Here are some environment friendly protein sources
There are quite a few options
I’ve been reading The Divide by Jason Hickel which talks about Global Inequality. This is something that struck me really hard-
Most of the food ends up in richer countries- where a majority of it is wasted. On the other hand, we have 1.5-2.5 billion people who are hungry. There is no shortage of food on this planet. It’s just not distributed efficiently, like so many other basic necessities.
Moving onto this week’s content. So today, we have-
🇧🇷 Why Brazil’s election could be a victory for climate change?
Brazil’s recent election could change the course of history.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s Presidential elections by a whisker. This will be his 3rd term with Latin America’s largest country.
Brazil is home to the iconic Amazon rainforest. It’s the largest rainforest on Earth. It’s one of the most important carbon sinks & freshwater resources.
But 17% of the Amazon rainforest is gone
If that number reaches 20-25%, it would be catastrophic. It would threaten millions of people and animals that depend on it.
Brazil was once a leader in forest conservation. It protected indigenous lands and cracked down on illegal logging. It monitored forest losses resulting in a decline in deforestation.
But all that changed in the last 4 years under President Bolsonaro.
His tenure saw a relaxation in ecological safeguards. Conservationists, indigenous defenders, and journalists were attacked. Deforestation surged by 72%
Destruction of the Brazilian rainforest hit a 15-year high. Illegal logging, mining, and land grabbing reached their peak. The rainforest was cut down to create land for cattle grazing.
The cattle were used for beef exports and other agricultural products. Lula has promised to change that. He has promised to preserve the Amazon rainforest
And he has done it in the past. During his tenure from 2003-06, deforestation plummeted by 43.7%. During his second term, it dropped by 52.3%.
If he can do it again, the planet would be in better shape.
🚮Sorting your waste through AI
Pretty obvious…To cut our emissions and avoid catastrophic climate change, we need to reduce our consumption. We need to stop using virgin materials and instead upcycle and reuse what we have. Recycling plays an integral part in this but 90% of the plastic never gets recycled- primarily because recycling is complex and producing virgin plastic is easier and more profitable. And so…
Bringing AI to recycling…Material recovery facilities or MRFs are the places where useful material is separated from trash, recycled, and sold again in the market. The process of sorting this trash is manual and capital-intensive. The UK-based True Circle is changing that by bringing data-driven AI to the recycling industry. They apply computer vision technology to waste streams flowing in MRFs, which makes the sorting task easier.
It installs cameras and lighting kits in its customers’ waste processing plants.
The data is put in the cloud and the computer vision machine learning model tags every single item.
Real-time data on what’s passing through their plants allows MRFs to do waste analytics and get timely alerts.
More credibility…Effective sorting of the trash means that MRFs can effectively extract more high-value material from the trash, recycle it and sell it in the market with confidence. True Circle is also planning to certify the material that is processed using their technology- making it easier for sellers and buyers of recycled material.
♺Closing the plastic loop
Facts…90% of the raw material used by the plastic industry is coming from the fossil fuel industry. So one harmful industry is causing more harm by fueling another one. And of all the plastic that is produced, less than 5% of it is used more than once. The remaining just sit in our landfills or oceans- choking the planet.
A carbon-free economy…That’s what Canada-based Loop Industries is striving for. Its mission is to accelerate a circular plastics economy by manufacturing 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and polyester fiber. PET and polyester fiber are usually found in plastic bottles, packaging, carpets, and textiles. Loop has a patented and proprietary technology that breaks no and low-value waste PET plastic and polyester fiber into their base building blocks- dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and monoethylene glycol (MEG)
DMT and MEG are then purified and re-combined into Loop™ branded PET plastic and polyester fiber.
Loop™ branded PET is a high-purity, virgin-quality plastic suitable for use in food-grade packaging.
This prevents plastic from harming the environment and effectively reuses the plastic already in the ecosystem.
That’s big…Loop recently signed a multi-year supply agreement with French food group Danone and will supply them with Loop™ branded PET resin made from 100% recycled content. This would also be used by Evian, Danone’s bottled water brand.
📊How are your protein sources impacting the planet?
👂What I’ve been listening to?
Thanks for reading today’s edition. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to write to me by replying to this email.
Have a great weekend😊