Watch: Isha Datar’s New TED Talk On How We Could Eat Real Meat Without Harming Animals
"It's our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a second chance at agriculture," says Datar.
“Diners in Singapore are eating chicken nuggets made from a chicken who is never killed. How is this possible? Through the power of what I call cellular agriculture,” says Isha Datar.
In a newly released TED Talk, cellular agriculture pioneer, Isha Datar took to the stage to explain how this cutting-edge food technology can make it possible to eat meat, while disrupting animal agriculture, creating a more just, democratic food system, and combating associated climate change risks. "It's our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a second chance at agriculture," she says.
Cellular agriculture produces animal products, such as meat, eggs, and dairy, from cell culture rather than whole animals. This cuts out the need to farm, raise, and slaughter animals, and bypasses much of the climate degradation caused by traditional animal agriculture.
“This wouldn't just be better for chickens and cows and pigs and the people who have to farm them and slaughter them and process their meat. This could be better for the whole world,” explains Datar. “Think of this: early estimates of cell-cultured meat's potential show that cultured meat would require 99 percent less land, 96 percent less water and produce 96 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions”.
Datar is considered one of “the leading pioneers” in the cell-based meat scene. In 2015, she coined the term "cellular agriculture" — officially creating a category for agriculture products produced from cell cultures rather than whole plants or animals. And Datar is the executive director of New Harvest, the global nonprofit research institute that funds open, public cultured meat research. She also co-founded Muufri (now Perfect Day Foods), where they make milk without cows, and Clara Foods, where they make eggs without chicken.
The release of Datar’s TED Talk comes just days before the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. COP26 is considered a critical summit for global climate action where leaders are set to negotiate a “comprehensive, ambitious and balanced outcome that takes forward coordinated climate action” in order to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees.
Datar is driven by a passion to see cellular agriculture tackle some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
“The United Nations says that we will have to restore nature on land the size of China if we are to achieve climate resilience,” says Datar. “Cellular agriculture actually puts this on the table. Not only could we alleviate land for restoration, we can also create the products we know and love at a fraction of the emissions. By farming cells, we could actually proactively envision agriculture for a climate-changed world”.
Watch and share Isha Datar’s TED Talk here.
Listen to the Species Unite podcast episode with Isha here.
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Species Unite
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