Climate-Proof Food Podcast

In this episode, I was joined by Rayan Kassem. Rayan is currently working with youth mobilization and engagement in West Asia on climate action, food systems, nature-based solutions, and climate for people and the planet.

Rayan Kassem is the West Asia Regional Director for Youth4Nature. He is one of the national coordinators for the Global Youth Biodiversity Network activities in Lebanon and has gained experience in youth engagement for biodiversity protection and climate justice. He is also the UNMGCY Regional Youth Focal Point In Support Of The United Nations Food Systems Summit for the Middle East and North Africa. He has a Masters's in Environmental Science with a focus on water resource management and climate change.

I feel very privileged to have had the time to Speak with Rayan because as you’ll find he is a wealth of knowledge on food systems, climate change, environmental and societal issues. Not to mention being an extremely motivated and passionate young person eager to be a force for change.

In this episode, we slowly moved through a range of topics. Some of them being:

• Environmental issues facing Lebanon and the greater middle east
• How environmental and social factors shape the food system in the middle east
• Differences in the global climate movement between his experience in Europe and Lebanon
• Water footprints and household water consumption
• How our diets impact our individual water consumption
• Fighting greenwashing and tokenism
• Where our biggest water footprints come from.

Connect With Rayan
Instagram |@rayankassem
Instagram | @y4nature
Twitter | @y4nature

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
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Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been labeled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. Driven by misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, where 76% of global antibiotics are used in agriculture. AMR results in bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi no longer responding to the medicines we have to treat infections and is making it increasingly difficult to reduce the spread of disease. What has driven AMR and what are the potential harms of the 'impending apocalypse' narrative of antimicrobial resistance?

We have done things a little differently for this episode of the Climate Proof-Food Podcast! This episode was hosted by our guest host, Luke Spajic. Luke is a food system research student from Australia, with a background in health. He is a member of the Leadership Team of the Sustainable Consumption Action Track of the UNFSS and a member of the agriculture working group of the youth constituency to the UNFCCC. He is a passionate advocate for fairer, healthier, and more sustainable food systems.

In this episode, Luke speaks to Dr Claas Kirchelle. Dr Claas Kirchelle is a historian of science, medicine, and technology at University College Dublin. His doctoral and postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford explored the history of antibiotic use, resistance, and regulation and culminated in an award-winning book “Pyrrhic Progress. The History of Antibiotics in Anglo-American Food Production.”

In this episode, Luke and Dr Kirchelle discuss Pyrrhic Progress and the contribution of agriculture to antimicrobial resistance. Their conversation covers:

• The scale of the problem posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and what we know about agriculture’s contribution to it
• The history of our awareness of AMR
• The potential harms of the ‘impending apocalypse’ narrative of antimicrobial resistance, as well as more accurate representations of the challenge
• The history and reasons for the use of antibiotics in agriculture
• Why past attempts to stem agricultural antibiotic use have not sufficiently addressed the problem
• What should be done to mitigate antimicrobial resistance and agriculture’s contribution to it, including what can be learned from international efforts to mitigate climate change
• What we can do as individuals to address AMR

If you found this episode interesting, be sure to follow Dr Kirchelle on Twitter at @kirchhelle and consider purchasing Pyrrhic Progress to learn more. Alternatively, the book is available for free as an open access option supported by the Welcome Trust.

Connect With Dr Kirchelle
Twitter | @kirchhelle
Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
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Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"We have enzymes in our guts that are just there to digest the kinds of proteins that are in insects".

What has six legs, is high in protein, offers a complete nutritional package, recycles food waste, and also has a much smaller footprint on the planet than traditional alternatives? Crickets, as well as over 1900 different species of edible insects. Around 2 billion people regularly eat insects as part of their diet, however, it seems that consumer perception of eating insects in many countries is still relatively unknown.

So, are edible insects slowly crawling into our diets?

Well in this episode of the Climate-Proof Food Podcast, I spoke to Australia’s leading expert in the matter, Skye Blackburn. Skye is an entomologist and food scientist with a passion for sustainable food systems and practices. She was Australia’s first edible insect farmer and in 2007 opened Australia’s first edible insect farm, The Edible Bug Shop. Blackburn is now a world leader in insect farming techniques, developing edible insect products suitable for the Western diet, and educating the general public about the benefits of insects as a source of food.

