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Michael Grunwald

What Michael Grunwald thinks about energy

@michael-grunwald · 17 positions · 0 changes of mind

Journalist and New York Times contributing writer, author of We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate. Argues that land, not energy, is the hard part of the climate problem, and that the world has to grow much more food on much less land.

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5 dated positions, 2023, in their own words. Our reading of what Michael Grunwald has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingVertical farming swaps a land problem for an energy problem, and the energy cost is what stops it feeding the world.

    Their wordsI explain why in the essay; the TLDR is that they’re energy hogs. The sun is a really awesome source of calories, and it’s kind of dumb not to take advantage of it.

    ↗The Food Problem Is Bigger Than Lettucemichaelgrunwald.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  2. 4 weeks earlier

  3. Our readingBiofuels have probably raised greenhouse gas emissions rather than lowered them, once the land they take is counted.

    Their wordsBut I think it’s important to tell the whole story, so I have a new piece in the New York Times pointing out that biofuels are also a catastrophe for the climate and the environment.

    ↗A Climate Killer Disguised as a Climate Solutionmichaelgrunwald.substack.com 2nd of 5 in this piece

  5. Our readingAn acre of solar panels powering electric cars carries you orders of magnitude further than an acre of crops grown for fuel.

    solarelectric vehicles

    Their wordsan acre of solar panels generates as much energy as 100 acres of corn grown for ethanol.

    ↗A Climate Killer Disguised as a Climate Solutionmichaelgrunwald.substack.com 3rd of 5 in this piece

  7. Our readingThe world spends an area larger than California growing under four per cent of its transport fuel.

    Their wordsThe world now uses a land mass larger than California to grow less than 4 percent of our transportation fuel.

    ↗A Climate Killer Disguised as a Climate Solutionmichaelgrunwald.substack.com 4th of 5 in this piece

  9. Our readingLand is good at growing food and storing carbon and bad at growing energy, and we have better ways to grow energy.

    Their wordsLand is really good at growing food and storing carbon, but it sucks at growing energy—and fortunately, we have better ways to grow energy.

    ↗A Climate Killer Disguised as a Climate Solutionmichaelgrunwald.substack.com 5th of 5 in this piece