Plastic pollution is one of the defining environmental challenges of our time—microplastics are now found in our oceans, our soil, our drinking water, and even in our bloodstreams. But what if we could make high-performance materials that look, feel, and function like plastic—without being plastic at all?

Enter Xampla.

Born out of the University of Cambridge, Xampla is a materials science innovation company that’s developed a new class of plastic-free, fully biodegradable materials that offer a drop-in replacement for the most polluting types of plastic. Their flagship line, known as Morro™, is made from natural plant proteins like those found in peas, potatoes, sunflowers and many other sources. It's already launched in the market with global brands for food service packaging, and it’s able to eliminate the most polluting plastics in a whole range of products from barrier coatings for paper, microcapsules in personal and homecare products, and soluble films for homecare and edible applications.

In this episode, I’m joined by Xampla’s CEO, Alexandra French—a veteran of the chemical and materials industries with more than 25 years of global leadership experience. Since taking the reins in 2023, Alexandra has been leading Xampla through its next chapter: moving from a world-changing lab discovery to a commercially scalable solution.

We’ll talk about how Xampla’s technology works, the environmental promise it holds, and how Alexandra is navigating the complex journey of building a startup at the intersection of science, manufacturing, and sustainability. We’ll also explore the company’s recent commercialization and the licensing business model it’s pursuing.

What if we could grow nutritious, sustainable protein—not in months or weeks—but in just one day?

This episode’s guest is doing just that. Rather than going big with animal agriculture, MicroHarvest is going small with microbial agriculture.

A huge number of animals are used to feed both our pets and the animals we raise for food. Kate Bekers, the CEO and co-founder of MicroHarvest, is seeking to change that. She’s running a fast-rising European biotech startup using fermentation to produce high-quality protein from microbes—in just 24 hours. Based in Hamburg and Lisbon, MicroHarvest is on a mission to reshape how the world thinks about protein production. Rather than growing plants or animals, they grow single-cell microbes in bioreactors, yielding a high-protein, micronutrient-rich ingredient that can be used in everything from animal feed and pet food to, eventually, human food.

With 10 million euros raised and hopefully a new 30 million euro round on the horizon, their process is fast, efficient, and radically resource-light—requiring far less land, water, and energy than traditional agriculture. Already able to produce one ton of their product per day, MicroHarvest is proving that microbial protein isn’t just a lab experiment—it’s a scalable, real-world solution.

In this episode, Kate shares what it takes to bring biotech innovation to market, and why she believes protein production should be faster, cleaner, and closer to the consumer. We talk about the company’s entry into pet food and aquaculture, and what the future holds for sustainable protein made from the tiniest organisms on Earth.

If you’re curious about the future of food, circular economies, or how to build a business that’s good for animals and the planet, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, I’m joined by one of America’s most thoughtful national journalists: Mike Grunwald. You may know him from his work at Time, Politico, or The Washington Post, or from his critically acclaimed books about the Obama administration and the history of the Everglades. He’s also now a contributing columnist at the New York Times. But for the purpose of this episode, Mike is here to discuss his third book, We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate.

In this sweeping and deeply reported work, Mike tackles one of the most uncomfortable truths of our time: our global food system, especially animal farming, is a leading driver of climate change, deforestation, wildlife extinction, and more. But rather than simply doomscroll through the apocalypse, We Are Eating the Earth offers a clear-eyed, often witty, and ultimately hopeful exploration of how we might transform our food system to produce more food while using fewer resources.

In our conversation, we discuss some of the biggest food and climate myths—like whether organic or so-called “regenerative” agriculture is necessarily better for the planet—as well as Mike’s views on what will actually work to slash humanity’s footprint on the planet. (Spoiler: eat less meat, waste less food, and use fewer biofuels are among his biggest points.)

Mike also clarifies his views on animal welfare, including the welfare of chickens and pigs, and his (lack of) concern about falling fertility rates. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that’s got something for everyone interested in a future with fewer hungry people and more land rewilded.