[suspenseful music playing]
[Zac imitating Attenborough] Strange red globs.
[Darin] Are you worried about a zombie apocalypse?
[Zac] Secret trap door.
You got a pinhole in your…
[Zac] Petri dishes growing… whatever that is.
[Zac as himself] This isn't science fiction. It's all science facts.
Yes!
-[Zac] On this episode… -[Darin] There he goes!
[Zac] …we'll meet some of the most outside-the-box,
forward-thinking, unconventional people…
I used to be a lawyer.
[Zac] …from all walks of life.
They've come up with unique ways to address a problem,
change an entire industry,
or just reduce their own negative impact on the ecosystem.
I'm going for as much as we can.
[Zac] New solutions to heal the planet in one way or another.
Trying to address a problem.
[Zac] And whether it's big ideas or small ones…
-[woman] These are wheat seeds. Come on.
-[kissing] -[Zac] …they're all eco-innovators.
Our first stop brings us to the island of Tasmania…
to meet some eco-innovators who are revolutionizing a business
typically known for having a large impact on the environment,
the cattle industry.
Livestock produce 16% of the world's global greenhouse emissions
in the form of methane through their digestion process.
While it's still a good idea to reduce red meat intake
for a variety of health and ecological reasons…
[mooing]
[Zac] …this Tasmanian startup has come up with a new way to feed cattle,
so if you wish, you can have your steak and eat it too.
Sea Forest commercially grows a special red algae called Asparagopsis.
A small portion of this algae added to a cow's diet
can reduce the methane released by that cow as much as 80%.
And here to explain it all is co-founder Sam Elsom.
We're now going to the laboratory. We can't tell you too much about--
-"The lab'ratory"? -The lab'ratory.
[Zac] To-may-to, to-mah-to.
Here in the laboratory is where they start the process.
"Research Laboratory."
[Zac] It's not how you say it, Darin!
-How are you? -I'm well.
-Rocky, we got Darin and Zac. -Hi, Darin.
-Hey, Rocky. How are you? -Well.
-Rocky, pleasure. -Zac, you too.
Nice to meet you.
So you've got some incredible science going on here, don't you?
We're really enjoying ourselves at the moment. It's looking good.
So, this is the sanctuary where they all start.
[Zac] Much like germinating a seed to the point of sprouting it
before it can be planted,
here on these shelves and floating in these beakers
is where the life of algae begins.
And so we isolate them from very small cells,
and they're in this tiny little phase that we hold together.
And they form these lovely little pom-poms or floating balls,
and as they grow, they break up.
And so we look after them really carefully,
nurture them from this 500-mil stage up to this five-liter stage.
[Zac] You accidentally stumbled onto the coolest lava lamp ever.
[laughs] Yeah! Yeah, it is, isn't?
A colored light behind it'd be pretty funky in the lab.
[Sam] Yeah. Absolutely.
[Zac] Add a little black light, I could sit back and stare at these forever.
In 2016, Rocky was involved in the research
that led to this seaweed's discovery as a methane-busting seaweed.
-He's the guy behind all of this. -Oh, amazing. Unreal.
You are the methane buster.
[Rocky] I am one.
We are meeting one of the methane busters for the planet.
I mean, one of the methane busters. One of the methane busters.
[Zac] He's being modest, but Rocky really is a methane-busting rock star.
And we need to shine a light on more people doing work like this.
Once the algae is a little developed, it's taken out to sea
and planted in a special area off the coast
where it can become full-grown.
Sam is taking us out to see their marine lease.
Just a short boat ride from the lab,
this is where they deposit, or plant, the special rope.
There'd be, like, microscopic spores in the hatchery.
They're seeded over this rope. You wouldn't see them.
They go into the ocean, and then they mature.
[Zac] So they just glom onto this?
[Sam] Yeah. In eight weeks time,
all of these tiny, little baby seaweed seedlings
really will be 30-centimeter, big bushy crops.
[Zac] Once we've reached their marine lease,
these large hooks are thrown from the boat into the water.
These hooks are then used to grab and pull up what's called the backbone.
The backbone is drawn between two floating anchors.
This is where the Asparagopsis will be planted to grow and mature,
allowing them to be harvested from the backbone later.
We're gonna throw out the seaweed.
So, the seaweed will grow vertically up and down off these ropes.
[Darin] Yep. Here we go.
