Episode 1. There's Fossil Fuels in our Food?
Episode Summary
“For many of us, how fossil fuels are integrated across the food chain is highly invisible.”
When we bite into a juicy apple, barrels of crude oil and natural gas cylinders might not spring to mind. But fossil fuels are the hidden ingredient behind all of our food. For every calorie that ends up on our plates, around 10 calories of fossil fuels are used. From the diesel powering the tractors to the fertilizer in the field and plastic packaging, fossil fuels are the lifeblood of the food industry.
In Fuel to Fork, a new podcast series powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, we expose and explore the fossil fuels in our food, speaking to farmers, chefs, food industry experts, scientists and campaigners. Each episode delves deep into a different step of the food supply chain.
About the Experts
Anna Lappé is an internationally recognized expert on food systems and the Executive Director of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. A national bestselling writer, Anna is the co-author or author of three books on food, farming, and sustainability including Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It.
Errol Schweizer is a member of the IPES-Food panel with other 25 years in food retail and supply chain expertise. He has have worked with Whole Foods, Patagonia, Annie’s, General Mills, Fairway, Good Eggs and National Co-op Grocers. I co-founded HERBL, Good Catch, Basics Market and other brands. Errol writes a weekly substack called the Checkout, the essential take on the 1 trillion dollar grocery industry.
Raj Patel is a member of the IPES-Food panel, a film-maker, best-selling author, and a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. His research on political ecology and food systems has been widely translated and taught, particularly his book “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System” (2012). He recently completed an award-winning documentary project on climate change, gender and agroecology: The Ants & The Grasshopper.
Nnimmo Bassey is a Nigerian environmentalist, author, poet, and architect. He is the director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, a Nigeria-based ecological think tank. He also is a member of the steering committee of Oilwatch International, a network resisting the expansion of fossil fuel extraction in the Global South.
Christine Delivanis is head of the Food, Agriculture and Nature Programme at SystemIQ. With a background in marketing and sustainability, she focuses on helping companies address complex environmental challenges, particularly in relation to nature and climate risks.
References and Recommended Resources
Report: Power shift - why we need to wean industrial food systems off fossil fuels (Global Alliance for the Future of Food, 2023)
Report: A MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY: Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems (UNDP, 2021)
Report: Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies (World Bank, 2023)
Report: Fossils, Fertilizers, and False Solutions: How Laundering Fossil Fuels in Agrochemicals Puts the Climate and the Planet at Risk. (CIEL, 2022)
Fuel to Fork is a collaboration between TABLE, IPES-Food, and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. Logo and branding by The Ethical Agency.
