BRB w/ Nathan P – Infinitely Recyclable Stone Paper, Smokey Vegan Chili & Second Nature
Greener paper made from leftover crushed stone, a smokey vegan chili with a surprising ingredient, and Michael Pollan's guide to gardening (#22).
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:
‘No kill’ meat, grown from animal cells, is now approved for sale in the U.S. (NPR). The USDA has approved GOOD and Upside Food’s cell-based meat for sale in the US.
Fossil Fuels Now Account for Less Than Half of China’s Power Capacity (Yale Environment 360). China hits its renewable energy goals 2 years ahead of target.
💥 Breakthrough: Infinitely Recyclable Stone Paper
Even as tech products become ubiquitous, we still enjoy the feeling of writing on paper and flipping through the pages of a book. Paper is not going anywhere.
Yet our beloved white paper requires deforestation, lots of water, and bleach treatment. It also creates harmful by-products.
While recycled paper lowers its impact, there’s a little industry secret: pulp paper is not infinitely recyclable. The fibers shorten during each cycle, so paper can only be recycled 7 times or so. Virgin material needs to be added in almost every time.
There’s an alternative solution that is more functional, sustainable, and infinitely recyclable: stone paper.
Stone paper takes advantage of an abundant wasted resource: crushed stone from quarries, mines, and construction debris. This stone can be ground fine enough to make paper.
The formula is simple: 80% calcium carbonate (making up limestone and chalk) and 20% HDPE. This HDPE can be obtained from recycled milk jugs, shampoo bottles, or recycling bins.
The result is paper that is waterproof, hard to tear, and recyclable without degradation. It also:
💧 Requires no water to produce
💨 Emits 67% less CO2 pulp paper
♻️ Creates no waste or byproducts
🪨 Prevents crushed stone dust from polluting the air
🌳 Protects forests and their biodiversity
Stone paper is one of many initiatives encouraged by the Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI) by Gunter Pauli.
It is part of a larger philosophy I embrace that 1. waste is highly valuable and 2. that we can meet the needs of everyone using resources we already have.
🥘 Recipe: Smokey Vegan Chili
Everyone has a nostalgic association with chili. Mine is during lunches mid-ski days –filling up on the warm, creamy, and spicy goodness before hitting the slopes.
This chili sin carne calls for a shot of espresso to develop the smokey flavor, amid a mix of beans, tomatoes, onions, and spices. An extra kick to fight the post-lunch slump.
If you make it, send pictures :)
📚 Book: Second Nature
Michael Pollan has written extensively on man’s place in the natural world – through nutrition, agriculture, and more recently psychedelics. He’s one of my current favorite authors.
In Second Nature, he dives into the art, how-to, and philosophy of gardening. Caring for a vegetable garden develops empathy and curiosity for how our food is produced. In a capitalist era of mass centralized production, it’s also a rebellious act.
Michael Pollan learns of the nature’s dislike from undisturbed food production from a woodchuck that settled near his vegetable garden for the summer. After waging war with plugged holes and even gasoline fires, he learns the woodchuck’s behaviors and accepts his presence instead.
He discusses two philosophies of gardening: the domination seen in lawns and the acquiescence of the naturalist.
It’s a practical and thought-provoking read on our relationship with food and our own gardens.
Some favorite quotes:
The gardener cultivates wildness, but he does so carefully and respectfully, in full recognition of its mystery.
A garden should make you feel you've entered privileged space – a place not just set apart but reverberant – and it seems to me that, to achieve this, the gardener must put some kind of twist on the existing landscape, turn its prose into something nearer poetry.
Tree planting is always a utopian enterprise, it seems to me, a wager on a future the planter doesn’t necessarily expect to witness.
We need, and now more than ever, to learn how to use nature without damaging it.
Thank you for reading - BRB next week ✌️
🥘 Recipe: Smokey Vegan Chili
Source: Fork Ranger
Ingredients (4 servings)
800g canned tomatoes (I like San Marzano)
800g canned black beans
1 onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 green onions stalks, thinly sliced
100mL espresso/coffee
2 tsp chili flakes
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 slice of bread to serve
Instructions (30 mins)
Heat a large saucepan medium-high, add olive oil, and sauté the diced onions until translucent. Add the chili flakes, cumin, paprika, and minced garlic and sauté for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes and coffee, crushing the tomato chunks with a spatula. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add in the beans and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve warm with the thinly sliced green onion garnish, bread, and any other favorite toppings. Enjoy any time :)
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.
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