[Zac] The rope is covered in Asparagopsis spores.
It's seaweed sausage.
This spore-covered rope is wrapped in a white cotton casing
to protect the young algae.
In case you're wondering, the casing is biodegradable
and will dissolve after about four weeks.
The ropes are single lines placed 50 meters apart
in this marine farm section of the sea.
Strict precautions and protocols are in place
to make sure these ropes pose no threat to whales, dolphins or any other sea life.
-We're just trying to address a problem. -Absolutely.
Trying to reduce emissions. This is all about climate change fundamentally.
[Zac] Once secured to the backbone, this line is ready to be lowered
into the water to begin the next phase of growth.
But we're not here to just see their process.
It's time to see some of this miracle seaweed up close.
Cool.
[man] So that's Asparagopsis.
[Sam] The seaweed's common name is harpoon weed.
-It has all these little harpoons. -[Zac] You can see little spikes on there.
It's amazing that this little red sea plant
has the ability to make so much change in the planet's atmosphere.
It's a tiny little plant no one's ever paid any attention to,
and it turns out to be able to save the world.
[Zac] I love how Darin always assumes it's cool to put it in his mouth.
Luckily, it is.
What's the… What's the verdict?
Yeah, it's good.
[Zac] Good to eat? Maybe. But it's certainly good when cows eat it
because it safely reduces the cows' methane release by as much as 80%
or even higher.
And it could be helpful in reducing global climate change.
Imagine that, a little seaweed that has so much potential
to help heal the planet.
No boat ride would be complete without me getting a chance at the helm.
Oh, this is fun. What a day.
[in pirate accent] Hurry, Captain Zac. Hurry, laddie!
You're without a doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of.
Captain Jack, argh!
[horn honking]
[Zac] Horn works!
-[horn honking] -[Darin] Uh-oh. Here we go.
[laughing]
[Zac] Is there another note on there? Can you go…
[humming "First Call"]
[Zac] This process starts in a lab and continues in the ocean,
and while it may seem complicated, it's not.
And it's cost-effective.
All right, back to dry land so we can see the finished product.
Wow, it's not really dense, is it?
[Sam] We're talking about that much per cow per day.
-What? -That's it?
Wow, that's unreal.
So you feed that cow over there that much in one day,
and his methane production virtually is gone?
Knocked out. Pretty much.
[Zac] It doesn't take a lot.
A little pinch of this stuff mixed in with their regular diet
and the cows' methane production is reduced drastically.
-[Darin] They're not even looking. -[Zac] Come on, guys.
We're fighting the sun.
[laughing]
[Zac] Come on, cows.
[Darin] Fellas! You got an afternoon delight here.
[Zac] Okay, it's time to feed the cows.
Darin believes himself to be a bit of a cow whisperer, so let's see how he does.
What's the number for 911 in Australia?
[Darin] Hi! Come here. Come here.
The man who's never eaten meat, now rustling cows.
Yeah! All right, well done!
Look at him.
He knows what he's doing.
Come on!
[Zac] Look at him. Not bad, Darin.
That played out much worse in my imagination.
Hey, guys.
[Sam] Basically, what's happening is, when they eat the seaweed,
there's an enzymatic disruption of the production of methane
with the compounds inside the seaweed,
converting that,
which would have been expelled as a gaseous waste product, methane,
and covert it into energy which the animal then uses to grow faster.
The enzyme blockage just prevents them from farting?
Actually, like 90% of the methane is produced by ruminance.
-It comes through burps, not farts. -Wow.
It's a misconception that it's all farts. It's actually burps.
[Zac] Really?
[Darin] Cow superfood.
They look so happy. Look at 'em.
So why doesn't every farmer use this?
Well, you're just learning about it now, right?
Give it some time, and let's hope it catches on.
When it comes to climate change, time isn't something we have a lot of.
We just saw how a little plant from the sea
can have a big impact on climate change.
Up next is a cutting-edge idea to the land
that can have a similar effect.
We're headed to Orange, New South Wales
to learn how the world's smallest organisms
can help solve one of the world's biggest problems.
Loam Bio is a biotech startup
composed of farmers, scientists, and entrepreneurs
dedicated to solving two very related issues:
CO2 levels in the atmosphere
and the decreased quality of farming soil.
And this is the co-founder, Tegan.
Agriculture and climate change have a complex relationship,
and sometimes complex problems require only simple solutions.
