The “cold chain” that delivers our food is inconspicuous but vast. The US alone boasts around 5.5 billion cubic feet of refrigerated space; that’s 150 Empire State Buildings’ worth of freezers. Now, the developing world is catching up. On Zero, Nicola Twilley, author of Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves, discusses how refrigeration became so ubiquitous and what our reliance on it means for our palates and the planet.

Explore further:

Past episode with Stacey Abrams on how kitchen-table decisions can cut emissions
Past episode with journalist George Monbiot on how the world’s food system needs a radical rethink
Past episode with two vertical farming companies taking agriculture indoors

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Aaron Rutkoff and Monique Mulima. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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How the humble refrigerator changed the world 30:48 Share

Zero: The Climate Race

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How the humble refrigerator changed the world