The Insect Institute, a fiscally-sponsored project of Rethink Priorities, is excited to announce its official launch. I (Dustin Crummett) am the executive director of this new initiative.
The Insect Institute was created to focus on the rapidly growing use of insects as food and feed. Our aim is to work with policymakers, industry, and other relevant stakeholders to address key uncertainties involving animal welfare, public health, and environmental sustainability. As this industry evolves over time, we may also expand our work to other areas.
While we don’t currently have any open positions, we do expect to grow our team in the future. If you are interested in working with us, please feel free to submit an expression of interest through our contact form, or sign up for our email list (at the bottom of our home page) to stay up to date on future developments and opportunities.
I look forward to seeing many of you at EAG Bay Area—please come say hello if you’d like to chat! I’m also very happy to field questions via DM or via email to dustin@insectinstitute.org.
Are you assuming that the insect industry will grow rapidly and that your organization has chosen to work exclusively with the industry/governments/policymakers to ensure the highest possible animal welfare standards? I'm curious to know if you have researched alternative intervention strategies before deciding on this particular approach. Is it safe to assume that this trend is inevitable, and that it's impossible to halt the industry's growth by launching campaigns targeting people's aversion to insects as a food source (or similar)? So have you explored methods to stop this practice altogether, or are you from the get-go primarily focused on animal welfare?
Hi Ula!
As I just wrote to Forumite above: very happy to discuss (with you or anyone else reading) via email, DM--or better yet, call (https://calendly.com/dustin-crummett), or, if you'll be at EAG Bay Area, EAGx Nordics, or EAG London, or happen to be near Seattle, in person.