[Tegan] Great.
-[Darin] You look good and scientific. -[Zac] Feeling scientific.
What they do here is treat seeds with a microbial fungus
that, once planted, creates a stable carbon in the soil.
The process provides nutrients to the crops
and prevents the carbon from being released into the atmosphere.
And this reduction in the CO2 levels can help fight global climate change.
-This is cool. -What are we getting into?
Well, this is where all of the good science happens.
These guys are specific fungi we've pulled out of the natural environment.
What we've found is they're actually increasing not just yields,
but also nutrient density,
which is really interesting then from a food production perspective.
When you're looking at being able to increase
the health of that food system, it's really important.
These are wheat seeds. You'd recognize it. It goes into a lot of our baked goods.
When we go and plant these in the paddock to grow our next crop,
we've turned these fungi into an actual product,
and then we're able to get that increase in yield,
but also we're enriching our soils while drawing down tons of carbon
in that hectare.
Soils across the globe have lost between 20% and up to 60%,
depending on where you are,
of the carbon within the soil from industrialized farming practices.
When you look at the fungi on the table here,
they look pretty unassuming,
but when you understand exactly what they're doing,
they're absolutely incredible.
It's very, very interesting how they, being so tiny and so nondescript,
can really start to be the basis
to be able to help us with our climate problem.
That's cool.
I know a few scary movies that start this way.
Like, where some of the fungi gets out,
and it starts going into our bodies and controlling our minds and stuff.
Are you worried about a zombie apocalypse?
Luckily, our scientists have screened out anything
that could resemble a horror movie.
-Really? You sure they got all of it? -Absolutely.
I think you got a pinhole in your…
[screeches like a zombie]
[laughing]
Let's check out the soil. I'd love to see how it actually works.
-[Tegan] Brilliant. Let's do it! -Awesome. Thank you.
[Zac] We saw the seeds treated in the lab and tested in the greenhouse,
but the real proving grounds for Loam Bio is here on a real farm.
[vibrant music playing]
♪ And though it's for the way ♪
♪ You're makin' me smile ♪
♪ Now and forever ♪
♪ Could you stay a while? ♪
♪ And though it's for the way… ♪
The Ioniq off-roading, huh?
[Zac] Is it just me, or are these cows staring at us?
[Darin] Hey, fellas.
[mooing]
[Zac] Now they're just ignoring us.
Yeah, you understand me. You understand me.
[Zac] Darin's in his happy place,
having an imaginary conversation with a whole herd of cows.
I could go on, but we've arrived,
and we're about to meet the farmer and co-founder of Loam Bio,
Mick Wettenhall.
Hey, how are you?
-Great. How you doing? -[Mick] Good.
-Hey. Darin. -Darin. Mick.
-Nice to meet you, Mick. Zac. -Nice to meet you.
Oh, man. Excited. Uh, who do you got here with us?
Yeah, we got the workforce here.
We got Frank, Oompah, Pepper, and Goober.
[all laugh]
-Goober! Nice. -Goober.
They look exhausted.
I'll give these dogs some love.
So, yeah, we just met with Tegan and got all stoked about the inoculation
and fungal activity, and…
Pretty cool, huh?
-Totally excited-- -Fascinating stuff.
With many years experience in grain and cotton farming,
Mick can show us firsthand how these treated seeds work in the soil.
What are some problems we're seeing nowadays
when there's not enough carbon in the soil?
Carbon underpins every function in soil,
from water-holding capacity to its nutrient availability,
its watering filtration, it's all related to carbon.
So, the more carbon we have, the less rain we need,
the less fertilizer we need, all those things that go with it.
You know, underneath our feet, the soil itself, what have you seen now,
implementing some of these things with the soil? And how can you tell?
[Mick] Well, you can see. Here we go.
Um…
You'll generally see that soil is a lot darker in color.
You'll see that, and it'll have a certain smell about it.
-So… -[Zac] Yeah, get that camera in closer.
Let's see. Last time I done a soil test on this paddock,
it was about 2.5% soil carbon.
[Darin] What are you going for?
Oh, I'm going for as much as we can.
US average soil carbon content is usually anywhere from 1% to 4%,
but Loam Bio's effects as high as 6%.
The more carbon you can lock into the soil, the healthier it is.
The crops grow stronger and with more nutrients,
but the other byproduct is what they call the drawdown.
