Peter Newton on Sustainable Food Systems, Deforestation in Brazil, and Ultrarunning

Summary: <br> <br> It’s pretty clear that our environment is in serious trouble. Ozone depletion, desertification, ocean dead zones, deforestation, species extinction, and climate change are some of the main problems that we’re facing. The problem is, these issues don’t always have a clear fix, and many factors play into their cause. We do know though, that humans play a major role in the acceleration of environmental degradation through overpopulation, transportation, and the focus of this conversation: diet.<br> <br> Welcome to the show Peter Newton, PhD researcher and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the environmental studies program. Pete and I met through the running community here in Boulder (Pete is a passionate ultrarunner) and I soon found out that he also focuses on deforestation in Brazil as a result of animal (specifically beef) agriculture. I was really interested to hear more about his work so of course a podcast would be a great place to start! We covered a lot of great topics including:<br> <br> Pete’s background in education and research<br> What his work at CU looks like<br> All about his work in Brazil <br> Are the claims made by documentaries and sources like Cowspiracy accurate?<br> How students in his classes are reacting to the realities of animal agriculture and the solutions<br> What are some ways of mitigating the degradation that is occurring?<br> A bit on his running career<br> <br> We tried to keep it pretty informal and not get bogged down by too much data, so we hope you learned something new. I really enjoyed sitting down with Pete, and hope to have him on again in the future!<br> <br> Can you guys do us a huge favor? If you’re enjoying the show, it would really mean a lot to us if you told your friends and family about TFF and wrote a review on the iTunes store from your computer. Spreading the word is key to making our mission and goals more mainstream and able to catalyze actual change. Keep it up!<br> <br> -Jackson<br> <br> Follow us on social media: <br> <br> <a href="http://facebook.com/tfflifestyle">Facebook.com/TFFlifestyle</a><br> <br> Instagram: @TFFlifestyle<br> <br> Snapchat: TFFlifestyle<br> <br> <a href="http://youtube.com/thoughtforfoodtv">YouTube.com/ThoughtForFoodTV</a><br> <br> Twitter: @TFFlifestyle<br> <br> SoundCloud: <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-473054330">https://soundcloud.com/user-473054330</a><br> <br> More on Peter:<br> <br> GIRAFFES Website: <a href="http://petenewton.squarespace.com/people/">http://petenewton.squarespace.com/people/</a><br> <br> <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/envs/peter-newton">http://www.colorado.edu/envs/peter-newton</a>