BRB w/ Nathan P – Enzymatic Carbon Capture, Tofu and Green Beans with Chraimeh Sauce & Let My People Go Surfing
Enzymes that capture carbon dioxide, a flavorful Libyan-Jewish veggie dish, and the story of Patagonia from its unusual founder (#21).
Hi all,
Welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P — a weekly newsletter featuring 💥1 Breakthrough, 🥘1 Recipe, and 📚1 Book on food & climate.
Before we get started, here are some highlights of food & climate in the news this week:
Young Activists Take Montana to Court for its Role in Global Warming (AP News)
Arctic Summer Could Be Practically Sea-Ice-Free by the 2030s (NYT)
💥 Breakthrough: Enzymatic Carbon Capture
The effects of climate change are already being felt. The raging fires in Canada this past week have left New York looking like a scene from Blade Runner. It was literally the talk of the town – and the actions we take now will dictate the frequency of such events.
To reach the goals of the Paris Accords, we need a combination of source reduction and carbon sequestration technologies. One carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology you may not have heard of is enzymatic carbon capture.
Scientists looked for how nature captures CO₂. Living things to this every day: plants turn CO₂ for cellular respiration and animals evacuate CO₂ from cells by transforming it into bicarbonate.
Scientists at Novozymes chose animal-inspired approach using an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase. It’s a two-way enzyme that first takes CO₂ from our cells and converts it into bicarbonate for transport to the lungs, then in the lungs convert it back to CO₂ so it can be exhaled.
Enzymatic carbon capture a less harmful and energy-intensive way to recover CO₂ emissions than solvent-based methods. It’s also more efficient: one carbonic anhydrase enzyme can draw out a million molecules of CO₂ per second. And because it produces a non-corrosive byproduct, it is more benign and its equipment lasts longer.
This enzyme is obtained and optimized from heat tolerant microorganisms. These enzymes no longer require cells to operate, and can filter out CO₂ from hot flue emissions as it operates at 80oC. No purification required.
Novozymes is partnering with Italian oil company Saipem to make its supply chain more sustainable. Their first system, Bluenzyme™ 200, can sequester 200 tons of carbon a day – a promising start.
While it’s not sexy to work in fossil fuels these days, the greatest impacts to climate and health will likely occur by transforming these companies to be less harmful, more equitable, and more responsible.
Government support and regulation will be necessary to make it more expensive not to use systems that absorb CO₂ from emission streams. The US and Infrastructure Jobs act is already starting to support CCS and adjacent projects with $12.6B in funding.
However, our eyes should remain wide open: carbon sequestration is no replacement for emission reduction. Some might even say a distraction. According to Jonathan Foley from Project Drawdown, here is the expected contribution of the 3 carbon mitigation technologies towards Net Zero:
🏭 Source reduction will account for 76% of carbon removal
🌳 Natural sequestration will account for 20%
💨 Carbon removal will account for 4%
CCS stands at a mere 4%: it’s another tool in the arsenal. A shiny one, too. All of these approaches are need to occur in tandem to hit the brakes on runaway emissions. And the longer these solutions are in place for, the greater the impact will be.
🥘 Recipe: Tofu and Green Beans with Chraimeh Sauce
I will bet this dish has flavors you haven’t dared mix together. Cumin, cinnamon, paprika, caraway seeds, tomato, and lime come together in an addictively tangy and rich sauce.
Chraimeh is a Lybian sauce that Lybian-Jewish immigrants have also popularized in Israel. I love the texture of the green beans and tofu together. It’s a perfect standalone veggie dish or makes a great side.
Try it this weekend – I dare you. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
If you make it, send pictures :)
📚 Book: Let My People Go Surfing
Patagonia’s reputation as a responsible, equitable, and Earth-friendly brand is well-known. But it didn’t always start out that way.
