"This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land", Momentous Inaugurations & Civil Rights in America, Environmental Imperatives (again)
It was a week of Inaugural firsts, Civil Rights themed Kindergarten journals, GoFundMe launches for Your Kind Kitchen, and soaking up the last week of our cub being 6.
By next week, this’ll be peppered with shots of his annual portrait project and growth essay, and I’ll be caught up in the swirl of remembering-him-when, appreciating him dearly now, and worrying to my core about the environment of his future.
Continue for: a kindergartner approaching Civil Rights in America, “an inescapable network of mutuality” & how it ties to the Environmental Imperatives howling out for action before it’s too late, many examples of what that thriving plant-based kindergartner was eating this week (<— the diet the United Nations says would reduce your individual environmental impact by 70%… while simultaneously bettering your health, lowering your budget, and saving a soul from suffering) and where the fiery energy from that all-around-kind diet was taking us.
We can easily do better: all it takes is step-by-stumbling-step forward.
Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.
Ian’s Morning Letters & a Historical Day
Q had been writing about American Civil Rights (the past and the continued struggle) in his daily journal through the week (including a write-up about Kamala Harris on Inauguration Day), and since this is a unpack-everything household he’d also seen/had-explained the recent riots at the Capitol; so he was aware the day was both historical and filled with a fair amount of trepidation re what hostility may bubble up.
It was with relief and tremendous gratitude, that we saw the day unfold peacefully. Q did his first happy-cry as Kamala Harris was sworn in, cheered when Biden mentioned the importance of environmental action, and buried his face in a pillow and howled happy/emotional tears during “This Land is Your Land”
There's still so much work yet to be done in this country (and the world at large), but Wednesday was a positive step forward.
Weekly Kindergarten Journal Theme: Civil Rights in America
We kept the Dr Martin Luther King Jr quote to Friday, after robust and tear-inducing discussions of current realities. As usual, he lead his topics/themes, and it was Q who requested to write about Black Lives Matter, Kamala Harris, and Elijah McClain.
The sooner we acknowledge and **act** on the precious interconnectedness of all life on this planet, the better our communities and environment will be.
“UN REPORT: PLANT-BASED DIETS PROVIDE “MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES” TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CRISIS”
Below Cut from the same as above:
With all this in mind, we need to act fast. Simply adapting to a warmer world won’t cut it if we wish to avoid a climate catastrophe.
“Delaying action as is assumed in high emissions scenarios could result in some irreversible impacts on some ecosystems, which in the longer-term has the potential to lead to substantial additional [greenhouse gas] emissions from ecosystems that would accelerate global warming,” the report said.
Our climate crisis is growing each day, but it’s not insurmountable. As the report explained, by acting across sectors, we can curb climate change while seizing the benefits of sustainable development, like bolstered economies, reduced inequality and better health.
The power is on your plate. Join Earth Day Network’s Foodprints for the Future campaign to learn how you can reduce your carbon footprint, one bite at a time.
World Economic Forum - “Climate change will be sudden and cataclysmic. We need to act fast”
"The temperature tipping point of the terrestrial biosphere lies not at the end of the century or beyond, but within the next 20 to 30 years."
Key to understanding how this could happen is the difference between photosynthesis and respiration, two chemical processes essential to plant life that respond differently to rising temperatures.
Drawing energy from sunlight, plants absorb carbon dioxide through their leaves and water from the soil, producing sugar to boost growth and oxygen, which is released into the air. This is photosynthesis, which can only happen when there is daylight.
By contrast, the transfer of energy to cells through respiration - with CO2 excreted as a waste product - happens around the clock.
Tipping points
To find out if there is a temperature beyond which land-based ecosystems would start to absorb less CO2, Duffy and her team analysed records from a global observation network, called FLUXNET, spanning 1991 to 2015.
FLUXNET essentially tracks the movement of CO2 between ecosystems and the atmosphere.
They found that global photosynthesis peaks at certain temperatures, depending on the type of plant, and then declines thereafter.
Respiration rates, however, increase across all types of ecosystems without appearing to reach a maximum threshold.
"At higher temperatures, respiration rates continue to rise in contrast to sharply declining rates of photosynthesis," the study found.
If carbon pollution continue unabated, this divergence will could see the CO2 absorption drop by half as early as **2040**
"We are rapidly entering temperature regimes where biosphere productivity will precipitously decline, calling into question the future viability of the land sink," the researchers concluded.
If ever there was a book to rattle your brainbox and explain clearly, empathetically, and abashedly why we need to change our dietary patterns, it is We Are The Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer. Order it now from your local bookstore (many are sending out deliveries to keep themselves afloat) or online if that is your preference. (Personally, my budget prefers libraries, but I know that they may seem an unsafe choice at present.)
Best part? Unlike me, he isn’t urging you to drop animal products all together (he found that too hard to do himself, and he’s very honest about it) he’s simply urging you to wait until dinner. As seen in the last photo above: look how much of an impact that would have!
