Dr. Plastic Picker – A Personal Plastic-Picking Blog: Fighting Ocean Plastic Pollution One Piece At a Time
 
Their summer.

June 20, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I’ve woken up in abject terror. My friend Prof Adam Aron texted me some stories and updates about the speed that we are expected to be at 2 degrees warming and what is going to happen to certain ocean currents. Some areas of the world will have catastrophic sea rise and others will be plummeted in even more frigid winters some 50 degrees F colder than now. I keep connected with him because as a pediatrician and a mother, I want to know the truth. I want to know how bad it will be. What the world will be like in 20 years (I will be about 70), if we do not act now.

But the reality of today is that it is – we are not there yet. It is not 20 years from now. And the only answer I have after asking myself so many existential questions is this – I exist. I exist. I exist.

And my children exist at this moment, and they are allowed their mother. They are allowed their mother to be present and not dwell in terror. I can’t mother if I’m terrified. I can’t climate organize if I can’t even imagine the future. And I realized this while I was texting my friend the professor. I’ve already lived through terror. I know there are forces out there that are evil. There are forces of chaos. There is no greater evil than fossil fuel companies and the rapid militarization of our world, at the cost of children and the climate.

So I realize I can disagree with my friend the professor. I vehemently disagree with him. The answer to this climate crisis is our human relationships, and that we exist together. And the webs of connection and social cohesion that make us people, that literally allow us to exist. Those were the bonds that will solve the climate crisis. We must be bond more tightly together to literally survive what is to come.

So build your networks and build those bonds. Of friendship. Of marriage. Of family. Of common vocations. Of alumni networks. Of whatever titles and branding that gives you joy.

And you are allowed to exist. And we will continue to exist if we live lightly upon this earth. I did an incredible amount of climate organizing yesterday on AMICUS briefs for Our Children’s Trust, on H3SD , on combating fast fashion, on interesting projects for students and physicians. And in those moments, I know I am doing what I’m meant to do.

I still haven’t finished a post about the #NOKINGS march. It’s half way done reliving that momentous day. And I would like to remind my friend the professor, 13 million people marched. And neither you my friend nor myself are that unique. The both of us have done an incredible amount of climate work, and can you imagine another 13 million of us now more tightly bonded and connected? You can’t predict what will happen when people meet. What thoughts are exchanged. What growth people will have, and what actions they are inspired to do next. We were both at the same march, but saw such starkly different realities. And I think between the both of us, and 13 million other people, there will be a future that will be livable. I have to project my dreams into the future. Manifesting that desired destiny is very powerful. And I have to do that for my children. Every day they give me strength to move forward.

I exist. And this morning I have to exist in the office, and see a full day of patients.

Those glorious “fried egg” flowers

June 10, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s 5:51am and I’m still alive and kicking! The world is kind of messed up right now. Greta Thunberg is on a boat that has been intercepted by Israel, as they’ve tried to reach Gaza/Palestine. The National Guard has been deployed to LA. I try not to watch the news too much and concentrate on doing what I’m supposed to do, but even after working the late shift – it was disheartening. All of it.

I’m not going anywhere. I’m not sure why folks are asking if we are moving to Oregon, but that is our climate bunker. We are here and advocating and part of this community. Oregon was a good investment and at some point it might make sense to migrate there, but for now – the problems in LA and the problems with our climate are our problems. I briefly mentioned to Mr. Plastic Picker around South Korea, and whether that is an option if things become unsafe. But I rethought, and honestly – I am not one of those. I’m not abandoning the only area that we know and call home. There is no where to run from climate change nor civil unrest. If we don’t stay strong, than who will? It’s crazy talk and it shows how confused the bad actors are trying to make us.

But do not be confused!!! I am not confused. I saw my patients yesterday and for the most part closed most of my charts. I have stuff to do and children still to parent. I am not being incapacitated by the chaos. If I’ve irritated by it, than there are others. I hope everyone votes at midterm elections, and that is what our family is concentrating on.

