A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This week is NPR's Climate Solutions Week. This year, we're focusing on food, how the climate affects what we eat and how what we eat affects the climate. We're joined now by NPR's climate solutions reporter Julia Simon, who is going to tell us what we can expect this week. So, Julia, first off, why food?
JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: Climate experts say, when it comes to global warming, you've got to pay attention to food. Food and agriculture make up more than a quarter of the pollution that heats our planet, and that's a lot.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, that is absolutely a lot. So we're going to get to solutions, but quickly, what's driving all that climate pollution in food?
SIMON: Deforestation - demand for food drives deforestation in places like the Amazon rainforest. When those trees are cut down, they release carbon dioxide that heats the planet. Also, food waste - about a third of food gets wasted in this country. When that food goes to the landfill, it releases methane, another gas that heats the planet. And then there's beef. Here's Tim Searchinger at the World Resources Institute.
TIM SEARCHINGER: You want to reduce emissions, it's all about the beef.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, the beef - so how does beef contribute to climate change?
SIMON: Huge global demand for beef means there's a lot of cattle. When those cattle burp, they release a lot of that planet-heating methane. Their manure releases it, too. Demand for beef also drives deforestation. So we have stories about climate solutions around beef from Nebraska and California, stories about shifting diets towards eating less beef, including a food solution story, featuring, A, a point guard for the LA Lakers.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, you got me. You got me on that one.
SIMON: I knew I would.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, so what are some other stories that you're excited about?
SIMON: We have stories from across the NPR network. They'll go into how we grow food, shop for food, cook and how we eat it. Some of the stories highlight solutions to curb global warming. For example, we'll have a story out of Mississippi about new farming techniques in rice fields to help reduce climate pollution. We'll have one out of Colorado about restaurants switching away from planet-heating natural gas.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, cool, but we also have to find ways for our food systems to adapt to a changing climate.
SIMON: A hundred percent - we have a story about how to make better wheat for heat and drought. On this program today, there's a story from CapRadio in California about agave growers adapting to a warming planet. Later this week, we'll have a story from Germany about innovations from chocolate-makers there.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow, lots of good stuff - but here, Julia, people love their food. So, I mean, what do you hope audiences get out of this week?
SIMON: When it comes to climate change, food in particular is a place where our individual actions, our individual decisions, really matter. We have a lot of power when we decide what to eat or what not to eat or what food we end up throwing away. There are a lot of solutions in the food sector to curb global warming, so we're going to share the stories of innovators doing that right now.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's climate solutions reporter, Julia Simon. Julia, thanks.
SIMON: Thank you.
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