This week on The Write Question, host Lauren Korn speaks with ecologist Mark Easter, author of The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos (Patagonia Books), which was recently named a finalist for the James Beard Award in the “Food Issues and Advocacy” category. Organized by the ingredients of a typical dinner party—including seafood, salad, bread, chicken, steak, potatoes, and fruit pie with ice cream—each chapter of The Blue Plate examines food through the lens of the climate crisis and reveals the causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the social and environmental impacts of the demand for out-of-season and far-from-home foods.
In this conversation, Lauren and Mark talk about “soil accounting,” microbes and carbon, fossil fuels, livestock, innovative farming practices, and more.
About Mark:
Mark Easter is an ecologist who has conducted research in academia and private industry since 1988. He has authored and co-authored more than fifty scientific papers and reports related to carbon cycling and the carbon footprint of agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. He contributed analyses to multiple reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2018, Mark was named a fellow of the Colorado State University School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
Apart from his scientific work, Mark co-founded the organization Save The Poudre and is a founding board member of Save the Colorado. He works with these organizations to help restore rivers to healthy conditions and protect rivers from water development.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas
Mark Easter recommends:
Horizon (Vintage Books) and Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World (Penguin Random House) by Barry Lopez
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins)
Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Food by Gary Nabhan (W. W. Norton & Company)
The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health by Ann Biklé and David Montgomery (W. W. Norton & Company)
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan (Penguin Random House)
The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery (Grove Press)
Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere by Rob Jackson (Scribner)
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katherine Hayhoe
Lauren Korn recommends:
The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos (Patagonia Books)
Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming (Island Press) and The Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America by Liz Carlisle (Avery, Penguin Random House)
How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Food by Vaclav Smil (Viking Books)
Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education by Michael Pollan (Grove Press)
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (Back Bay Books)
The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America by Mark Sundeen (Riverhead Books)
The Antidote by Karen Russell (Alfred A. Knopf)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, co-producer, editor, and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Bookworks of Whitefish, offering new books of all genres, stationery, and puzzles. Open 11AM to 6PM Monday through Saturday. Located in downtown Whitefish, Montana, in the Third & Spokane Building.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
