Food Systems: How They Affect the Health of the Planet and our Health

Dr. Michael Clark from Oxford University and Dr. David Wallinga from the NRDC join HLHP Radio to speak about Food Systems in America and beyond, and how they impact our health and our environment.

Dr. Clark begins by reminding listeners that it's essential to speak about food in regard to pollution because it's the single largest source of environmental damage globally. Our food production systems cause damage through fertilizer production, livestock farming runoff, energy use, land use, greenhouse gas emissions, and shipping. Dr. Clark also explores the sustainability of certain types of transport versus others, for instance, planes vs boats. Dr. Clark breaks down the difference between the processing and production of our food. Red meat, beef, sheep, and goat meat are the biggest pollution culprits in our food systems. Climate change is undoubtedly impacted by our food systems, however, climate change will also impact our food production. Over the last 40-50 years climate change has already negatively impacted crop yields. Dr. Clark explains that what and how much we're choosing to eat is the least sustainable part of our food system, as these choices drive how we produce food. An ideal sustainable food system would provide healthy food at economical prices with low environmental impacts. Dr. Clark reminds listeners that we play a roll by purchasing food responsibly, not only by reducing red meat consumption but by buying less and reducing our food waste. 

Dr. Wallinga breaks down the connection between food systems, nutrition, and public health. Our food is industrially produced, with a lot of chemicals and mass yields. We've moved away from smart, hands-on farming approaches, and toward chemical practices that unfortunately impact our food supply negatively and impact our health as early as the developmental fetal stages. Dr. Wallinga also speaks about our broken food systems and the weaknesses COVID-19 has revealed. In an ever-changing world, a food-system that only functions during particular circumstances runs a large risk because we cannot rely on it. We've created a system where we speed up production and focus on mass shipping, however, this speeding up reduces the nutritional value of our food. Dr. Wallinga, an expert on antibiotics in food, speaks about the importance of antibiotics in our medical system. Our medical system relies on antibiotics for procedures like c-sections, bacterial infections, pneumonia, etc. However, because of antibiotic overuse in our food, more and more infections are becoming resistant. Put simply, this matters because it leaves our physicians with no way to treat our infections, and with untreatable infections, our health is in grave jeopardy. 

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/healthy-radio/support