Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Meet Molly Leavens.

Let me tell you, Molly did Harvard right. After an injury her first year ended her downhill skiing career, she was able to dedicate even more time and energy into the major she designed called Food and the Environment. She took classes across nearly 20 disciplines, traveled the world for research, from Indonesia and Japan to Central and South America, all on Harvard's dime, and lived in both the housing system and non-traditional Coop over her four years. She is now traveling the country as she works remotely as a data consultant to help food companies work towards sustainable supply chains.

Fair warning, this one is a deep dive on all things food, farming, the environment, and sustainability. And I learned a ton. Molly's obvious passion plus deep understanding of these topics made this conversation as informative as it was a pleasure. We talk how she thinks about diet (spoiler: she does not call herself vegan or vegetarian), the barriers to fighting climate change with food, and begin with a proper lesson in agriculture.

We really dig into regenerative agriculture so, for context, let me explain. Regenerative agriculture is a type of farming that at its core, emphasizes soil health, and additionally, helps communities thrive. By managing how the land gets used (by not letting land go barren, minimizing the breaking up of soil from tilling, and planting diverse crops without harmful fertilizers) carbon, which we know contributes to global warming, can be captured in the ground. This was crazy to me when I first learned about it because it can literally help reverse climate change. This is important because industrial agriculture, where most of our food comes from, destroys the soil - releasing carbon into the atmosphere just like your car.

While that doesn't do it justice, I think it might be helpful before you hear more from Molly. Please enjoy.