and why Mark decided to write this book33:00 - The ten-year process of writing the book37:00 - Greenhouse gases explained40:00 - Methane feedback loop explained43:30 - A fascinating story about methane in Lake Powell46:15 - Reservoirs and evaporation47:00 - The most difficult chapter to write: Ruminants and meat55:30 - The increasing global demand for meat58:00 - Taking action and personal responsibility1:01:30 - Personal responsibility versus regulation1:04:00 - A helpful way to understand carbon quantities1:06:00 - Carbon consequences of transforming forests to grasslands1:09:00 - All about composting1:13:00 - Business opportunities in regenerative agriculture1:16:30 - Favorite books1:22:15 - Parting words --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All EpisodesMountain & Prairie ShopMountain & Prairie on InstagramUpcoming EventsAbout Ed RobersonSupport Mountain & Prairie Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts
