TRANSCRIPTION

Hello, welcome to the MicroMission Podcast.

The Micro Mission Podcast aims to educate people on the effects microplastics have on human health, how they enter the body and sustainable alternatives.

My name is Katarina Wallardy and I'm a junior at the Academies of Loudon.

Today we have our first guest, Barry Riyar, a research scientist, biophysicist and CEO of Orblinks Academy as our first speaker.

I would like to thank you so much for being here.

Could you tell us about yourself and your interest in sustainability?

Certainly, And thank you, Katarina, for having me here today.

First off, I want to commend you and your team for spearheading such an impactful initiative with this podcast.

I'm really honoured to be the first guest on this podcast and I always believe that if we want big changes, especially in sustainability, it often starts with a fresh perspective of our younger generation.

So thank you for this initiative.

In terms of my interest in sustainability, well, it's a mix of my professional insight as a research scientist and also a personal passion.

My passion for sustainability really started through my work and research, and you know that it's one thing to read about the environment, but it's another to see it how everything really connects up close.

And as a scientist, I witnessed first hand the profound intersection of science, environment and our society.

It's also my personal experience that really, truly LED that fire of passion on sustainability.

So I'm a runner and I really love nature and I go daily on my run and during my runs or nature work I I would immerse myself in the beauty of our surrounding.

And in the lab, it's one thing to analyze the data, but it's another to witness this delicate balance of our ecosystem when you are running or walking in nature.

And these experiences, both as a scientist, as a nature lover, made me realize how crucial it is for us to cherish and protect our environment.

And with what I have learned and the experience and research, I felt that it was also essential to bring that knowledge to the classroom.

So at Orblynx, some STEM Academy, I wanted to bring this and really tackle our planet challenges and bring it and start talking it at a very early on.

So I incorporated that also into our program.

And it's exciting to see students such as yourself, who have initiated this podcast resonating with this sentiment.

After all, the path to a greener future begins with awareness and education.

And who can be better to champion this cause than our youth, don't you think?

I agree, especially with our community awareness campaign.

Our mission with this initiative is to bring light to this issue as well as encourage youth around our community to be more involved with the environmental health and how it can impact human life as well.

So how have you seen microplastics affect the planet and human health?

Great question.

Microplastic.

As you know, these are these tiny particles that often are invisible to a naked eye and they originate from broken down plastic waste.

And they're they're the harming that.

The actual impact that they have in our environment is truly alarming.

These microplastic they infiltrate into oceans and in soil, in our air and even in our food chain marine life.

Of course, mistakenly they take them for food and they ingest these particles and this not only affects the marine ecosystem, but also in enters our food chain when we consume seafood.

Research has shown that microplastic can have a harmful effect on human health, impacting our endocrine system and even our neurological health.

And it's a cascading effect that we're only beginning to understand it.

And research is beginning to show the harmful impact that it has and their presence in our food and in our ecosystem and their potential health.

It's really a call to action for all of us.

Yes, I agree.

And I've found so many alarming statistics.

So, for instance, it's estimated that the average individual injects about 50,000 pieces of microplastics per year, and this nungambur increases by two to three times for individuals who consistently use plastic water bottles to drink water.

And that's why it's such an important call to action and leads us to ask what alternatives are?

So what's sustainable?

What's sustainable alternatives to commonly used products or services do you see being implemented?

Good point.

I mean you must have seen that over the past several years there's been a huge increase and interest on eco friendly alternatives.

Again, because as the research and science has on revealing the impact and the negative impact of these microplastics and the more and more our research are gearing towards more eco friendly and sustainable products.

And we see these products out there, for example you have seen bamboo toothbrushes replacing plastic ones or you've seen and and shopping they have they or usage of cloth bags being more and more encouraged and they're using that instead of plastic bags or we're using reusable water bottles and they're becoming more norm that we use those.

Another notable shift if you have seen it is in the packaging industry where companies are exploring biodegradable or combustible packaging.

But the key here is not just replacing these products, but changing our mindset towards a more sustainable, less base for lifestyle.

And I'll give you an example for example at Orblings Academy as part of our program we have taken on a hands on approach on this.

So our sustainability program, especially the one that focuses on sustainable alternatives has been a huge hit among our studenAnd again, it's based on educating and awareness and that is when you see that shift on mindset.

