in a Friday night and I decided to watch
some TV and I’ll admit that I may not
have been completely sober and I might
have been a bit emotional but I didn’t
realize at the time that what I was
about to watch would change me when I
was about to watch would take me to a
place I did not think possible what I
ended up watching I ended up watching a
documentary about how people in
Southeast Asia were eating insects now
that’s nothing new people have been
eating insects thousands of years and if
things go the way I think people are
going to keep eating insects for
thousands of years but that’s not what
fascinated me what fascinated me is why
people were doing it not just in
Southeast Asia but our people across the
globe were choosing to switch out
regular meat for insects that little
hook yes that little thing would take me
I did not believe I would never believe
it was possible but don’t worry though
i’m not here to try and convince you to
eat insects I have no intention of
eating insects it’s not happening what I
would like to talk about is how much we
eat especially how much meat weed and
where that meat comes from how we
produce it and I believe in the future
you will all find yourselves a willing
part of a rather strange food chain but
before I talk about how how eat meat how
we can do it better I need to talk about
where we are now so I need to talk about
some statistics so just got to bear with
me is some numbers coming but I’m gonna
explain everything this is how much meat
weed every year so this is chicken pork
and beef in 2013 we were eating a
staggering 259 million tons of meat as a
planet it’s a massive number so many
zeros and it’s going to keep growing
over the next 10 years I mean we’re
going to keep eating meat but that
number though 259 million tons it’s too
big to comprehend what what does that
really look like I just way too big
so let’s try and quantify that in
sub-saharan Africa on average we eat 9
kilos of meat a year now that’s nothing
like to use an extremely unscientific
method that’s about as much as my lower
legs now I’ve got skinny legs so I’m
giving myself 9 kilos but what about
were somewhere else in the world let us
look at China how much does it how much
the Chinese eat per person meet the
Chinese are eating 65 kilos that’s
almost a whole me just in chicken pork
and beef that’s a lot but they’re still
not a lot on the grand scale let’s go to
our friends in America 120 kilos of meat
a year that’s almost two Me’s Justin
meat that’s not mean that’s a lot of
meat but it’s not just me tweeting
another vid classic means we’re also
eating a lot of fish according to the UN
over 600 populations of fish across the
globe three-quarters of those are either
depleted so there’s nothing left they’re
being overfished so we’re actually you
know fishing juveniles or they’re at a
level where no matter how many boats we
throw in we’re not getting any more fish
that’s over three quarters so we’re
eating a lot of meat we’re eating a lot
of fish but how we get into that point
what are we putting in there to produce
this meet a lot of water goes into the
meat we produce a lot of water right and
this is not just water to feed the
animals but this is water to go in the
crops that they eat so the grains the
bar is all that for every kilo of beef
you can use as much as fifteen thousand
liters that’s per kilo and the numbers
for pork and chicken are also pretty
high we’re talking about thousands of
litres and now these numbers are for
industrialized farming so this is where
we’re heading this is where they put the
animals in small containers they don’t
get out to go outside you know they’re
probably not very happy but to continue
eating meat the way we eat meat this is
probably where we’re going to go
now I mentioned the grains that they eat
so the most important part of those
grains is protein where do they get the
stuff that makes them grow a lot of the
protein that animals are eating is
coming from soy meal cottonseed but
we’re also feeding fish meal to our
animals especially to farm fish now when
we’re dealing with farm fish fish meal
is especially evil there’s a ratio when
we’re looking at how to farm fish and
how much it’s called fish in fish out
now fishing fish out means how many
kilos of wild fish it takes to produce
one kilo of farm fish biggest the
biggest criminal is salmon for every one
kilo of farm salmon it takes two kilos
of wild fish in the form of fish meal
two kilos for every one kilo farm salmon
for prawns it’s almost as bad one and a
half kilos now this is us now remember
what I said about we’re overfishing to
feed fish two fish so that we can eat
them is a bit strange isn’t it so we’re
eating lots of fish reading lots of meat
we have overfishing the oceans you know
and after all of this you know
production all of this food produce for
human consumption we’re actually
throwing out a lot of it as a planet we
average we’re throwing out a third of