In 1957, Yvon Chouinard bought a coal-fired forge and taught himself how to blacksmith to create his own climbing equipment. His friends asked to buy some and word spread. And thus, Chouinard Equipment was born.
In the 1960s, Yvon realized the impact the pithons they made were scarring the rocks of Yosemite he loved so dearly. To abide by his transcendentalist values to “leave no trace,” he started designing low-impact climbing gear that could be wedged instead of hammered into the rock.
By the 1970s, Chouinard Equipment was the largest supplier of climbing hardware in the US. Yet the business was barely profitable, so they started to develop clothing to diversify the business. And thus, Patagonia was born.
In the 1980s, Yvon noticed first-hand the degradation of the nature he grew up in. Fish populations declined; avalanche frequency increased; species went on the endangered list. In 1986, Patagonia started giving 10% of its profits every year towards grassroots environmental efforts, upping it to 1% of sales the following year.
In the 1990s they decreased energy consumption of their facilities by 60%. In the 2000s they reduced the impact of most harmful materials in their supply chain, cotton.
In 2012, Patagonia became a public benefit corporation. And in September 2022, Earth became Patagonia’s only shareholder.
Let My People Go Surfing details Yvon’s journey in running a company with different values, management styles, and priorities than business as usual. It all started from being a young climber scratching his own itch. Yvon called his management style “leading by absence”: preparing those under him to steer the ship in his stead while he tried out Patagonia’s gear in climbing expeditions.
It’s an inspiring story and reference manual on how to build a culture, system, and brand with the mission to save our home planet.
Some favorite quotes:
There is a powerful connection between treating our things as disposable and treating people who make those things as disposable. And there is also a connection between the way we trash our stuff and the way we are trashing the planet.
At Patagonia, making a profit is not the goal because the Zen master would say profits happen ‘when you do everything else right.’
The more you know, the less you need.
Thank you for reading - BRB next week ✌️
🥘 Recipe: Tofu and Green Beans with Chraimeh Sauce
Source: Yotam Ottolenghi (Simple)
Ingredients (2-3 servings)
1 lb (455g) haricots verts, trimmed
1 tbsp sunflower oil
14 oz (400g) firm tofu, cut into 1-in (2 1/2-cm) cubes and patted dry
Salt
3/4 cup (15g) cilantro, roughly chopped
Chraimeh Sauce:
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp hot paprika
1 tbsp caraway seeds, lightly toasted and crushed in a pestle and mortar
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp sunflower oil
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp sugar
2 limes, one juiced and one cut into 4 wedges for serving
Salt
1 cup plus 1 tbsp (250ml) water
Instructions (30 mins)
Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and place over high heat. Once boiling, add the green beans and boil for 5 to 6 minutes, until they are cooked but still retain a slight bite. Drain, refresh with cold water, drain again, and set aside.
Put the oil into a large sauté pan and place over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the tofu and a rounded 1/4 tsp of salt and fry for 4 to 5 minutes, turning throughout so that all sides are golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Make the chraimeh sauce: mix the garlic, paprika, caraway, cumin, cinnamon, and oil in a small bowl. Return the large sauté pan to medium-high heat and, once hot, add the garlic and spice mix. Fry for about 1 minute, then add the tomato paste, sugar, lime juice, and 3/4 tsp of salt. Stir to combine, then pour in the water to make a thin sauce. Once bubbling, stir frequently for about 2 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken. Return the green beans to the pan and continue to cook for another minute, until the sauce is thick and the beans are hot.
Remove from the heat and gently stir in the tofu and cilantro. Divide among four shallow bowls and serve, with a wedge of lime alongside.
About Me
Hi there! My name is Nathan Paumier — I’m an avid reader, food enthusiast, and climate optimist. I started this newsletter after frequent questions on food tech, reading recommendations, and my secret recipes.
Want to get in touch or chat further? Any feedback or things you’d like to see more of?
Forwarded this email?
Subscribe below to receive an email from me every week.
No spam, just quality ingredients.