In this episode, I asked Skye about the kinds of insects we can eat, how they are farmed, where they are being eaten around the world and we also cleared some common misconceptions. We dug a little bit deeper too, exploring how insect production can reap huge benefits for both people and the planet.

Visit The Edible Bug Shop Here!

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

We are seeing vast swathes of the Australian country being devasted by bushfires, while at the same time other parts are being submerged by devastating floods. Agriculture is both extremely vulnerable and partially responsible for the challenges we're facing from climate change. Farmers all across the country and globe are stepping up to be part of the solution, and paving the way for a better food future for all, from the ground up.

Anika is a recognised thought-leader of agro-ecological systems resilience, she is an agricultural science researcher, communicator, and works in international agricultural development. Anika is a passionate advocate for sustainable farming, environmental conservation, and climate change action. She is a director of Farmers for Climate Action, a movement that puts farmers on the front lines of climate change and at the front and center of the solutions.

In this episode, we hear Anika share her story about how she came to be a thought-leader and passionate advocate for sustainable farming, agroecological systems resilience, climate change action, and environmental conservation. We looked at what climate change looks like for farmers in Australia and our South-East Asian neighbours, and how the solutions differ in each region. Anika provided insights on the progress of Australia’s target to become target neutral by 2050, and whether the target is ambitious or urgent enough. Anika shared her predictions of what an Australian farm business might look like in 2050, how agroecology will assist us in combating climate change and addressing food security, and how this challenge is a shared responsibility of producers and consumers. But that’s not all, so be sure to add this episode to your playlist!

More information about Anika is available on our blog: here!

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

On this episode, I spoke with Lana Weidgenant. Lana is a climate and food systems activist from Brazil, attending John Hopkins University. She is the Deputy Director of Partnerships at the International youth climate organisation Zero Hour, and is also involved in food systems as an organizer in the Youth Climate Save Movement to address food systems in climate action. She is the co-founder of the youth-focused organization Cultivate America for food systems solutions to climate, and an Advisory Board Member at Plant Dining Partnerships. Lana has led successful campaigns to bring plant-based options to 18,000 locations in North America and spoke at UN Headquarters on the International Day of Peace about food systems change as global solutions.

In this episode, Lana and I traced back to the beginning of Lana’s journey in climate and food systems activism. She told me how youth can get involved in the fight to tackle the climate crisis, and why it is so important that they do. Lana put forward the serious impacts that Western diets leave on the planet, and how shifting to a plant-forward diet can significantly reduce one’s food footprint. She also gave us insights into the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit, and her role in ensuring there is a shift towards sustainable consumption.

Zero Hour

Cultivate America

National Children’s Campaign

Plant Dining Partnerships

Foodprints For The Future

https://foodsystems.community/communities/action-track-2/

https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit

Make sure you follow Lana and her activities. She is very active on each of her social media streams and is constantly sharing ways that we can get involved, make small changes, and do all that we can to ensure a positive future for all of us.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lanaweid
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lanaweid
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iolanda.weidgenant
Website: https://www.lanaweidgenant.com/

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

We've done things a little differently for this episode of the Climate Proof-Food Podcast! This episode was hosted by our guest host, Luke Spajic. Luke is a food system research student from Australia, with a background in health. He is a member of the Leadership Team of the Sustainable Consumption Action Track of the UNFSS and a member of the agriculture working group of the youth constituency to the UNFCCC. He is a passionate advocate for fairer, healthier, and more sustainable food systems.

In this episode, Luke speaks to Dr. Tara Garnett. Dr Garnett is the Director of Table, previously named the Food Climate Research Network, and a researcher with the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. She is particularly interested in the relationship between emissions reduction objectives as relevant to food and other social and ethical concerns, particularly human health, livelihoods, and animal welfare. Much of her focus is on livestock since this represents a nodal point where many of these issues converge.