what we produce for human consumption a
third that totals to 1.3 billion tons of
food waste of the year and if I was to
go back to the measure of me I mean
that’s 18 million bees I like myself at
18 million if you me even is a bit
that’s that’s a bit much but I’m going
to try and quantify it again because
that number 80 million it again it
doesn’t doesn’t make much sense so how
about the average person the average
person consumes about oh there’s food
produced for that person 600 kilos a
year 600 kilos now in terms of me that’s
eight and a half eight and a half Me’s
Justin food eight and a half that’s a
lot but of that eight and a half I will
throw out a third I will throw it as
many as almost three knees in the bin
just wasted in a year so that’s crazy
through Yumi’s just in the bin so let’s
do a steel quick recap here we’re eating
lots we’re using a lot of water to grow
the grains that we feed our crops we’re
over fishing for fish meal and we’re
throwing in at the bin but why is that
important what does that mean to you me
everybody in this crowd what does that
have to do with my you know my
documentary watching on a Friday night
how have I developed a relationship a
strange relationship with an insect I
would like to show you what’s underneath
here what’s underneath here is the
solution to all of those problems i
mentioned what’s underneath here is
something that you’ve all seen but you
didn’t know what it was what’s under
here has been here long before we were
here and it’ll be here long after we’ve
gone but before I take off the cover I
it is what’s underneath here not very
loud I would like to introduce you to my
babies these ladies and gentlemen are
the larvae of what is known as her
material loose ends or the black soldier
fly these larvae here are about 10 days
10 to 14 days old they’ve turned black
when they’re younger and when they’re
eating they’re still clear but these
guys because they’re not trying to add
this state it’s not trying to escape I
chose these for the glass bowl otherwise
you might have some we might have some
issues some lobby one it running wild
but at this stage they’re actually clean
and you can even handle them it’s an
amazing feeling I’m telling you it is so
intense I if you want to try it they’re
here afterwards so once they’re at this
stage you know they’ve done their eating
they’re going to go off find a nice
place to lie down and they’re going to
pupate once they’re done pupating they
turn into what is known as a black
soldier fly now black soldier flies are
washed imitators you can tell them from
the two windows in the lower part of
their body they’re like it they’re about
an inch long they’d rather large and
they do look a bit dangerous there
wasthe imitators but they they don’t
have a mouth they don’t have a sting in
an actual fact you know they’re quite
friendly they’re really friendly and
they’re not scared of you at all I mean
they will come you can hold and they
don’t try and fly away I like them I
mean these are these are my children but
why does this matter why does my strange
relationship with this larvae how is it
going to fix all of those problems i
mentioned this guy here when he’s eating
here comentarii when they’re eating they
are prolific eaters they will eat their
body waste their body weight in waste
every day for 14 days now one that
doesn’t seem like much you know when you
have five hundred to a thousand brothers
and sisters that’s a lot of food I mean
if I was eating my own body weight in
ways today I might be a little bit
fatter but i’ll also be dead like it’s
not going to work
I mean they are they’re amazing eaters I
mean they will go through any organic
waste and they do choose the freshest
stuff but if you ask me they’re not that
fussed but again why does this matter
how are these going to solve that
problem how was this little phatty going
to solve that problem this guy at this
stage his body content is forty five
percent protein 45 that has that’s one
of the highest levels of protein in the
animal kingdom and that number 45 is
important because that’s the same number
as soy meal that’s the same number as
fish meal the current how our life stop
today how they get their protein this
little guy here once we dry and crush
him he is a sustainable insect derive
protein all of them like we can use
these guys to replace soil and to
replace fish meal but so what so let’s
start risk if we can if we can use them
to replace them what’s the big deal the
big deal is saw in fish meal they retail
for about a thousand two hundred hours a
ton this guy here half that half that we
can provide sustainable insect derived
protein to households in Tanzania
households where a lot of people keep
chickens a lot of people keep keep pigs
and cattle in their backyards and we can
allow them to provide food at half the
price so why aren’t we doing this you
know what’s the what’s supposed to
reason what’s holding us back two
reasons when when you see this what do
