Dianne McGrath is the director of the sustainability and business consultancy, Food for Thought Consulting Australia. Dianne has vast experience in project management, marketing and government organisations in her time with the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET) and GlaxoSmithKline. While at AER, Dianne developed an electricity consumption benchmark as well as the website Energy Made Easy. Her work at DRET also involved the drafting of sections of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy and developing a new Commonwealth law. Her work experience is balanced through holding positions on the Boards of Cultivating Community, the managers of the Food Know How program for the City of Yarra, 3000acres and the Open Food Network. Dianne has won global awards for marketing and web development.
Dianne is one of the two Australians in the running to join the first permanent human colony on Mars, as part of the Mars One project.
In this episode we talk about:
- The Mars One mission and the goal of the organisation
- Establishing the first permanent human settlement on Mars
- How Dianne McGrath is honoured to be part of the project and one of the astronaut candidates
- Her thoughts on hunger and obesity
- The huge significance of social advantages and opportunities
- Waste management
- The perception of choice
- The value of food change
- The importance of food which really does connect people
- Food Rescue Organisation
- The moment that changed her perspective on food management
- How she became fascinated and really wanted to explore reducing wastage
- The counter balance between what we want culturally and what we expect when it comes to hospitability
- A moment of sharing values of culture when eating and dining together
- The consumer aspect
- Dianne’s degrees in Sustainable Practice, Environmental Management, Marketing, Mathematics and Literature
- The poverty in the world
- Value, choice and abundance
- The simple ways to save food
- The huge impact of rice on the environment
- A simple philosophy that works across all of sustainability with regards to health and weight loss
- Consuming less and acting more in order to be active in doing things to affect the environment
- The great philosophy towards improving the environmental situation and making a difference
- Thinking about everything holistically and in terms of sustainability in order to treat the environment well
Dianne McGrath’s childhood food memories
“I remember my mother being a fantastic cook. I’m very very fortunate for this. I grew up very well feed. I always remember celebrating and experiencing the different cultures of food. My parents were very particular about making sure we were exposed to different cuisines. So Vietnamese, Mexican, Indian, etc. My parents specifically made sure that I had experienced different cultures of foods which also made me understand a bit more about other people. That connection was through foods. My mother would go and learn how to make these “spring rolls”.
Know more about Dianne McGrath
Who would you love to have dinner with and where?
“My mother and my partner are the first two on the list and then other people that like to discuss all of the things that matter in the world and that have similar passions. I like to learn from other people. I don’t think I have all the answers and the great place to learn and cover things about people is with food. Food is almost like a safe haven where you can sit and share. It’s a place where you can connect and so it almost gives you a moment of trust towards moving to the next point of discussion. I think the current pope is an interesting man. I think he would make a fascinating dinner guest. I’d love to understand the challenges he’s gone through in his history, what his vision is and where he’s trying to take it.”
Last meal on the planet?
“If I was lucky enough to be chosen to go to Mars, it would be breakfast because the time of day that flights are launched to space is usually in the morning. And it would be the sort of food that I would never be able to eat again on Mars, and that would be dairy and honey as well. And also maybe Avocado. It would be a very long time before I could eat Avocado again.”
Resources
Where to find Dianne McGrath
WEBSITE: http://www.diannemcgrath.com.au
Twitter: https://twitter.com/watchmywaste
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/damcgrath
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dianne-McGrath-Mars-One-Astronaut-Candidate-662921177122945
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/diannemcgrath
Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.
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