(Bloomberg) -- There’s a lot of damage being done to the planet in the name of food, but humans have long resisted the lessons of nature and strategies that may help turn the tide. Why can’t we grow food sustainably when the path to doing so is clear? Why has plant-based meat failed to take hold, enabling us to ditch environmentally destructive farming practices? 

In this episode of the Bloomberg Originals series Getting Warmer With Kal Penn, Penn heads to Indonesia to investigate solutions to the problem of palm oil. It’s used in everything from cookies and ice cream to shampoo and even fuel, but its cultivation is a major driver of deforestation. What’s standing in the way of scaling sustainable farming practices? In the UK, Penn visits a startup with a more comprehensive solution: its scientists have created a palm oil substitute in the laboratory. But can it compete with nature in quality and price?

In a guest segment, climate storyteller Jack Harries asks what would happen if nature, like humans, had legal rights? He takes a look at the rise of “environmental personhood,” and how trees, mountains and oceans could be protected in a court of law.

See previous episodes of Getting Warmer With Kal Penn here.

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