That means carbon is drawn from the air down into the soil,
and that can actually have a healing effect on our CO2 levels
and slow down climate change just a little.
The thing is, they don't have to move away from what they're doing.
Keep doing what you're doing, and we'll just overlay the technology.
Everyone says, "Ah, it's a tech fix."
And it's not. It's just another tool.
A tool that you're farming next door, and then you go,
"Oh, I got X amount of carbon when I use the technology."
"Mick's next door, he did the system X, used the technology, and got more carbon."
-"I want to do that as well." -Right.
Farmers, through the fence is how they learn.
-Yeah. -[Mick] They always look over the fence.
They won't listen to a sales rep or a scientist.
They'll always listen to the farmer that's implementing,
and we have to leverage that power.
[Zac] Achieving real change in global CO2 levels
won't happen from one farm implementing these new methods.
It's going to take this to become the new standard for all farms.
But bigger yields, more nutritious crops, and healthier soil for future farming
are the right kind of incentives that other farmers need to make the switch.
Loam Bio's advanced methods of agriculture yield better crops
while healing our planet at the same time.
The process is part of a larger concept called regenerative agriculture.
For a deeper explanation, I offer you this.
When discussing global warming,
we often talk about one of the main causes of it, carbon dioxide.
Hey, man, you don't have to be so formal. You can call me CO2.
A little bit of me in your water, you got a refreshing sparkling beverage,
which is cool.
Yeah, but way too much in the Earth's atmosphere,
and you raise the global temperature,
causing all sorts of bad things to happen, which is not.
Oh, I'm sorry about that, man.
But there is hope.
There is? How?
-With regenerative agriculture. -Rege-who?
[Zac] Regenerative agriculture is a system
by which farmers work to sustainably and naturally heal the soil,
yielding healthier, more nutritious crops,
and at the same time,
could effectively reverse the effects of CO2 on the planet.
[CO2] Cool, man.
[Zac] It is! Regenerative farming uses no chemicals or pesticides.
The practices include no-till cultivation,
diverse cover crops, and many other methods.
This results not only in healthier foods for consumers,
but also has the desired results of drawdown.
Oh! Whee!
Hey, are you gonna be okay?
[CO2] Oh, man! It's a party down here.
Hey, what's your name?
Yeah, he's gonna be good.
Eco-innovations can sometimes happen
by simply questioning systems that have been in place for decades.
Often we hear, "That's the way it's always been done"
as a reason to never change a time-honored system.
But in the heart of Sydney,
this unassuming two-story 19th-century home
defiantly breaks all the rules,
because thanks to the owner, Michael Mobbs,
this inner-city house is living technically off the grid.
And how does he pull that off? We're about to find out.
-Hey, man. Zac. -Hey.
-Zac, glad to meet you. -You as well.
-Hey, Darin. A pleasure. -Welcome, guys. My little shack.
-So, you're off-the-grid guy. -Yeah.
Like, how did that happen?
-It was-- -[Darin] You're in the middle of the city.
I need to be clear.
It was a childish reaction to being told I couldn't do it.
-So-- -Love that.
-[whispers] I used to be a lawyer. -Used to be a lawyer.
I was involved in a parliamentary inquiry about how we manage Sydney's water,
and I had two young kids,
and my wife and I thought, "Let's have a bigger kitchen and bathroom."
During that three-month renovation, I disconnected from town water,
town sewer,
and put in solar panels.
For the last 24 years, no sewage has left this site. Look at it.
Five meters wide. No storm water's left this site.
I've kept two million liters of water here…
-Two million liters? -Two million liters of sewage.
And the sewage is treated.
So I needed data, so every two weeks,
we took samples here,
and we compared it, in the laboratory to town water.
Mine was cleaner, every time for 12 months.
-Cleaner than the city water? -Yeah.
And now it's liberated me.
People worry about the planet, and I do too, but it lets me get on with my life.
I can turn the tap on. I'm doing no harm.
I too can have a long shower. I'm doing no harm.
[Zac] Okay, you've got us intrigued.
There are three basics to living off the grid.
You need your own source of power and water,
and then a way to deal with waste. Let's see how Michael does it.
-[Darin] Let's look at your system. -Come in.
-[Zac] I want to see how this works. -I'm dying to know.
[Zac] Yeah, cool.