In this episode, Luke and Dr. Tara Garnett discuss topics including:
- the history of research about food's contribution to climate change, from food miles to livestock
- the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems, of which Dr Garnett was a co-author
- contestation around livestock's environmental impacts and three common perspectives on what to do about it
- what constitutes a healthy and sustainable diet

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Show Notes:

In this episode, I spoke with Dr Beth Loveys, a lecturer at The University of Adelaide. Her PhD research began in the area of plant ecophysiology and then post-doctoral positions expanded her area of interest into the effects of global climate change on plant growth. She has written extensively on how climate variability and change will impact plant physiology and growth, and the corresponding impact it will have on food production. Beth was also a Science Awards Finalist in 2019 for STEM Educator of the Year in Tertiary Teaching. Beth also coordinates a number of university courses, one of them being Food Production in a Future Climate.

In this episode, we specifically spoke about:

• How anthropogenic activities impact climate change.
• The Impacts of global warming and climate change in terms of food production
• The challenges of predicting future climate scenarios.
• How climate variability impacts plant growth.
• The options we currently have to continue adequate horticultural production in a changing global climate.
• Plants' role in the global water cycle.
• Get a benchtop green waste bin for your kitchen!

Resources Mentioned:

• Food Production in a Future Climate at The University of Adelaide
• State of the Climate 2020: Bureau of Meteorology
• Waite Community Legends: Beth Loveys and Melanie Ford
• 2019 Science Awards Finalist - Dr Beth Loveys, STEM Educator of the Year - Tertiary Teaching

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I was lucky enough to sit down and chat with Kylie Newberry. Kylie is grateful to call Brisbane home and loves spending time outdoors. At Our Food System, Kylie inspires and empowers people to believe they have the power to transform the food system. She does this by building the food citizenship movement; influencing change at the household, community, and policy level, facilitating a more democratic food system.

In this episode, our conversations travelled far and wide, but regularly coming back to talk about the citizen-led model of food systems change known as ‘Food Citizenship’. Kylie spoke of the significant impacts that food citizens can make through their food choices by harnessing the power of their dollar to use it for good, and to tell retailers what they truly care about. She shared insights on a vision she put forward for Brisbane as a Food City, which was a submission to the Rockefeller Foundation Food System vision Prize.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all the work Kylie is up to, follow her on social media here:

• Instagram: @Ourfoodsystem
• Facebook: @ourfoodsystem

Things that were mentioned in this episode:

• Our Food System
• Rockefeller Foundation Food System Vision Prize
• Brisbane Food City Proposal
• What is Community-Supported Agriculture?
• Joel Orchard
• Food Policy Index
• Fight for Planet A with Craig Reucassel
• Sustain
• Kiss The Ground Film
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma (book) by Michael Pollan
• Sharewaste

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak Bill Bellotti, Professor in the Food Systems, School of Agriculture and Food Science, Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland. Professor Bill Bellotti has more than 30 years' experience in leading agricultural production systems research in Southern Australia, western China, and Eastern India. His expertise includes agronomy, climate variability and change, farming systems and integrated approaches to food systems. His research interests include the application of Life Cycle Assessment methodologies to Australian food systems, including the development of concepts such as sustainable diets and food footprints, and the promotion of healthier, sustainable, and equitable food systems.

In this episode, we specifically spoke about:

• The Global Change Institute and its focus on sustainable food systems.
• Overview of Australia’s history and our future as a food export-orientated nation.
• How we’re expecting climate change to impact our ability to produce food.
• The impact of food production on the planet
• The Australian Diet and transition to a more planet and people-friendly diet.
• Steps we can take towards creating food systems that are healthier, equitable, and more sustainable.
• Improving equity and fairness for producers along supply chains
• Burdens/challenges for farmers
• Food literacy, the responsibility of the consumer, and the private sector.
• Life Cycle Thinking and Life Cycle Assessment
• Environmental Food Product Labelling

Corrections:

• A reference was made by Bill about an essay by Walter Berry, where in fact he was talking about Wendell Berry. You can read the essay 'The Pleasures of Eating' here.

Connect With Me
Instagram | @climateprooffood
Instagram | @romancdfy
Facebook | Climate-Proof Food
Twitter | @climateprooffd
Website | www.climateprooffood.com
Support The Show | Buy Me A Coffee
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Spotify | Google

Music:
Hustle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3890-hustle
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/