”We Are The Weather” doesn’t involve any of the health harms associated with consuming animals (likely the reason he’d even suggest you still eat other souls for dinner) or go into what happens to those souls on factory farms (which I recognize can be vastly off-putting, so worry not), but he brilliantly explains the data behind the impact of animal agriculture on the earth, and why we need to move NOW (NOW! RIGHT NOW, FOLKS!) or the environment of the generations and species in our wake will be wrought with the positive feedback loop of runaway climate change.
This book is so dang good I’ve read it twice. It expresses with perfect urgency what was previously just a tangled howl of misdirection within me. “How to wake people up?! How do I articulate all this data I’m learning?! How to get them to SEE?!” It redirected that wail into fiery focus, and it will light you right up because it is full of fact and forward movement.
How old will you be by 2050?
How old will your children be?
Our leading organizations have been howling for years that we need to cut back on emissions to prevent runaway climate change: we have the United Nations saying that you can reduce your environmental impact by 70% (<—!!!!!) via transitioning Plant-Based (<—ie you could make BIG change right now, and save yourself money in the process), you have a vast array of Leading Organizations saying that Plant-Based diets are great for our health & development (<— and prevent-and-reverse a feast of our most common diseases! <—You even have the World Health Organization ~~since 2015!!~~ saying that processed meats (like bacon, sausage, pepperoni, pastrami, lunchmeats, etc) are categorically proven to be cancerous), and we could save a soul from needlessly suffering by avoiding the foods (<—animal products) that are harmful to our bodies and the earth.
Like “We Are The Weather” saving the earth starts at breakfast over here.
Oatmeal bowls are one of the most versatile, delicious, and filling ways to start a day…and if you make a big pot at the beginning of the week, it is as simple as reheating in the microwave and topping with your heart’s delight.
Seen below is a sampling of what Q (<—thriving plant-based kiddo) ate this week.
Blueberry Oatmeal with apple and peanut butter. He also ate this with banana, grapefruit, and orange.
Kale and Quinoa, with pumfu, peas, quick-pickled cabbage, and peanut sauce.
Lentil Tacos with cashew queso, quick-pickled cabbage, kale, and olives.
Mac and “Cheese” (<—Plant-Based everything-but-the-kitchen sink we made at home), with quinoa/brown-rice noodles (<—Aldi has these for cheap), green beans, and homemade marinara (Hiding a cup of pureed lentil.)
Topped with “almond parm” (<— so many recipe variants!)
Red Curry with Mushrooms, Peas, Bell Peppers, Pumfu, Sweet Potato, and Broccoli with brown rice noodles.
Leftover curry with black rice.
“Cheat Meal” (in the sense that it isn’t a “whole-food” and we limit those) of Beyond Breakfast Sausage (these are AMAZING), fries, and a salad with walnuts, apple, QPC, and balsamic.
Quinoa, with peas, green beans, pumfu, avocado, olives, and Sesame Dressing.
And he loves that dressing enough, he’d eat it every day if allowed (<—hint for transitioning yourselves or your kiddos), and it goes great on any rice/protein/veg combo.
Above: leftover mixed rice, broccoli, pumfu, and sweet potato
“I will be eating these every day until the day I die.” <—Hobbit Food love can still happen in the plant-based realm. <3
Easy Snack: baked chickpeas. They are crispy/crunchy, fiber-filled little wonders and can be seasoned per your pref. (<—We do salt, garlic, paprika, pepper, turmeric.)
Another favorite snack: stove-top popcorn. Can also be seasoned in any vector.
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Pie (test batch for his birthday <—was fantastic and tasted like a big chocolate chip cookie, but we’re going to add a filling and some frosting for the birthday version. :-) )
Dessert (which has 3 cups of chickpeas hiding within). :-)
Dessert: Oatmilk Vanilla Steamers
We’ve hit the age where every day counting down to his birthday is filled with excitement and little gasp-whispers of "Look! I’m bigger already! I’m almost as long as you!”
He’s adorable, but for reality/appreciation: before transitioning plant-based, he had failure-to-thrive and I was a willowy weakling. He’s grown inches over the last (fully-plant-based) year and is now almost 50lbs…and this stronger-than-ever Mama Bear can easily (and often) heft him with one arm. :-)
Time Swirls
We try to get out into the sun for Vitamin D creation as much as we can, and sometimes it means heading down to the local pond to throw stones (and clean up all the garbage folks sadly throw around with little care for the environment <— I counterbalance that inward howl with appreciation that we even get to live so close to a pond to care for), and as Q was looking out this windy-and-in-the-teens day, he said, “I’ll never forget that day Papa and I saw all those baby turtles hatching right here. Some of them we had to save from the road, and some of them just headed right for the water, and it was just great.”
Physical activity wasn’t something we really stressed or often had energy for pre-changing our diet, and now it’s a daily delight. If we don’t head for a free-local forest, he sees how many tracks he can make in the yard. :-)
And though he doesn’t have a sibling to play with (much to his/our lament) he’s at least gifted with a paragon of paternity and play in Ian.
South O Childhood / Snowball Fights with Papa with his Grandparents (grey/red) house in the background.