I have to say, when you first walk in, it looks just like any other normal house…
but it has a pretty unique, certain vibe to it.
It's weird. It just feels chill. Just feels really relaxed. [chuckles]
[Darin] Very.
[Michael] So, the house at night is powered by batteries,
and batteries last longer or less long
depending on the number of times they're discharged.
What this little cookie does here during the day is,
it bypasses the batteries, takes the solar power straight to the lights.
-Oh, cool. -[Michael] Isn't that cool?
So you get 50% more out of your battery.
-Absolutely. -[Zac] Yeah, fantastic.
-Let me show you the batteries. -Yeah, perfect.
[Michael] So, if you stand over here, guys…
-Down there. -[Darin] There you go.
[Michael] A cellar is a great place for batteries
because it's a stable temperature.
[Darin] Keeps it cool.
[Michael] It's out of the way, so they retain their efficiency.
-Do you have an "It"? -Say again?
-Do you have an "It"? No creature? -No.
[Zac] Maybe not a Stephen King fan.
-Nobody sleeps down there? -Not yet, but you can audition.
Yeah!
[laughing]
[Zac] I'll pass.
So, I gotta ask. The water.
-[Michael] Yeah. -Recycling, catchment.
-It's my passion. Come and see the water. -[Darin] Mine too.
[Zac] Look at that spider.
[spider voice] Ah, g'day, mate!
[Zac] All right, Australia!
This water here…
Oh, here we go.
[Michael] …is off my roof.
-[Darin] 100% rain-caught. -100% rain.
Measured every two weeks for 18 months, and it's cleaner than town water.
Oh, that's nice.
-[Michael] Isn't it delicious? -It tastes great.
-Here's to-- -[Michael] Here's to good water.
…off-the-grid, clean water from the sky.
[Michael] It's so great to have people who appreciate water in the world.
We need to do this sort of stuff. Use what falls for free on the roof.
[Darin] 100%.
Have you ever run out in a--
I'm starting to run out.
-Really? -Yeah.
-Because it's raining less? -Yeah.
And also it's spread out.
So, probably… two or three times a year, sometimes four times a year now,
I take some eggs and go next door.
[chuckling softly]
And I say, "Can I borrow your hose?"
-I don't want to, but… -[Darin] Right.
Generally, when I do that, it rains.
[laughing]
-It's a rain dance. -It's like… He's playing with my head.
So, basically half the water we use, in Australian houses at least,
is used to flush the toilet and wash clothes.
Why would I use this…
It's pristine, beautiful water.
[Michael] …to flush the toilet?
[Zac] I've never thought about it that way, but it's true.
The EPA says that toilets account for about 30%
of household indoor water use in America.
Currently, most homes in America don't have a gray water system in place
to collect runoff from showers, dishwashers, or sinks
that then could be recycled by diverting it into the toilets…
yet it would be a lot cooler if they did.
It's so incredible. I feel like everybody, in theory,
wants to contribute in some of these ways.
They want to use less energy, to have our water be clean and natural.
We don't want to live off the systems, but the ways to integrate it
seem complicated.
I'm not sure why,
everything you're describing seems relatively simple.
-It is. -[Zac] Yeah.
And that's a really important thing for me to hear
because people disempower them by saying, "I can't do this." And look.
I'm just an ordinary Aussie,
doing in the city what farmers do in the country.
[Zac] Keep in mind, Michael is living off the grid,
so to speak, but not in the middle of nowhere.
He's in the middle of a city and completely surrounded by the grid.
This is relevant out on a farm somewhere,
but seeing you do it successfully right in the middle of the city
just jumps out. It's fantastic.
-Cheers. Great to talk to you. -Yeah, likewise, mate.
Thank you so much. This is unreal.
I can't believe what you've accomplished. Thanks for showing us.
This is so… the through-line of what we want to accomplish,
what we're heading towards. It's the narrative of our whole show.
-Respect. -Likewise.
I don't have a TV, but I made an exception for your show on Iceland.
-Fantastic show. More, please. -[Zac] Beautiful.
-[Darin] Thanks for contributing. -Yeah.
Thanks for being a part of it.
Michael's sustainable house paints a picture
of what the future could look like,
and the changes he made to his own home are a great example
of the impact just one person can have on the environment.
But something as simple as staying on the grid and switching a home to solar
can have a significant effect in the right direction for the planet as well.