So it's not just all about replacing product, but also changing mindset, educating and initiating those.

And that can help creating more sustainable alternatives.

And students see it that they can create those right in classroom from just basic household items to innovative solution that can change the status quo and challenge those status quo.

Yeah, I think that's very understandable.

It's hard to make that shift without being properly educated, which is why it's brings us back to why it's so important to educate the youth of why this shift is important.

You've had plentiful experience working with mycelium, so can you elaborate on what this material is and how it can be incorporated into daily life?

Absolutely, absolutely.

And you know, mycelium, it's a very interesting thing.

It's an it's a what they call it mysomes, a network of a fungal threats that form the foundation of the mushroom growth.

It's really a marvel of a nature and I call it a fungi best kept secret because my scene is like a vast interconnected network like natures own World Wide Web so.

That's that's Mycelium, that's basically Mycelium and in sustainability, Mycelium now over the past several years has been healed as a as a a truly innovative biometric biomaterial because it's it has an ability to grow rapidly and it also decomposed back into the earth harmlessly and it's a carbon negative.

So it's been experimented with to create everything from sustainable packaging to even clothing.

And so you can imagine how exciting that is, that having a world where you're packaging combusts in your backyard, isn't that incredible?

It would be incredible, isn't it?

Oh, sorry.

I love the idea of essentially growing your own furniture.

Such products can become a nutrient to your garden rather than a detriment.

Absolutely.

Like in terms of you mentioned in terms of how do you see it that being incorporated into daily life, that's a good point because we see that Mycelium research has shown that Mycelium has a really a vast potential like for example at Orblings Academy or students especially during summer program they have explored Mycelium potential and it's real world application from creating desktop organizer to Mycelium utensils.

And and one great example that really stands out for me is is truly that grand breaking innovation done by our our students, you one of them your you and your team at our STEM for Girls high school team last summer creating these 100% sustainable bench and courtyard furniture using Mycelium which is truly one of its kind in nation and it's showcasing the potential of my.

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And and you, I would like you to tell us, tell your listeners your experience, actually experience with that because you are you're part of one of the team on that.

Yeah, it was truly such an honor to work with that team where we problem solved and developed various solutions that actively contributed to the betterment of our environment.

I think that products like that will really show other students that it's possible to create sustainable alternatives, even at such a young age.

I've seen the work of students during my internship and the incredible innovations such as that egg carton and the utensils made by some of my peers.

It's astounding that some of the students in this class were as young as 6th graders, and this really goes to show that if they can do it, so can adults.

Agreed, agreed.

Very well said.

So now that we've seen that some of these products can already be made by mycelium, do you think that mycelium could be the solution for reducing microplastic pollution and what could it be used for?

You asked a very good question in that regard.

Research has shown that yes, Mycenium based products of course are biodegradable and they're carbon negative and that's a very important thing that it's a carbon negative it removes.

And what it does, it removes more carbon dioxide or or other carbon compounds from an atmosphere that then it releases it.

So in other words it is not only offsets its own carbon emission, but also it compensates for additional carbon emission elsewhere.

That is, that is why it's important alternative Mycelium is being looked at as a not only important but innovative alternative solution, because when they breakdown, they return to environment without leaving those.

Harmful residues unlike plastics and this could really significantly reduce the amount of microplastic pollution.

Mycelium can really replace several plastic based products like packaging material and there are a number of packaging material that currently being produced and used and so and experimented with.

They also being used in insulation and their research about usage of Mycelium.

Women insulation and even more construction material.

So and and again this comes back to importance of lot of different alternative sustainable material that we are researching but but one focus being Mycelium that it's because it's versatile, it's sustainable and it holds a lot of promise for us in our fight against plastic pollution so.

I'm excited that with innovation and research, mycelium can be the key to a sustainable future and reduce and more and more reduce our reliance on plastic.

Yeah, I think this is a great point.

It's so exciting to see the different solutions that can be come up with from mycelium, but because the mass production of plastic is so efficient and cheap, do you think it's possible for mycelium products to be mass produced?

You actually made a very good point, yes.

And that's one of the reason that this question comes very often in scientific scientifically that how can we, yes, we know that this is an innovative solution, but how can we make it a mass production And that is a question that is really depends most definitely in my belief, most definitely my.

Rapid growth rate makes it really a viable candidate for mass production.

