Medium Rare: What’s Next For Meat?

Medium Rare: What’s Next For Meat?

Author: Climate One from The Commonwealth Club June 12, 2026 Duration: 1:05:01
Industrial agriculture accounts for a significant share of global emissions, but meat alternatives face real hurdles in becoming a mainstay of consumer diets. The hype around plant-based meat has cooled: hurt by price gaps, ultra-processed rhetoric, and culture-war politics around masculinity and food identity. Yet feeding a growing planet will require eating less beef, wasting less food, and producing more food with less land. Cultivated meat – made from animal cells and grown in a lab –  could offer a different path forward, especially in hybrid form combining plant and cultivated proteins. What might the future of meat look like?  Guests:  Robbie Lockie, CEO, Founder, foodfacts.org Michael Grunwald, Journalist and author, “We Are Eating the Earth” Claire Bomkamp, Senior Lead Scientist, Cultivated Meat & Seafood, Good Food Institute Highlights: 00:00 - Introduction 4:30 Robbie Lockie on changing his diet 11:54 Robbie Lockie on who is choosing plant based meat 17:55 Robbie Lockie on how plant based meat competes on taste 20:40 Robbie Lockie on the future of plant based meat 26:54 Michael Grunwald making more food with less land 30:16 Michael Grunwald on the efficiency of industrial agriculture 33:30 Michael Grunwald on rotational grazing 38:00 Ariana Brocious’ cultivated salmon tasting 45:05 Claire Bomkamp on the state of cultivated meat 47:16 Claire Bomkamp on energy use of cultivated meat 52:23 Claire Bomkamp on what cuts cultivated meat can create 56:22 Claire Bomkamp on the price of cultivated meat For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Join us for our induction cooking demonstration night on July 21, at 6 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Come enjoy delicious food and wine, and learn about why cooking with magnets beats cooking with gas. Tickets available at climateone.org/events  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The conversation about our changing planet is often reduced to headlines and political noise, but Climate One moves beyond that. Hosted by Greg Dalton, Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar, this podcast from The Commonwealth Club creates a space for the full, complex dialogue we need. Each episode features candid discussions with scientists, policymakers, activists, and thinkers who are on the front lines. The focus is on drawing connections-between personal action and economic systems, between daunting scientific reports and tangible community solutions. You’ll hear analysis that doesn’t shy away from the severity of our situation while actively exploring pathways for genuine progress, from technology and finance to culture and justice. This isn't about alarmism or easy answers; it's about equipping listeners with a deeper understanding of the intertwined challenges and opportunities. Tuning into this podcast means joining a crucial exploration of how we adapt, mitigate, and fundamentally rethink our relationship with the natural world. The dialogue here is built on the idea that confronting the climate emergency honestly, in all its facets, is the first necessary step toward shaping a livable future.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Climate One
Podcast Episodes
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Duration: 54:54
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Duration: 1:03:24
Food loss and waste account for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and cost $1 trillion annually, according to the United Nations. About a third of all food grown on the planet gets wasted, rather than eaten. I…
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Duration: 1:04:39
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