Episode 1
Soil | The Silent Climate Fighter
3 May 2023

Are you aware of the critical role soil plays in the battle against climate change? But 75% of soil is already degraded from unsustainable farming practices…so earth’s “living skin” is suffering from a “diet problem,” we are feeding it the wrong menu.  In a world of growing political tensions, can the US and China work together to restore this balance? 

Episode 2
Rice | A Sticky Climate Challenge
16 May 2023

Over half of the world’s population eats rice as its staple food. But did you know that rice production also contributes to about 10% of the world’s methane emissions? And that methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the planet? Reining in rice methane is a sticky problem. Different rice types and growing strategies to limit methane often create other problems like lower farming yields. An innovative SRI method developed in Madagascar in the 1960s increases yields and has the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions And if that’s not good enough news…Scientists in China, the world’s largest rice producer, are collaborating with U.S. researchers to cultivate a hybrid rice that will be a game changer for our ever-warming planet.

Episode 3
Cows | A Climate Stomach Ache
24 May 2023

Our focus in this episode is livestock…specifically dairy products made from cows. We humans have eaten dairy products for centuries, but we only started to realize the impact it has on climate change quite recently. It turns out enteric fermentation, the cow’s digestive process of turning grass into food, contributes to over 40% of global emissions from the livestock supply chain. And the US is a major producer and consumer of beef and dairy products…with China slowly catching up. How are the two global food superpowers innovating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy cows?