So when you ask that question, yes, it can grow quickly and with the right condition it can be produced at this scale and several companies have already invested in this and

There's a challenge, of course, and the challenge is because in a scaling production in a sustainable way and ensuring that there's a market demand for it, right?

But as averness grows, technology advances.

I'm hopeful that we'll see more mass production of mycelium products in the market.

But remember, the key is that.

We need to pair the scientific innovation with market demand and infrastructure of support.

And what I mean by that is that with the scientific innovation, this means that we continue exploring into the best cultivation practices for my stadium, improving of course its durability, versability and versatility and understanding its life cycle impact and.

So as we the advancements in how we grow, process and adopt Mycelium would really, really influence its feasibility as a wide usage material.

And the point about market demand really comes back to the initiative of this podcast, which I'm absolutely proud of you and your team and honored to be part is because the more your community is.

Understand.

And if we're and the more you educate your community about sustainable practices and sustainable material, it allows them to be more excited about usage of sustainable alternative products and what it does, the consumer awareness and interest are very, very essential for us in order to create that market demand.

And the more consumers become equal conscious, they start valuing sustainable products over traditional ones and this allows the businesses, the industry to be more inclined to invest and produce mycelium based products or what I would say a biodegradable alternative solution to plastics.

And then it brings me to the third thing, which is the really creating that infrastructural support and this goes beyond just having factory.

Or facilities to produce Mycelium products.

It really means that we need to create a supply chain that can source these raw material, having them having a distribution network that can handle these new products and possibly even developing new technologies for large scale production.

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So in essence, the future of mass produced Mycelium is really.

Bright and But it really, really depends on the perfect synergy of science, consumer demand and the right support structures that can make the mass production possible.

And I hope I was able to answer that.

In a nutshell, yes.

Thank you so much for your response.

I completely agree.

I think because myself as a high schooler have been able to develop various products in a sustainable way, I think there's a lot of hope that this can be taken on a grand scale initiative and one day have mycelium products be mass produced.

I think that's really why we're here today to bring awareness to these sustainable solutions so that our listeners and people within our community can be more informed and excited about sustainable products and this can lead to the usage and demand for such solutions.

And that gives me a great segue to the Would you rather segment, Although it seems like a very obvious answer, would you rather use a plastic or a glass container

This one is interesting.

A great segment.

I love it.

It's fun.

Well, given my background and my passion to sustainability, I would naturally lean towards a glass container.

While plastic of course has its conveniences, portability, all that the long term environmental cost.

Of usage of a plastic is truly high and significant.

The the health harm of it is truly high.

And besides, I always see that there's an elegance in usage of plastic than.

Yeah, I mean the usage of glass than plastic.

But again, we have to remember in everything there's a tried off the.

While glass containers are heavier than plastic but they do offer a more durable and non-toxic sustainable option.

And this is what I want us to really understand that unlike plastic usage of alternative solutions such as glass containers, it allows us to have less harmful chemical attaching to our plastic, which usually plastic containers do and.

Usage of a glass container ensures that you have a safer and healthier choice for storing your food or storing your beverages.

So again, it comes back to the health benefit, the importance of it, and how it can save our earth.

Yeah, I agree.

A viable choice because it's long lasting and it doesn't allow for microplastics to leach into the food and then get absorbed into the human body.

I agree and and if you remember one of the thing we can end it with this that currently there's a research on that and using again not only the glass but also by other biodegradable products such as Mycenium to be used in a daily product such as containers or utensils.

And and the research is still, I mean this is an ongoing research, but absolutely great point and again, how we can make this much more affordable, much more usable for us.

And but we have to remember, nature is truly a gift for us and it's up to us to protect it.

So in any ways that we could protect it, it will be absolutely appreciated.

Yeah, and I think that's a great place to sum up our podcast.

Do you have any last thoughts or anything?

Well, I want to really thank you and your team for having me part of to be a guest on your podcast.

And again, thank you guys.

It is youth who can make the difference.

And I'm truly truly admiring and inspired by you guys starting this initiative and to educate and really initiate this education and awareness for the community, especially among youth about sustainable products, sustainable usage of a product and alternative sustainable alternatives.

Thank you again for having me on your podcast.

Thank you so much for joining us here today.

It was such a pleasure to speak with you and thank you to everyone who listened to this episode of the Micro Mission Podcast.

I hope you tune in to listen to another episode soon.