Cities and municipalities will probably always need
some sort of larger collective infrastructure
in order to work properly and efficiently.
And our next stop will show us there's great power
in the collective distribution of wholesale energy.
On this stretch of land in Victoria sits a small farm.
The crop is wind,
and it's being harvested by 39 turbines
and generating 80 megawatts of power.
That's enough to power 50,000 homes with clean energy.
This is the Crowlands Wind Farm.
Since 1887, mankind has been harnessing the wind to create energy.
As efficiencies become greater, wind power continues to be a key component
to clean, renewable energy all over the world.
Although windmills aren't a new innovation,
the way the power from this wind farm is set up and distributed is,
and we're about to find out how from the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
By the way, let's just take a moment to recognize how cool that title is,
"Lord Mayor."
How's it going?
Hi. I'm Rachel.
[Zac] And the CEO of Pacific Hydro of Australia.
Yes, exactly.
[Darin] Yeah, this is a lot bigger than I thought.
It's hard to believe it's 100 meters up to the hub,
and then another 42, blade length, on top of that.
To build a big project like this…
We've got 30 of these machines that we're standing under.
It's a big wind farm.
It's called the Melbourne Renewable Energy Program.
It's absolutely paved the way
because it's shown that for large energy users,
we can actually work together to take action on climate change.
We realized that we couldn't do it on our own, we needed to bring
a group of large energy users together to make it worthwhile.
We needed scale to be able to enter a power purchasing agreement
with Pacific Hydro.
[Zac] Large energy users form a co-op and back this supply of energy
at a much lower rate,
all while using wind instead of fossil fuels.
This is quite a feat for a city to take on.
Every single bit of electricity that we use as an organization
at the city of Melbourne, every streetlight,
every elliptical machine in our community gyms,
every podcast that's done out of one of our libraries
is powered by 100% renewable energy from this wind farm.
By working with Pacific Hydro, we've actually shown
that there is a way that we can band together to do this.
So now, across Australia,
there are 39 different local cities working on similar projects.
Five percent of our emissions are now gone.
[Zac] Cool.
That is big,
and, uh, there's mechanics and electricity.
[Zac] Do you know what kind of music these turbines like?
They're big metal fans.
[electric guitar playing]
-Yeah, exactly. -[Zac] I'll be here if you need me.
[Rachel] Just in Australia, wind is becoming much more competitive.
We're now seeing announcements of the large coal-fired power stations
closing because they simply can't compete anymore.
Should we get out of the wind and look in the turbines?
-Yes. -Yeah? Let's go inside.
I can't wait.
[Zac] How can the everyday person at home right now
help push their government to make moves like you guys have?
Try and find your energy retailer who can sell you renewable energy,
is a really good start,
but also lobby your local member
about, "We want renewables. We want to move forward."
This is the energy of the future, so we should be moving there now,
for our children and the next generation.
-[Darin] You hear that moving? -[Zac] I don't know how you couldn't.
It's like a whole house in here. It's massive!
Look at this, the inside of a windmill.
[Sally] Whoo-hoo!
[Darin] Wow.
The power comes down here through an aluminum bus bar,
into these cables, and into this box here where Sally's standing.
-It's a good thing we switched it off. -[Darin] Big inverter here?
Yeah, correct, and then it goes out through the box that you saw outside,
then through underground cables to the grid.
[Sally] Then straight to town hall,
and when I turn my lights on in my office,
I know this is where it's come from.
[Zac] There are universities, art installations,
and businesses all over the area
that get their power from this windmill co-op.
♪ One day, I'm young Next day, I'm old ♪
♪ I suck at doing what I'm told ♪
♪ And I must have… ♪
[Zac] I can see why these work so well here!
-[Darin] There he goes! Whoa!
Wow.
Oh, it's powerful, that wind.
-Yeah. Imagine up there. Yeah.
[Zac] Oh, my hat!
[Darin laughs]
-That's the wind for you! -[Rachel] That's right.
[chuckles]
Well, this was fantastic.
What we've learned here, we can keep doing over and over again
right across Australia, and I think right across the world.
-Yeah. -It's amazing.
-Thank you for joining us. -Thanks for coming. Great to meet you.
-[Rachel] Good on you. -[Darin] My pleasure.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you.
-[Zac] Amazing. -Good. Hold on to your hat.
-Yeah! I'll try and keep an eye on it. -[Darin] Yeah, I got him!