But there are more mundane things to worry about. I need to write two letters of recommendations. I need to respond to a very important email. Actually I need to respond to several emails. And I need to write an article about the Tijuana Sewage Crisis and give several talks at Harvard Medical School regarding the crisis. So this is what I will do.

Plus it’s our daughter’s last day of junior year and I want to pick her up at 3pm and have a fun SIDE QUEST! I am excited about the side quest! Just some thoughts as the national guard and marines are being deployed to LA. It’s really messed up all of it. We should have more native flowers around, and are we really deporting Mexicans and our citizens. Wasn’t all this part of the world formerly Mexico and before that it really belongs to the Kumeyaay. Maybe we should just give it all back to them. I think they’d do a better job than the current national government.

Flowers that are native and feed pollinators.

June 2, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s June! I can’t believe it’s June! I’m sure if you see me in clinic today that is what we are all going to be saying. “Dr. Plastic Picker! It’s June! I can’t believe it’s June!” I’ll be seeing Dr. Melissa Campbell in clinic today for the entire glorious day, and I’m really happy about that. It’s June, and I can’t believe it is the last June of her three years with me in clinic. She’s graduating and going on to be chief resident beginning in July. She’s my first continuity clinic resident after having been a pediatrician for almost 20 years. I decided late that mentoring suited me, even though I had been mentoring for most of my career – because that is naturally what doctors do.

But it’s June, and everything is in full bloom.

But I’m holding it all back. Purposefully slowing down time. Mindfulness, prayer, bird-watching, plastic-picking – are all very powerful. Because they all literally slow down time. And with time, we have joy and can be effective in doing the things that we need to do.

Everything is in full bloom, but I need time. I need the year until Mr. Plastic Picker agrees to be chief of his department. A position that I am absolutely dreading. The job is literally killing him. It’s too stressful and he needs to take care of his health. I need the entire 365 days until our little one graduates, because her life has taught me so much about my own life and the world. I have no desire to see her leave me one minute sooner than she will, as she likely will go off to college away from us and away from my mothering. I need the entire 365 days to organize and to work on climate projects, interwoven somehow into my clinical work. I need the entire 365 days to be a daughter-in-law to my in-laws who are getting older, and these 20 years with them have been wonderful. We’ve raised the four of us two wonderful human beings. I need the entire 365 days to be a daughter to my own parents, to spend more time with them. We are always working our family, and isn’t it time we were just together?

I need the entire 365 days. So it’s June, and everything is in full bloom. What do I do now? I live. I live every second and every moment of this beautiful chaotic life. I get to live today. And not worry about tomorrow.

Junior Prom

May 24, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It was exactly three years ago that I decided to leave middle management and return to full time clinical work, ostensible to take over the Public Health Advisory Council Chair of Climate Actions Campaign. But it was also to choose to do things that brought me joy.

I don’t think I could have predicted how life would end up. I’m home upstairs and it’s 7:41am. Mr. Plastic Picker is at work, still on the path to chief of his department despite my best efforts to stop him from going that route. I’d rather he be chief of his own health, and just do clinical work. But he is who he is, and he still reaching for the titles. My parents-in-law are still in relatively good health, despite some minor recent setbacks. They are in their 80s, and not as vigorous as they used to be. But we life each day together. And my sisters-in-law, two of them, are here from New York and the house is full with their back and forth with their parents. At these times, I’m more of an observer than a main character – and I’m okay with that. They are here to see their parents.

But what I wanted to share today is how incredibly grateful I have been for these three years. For odd circumstances, I have been jotting down my climate thoughts and thoughts on my own daughter regularly for three years. And I have so many memories of her that are precious. Things she said. Little dramas about friends and schools. Snapshots of her creative process with her ceramics. I’m so incredibly grateful for those three years of observing her and noticing her, and being truly present for that time.

It was scary to leave. It’s always scary to take a path that is uncommon. But I never realized I would in return get to live this incredible three years.

