Kelp is (also) the Answer!

In previous editions of this newsletter, we considered topics by category. Beer, for example, or meat, or milk, or coffee. This edition is different, because we’re talking about seaweed, specifically kelp, which is a bit magical, because it can reduce carbon emissions in multiple categories of the food system.

My kelp journey began in 2014 with a chance encounter in a hot tub on a roof in Monterey, where I enjoyed a cocktail with leading fish authority Paul Greenberg. The next morning, I joined Greenberg, who was researching rock fish, scuba diving in the amazing (and amazingly cold) kelp forest in Monterey Bay. I don’t remember much about the rock fish, but the kelp forrest was memorable; it felt like a canvas on which the otters, the fish and the divers were being painted.

My kelp journey continues seven years and 3,306 miles later. On Monday I arrived in Portland, Maine, which, like Asheville, is filled with microbreweries. It is a fun place with great seafood and salty characters. I was brought there by Casey Emmett, who came to my attention in the two-part series on seaweed in the How to Save a Planet podcast.

Casey and I boarded Stewart Hunt’s lobster boat and harvested about 6000 lbs of sugar kelp on a gorgeous cool sunny day. So much fun to get wet and dirty and help hard working people launch what will one day be a huge industry.

How can kelp help?