Post-Homeschool Work Hike / Cappello PE
Eternally appreciative to live in central New York where there is a bounty of free parks, and the topography is so theatrical that you can be at the top of a ravine, splashing through its waterfall speckled gorge, and be back up to the rim in an under an hour.
Three Falls Woods
Daily Free Movement
There isn’t a day that passes where this sweet soul doesn’t dance.
Movement, Light, & Love
Q was watched alongside the pack of lovable Smorol brothers from his first weeks (<--- America is one of 4 countries that does not offer maternity leave) through 2.5 years, and they and their big-hearted mother (<--one of my favorite souls on this planet) are dearer to him that most things my imagination could set to name. One of his first full-fledged sentences/debates, was to set me correct on the fact that though they may not actually be his brothers, "They are my 'similar to brothers' because they might as well be with how much we love eachother." 💞
Like all of us caught in a bubble of distance for best practice, he hasn't seen these brothers since last March; and Saturday he got to go masked-and-gloved sledding with them, and see souls he loves loudly and has missed with an ache.
Tangentially, Ian got to push his son down the same hills he once sled on as a child, embark on epic snowball fights with the friends of his son (sons of his friend); and us mom-friends got to fill our masks with all the catching up we've missed in months apart.
It was a day of Big Love at a measured, wind-swept distance. ♥️
Q & Cal
Kelly watched Q for the first few months of his life, took a “break” to give birth to Cal :-D, and they were then watched together since first consciousness. They loved each other deeply from the start. They snuggle-napped together, they wrestled like puppies, they fought like little old men.
Q missed Cal so much, that during (his brief spell attending) remote Kindergarten Zooms he’d clutch the screen to his chest to give Cal “hugs” every time his face flashed across the screen; and seeing them together again, and walking glove-in-glove like little love-mirrors was a big clench of the heart.
The bold strength of Cal: I’ve never seen a kid so repeatedly go down SUCH a long hill, and carry himself and his sled up each time with nary a complaint or whine. (<—My kid was trying to strike all sorts of help-me bargains! :-D )
Ian launching his son down the hills of his youth. <3
What’s the most impactful thing you can do as an individual to help your kin, community, millions of species, and planet? Transition as plant-based as possible.🌎♥️
Why? Plant-Based foods are environmentally imperative 🌎. They also promote ideal health💪 (which takes stress off our overburdened health care system), are inexpensive🙌, delicious🤤, & compassionate. 💕
Why imperative, though? 🤔We’re approaching (& have crossed) climate tipping points that will doom our kin & millions of other species. 😱📣Reducing/eliminating animal products is the *most impactful thing an individual can do* to prevent worse. 🌎🔥
Why? Animal Agriculture creates more emissions than the entire transportation sector combined, it’s tied to water waste/loss/pollution (<-- freshwater is our most precious resource💧), land loss/deforestation (<-- exacerbates climate change by reducing our ability to sequester carbon🔥🌎), ocean acidification (<-- FYI 50-85% of earth’s oxygen originates from oceanic plankton🌊) & vast species loss/extinction/suffering💔📣🌎
Plus, consuming animal products is tied to increased risk of cardiovascular disease❤️🩹, diabetes👎, cancer👎, and chronic disease👎; whereas Plant-Based feasting is linked to preventing/reversing some of our most common diseases (<— like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer); plus it promotes ideal health & robust strength (ie Olympians, Weightlifters, Endurance Athletes are thriving via PBWFs too). 🎉🙌♥️
What organizations are promoting plant-based diets for best health and environmental stability? National Institutes of Health, Mayo Clinic, Yale, the United Nations, Harvard School of Health, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, National Kidney Foundation, even the Parkinson’s Foundation.
We’re all overwhelmed in one way or another, but for the sake of our kin (and the millions of species we share this planet with) we need to start pivoting forward. As someone who once rarely ate green things & used to eat animal products at every meal, I can assure you that is possible, affordable, enjoyable, & purposeful to pivot Plant-Based. In fact, our whole family is now healthier/stronger than ever. 🙌♥️
Anecdotally, our son had failure-to-thrive, was also plagued with perpetual ear-infections/sinus-infections, and had an omnipresent runny nose. What was he eating? Grass-fed milk, organic/antibiotic-free/grass-fed/local meats, eggs from organic-fed/well-loved chickens from a neighbor, every meal came with vegetables, and we limited junkfood. He was healed via a plant-based diet: he’s launched out of that diagnosis and the last time he had a sinus-infection (or was sick at all) was in 2019 when he had some cheese at a school Christmas party. Before shifting to PBWF’s he was sick every month, and how he’s a robust, vital, thriving kiddo. 🙌🎉♥️
If you think any of the above sounds over-reached/absurd/impossible, please go read the links above. I understand the inclination to hackle-raise (<—because I was once totally there) but the science is clear: any step we make forward is imperative (<—and again “STEPS” is the focus. Don’t leap, just start making steps!). It’s as simple as starting with one meal a week and growing from there.💕
We have the ability (deliciously, healthfully, kindly, inexpensively) to *preserve/protect* the planet we share with millions of species & our kin. How are we going to use that power today?✌️🤟🖖