you think yes exactly nobody thinks i
want to cuddle ohm and let’s get us get
closer that’s the main problem are we
are we comfortable with it feeding an
animal that’s been living in waste to an
animal that we’re going to then eat we
should be I mean chickens eat maggots
all the time but perception is not quite
there yet as a we have issues with
knowing where our food is coming from we
do and that’s also what leads the second
problem that waste because if that
weight has disease what happens when
that disease goes from the pile of waste
to the larvae to the chicken and into
the into a human being
that’s a problem getting around that
but there are people doing this they’re
doing it in South Africa they’re doing
it in the States and they’re doing it in
Tanzania I’m sorry they’re doing in
Europe what about tanzania what about
tanzania when I first watch that
documentary four years ago I was living
in a cold cold country i mean so cold
I’ve so well I lost all of the brown in
me I change color it was so cold and
these guys here they need warm they need
27 degrees it is 27 degrees outside they
like this environment they’re native to
Tanzania so when I came back to Tanzania
last year after four years in the cold
I’d almost forgotten about these guys I
couldn’t you know I couldn’t live my
dream because the climate there where I
was living was ways it’s not wasn’t
going to happen so I came back to Tenzin
here last year and I was you know a lot
of people have compost here and I had my
compost you throwing it out and I went
to go put you know something into my
compost i opened the bin and I saw these
things moving and I mean in two seconds
I was I was in there you know and it was
lucky you reek a moment I mean I think
they had found me like I didn’t even
have to go find them they found me I
mean it was amazing i get i get
goosebumps just thinking about it they
actually found me so I mean this started
a whole new apart for me but I’ll still
the same problem you know how do we fix
the waste issue we can’t take this to
the DA dump you know throw these in the
dump and then start feeding into
chickens and it’s a bit and then I
bumped into a man who who has access to
clean waste who has access to waste
which comes from a factory that produces
food for human consumption and not just
a little bit of waste I mean we’re
talking more weight i mean mountains of
this stuff comes out of this factory
every day it was I mean meeting this man
was like you know if he wasn’t married
I’d have married him on the spot we we
had you know I had you know we had the
idea we had the waist
I challenge you next by this time next
year I’ll be able to invite you to a
barbecue where we can feed you chicken
that’s been fed on these it’s happening
now I’m going to show you these guys but
they’re these guys are a little more
gross because these guys are still
eating and that’s why they’re in the
steel box because there are notorious
escape artists so i’m going to put
something in here this is just mango and
if you guys want you can come around
later and you can see what these guys
have done to the mango in the short
space of time that that we’re here today
so i’m just going to and throw it in
there quickly enough and then close the
jar close the lid okay there we go but
come round later and I mean have a look
have a look at the meeting they are
fascinating creatures today we’re we’re
eating meat in an unsustainable way you
know we’re feeding you know grains to
our talk to our livestock which are
consuming the planet’s resources we’re
feeding our farm fish but with fish meal
that’s causing us to overfish the oceans
like we’re depleting our resources and
after all this we’re producing mountains
of waste every day we’re throwing out
the food why are we doing this I mean
there’s that there’s ways around it you
know I say you know take away those
water allowing crops and provide our
livestock with suspect with their
protein from sustainable insect derive
protein yeah stop overfishing the oceans
and replace fish meal with sustainable
insect derived protein you know take
away the mountains a waste give it to
these larvae and provide our livestock
with sustainable insect derive protein
did I say sustainable I don’t think I
mean this is like we needa I almost need
a stand up here and you know that we
need to chant this you know sustainable
yeah I like you yeah gold star but all
in all we can do this we can we can
really make a change about the way we we
live on this planet and we can leave
less of a footprint so that people can
go forward and actually your art long
after us I can continue to eat meat
because I’m not stopping to eat meat I’m
not going vegetarian
not happening but we can do this but
ladies and gentlemen I would like you to
give a warm round of course for the
absolute star the real hero the flight
is willing to die for you and keep you
eating meat ladies and gentlemen black
soldiers [Applause]