Factory farming is responsible for about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

工廠化農業貢獻了全球溫室氣體排放量約 15%。

One of the biggest challenges that the human population is facing today is: creating food at a scale that does more good for the planet and is affordable, healthy, and delicious for humans.

人類今日所面臨的最大挑戰之一是：以對有益地球，且是可負擔、健康且對美味的最大程度製造食物。

Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have transformed people's perceptions of plant-based alternatives to meat.

像 Beyond Meat 和 Impossible Foods 這類的公司已經改變了人們對於植物基底替代肉品的看法。

But my fear is that in trying to solve for one problem, which is protecting animals, they're creating a new problem, which is this sort of Frankenstein, unhealthy, overly-processed product.

但我擔心的點在於，試圖解決保護動物這個問題時，他們創造了一個新的問題，也就是所謂的「科學怪人」、不健康且過度加工的產品。

AKUA is a sustainable food company on a mission to replace harmful industrial food production with regenerative ocean farming, starting with a healthy seaweed called kelp.

AKUA 是一間永續食品公司，肩負著取代有害工業食品的使命，他們運用再生性海洋養殖方式生產，由一種稱為 kelp 的健康海藻起步。

Consumers know these big food companies aren't⏤are not worth trusting and definitely not worth eating, and, so, they're looking for healthier options.

消費者知道這些大食品公司不值得信任，也絕對不值得吃，所以他們正在尋找更健康的選擇。

We just need to create food that's clean label, healthy for you, and is non-destructive for the planet, too.

我們只需要創造標籤乾淨、有益健康且對地球無害的食物。

And, yeah, we're not gonna be killing animals in the process.

是的，我們不會在這個過程中殺害動物。

Stop making this so complicated.

不要把事情搞得那麼複雜。

I just, like, can't stop eating; I'm addicted at this point.

我就是無法停止吃它，我現在根本已經上癮了。

Yeah, when like, you know, you don't really pay yourself money, it's good to eat your free product.

是啊，但你不需要付錢給自己時，吃自產的免費產品是好事。

Courtney Boyd Myers is the co-founder and CEO of AKUA.

Courtney Boyd Myers 是 AKUA 的共同創辦人和執行長。

I wasn't one of those kids that dropped out of college to start a company.

我不是那種大學中輟決定自己開公司的學生。

I thought people that went to business school were so boring.

我覺得上過商學院的人無聊至極。

I was a creative writer and poetry major.

我曾經是創意作家、主修詩詞。

And I turned the corner on 30 and suddenly had this realization of my future granddaughter asking me,

我年滿 30 歲時，腦中突然有了我未來孫女問我問題的畫面：

"Grammy, what were you doing when the world was burning?"

「奶奶，當世界再燃眉之際時，你在做些什麼事？」

I looked at the context of climate change and I thought, "Alright, there's a lot of different solutions out here."

我審視了氣候變遷的狀況後心想：「好，我們有很多不同的解決方案。」

But the one that I was personally most drawn to was food.

但我個人最被吸引的面向是食物。

Food is a major culprit for a lot of the devastation we're seeing to the environment today, and I knew that there was a way to create a food company that could potentially reverse climate change.

食物是我們今日看到很多環境破壞的罪魁禍首，而我知道有一種方法可以創立一間食品公司，或許可能扭轉氣候變遷。

Through a friend who was farming seaweed in Connecticut, Courtney learned about the economic and environmental benefits of growing kelp for food.

Courtney 因為一個在康乃狄克州種植海藻的朋友身上學到以種植海藻為食的經濟與環境益處。

Unlike anything that you eat or drink today, kelp is a zero-input crop.

跟你今日飲食的任何東西不同的是，海藻是零輸入作物。

It doesn't require dry land, fresh water, fertilizer, or feed to grow abundantly.

它不需要乾燥土地、淡水、肥料或飼料就可以富足地成長。

And it's growing via photosynthesis, so it's sequestering carbon.

而且它是透過光合作用生長，所以它反而會消耗碳。

So, I thought, "Ding, ding, ding; this ticks every box in the type of company I wanna start."

所以我想：「叮，叮，叮，這符合我想創辦公司的所有條件。」

But her enthusiasm and lack of experience meant a rough start.

但她的熱情和缺乏經驗意味著艱難的開始。

I was so excited, and any person that walked through the door and said, "I wanna work on this with you,"

我非常興奮，會對任何走進門來的人說：「 我想和你一起合作。」

I said, "You can be a co-founder! You can be a co-founder! You can be a co-founder! You want some equity? Here's some equity; let's go."

我會說：「你可以當共同創辦人！你可以當共同創辦人！你想要一些股權嗎？這裡有一些股權，我們開始吧！」

Oh, my God, what a rookie mistake.

