Gulf Streams

We sit down with Award Winning Chef Anita Jaisinghani, chef and co-owner of Pondicheri Cafe in Houston and author of Masala: Recipes from India, the Land of Spices, to talk about the role our diets play in climate change and our environment. We discuss the importance of reducing our meat intake for our health and our planet, ways of doing so, and how restaurants can lead the way in lowering food waste. 

Repurposed empty downtown buildings have become a constant talking point post-pandemic. What can we use this valuable real estate for now that office spaces are downsizing? We talk to Cath Conlon (CEO Blackwood Educational Land Institute) about the SkyFarm on top of POST Houston and Bart Womack (CEO Eden Grow Systems) about indoor farming in the historic Esperson Building.

This week we have two stories focused on energy. Up first, we speak with Christ Tomlinson (Houston Chronicle Business Columnist) about the annual CERAweek energy conference which just concluded in Houston. Then we talk to Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry (Founding Co-Directors of Land Art Generator) about their international design competition Land Art Generator (www.landartgenerator.org) combining art and energy and a new public art work with the ability to power 40 homes coming to Houston in the near future. 

As climate change shifts industries and economies, how can we ensure that labor has a seat at the table? We sit down with Dr. Claire Ravenscroft (International Christian University, Tokyo) and Dr. Casey Williams (Rice University) to discuss what labor activism can teach the environmental movement, and how we can work to ensure good clean jobs in a new economy. Later in the hour our researcher Siena talks with Dr. Dominic Boyer (Rice University) about flood resilience in Houston. 

Pork is the most produced meat globally, and is only growing in popularity. On today's episode, we sit down with Dr. Alex Blanchette (Tufts University) and Dr. Mindi Schneider (Brown University) to discuss how the global pork market is evolving and the consequences for our environment based on the way we raise our pigs. 

The second in our series on meat production, we dive into the history of beef production. How did America create the modern industrial beef industry and how does this history help us reimagine what the future of industrial agriculture could be? I'm joined by our researcher Jadyn Bray-Boyce who joins me in a conversation with Dr. Joshua Specht, Associate Professor of History at Notre Dame and author of Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table-History of How Beef Changed America. 

In the second piece in our series on plastics, we're discussing PFAs (Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances): a type of so called "Forever Chemical" that are in a remarkable breadth of consumer products, and, increasingly, our food, water, and blood. On today's episode we discuss what these substances are, why the use of them is growing, and what's being done to address these materials and the plastics that they are in. We're joing by Jenny Gitlitz (Director of Solutions to Plastic Pollution at Beyond Plastics), Brandy Deason (Climate Justice Coordinator of Plastic Pollution at Air Alliance Houston), and Dr. Michael S. Wong (Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemcial and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University) to discuss this problem and potential solutions. 

Pulling the carbon out of the air and storing it underground may sound like a dream solution to Climate Change, but 50 years into attempts it still isn't economically viable as a solution, and increasingly advocates worry about potential risks to human health and our environment related to carbon storage. We talk with Becky Smith of Clean Water Action and Paige Powell of Commission Shift to learn what Carbon Capture is and what the associated risks are. Later in the episode our research Jadyn Bray Boyce has a story on droughts in Texas, and our researcher Siena Yiin discusses compostable plastic. 

In the first of a multi-episode series on the ramifications of meat production (on the environment, on animals, and on humans) we start by thinking of the cultural and spiritual importance of meat in society – and the important role that animals play in our ecosystem. Indigenous experts Lucille Contreras (Founder and CEO of Texas Tribal Buffalo Project) and Huatse Gyal (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Rice University) share different ways of raising, rearing, and consuming meat and animal sourced foods. In the second half of the episode we also sit down with Hannah Pittman of Grounds Krewe to discuss how to make Mardi Gras more sustainable. 

Prairie was once the dominant landscape throughout Houston and along the Texas coast. Today only a fraction remains. But local advocates are working to help restore the prairie throughout our landscapes and help us reimagine our relationship to our local (and urban) environments. We speak with Prof. Maggie Tsang of Rice University and Jaime Gonzalez of The Nature Conservancy to learn more about reimagining lawns and restoring native habitat.