Source: Climate Coach from The Washington Post
| In May, I visited anaquatic farm an hour outside San Diego to see what could be the future of humanity’s protein supply. It looked more like a meth lab out of the drama “Breaking Bad.” Decrepit recreational vehicles squat on the property. In one corner, people tended to vials, grow lights and centrifuges in a trailer lab. More than a dozen big ponds filled with duckweed basked in the sunshine.But the only thing cooking there was protein.Within each tiny floating aquatic plant is a molecule colloquially called rubisco, arguably the most abundant protein on the planet. But this tireless molecule is locked inside plants’ cells.The company that owns the farm, Plantible Foods, may change that. If it succeeds, duckweed may become humanity’s first new major crop in more than a century, a skeleton key to unlock how plants replace animal protein on an unprecedented scale.Why do we need an alternative protein?Meat, at least how most of it is raised today, is the driver behind 57 percent of all food production emissions. Advising people to eat less of it isn’t likely to do much. The challenge, then, is how to make plant proteins taste better than their animal counterparts. But as anyone who has eaten a vegan brownie or an Impossible burger knows, plant proteins aren’t a perfect substitute. |
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