Opinion
Cape Coral's low elevation makes it unsuitable for 200,000 residents
“And so the place was always, you know, not only in harm's way, but with these canals to carry the storm throughout the city when it does come incredibly low-lying, incredibly wet just not the kind of place where you should put 200,000 humans.”
Opinion
Florida's coastal development model operates as an ecological Ponzi scheme
“And so that's what I mean by this ecological Ponzi scheme, where eventually, kind of, the bill comes due, and Hurricane Ian is one of those moments where suddenly we've put twenty million people in harm's way, And the harm arrived.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Cape Coral was developed with literally zero urban planning
“It's like a peninsula jutting off the peninsula, and Cape Coral literally had, like, no planning.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Cape Coral will be rebuilt after Hurricane Ian without soul searching
“You know, I don't think there will be a lot of soul searching about, you know, do we belong here? Does a place like Cape Coral, you know, should it be rebuilt? It's going to be rebuilt.”
Assertion Supported
Governor Rick Scott abolished Florida's growth management agency
“Rick Scott, when he was governor, one of the first things he did was get rid of Florida's growth management agency, and since then, it's been all growth and no management.”
Prediction Held up
Florida will ask Washington to pay for disaster recovery, and likely succeed
“And now, of course, we see the consequences, and the consequences will be Florida's gonna put its hand out and ask Washington, D.C. To pay for all this, and probably they will.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Florida will not force mass climate retreat for South Florida residents
“We built here, you know, we're not gonna tell 200,000 people to leave Cape Coral. We're not gonna tell ten million people to leave South Florida.”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: UC Davis trials showed seaweed additive cuts steer methane by 80%
“When I was out there, they were finding 80% less methane emissions from these particular steers that did have a little bit of seaweed in the diet.”
Prediction Held up
Grunwald: Ocean wild fish catches cannot expand beyond current levels
“There's no way we're gonna get more fish from the ocean than we're getting now. You know, at best, we can sustain it.”
Insight
Grunwald: There is always a carbon opportunity cost to using land
“There is always a carbon opportunity cost to using land.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grunwald: Scientific evidence for soil carbon sequestration in agriculture is thin
“There's this intense focus that this is going to solve our carbon problem, By just storing a lot more carbon in soils, and the evidence for that is really thin right now.”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: No-till farming leads to increased weeds and smaller crop yields
“When you do things like, you know, not tilling the soil you're gonna have more weeds and smaller yields, and we are obsessed with yields because we need to grow more food on less land.”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: Palm oil is the most efficient vegetable oil crop
“Palm oil, which everybody hates, is the most efficient vegetable oil.”
Assertion Supported
Cape Coral built 400 miles of drainage ditches, the most worldwide
“So these scammers came to Cape Coral, and they, you know, they found the swampland, and the only way they made it vaguely habitable was to build 400 miles of drainage ditches, the most of any city in the world.”
Assertion Supported
Florida's largest agricultural industry is growing sod and palm trees for lawns
“We have a lot of agriculture, too, but a little known fact is that our biggest agricultural industry is nurseries, which is essentially growing sod and palm trees for suburban lawns.”
Assertion Partly supported
Miami Beach stopped neighborhood flooding with $100 million in drainage pumps
“I always thought it was really kind of overhyped, but they invested a hundred million dollars in drainage pumps, and now that neighborhood doesn't flood.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Grunwald: Any carbon advantage of gas stoves over electric will disappear quickly
“And even if it's true that right now, if you look at the national grid, the gas stoves are slightly, slightly better. As the grid gets greener, which is happening every day that's not going to be true for very long.”
Assertion Contradicted
Grunwald: Global farmland equals the area of Asia plus the Americas
“Right now, it's like, you know, Asia plus the Americas is used for agriculture”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: 40% of global grazing land was originally forest
“You know, 40% of grazing land on the planet was originally forest, and so there's clearly a major carbon opportunity cost”
Assertion Supported
Florida attracts 1,000 new residents every day
“We bring in a thousand people every day.”
Assertion Partly supported
Developer Sid Kitson gifted 90,000 acres to Florida in Babcock Ranch deal
“First of all, I mean, it surrounded Sid's original deal. I think he bought a 100,000 acres and gifted, like, 90,000 to the state.”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: ADM is building the world's largest insect protein plant in Illinois
“In fact Archel Daniels Midland is right now, they're building the largest insect protein factory in the world in Decatur, Illinois, near its corn processing plant, and they're gonna feed the bugs, you know, essentially leftovers from the corn processing proces…”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: 3-NOP feed additive is approved in some countries, cutting emissions 30%
“There's a chemical additive called Threenop that is now actually approved for use in some countries, and that one's looking pretty good. Only gets 30% less emissions.”
Assertion Supported
Grunwald: Symbrosia raised $7M to grow seaweed feed, backed by Danone
“They, but they got seven million dollars to grow seaweed in Hawaii, and in fact Danone was one of their big investors, and I think that's really exciting.”
