Real Food Media

Insects are the often-times invisible workforce that take on planetary care. According to Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse, “they pollinate, break down waste and provide food for us and countless other species. If they vanished tomorrow, the apocalypse would begin the next day.” Today, insect populations are in rapid decline, with estimates of population loss ranging from 40-75% across regions. The main drivers? Habitat loss and widespread use of dangerous chemicals—both of which are linked with industrial agriculture. In this special Real Food Reads episode commemorating the 60th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Anna Lappé speaks with Dave Goulson about agrichemicals, biodiversity, and how we, together, can avert the insect apocalypse.

SHOW NOTES

3:52 The importance of insects and the ecosystem services they provide

6:00 An example of insects at work in Australia

9:20 Unknown number of insect species, but we do know that insect populations are on the decline

11:10 Industrialized agriculture is one of the main drivers of the astounding insect decline we have today

13:05 How synthetic fertilizers impact the insect population

17:42 Neonicotinoids (or neonics), the parallel to DDT, and their dangerous lethal and sublethal impacts on insecticides.

24:01 If these chemicals are so dangerous, why hasn’t more action been taken?

Where is the world still noisy?

29:15 Where in the world is it still “noisy” and busy with insect biodiversity?

32:30 What we can each do in our own ways to “avert the insect apocalypse”

When we speak of biodiversity loss, the climate crisis, and food injustice, we have to go to the root: colonialism. From the perspective and "voice" of the nutmeg, The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis by acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh does just that. Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka and is now based in Brooklyn. He’s the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. His most recent book, The Nutmeg’s Curse, opens with the Dutch Empire’s brutal war in the Banda Islands—a small archipelago that’s part of what is now Indonesia—to establish a monopoly on the nutmeg trade. From there, he takes us halfway around the world and back again, weaving together stories of colonial violence, human resilience, and non-human agency.

SHOW NOTES:

2:32 | Why European navigators sailed off in search of spices in the 17th century

4:00 | Dutch colonialism and the 1621 Banda Massacre

9:46 | Nutmeg production as the earliest instance of industrial agriculture and racial capitalism (and why it matters)

11:19 | Racialized workforces in agriculture around the world

14:20 | The pleasures of gardening, including growing your own spices

15:15 | How spices came to be devalued (and associated with “onanism”!)

17:40 | On the mysteries of the vanilla plant

20:40 | Environmentalism’s dark history (and present) of ethnic cleansing

22:20 | The role of militarism in transforming food systems and contributing to the climate crisis

23:30 | The Pentagon and other military institutions as the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, and yet they are excluded from climate negotiations

25:42 | Amitav’s call for a “vitalist politics”

DIG DEEPER:

Follow Amitav Ghosh on Twitter: @GhoshAmitav

Visit his blog: http://amitavghosh.com/blog/

Buy the book: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo125517349.html

​​For more on this episode, expanded show notes, and full transcript, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/the-nutmegs-curse/

Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/

Become a Patreon supporter for early access to our episodes and premium content with the authors here https://www.patreon.com/realfoodmedia

Indigenous people make up 5 percent of the global population and steward 80 percent of the world's biodiversity, yet they aren’t centered in most discussions or actions for environmental justice. An Indigenous woman and scientist, Dr. Jessica Hernandez talks about the importance of Indigenous science (and scientists) in her new book Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science. In this conversation, Jessica talks about the importance of Indigenous-led stewardship projects, Black-Indigenous solidarity, and shares the moving story of how she came to the book’s title.

SHOW NOTES:

1:51 | The difference between an interdisciplinary scientist and an Indigenous scientist

3:50 | What is Indigenous science?

5:50 | Indigenous people support 80% of the world’s biodiversity

10:15 | Conservation as a Western construct and the trouble with the original concept of National Parks

12:44 | The importance of #LandBack and Indigenous-led stewardship projects

17:49 | The impact of banana plantations in Central America

22:30 | The title of the book and the personal impact of war in El Salvador

DIG DEEPER:

To learn more about Dr. Jessica Hernandez, visit her site https://www.jessicabhernandez.com/

Follow Jessica on Twitter: https://twitter.com/doctora_nature

Buy the book: https://bookshop.org/books/fresh-banana-leaves-healing-indigenous-landscapes-through-indigenous-science

​​For more on this episode, expanded show notes, and full transcript, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/fresh-banana-leaves/

Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/

Become a Patreon supporter for early access to our episodes and premium content with the authors here https://www.patreon.com/realfoodmedia

There is a broad consensus around the “endangerment” of crop diversity—among scientists, advocates, policymakers, and corporations, actors who tend to disagree on a number of other issues. But Helen Anne Curry says: not so fast. Where does this endangerment narrative come from? Whose interests does it serve? And what assumptions does it make? Conventional approaches to crop conservation largely center on conserving seeds off-farm in gene banks, as opposed to protecting the livelihoods, communities, and farming systems of the peasants and Indigenous peoples who developed and steward those seeds. In this conversation, Curry delves into the history and science of seed conservation—and its implications for the future of food.

