I Told You So
But I'm too sad and angry to gloat about it
Hurricane Ian bludgeoned Cape Coral, which for obvious reasons has brought some renewed attention to my 2017 Politico Magazine opus on that insanely misbegotten city, which warned in the subhed that “One big storm could wipe it off the map.”
The Boomtown That Shouldn't Exist
The point of the story was that Cape Coral was built on lies, and that it was the ultimate microcosm of Florida, and that someday the bill would come due. So….the bill came due. It’s a catastrophe. I’m horribly sad and monumentally pissed off.
The idea that Florida is an unsustainable paradise is one my schticks - it’s the main theme of my first book - and I wrote about Cape Coral again after Ian, this time for The Atlantic. But all the left-leaning keyboard warriors posting about the idiot Floridians who live in harm’s way have gotten under my skin, maybe because I’m one of those idiot Floridians, so I tried to explain the paradise part as well as the unsustainability part. Ron DeSantis understands the allure of the Sunshine State. Maybe if more Democrats understood it, we could be a swing state again.
Also, if you want the very long version, or you’re just interested in the history of Florida and the Everglades, my book is still around!
The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise
I’m sorry, I know I said this Substack would just be food and climate stuff, but killer storms don’t hit Florida every day. Yet. And if you want more food and climate stuff, our latest Climavores episode about processed food is pretty fun.
I wrote this several months before your important NYT article today:
The most practical thing the world can do for the environment and climate change is non-photosynthetic single cell protein (SCP) that’s sufficiently low cost to substitute for fishmeal and soybean meal in animal feed. Yes, people should dramatically reduce meat consumption, but until they do, the numbers are compelling:
1. The world has lost almost half of its historic forest cover, almost all due to agriculture. Agriculture is a source of CO2 emissions, forests are a sink.
2. Almost 80% of all agricultural land is used for animal feed and forage.
3. Offsets can save forests here and there, but the world is still cutting down 10 million hectares a year of forests. We’re clearing the Amazon and other critical habitats and carbon sinks to graze cattle and grow soybeans.
4. In the 1980’s ICI produced single cell protein call Pruteen, which is fully tested and approved in the EU. ICI sold more SCP than all other alternative proteins combined have since sold. ICI stopped production because of the high price and volatility of methanol. The organism ICI used growing on methanol as feedstock are by far the most efficient way to produce protein, which is also suitable for human consumption.
5. Our company, Cvictus, has put together the key ICI experts, replicated the process at lab scale, and will soon start pilot production. We also have proven technology to produce very low-cost, low-CO2 methanol, and plan to use our methanol in an integrated process to produce large volumes of SCP.
6. Each tonne of our non-photosynthetic protein, which we call Cprute, that substitutes for soybean meal can save 4.5 acres of forest and each acre of forest saved can remove 3.8 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. So net-net, one tonne of our protein actually removes 17 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, and directly restores the biosphere. A million tonnes of Cprute can help save or restore an area the size of two Yellowstone National Parks, removing gigatonnes of CO2.
7. I’d love to discuss this and send you more information if you’re interested in learning more.
Brett Wilcox, CEO
www.Cvictus.com
+1-503-805-0727
I wrote this several months before your important NYT article today:
The most practical thing the world can do for the environment and climate change is non-photosynthetic single cell protein (SCP) that’s sufficiently low cost to substitute for fishmeal and soybean meal in animal feed. Yes, people should dramatically reduce meat consumption, but until they do, the numbers are compelling:
1. The world has lost almost half of its historic forest cover, almost all due to agriculture. Agriculture is a source of CO2 emissions, forests are a sink.
2. Almost 80% of all agricultural land is used for animal feed and forage.
3. Offsets can save forests here and there, but the world is still cutting down 10 million hectares a year of forests. We’re clearing the Amazon and other critical habitats and carbon sinks to graze cattle and grow soybeans.
4. In the 1980’s ICI produced single cell protein call Pruteen, which is fully tested and approved in the EU. ICI sold more SCP than all other alternative proteins combined have since sold. ICI stopped production because of the high price and volatility of methanol. The organism ICI used growing on methanol as feedstock are by far the most efficient way to produce protein, which is also suitable for human consumption.
5. Our company, Cvictus, has put together the key ICI experts, replicated the process at lab scale, and will soon start pilot production. We also have proven technology to produce very low-cost, low-CO2 methanol, and plan to use our methanol in an integrated process to produce large volumes of SCP.
6. Each tonne of our non-photosynthetic protein, which we call Cprute, that substitutes for soybean meal can save 4.5 acres of forest and each acre of forest saved can remove 3.8 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. So net-net, one tonne of our protein actually removes 17 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, and directly restores the biosphere. A million tonnes of Cprute can help save or restore an area the size of two Yellowstone National Parks, removing gigatonnes of CO2.
7. I’d love to discuss this and send you more information if you’re interested in learning more.
Brett Wilcox, CEO
www.Cvictus.com
+1-503-805-0727