哦，我的天，真是個菜鳥才會犯的錯誤。

Two people have left the company before we even launched, and they left with, like, over 10% equity, which is a lot.

有兩個人在我們開工前就離開公司，而他們離開的時候，還握有超過 10% 的股權，這是一個很大的數字。

And it's really tough explaining to investors when you've made that kind of mistake.

而當你犯了那種錯誤時，要跟投資者解釋是很困難的。

Starting a company is really difficult.

創立一間公司真的很困難。

I had no idea; in fact, if I had known, I probably wouldn't have run so quickly into it.

我完全沒有概念，老實說，如果我當初知道的話，可能就不會這麼快一頭栽進去了。

- Look at the seal! - Seal.

- 看看那海豹！ - 是海豹。

Oh, my gosh; hi!

哦，我的天哪，嗨！

Good morning!

早啊！

In 2018, we launched a Kickstarter.

我們在 2018 年時啟動了 Kickstarter 募資。

We raised a small funding round, and that allowed us to launch our first product, kelp jerky.

我們籌集了一小輪資金，讓我們能夠推出第一個產品：海藻肉乾。

But if you're going to create a food product, make sure someone knows how to make it.

但是如果你是要製造一種食品，你得確保有人知道如何製作它。

Our kelp jerky, no one knew how to make it.

沒人知道怎麼製作我們的海藻肉乾。

We got kicked out of three co-packers in our first year.

我們在第一年就被三間包裝加工廠踢除。

AKUA was struggling, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

AKUA 當時正在掙扎，然後新冠肺炎就發生了。

We realized that kelp jerky probably wasn't gonna be that go-big-or-go-home type product that help scale our mission.

我們發現海藻肉乾大概不會是那種不成功便成仁、有助於擴大我們任務的產品。

We knew we needed to pivot towards this kelp burger, this symbol of the American food system.

我們知道我們需要轉向海藻漢堡，也是美國食品系統的象徵。

But we had no money at this point.

但我們在當時是沒有資金的。

Courtney's co-founder, Matt, had to develop the burger recipe out of his parent's rural Pennsylvania kitchen.

Courtney 的共同創辦人 Matt 不得不從他父母在賓州鄉村的自家廚房開發漢堡的配方。

They were forced to mail thousands of samples across the country to gather product feedback.

他們被迫郵寄數千份樣品到全國各地以收集產品回饋。

But their customers were willing to pay to try their new burger.

但他們的客戶願意付錢試吃他們的新漢堡。

We definitely had tons of melted kelp burgers show up and⏤or not show up⏤so, it was a mess.

我們肯定有收到過大量的融化海藻漢堡，也有完全沒個影子的狀況，所以很混亂。

But those 22,000 kelp burgers brought us in over a 100,000 dollars in revenue.

但是那 22,000 份海藻漢堡給了我們超過 10 萬美元的進帳。

We realized we have to make food products that people know how to make because these manufacturers, they don't like to be innovative.

我們意識到我們必須生產人們知道如何製作的產品，因為這些製造商是不喜歡創新的。

That's not in their business model.

那不在他們的商業模式中。

Our kelp burger, on the other hand, is much easier to make.

另一方面，我們的海藻漢堡更容易製作。

The kelp burger will launch to the public with direct-to-consumer sales and placement in select New York restaurants.

我們的海藻漢堡將會用直接對接消費者的方式銷售，並在選定的紐約餐廳進行投放。

Our sales team has a strategy called the Sinatra strategy⏤if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

我們的行銷團隊有一個叫做 Sinatra 策略的對策，意思是，如果你能在紐約成功，就可以在任何地方成功。

Our early customers are definitely living on either coast.

我們的早期客戶肯定是住在兩岸地區。

And I think we've got a lot of work to do to educate and familiarize the rest of the country around why it's so great to eat seaweed.

而我認為我們必須要很努力地教育國家其他地區的人，並讓他們熟悉吃海藻究竟為何這麼有益。

My hope for the future would be for every human being to ask questions about what they're eating.

我對未來的希望是，每個人都能針對他們所吃的東西進行發問。

Where did it come from?

它是從哪裡來的？

How is it grown?

它是如何生長的？

Was it grown in a way that serves both my health and the planet's health, too?

它的生長方式是否對我的健康和地球的健康都有益？

With AKUA, yes, we're creating food products; yes, we're working with farmers.

沒錯，AKUA 正在創造食品、正在與農民合作。

But we hope more than anything that our products can start to create these subtle mind shifts and that'll translate into other areas of their life, too.

但我們最懇切的期望是，我們的產品可以開始創造微妙的思想轉變，最後潛移默化地進入他們生活的其它領域。

Mind shifts start in the mouth, and if we can move people's stomachs, we can move their minds.

思想的轉變從口開始，而如果我們能夠改變人們的胃，就可以改變他們的思想。