Thanks, buddy. You… I can't…
Most food and beverage packaging is designed for single use.
It's rarely recycled,
and it makes up almost half of the municipal solid waste in the US.
On our way to the next destination,
Darin told me about very eco-innovative companies
doing something about it.
That's where I get excited. When you realize there's companies
that are changing the game using plant-based fibers
to combat the single-use plastic.
They're working with the biggest companies in the world, and no one knows about it!
[Zac] By helping the largest companies in the food and beverage business
replace their plastic packaging with these revolutionary plant-based solutions,
that's an eco-innovation that can make a big difference for the world.
-This is awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
[Zac] Our last visit is outside Melbourne,
to meet a husband and wife team determined to change the world of wrap.
♪ Disappointment obscurities ♪
♪ Feel now insecurity ♪
[Zac] Stretch wrap, that is.
A product typically used to protect food,
which reduces waste in theory, but is usually made of plastic,
which in addition to being petroleum-based,
is also non-biodegradable.
-G'day! -Hey, guys.
-[woman] Hey! Come on in. -[man] Welcome!
-How's it going? -I'm Jordy.
[Zac] Meet Julia and Jordy, owners of Great Wrap.
How's it going?
This is our factory. It's a small pilot factory.
We have a huge vision.
We're actually buying machines that'll fill this whole thing twice over.
But at the moment, we've just got this baby, our little toy,
so we can make a small amount of cling wrap and pallet wrap.
-Alternative plastic wrap. -[Jordy] Yeah. Correct.
So, we use biopolymers, so it's a "bioplastic,"
so it's a compostable and biodegradable cling wrap.
What is ordinary wrap made of? It's just heavy plastics?
-Petroleum-based plastic. -[Darin] All plastic.
It's horrific. It can take up to 1,000 years to break down,
or it'll break down into microplastics, end up in our oceans.
Ten percent of the world's petroleum goes towards making plastic.
It's a disgusting amount.
Obviously, we just saw the huge problem in packaging,
and it was these two awesome ideas that just hadn't overlapped.
[Zac] The process is technical, but the simple version
is rather than use petroleum to create their cling wrap,
Julia and Jordy use vegetable-based waste. That's right.
Vegetation that would normally go to waste is actually being put to use.
We found this company from Idaho using potato waste,
and so essentially all this crap from on their skins
and everything from making French fries or potato chips,
they were turning all of that into a biopolymer.
I was like, "Wow, this is insane."
"It's marine biodegradable, so it can break down even in the ocean."
"How are we not using this?"
We researched that 150,000 tons of plastic wrap
ends up in landfill in Australia alone each year.
So, impact-wise, it just made sense
that that was a huge portion that we could attack.
[Jordy] We saw that we could have
the largest potential impact if we made pallet wrap and cling wrap.
[Julia] We kept on tinkering with the formula
and finally got it to a point where it will be the same price as plastic.
-Same price? -Yes, so you really have no excuse now.
[Zac] Nope. No cost difference, so there's no excuse.
It just needs to catch on, and it is.
[Jordy] We get approached by the biggest supermarkets in America, Australia,
some of the biggest mining companies in the world,
wanting to use this pallet wrap because everyone understands the problem.
We have it in our shareholders' agreement that we put the planet before profit.
So if an investor signs on, they have to sign on with that ideology.
[Zac] Once again proving that being kinder to the Earth can still be profitable.
-Did you see the pellets in the bin? -Would you like to see the biopolymer?
[Darin] Yeah, please. Let's look at it.
-There it is. -Wow. Can I put my--
-[Jordy] Touch it. -[Julia] Get in there.
[Darin] You create the pellets first, then you melt this down and transform it?
-[Jordy] Exactly. -[Julia] Yeah.
That's very, very similar to the plastic industry.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We use all the same equipment.
Essentially, there's a fermentation process early on
so that we can get the starch that we want.
We still use a small portion of oil-derived,
and we compound them together to create our secret formula.
You put that through here, melt it down,
and you have a film come out the other end.
What does it break down to when it's thrown into the ocean?
What happens is, this fruit waste and potato waste
would have rotted, become methane, and go into the atmosphere,
which is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
By breaking down into carbon, even if it is in the ocean,
it's 30 times better than the potential outcome.
And obviously, it still breaks down, it's not gonna harm anything.
