De-Commodifying Carbon and our Industrial Food Systems, with Tom Goldtooth
- S1E5
- 43:31
- December 6th 2022
Carbon markets are emerging as a leading tool for tackling our climate crisis, but are they actually getting to the root of the crisis?
In this episode, we speak with Tom Goldtooth (Dine’ and Dakota), executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, an organization of Indigenous Peoples building economically sustainable, environmentally just, healthy communities.
Tom is particularly knowledgeable about the growing use of regenerative agriculture to capture carbon in our soils to sell as carbon credits, but has concerns about how it is progressing as a new form of colonization and corporate ownership of lands, and through that, our food supply. So in this conversation, we speak with him about how businesses and communities might approach the climate and social crises.
We discuss:
- Tom’s take on carbon markets
- The commodification of nature and how corporations can decolonize themselves
- Water rights
- Cultivating an indigenous mindset both at an individual level and from a business perspective
- The role of technology in food sovereignty
- What an ‘Indigenous Just Transition’ should look like
Tom has been recognized for his achievements throughout the past 40 years as a change maker within the environmental, economic, energy and climate justice movement and is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2015 Gandhi Award and in 2016 was presented Sierra Club’s highest recognition, the John Muir award.
He co-produced an award-winning documentary film in 1999, Drumbeat for Mother Earth, addressing the effects of the bio-accumulation and biomagnification of toxic chemicals in the natural food web and bodies of Indigenous Peoples.
Links & Resources:
Indigenous Environmental Network: https://www.ienearth.org/
Drumbeat for Mother Earth (film): http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/dfme.html
Just Transition: https://www.ienearth.org/justtransition/
Vandana Shiva: http://navdanya.org/
Global Alliance on Rights of Nature: https://www.garn.org/
Subscribe to our newsletters that track all of the business, tech, and investment trends in food: https://tinyurl.com/nfonewsletters
Follow us on Instagram: @newfoodorderpod
Follow us on Linkedin: @agfunder & @foodtechconnect
This series is sponsored by Foodshot Global & New Hope Network.
New Hope Network
New Hope Network is a media, events and business intelligence company, covering natural products trends, industry insights and marketplace data that educate the industry about key issues, like regenerative agriculture, sustainability, responsible sourcing and more. Visit newhope.com.
FoodShot Global
FoodShot leverages resources from investors around the world to provide non-dilutive, equity, and post-investment capacities to innovators. Find out more at foodshot.org.
New Food Order is brought to you by AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect. Visit agfunder.com and foodtechconnect.com to find out more.
And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life:
Production: Cofruition, Anna de Wolff, Pamela Rothenberg
Audio Editing: Mercy Barno
Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera
Art: Lola Nankin & Rekai E. Campbell
Project Management: Patrick Carter
New Food Order
New Food Order is a podcast exploring the business of tackling our climate and social crises through food and agriculture from AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect.
Through nuanced conversation and debate, its hosts Danielle Gould and Louisa Burwood-Taylor are embarking on a learning and unlearning journey to unearth how we might design business and finance to have maximum positive impact for people and our planet.
Join us as we speak with leading farmers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and other stewards on key topics like:
- Will plant-based, lab-grown meat, and regenerative agriculture save the world?
- Is carbon neutral enough?
- What are the most people and planet friendly business and finance models?
- How might we best honor and learn from indigenous communities?
- What are the unintended consequences of new innovation, and how might we avoid them?
Danielle Gould is an entrepreneur and activist. She is the Founder and CEO of Food Tech Connect, the first community for food innovation as well as the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Alpha Food Labs, a consultancy where she works with some of the world’s largest companies to create products and innovation strategies that are better for people and our planet. She hopes that ultimately, her work helps unite and catalyze a movement of earth guardians.
A journalist and editor, Louisa is the head of media & research for AgFunder and chief editor of its news site AFN, focused on the foodtech and agtech industry. With 10 years of agriculture reporting behind her, Louisa started her career in other financial markets working for publications like the Financial Times, Euromoney and Private Equity International, where she launched the first-ever publication dedicated to agriculture investment.