Our daughter is finishing junior year, and she tells me she’s technically a senior now. She has a fancy digital camera and already I can see her capturing snippets of her life and her narrative voice is more powerful than mine. I think this next year I’m just going to live it with her and not document daily anymore. The reason for documenting is gone now, but the emails remain as this beautiful window into how I raised her.

She went to junior prom with her friends, and the three girls were very beautiful. They got to join their larger friend group later. And even during the climate and political chaos of the present, they get to still be teenagers in high school.

Screenshots

May 9, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s 6:12am and I’m getting back to my happy place. I’m actually seeing my own doctor today, and I will ask for advice about how to manage perimenopause / menopause symptoms. It’s a common topic of conversation in the clinic these days, as I’m chatting with my patients and their parents that I’ve known for over a decade. Many of us are going through it, and it’s good to ask my actual doctor advice about what to do. I’m taking a much needed planned sick day, and I need to get my COVID booster as well. I will try to do that in clinic. I’m hoping I can get labs done as well. It’s a very busy weekend and the next few days. But it’s good to take some time to reflect and remember all that is happening.

I’m trying to run a mile a morning when I can find the time. I think to myself, “I can give myself a mile.” I’m thinking about my heart and my health. I’m taking fish oil here and there. There is a bottle in the middle of our kitchen table, and when we sit down to eat – Mr. Plastic Picker and I at times will take a gel capsule. There are 145 capsules in that bottle, but there are still many capsules left. It shows you how often we don’t eat together and that we aren’t mindful to think about our own health. But we are trying as we are also working toward a sustainable future for our children. And want to actually be alive for our grandchildren.

Part of that work in making sure we have grandchildren, is helping an amazing friend and climate advocate and pediatrician organize the District 8 heat summit. I’ve been calling it the heat summit, because the one in San Diego is named H3SD San Diego’s Heat and Human Health Summit. But my friend QT Nguyen, who is also a Harvard grad and a friend through the Harvard Vietnamese Association (although we are friends through many more things than that), has named it “From Extreme Heat to Fire: Disparate Effects Through the Arc of Human Health.” I’m fully appreciating the name, as it’s so – her. Bigger, more dramatic, and more eloquent than our straight-forward name. And honestly the name is apt. It’s scope is broader. It’s ask is bigger. The audience is grander.

QT. Honestly when I suggested you do this, I had no idea it would become such a massive thing that is so hopeful and wonderful for the earth. I don’t think I quite understood how your brain works, and how organized and energized it is. I had no idea that you would be putting me to work! Which I’m excited about, especially learning the new skill in successfully moderating a summit session. I brought along these wonderful premedical students from the UCSD Academic Internship Program and an amazing student from UC Berkeley, and that was what you needed to help you get this massive thing done. Where there is a will, there is a way. And your will and want of a livable future for your two beautiful daughters is so very evident in what this event is turning out to be.

I had the program printed out and was reviewing the times I needed to be present, and thinking out loud about what I needed to do and say. I brought out a highlighter and a pencil, and started making notes and writing down thoughts. I thought this would be an easy thing to do, but it was incredibly difficult for you and me. Thinking back to the number of virtual meetings we did, and trying to catch up with what was happening – I’m amazed that it all came together. I don’t think the students fully understood as well. But it’s all been so incredibly invigorating and fun, and hopeful.

I haven’t been blogging as much but today was an important day to document that this amazing thing is happening. It’s connecting the entire District 8 of the AAP, and myself and you, and you to your UCSD roots. It’s connecting a lot of like-minded folks that will synergize and further the work that they are doing.

I had no idea that this event would be this awesome. And honestly I always knew you were amazing, but now I know the full extent. I’m glad the admissions committee back decades ago accepted this petite Vietnamese girl from Orange County into the Harvard Class of 2001. I’m so glad I met you and became your big sib through Harvard Vietnamese Association. That we ended up doing BRYE tutoring together, PBHA and lived in the same house. Who knew that almost 3 decades later, we’d need each other to save the actual earth. When there is a planetary code, you call on the best and your friends. And I called on you, and you came. It’s amazing but brings me to tears at times. Who knew it would get this bad? We were so young back then, and now we are older and need each other to help save the climate for our daughters.