-How much of this is potato starch then? -[Jordy] It's about 65%.
[Darin] Sixty-five. Then the rest is…
-It's an oil-derived biopolymer. -[Darin] Huh.
So it's still made from a portion of oil, and the next step,
which will be in a few months' time, is 100% fruit waste.
Wow.
[Zac] And this is the finished product.
It looks and feels just like the stuff we're used to,
but how well does it work? We better test it out.
That's amazing! That feels exactly like what my mom used
to wrap all my food in when I was a kid.
[Zac] It's the same.
[Darin] On average, how quickly does this break down?
[Jordy] In your compost pile at home, it can break down in about two weeks.
In an industrial composting facility, it could break down in a week.
If it goes to landfill, it can break down in six months.
-Spin around! -[laughing]
I knew you were gonna do… I saw his little eyes.
-[Zac] I don't want to be wasting plastic. -No.
-[Julia] It's not plastic. Yes. -It's not plastic.
-It's-- -No, go for it.
-It's so cool. Congratulations. -[Zac] Thank you.
It'll be a big couple of years ahead.
The potential CO2 that we can take out of the atmosphere,
plastic out of the ocean.
What's your ultimate goal?
We would both love to see a world where no plastic was ever made again
from a petroleum-based product. I think that's the dream.
We'd love to keep on developing products with the formula that we have,
and just continue to hit those really heavy impact areas
until there's no more plastic in the world.
[Zac] And please note, they're calibrating the machines today,
so all the product you see coming off the line is destined for the compost pile.
Oh, man. This is so cool, guys.
You've made the choice very easy. There is no choice.
[Julia] No. Yeah, that's it.
[Zac] You have solved a massive, massive problem.
[Darin] Is it strong enough?
[Zac] Whoa, I didn't say test it on me!
[Darin] Cool position, though.
Why did I put my arms like this? [laughs]
-[grunts] -[laughing]
I'm gonna flex and bust out of this.
[strains]
[gasping, laughing]
[growls]
[man] Yeah!
-I didn't think that would work! -[Dylan] You need more tensile strength.
[Zac] Well, that's a wrap.
From climate change and depleted resources
to air and water pollution, the Earth is getting pretty exhausted.
But there's always hope. The subject for this episode,
eco-innovators…
[cheering]
[Zac] …can be applied to all aspects of our ever-evolving lives.
[bubbling]
[Zac] As we enter a new phase of technological revolution,
eco-innovation is becoming a new and ever-present goal.
It's encouraging to see so many businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors
rising to the challenge
and looking for ways to fulfill the needs of the consumers
while doing less harm to our ecosystem,
or better yet, while actually healing the Earth.
These ideas don't have to be perfect,
but the willingness to make little changes and to take small steps,
always in better directions,
that's what can eventually make a big difference.
And the old ways of doing things? Well, hopefully, they become extinct
before we do.
-[Darin] Look at that. -[Zac] Right?
And as this episode comes to an end, so does our time together in Australia.
We celebrate with one last meal and reflect on this great journey.
How good is Australia?
Love this place.
I think you'll probably gonna get somewhat of a neighbor at some point--
[waitress] And we have our main meal. I'll have Chef explain.
[Darin] Wow.
What we have here is Wagyu sirloin
with potato dumplings, cauliflower purée, pumpkin and macadamia nuts.
-Wow. -[chef] Enjoy.
-Man. Smells unbelievable. Thank you. -Thank you, Chef.
There are so many little takeaways from this entire journey.
One of the biggest ones is finding your connection with nature
no matter where you are.
Like we've seen with Joost, in your house, around your home.
That's always been the point for all of this.
-It's not about saving the planet. I don't know where to begin.
The planet will continue with or without us.
It's about people inspiring other people
to make the best, most-informed choices they can.
[mooing]
[Zac] To live the healthiest, happiest lives possible…
You yourself are an ingredient, an integral part of the process.
[Bruce] We need to have this conversation and say,
"Are we gonna be there in another 20,000 years,
or are we going to kill ourselves?"
[Zac] …to enjoy our beautiful Earth and everything it has to offer…
all while leaving it better than how we found it
for the next generations to come.
-Here's to doing better. -[Zac] Cheers, buddy.
-Love you, bro. Yoo! -Love you, man.
[Zac] Thanks, guys. See you next time.
[vocalizing]
[soft piano playing]