SHOW NOTES:

2:23 | What is the “endangerment narrative”?

6:11 | Origins of endangerment in the early history of plant breeding and industrial agriculture

14:35 | Endangerment as an outgrowth of settler colonialist & racist assumptions

19:01 | Defining ex situ (off site) vs. in situ (on site) seed conservation

24:08 | Does diversity change and evolve over time? Is crop diversity inevitably declining or can we think about crop diversity increasing?

28:00 | Crisis thinking or crisis narratives

34:03 | The story of glass gem corn

37:15 | Difference between conventional and food sovereignty approaches to seed conservation

DIG DEEPER:

To learn more about Helen Anne Curry, visit http://www.helenannecurry.com/

Follow Helen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hacurry

Buy the book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520307698/endangered-maize

​​For more on this episode, expanded show notes, and full transcript, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/endangered-maize-industrial-agriculture-and-the-crisis-of-extinction/

Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/

Become a Patreon supporter for early access to our episodes and premium content with the authors here: https://www.patreon.com/realfoodmedia

Colonialism is at the root of the problems we see in our food system, and, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently stated, it is also at the root of the climate crisis. By cultivating diversity within the soil and amongst farmers, we can work towards a liberated future. “Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming” by Liz Carlisle shares the stories of Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian-American farmers around the United States who are using their ancestral agricultural traditions to heal the soil, build climate resilience, connect with their culture, and create pathways for racial justice. Tiffani’s conversation with author Liz Carlisle and scientist Aidee Guzman highlights what is possible when we focus on diversity above and below ground.

SHOW NOTES:

02:25 | The four per mille study and why regenerative agriculture has sparked hope in recent years.

04:35 | What’s possible when you take “regeneration” and regenerative agriculture to heart

06:25 | Aidee Guzman’s research on soil health and habits of bees on diverse farms vs monoculture farms in California’s Central Valley

07:56 | The 450 million year old fungi that helped bring plants to the land.

10:05 | How to support a diversity of farmers and farming techniques

13:53 | History of agroecology in Mexico and how it intersected with the Green Revolution

19:33 | There’s no such thing as a weed

21:35 | For Aidee, there are two distinct worlds of agriculture

25:12 | Reciprocal farm labor practices abroad and in the US

29:40 | How the agricultural industry in the US was designed and why it is extractive today

32:45 | The one thing Liz Carlisle and Aidee Guzman want you to know about climate, justice, and the deep roots of regenerative farming.

DIG IN:

To learn more about Aidee Guzman, visit https://www.aideeguzman.com/

To learn more about Liz Carlisle, visit https://www.lizcarlisle.com/

​​For more on this episode, including the transcript, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/healing-grounds/

Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/

Become a Patreon supporter for early access to our episodes and premium content with the authors here https://www.patreon.com/realfoodmedia

Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America by James Beard award-winning author Mayukh Sen gives us an intimate look into the lives of seven women who’ve changed the way we think about food in the US, while sharing some unique insights into how food media shapes our appetites.

Frances Moore Lappé's groundbreaking book in 1971 exposed the true cause of hunger while also changing the way many people eat, for the better. 50 years later, she released a new edition with an updated introduction that speaks to her ethos, what has changed in the last 50 years, and what's next.

The Covid pandemic, mass uprisings against injustice around the world, raging forest fires... Our bodies, societies, and planet are inflamed, argue Raj Patel and Dr. Rupa Marya. Their epic and timely new book "Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice" will forever change the way you think—not only about food—but about the ruptures in the web of life that have wrought so much damage on our health and relationships.

Rupa is a physician and professor of medicine dedicated to healing the wounds of colonialism through food medicine, story, and learning; and Raj is the best-selling author "Stuffed and Starved," "The Value of Nothing," and co-author of "A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things."

For more on this episode, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/inflamed/

Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/

The story of humankind is usually told as one of technological innovation and economic influence—of arrowheads and atomic bombs, settlers and stock markets. But behind it all, there is an even more fundamental driver: food. In this episode, Anna Lappé and Mark Bittman dive into how food has shaped our past, but also how we can transform it to reclaim our future.

For more on this episode, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/animal-vegetable-junk/

Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/

“Black Food Matters: Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice” centers the Black experience within the US food system: what is missing and what is possible. Edited by Dr. Ashanté M. Reese and Hanna Garth, this anthology features voices and experience from around the nation.