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
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

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:
Spotify | Google

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