8. Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
In biology, achieving balance between different systems and keeping stability when the environment changes is often called homeostasis.
Homeostasis is needed for healthy ecosystems, and it can include keeping balance in the power of microbes, plants, animals, and humans.
We’re faced with a challenge from microbes at the moment, but it might be the case that this has happened in part because we threw the system out of balance by overusing antimicrobials during the antimicrobial era.
To find homeostasis, we may need to learn to live better with the microbes around us and reduce our reliance on unnecessary antimicrobials.
After all, though they can be harmful to us, we depend on our microbiome for digestion, skin health, mood regulation, and all sorts of things.
What might be important when it comes to the future of AMR?
Lots of what you have learned about on this trail is important for our future living in a world with AMR, and avoiding making it worse. Learning how to steward antibiotics, learning about how and why resistance comes about, and how we might research new antimicrobials is all key.
But the ethical questions are often overlooked and are also really.
As we move forward in a world with AMR, how can we protect future people and antibiotic effectiveness for them? How do we make sure communities reliant on plant-based medicines aren’t left behind? Who is responsible for supporting antimicrobial innovation, and what can you do to avoid making AMR worse?
There may be no concrete answers, but really thinking hard about these questions can tell us more about our values and how we do the best we can for people, animals, the environment, and even microbes.