The little one.

May 1, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

That is the only way I can describe it. For the last 3 years, I’ve been involved in so much pollution work and on social media sharing this journey. I think part of the reason for my overall state of health may have been poor sleep, too much netflix and a large part the normal body changes of peri-menopause and menopause. I’m still working pretty much full time and no longer giving away those extra shifts that we are asked to work (although it’s manageable now – or at least a bit more). Patients are more sick due to air pollution (wildfires and Tijuana Sewage hydrogen sulfide gas). So the only way I can describe my mental state when I seemed happy (and I was) but a bit scatter brained is that my mind was fracturing. I did an epic trash art piece and it’s private and I won’t share it here, but it shows you how fractured my mind is right now.

So like any good physician, I heal myself. So how am I healing myself. I am learning to say no. I am saying no to additional speaking engagements that do not bring me joy. I am saying no to additional students since the ones we have are more than enough. I am saying no to some on social media that have formed an attachment to me that is not healthy for me, because I have never sought to be their physician or mentor.

I am saying yes to the UCSD Academic Internship Program, which formalizes some of this work that I’ve been doing. This also enables me to say no to students from other universities. I really am not responsible for the entire state of California. I am saying yes to running 1 -1 .5 miles in the morning. I took a break this morning, but the last two morning I have run 4-6 times around the block. I can run a mile. All of us can run a mile. It has been really good, and I’ve incorporated some stretching as well. I am saying yes to having coffee/matcha with students here and there. I am saying yes to holding my daughter’s hand. I am saying yes to cooking again, and thinking about muffins and berry breads that bring me joy in the morning and feed those I love. I am saying yes refocusing on my finances, because my time is my money and it seems like there are constant asks for money. I am here to help the earth and not the finances of students or other physicians. I don’t understand why folks don’t understand that. If you tell me your parents have worked as many hours as I have and Mr. Plastic Picker and his parents combined, than I may consider. I highly doubt it though. Your parents can work to pay for your school since you are clearly an upper middle class student. There are many more students worse off than you.

I am saying no to those who want too much from me, and need to contribute more to the earth. I am saying yes to new experiences.

And I needed to tell those who read this blog. I am amazed that there are more and more, despite my not blogging much these days! Thank you for following along this journey. I forgot that the most important thing I can do is to inspire. And it’s not the quantity of those that I can inspire. It’s those key folks out there who see what I am doing, and believe they can incorporate some of my workflows into their lives. Mostly other physicians and pediatricians.

And for those fellow physicians, you understand that again I can get burned out. That this work can take it’s toll, especially when you are in the middle of so much pollution and so many who are looking for leadership.

But having our daughter keeps me grounded. She (and her brother) are my climate why. And it’s always been about having some sort of livable future for them. But I need to spend time with her now, and it’s my turn to hold her hand and celebrate her wins. There are other pediatric climate and health advocates out there, but I am her only mommy. When my mind was fractured, I would zero in on her. On her life. her journey. Her art. Her beauty. Her innocence and every day left of being sixteen. She’ll be seventeen soon. And honestly that is the most important thing in the world to be now. I remember when she was just born and there was the real fear that she would not come out of the NICU a healthy baby. And now she is 17 and wants a cake that has a dancing queen on it.

Saying no to some things. Saying yes to others. Means I remember she asked for a special cake for her birthday this weekend. 17 and a dancing queen. And haven’t you been an absolute miracle child and you won another national award. Mommy loves you so much. Thank you for being my baby.

My morning walk

April 27, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

There will be no more cyborgs.

I am not a cyborg, and the destiny that you predicted is not true.

There will be no more cyborgs.

I am not a cyborg, and the words that you said were not true.

There will be no more cyborgs.

I am not a cyborg, and the spirits that you say that will come will be kind.

