Adam Verwey is a founder and managing director at Future Super, Australia's first 100% fossil fuel-free superannuation fund.

Many traditional super funds invest in fossil fuels, gambling, detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons, weapons, live animal exports, uranium mining, alcohol, fast food, even pornography. Many of us are well-versed in the ethics of waste and energy, like carrying a keep-cup to reduce waste, or having shorter showers, or installing solar panels, but did you know that you can choose to put your money into ethical and responsible investment options? Have you ever considered how ethical your super fund is or where your super is being invested?

Future Super

Tom Earls is a beekeeper and educator in Surf Coast, Victoria, and the founder of Coastal Nectar.

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Specifically, we discuss: 

• Why we need to protect bee populations
• Role in the ecosystem
• Pesticides and insecticides
• Medicinal properties of honey
• How to help local bee populations thrive

Coastal Nectar links:

Coastal Nectar on Facebook
Coastal Nectar on Instagram

Mind Body Plants links:
Mind Body Plants on Instagram

Education and further resources:
Bringing bees back to Australian backyards
Supporting native bee populations
Ensuring our food security
Bees are dying. What can we do about it?

Worldwide, bee populations are on the decline. This is caused by the use of pesticides and herbicides, climate change, loss of habitat, and agriculture services like monoculture farming, contributing to a loss in plant biodiversity. Without plant biodiversity for bees to pollinate or feed on, bees are hindered to provide their colony and subsequently, the ecosystem at large.  Why do we need to protect bee populations? Bees are keystone species, meaning they are an organism that helps hold the system together. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be drastically different or cease entirely. If bees die off it will end most life. Throughout nature, animals depend on bees for their survival because their food sources, things like berries, fruits, seeds, and nuts, rely on insect pollination. Pollination is needed for the growth of flora, providing the habitat and nutrition for animals.

Jeff Chilton, raised in the pacific north-west, studied ethno-mycology in the late 1960s. In 1989 he founded Nammex, a business that introduced medicinal mushrooms to the nutritional supplement industry in the United States. Nammex extracts are used by many supplement companies and are noted for their high quality based on scientific analysis of the active compounds. 

In this conversation, we explore mushroom composition and anatomy, and their medicinal properties, including their immunological benefits. We discuss adaptogens and bringing harmony to our body and health, and also psychedelic mushrooms and healing. 

Specifically, we cover:

• Mushroom cultivation
• Beta-glucans and triterpenoids
• Mushroom composition and anatomy
• Mycelium and fruiting body
• Ensuring mushroom quality and what to look for
• Immunological benefits and properties of mushrooms
• Adaptogens and bringing harmony and balance
• Psychedelic mushrooms and healing
• Self-transcendence

Nammex
Mind Body Plants