BRB w/ Nathan P – Microbial Suncreens, Roasted Carrot and Feta Risotto & Bewilderment
How sunscreens kill corals and microbes can help make better ones, kicking off fall risotto variations, and a gripping story on childhood & ecology (#38).
Welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P, your 5-min weekly dose of climate information to inspire climate action.
My mission is to make it fun, easy, and delicious to make more sustainable decisions.
Each Wednesday, I share 💥1 Breakthrough, 🥘1 Recipe, and 📚1 Book on food & climate.
💥 Breakthrough: Microbial Sunscreen
Coral reefs are dying – and it’s partly because of our sunscreens.
Chemical sunscreens contain endocrine disruptors, which interfere with the hormone cycles in our bodies and other living organisms.
One prevalent ingredient is shown to be particularly harmful for humans, corals, and marine life: oxybenzone.
Thankfully, microbes already produce highly effective sunscreens we can use instead: mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs).
Today’s post dive into:
The oxybenzone problem
The potential of microbial sunscreens: MAAs
Some sunscreen tips & what SPF really means
1. The oxybenzone problem
When we go swimming with chemical sunscreens, we are putting coral reefs in danger.
There’s one culprit in particular behind this: oxybenzone.
Even though it has been deemed safe by the FDA for 40 years, oxybenzone is harmful to humans and deadly to corals and phytoplankton. It is still found in 2/3 of sunscreens tested by the EWG in 2019.
Companies and governments have historically addressed water pollution with the age-old maxim: the solution to pollution is dilution.
Not only is this a flawed mindset, but it also does not work for fat soluble molecules like oxybenzone. These molecules accumulate in the millimeter-thin surface of the oceans called the sea surface micro layer (SML).
Concentrations as low as 60 parts per trillion (ppt) of oxybenzone can be lethal to phytoplankton and corals – on par with the most potent natural toxins we know of. Globally, oxybenzone concentrations in the SML have already reached 40 ppt.
Oxybenzone in the SML is also killing zooplankton and phytoplankton – which are crucial in food chains and hold more than 30X humanity’s annual carbon emissions.
We need urgent innovation in next-generation UV filters in sunscreens. Thankfully, nature has developed a few for us already.
2. The potential of microbial sunscreens: MAAs
Many microorganisms, fungi, algae, and corals protect themselves from the sun using highly effective molecules called mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs).
MAAs are quite remarkable:
☀️ They protect better than man-made sunscreens
☠️ They don’t degrade into harmful by-products
👧 They are non-toxic
There are dozens of different MAAs which protect against different UV wavelengths – like porphyra, shinorine, and palythine.
Commercial sunscreens featuring MAAs are already in market, like MiBelle’s Helioguard 365.
However, there’s a few reasons why they aren’t widespread commercially just yet:
🦠 Poor understanding of biosynthesis pathways to produce economically
🧬 Chiral centers make MAAs difficult to reproduce chemically
💦 MAAs are water-soluble, making them impractical for a beach trip
Most MAAs are extracted from red algae, though many labs are trying to crack biosynthesis through precision fermentation in microbial hosts like bacteria or fungi.
It will take effort from start-ups, industry, and regulatory bodies to eliminate harmful sunscreen ingredients. But our bodies and marine ecosystems depend on it.
3. Some sunscreen tips & what SPF really means
Here are a few tips on reducing the environmental harm of sunscreens:
Avoid sunscreens with oxybenzone, and for good measure also ones with octocrylene and avobenzone.
Look for sunscreens with the ‘Coral-Safe’ 🪸 label (note: this is geography specific).
Look for mineral sunscreens containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. My preference is non-nano zinc oxide.
Little bonus aside: what does SPF actually represent?
SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor (thanks Nathan, but so what?).
An SPF of 30 multiplies your bodies natural defenses by 30X, essentially filtering 97% of UV rays in lab conditions. SPF 50 filters 98% and SPF 100 filters 99%.
Not a big difference between the three. How much sunscreen and how often we apply it are actually more important than the SPF. This is also why SPFs above 50 are misleading and banned in the EU (they’ll read SPF 50+).
Voilà. If you visit a sunny place soon, reapply every two hours and enjoy ☀️
🥘 Recipe: Roasted Carrot & Feta Risotto
Fall is here – get ready for some cozy, colorful, and comforting dishes over the next few weeks.
This week’s recipe is a roasted carrot & feta risotto, topped with sliced serrano chili and grated parmesan for garnish. A delicious main or side for your next dinner party.
If you make it, please send pictures :)
📚 Book: Bewilderment
I loved reading The Overstory by Pulitzer-winning Richard Powers earlier this year. After rave reviews from friends on his next book Bewilderment, I had to pick it up.
Bewilderment is a beautiful story spanning a wide range of topics – from astrobiology to mental health, longing, politics, and ecology.
As Theo Byrne scans for life in the cosmos, he also single-handedly raises his nine-year-old and troubled son Robin after his wife’s death.
Robin shares his late mother’s passion for ecology, painting endangered animals and peacefully protesting for their protection.
To help Robin cope with psychological troubles and avoid medication so young, Theo signs him up for a unique treatment – called Decoded Neurofeedback – in which he is trained on behavior patterns captured in his late mom’s brain scans.
The book got me thinking about many questions around education and ecology in the Anthropocene:
How do we tell children the truth about the state of biodiversity loss and the climate crisis?
How do we prepare children for a future that will be greatly different from today?
How do we promote essential but initially costly environmental initiatives in a society obsessed with the bottom line?
How do we change behavior when most consumers have grown ecologically indifferent?
How will the discovery of life on other planets affect our relationship to our own?
How will AI and new technology change how we interact with nature, each other, and ourselves?
I don’t have the answers to the above just yet – and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Hope you enjoy this one.
Some favorite quotes:
They share a lot, astronomy and childhood. Both are voyages across huge distances. Both search for facts beyond their grasp. Both theorize wildly and let possibilities multiply without limits. Both are humbled every few weeks. Both operate out of ignorance. Both are mystified by time. Both are forever starting out.
Earth had two kinds of people: those who could do the math and follow the science, and those who were happier with their own truths. But in our hearts’ daily practice, whatever schools we went to, we all lived as if tomorrow would be a clone of now.
That’s the ruling story on this planet. We live suspended between love and ego.
Nobody’s perfect, she liked to say. But, man, we all fall short so beautifully.
Thank you for reading – BRB next week ✌️
🥘 Recipe: Roasted Carrot & Feta Risotto
Ingredients (makes 4 servings):
6 large carrots, cut lengthwise into quarters
1 small yellow onion
1 & 1/3 cups arborio rice
1/3 cup white wine
4 cups vegetable stock
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
20g unsalted butter
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan
50g feta
1 serrano chili, finely sliced
Instructions:
Preheat an oven to 400F. Place the rinsed, peeled, and sliced carrots onto a baking tray. toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes until caramelized and softened.
Place a medium saucepan on medium-high. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil, the diced onion, and salt. Stir until translucent and fragrant.
Add in the arborio rice, stirring for 1 more minute until golden. Add in the white wine to deglaze.
Add in the vegetable stock and bring back to a boil. Then let simmer for 20 minutes. Finely dice 1/3 of the roasted carrots. When the liquid is almost fully absorbed, add in the butter, parmesan, and diced carrots. Stir and let sit for a few minutes, then season to taste.
Serve the risotto, garnished with the roast carrots, feta, serrano chili, grated parmesan, and a drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy with your besties :)
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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