There will be no more cyborgs.

I am not a cyborg, and the spirits that come will not haunt me.

There will be no more cyborgs.

Because everyday I do something to change the future so that

There will be no more cyborgs.

But a future that is so breathtakingly beautiful, and a climate and community that is saved.

By humans

March 9, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s 6:09 am on Sunday. I don’t question sometimes good fortune. And someone asked to take my Sunday extra shift. I was supposed to work today and now I don’t have to work. I’m grateful to that particular pediatrician. So yesterday the little one who is almost 17 took her first SAT attempt, and today we are going to shop for junior prom dresses. Just me and her, or is it she and me? Sometimes I need to work on my grammar.

But it’s been quiet on the blog of late, and for that I apologize. I’ve been living in the real and other (Instagram) virtual world trying to work on climate and environmental health projects. It gets overwhelming at times, working with so many students. They are amazing for sure, but it can get overwhelming. But the truth is that I go to sleep at night, having tried as hard as I can, and it seems to work out in the morning after my mind has cleared and others have done what they are supposed to do. I have a presentation I need to work on for the National AAP Climate Advocate Program but it’s just a 10 minute talk and easy for me to put together. I’ll do it later. I just wanted to blog this morning.

I can’t believe she finished her SAT! (for now). We were talking, Mr. Plastic Picker and myself and the little one, what score would be the benchmark to say that she is done, versus retake it one more time for a better super score. My standards are lower, and Mr. Plastic Picker and our daughter have higher standards. But it was mostly fun the three of us to sit there and chat about it. We realize this is the fun stage in life, and I want to enjoy every single moment of it. I don’t want to know her score from yesterday, although she felt that she did well, because knowing the score means it’s two weeks from now. I don’t want to know what her final GPA will be for applications, because I am enjoying the uncertainty and the drama and the riding the highs and lows with her.

So today, I will sit and enjoy the uncertainty of it. Because it reminds me that she is still very much 16 and not yet 17, and she’s sleeping upstairs in her room – safe and very much our high school daughter still. I never thought it would be this wonderful having her. When she was born, I promised her a wonderful life. I never realized how much love she would give me in return. She notices me and fundamentally loves me. I have never felt as loved as I do by my daughter, and I have been lucky to have been loved and cherished by many in my family and my husband. It’s overwhelming sometimes.

But she is growing up! I’m not preventing her growth! She is focused on her junior prom dress and wants to talk colors and styles and cuts. I’ve never been particularly into those things, but being her mother – I’m all for it. So I’ll take her shopping and it we’ll enjoy the day together just the two of us. Grandmother is well on her way to recovery after her peripheral bypass surgery. Grandfather is happy and comfortable in our shared home, and the two of them had another granddaughter visit with her friends and say goodbye yesterday as she jetted off back to college. That granddaughter will be seeing her cousin (my son) up at Berkeley to connect and catch up as cousins. Mr. Plastic Picker will be working, because that is what he does and he chooses to do for now. And the girls in our family, we’ll go shopping.

She was absolutely beautiful yesterday getting ready for her exam with her hair in a bun, being fussed over in just the right amount in the morning. And she’s the main character in my narrative. And I think sharing our story has made others realize they have a main character is theirs as well, and the more love and care you pour forth into that child and in their generation and into saving the earth for them – you will be returned so much more than you ever imagined.

She’s selling cookies! We have the last 30 boxes to go to reach goal!

February 26, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I was thinking of calling this post “Kimbap, Exploded” but that will be the next post. Or the blogpost that never got written. It exploded in the microwave by the way, because of the circumstances that led to us have extra store prepared kimchi that we were worried about the edibility of the said kimbap.

But instead I want to write this morning’s short blogpost about something definitive I told my daughter last night. She has been having some anxiety dreams about college, and where to apply early. Some of it is that it’s crunch time with the ending of the trimester, SATs coming up, big decisions regarding club leadership positions, and the outside projects that she is working on. She has dreams too like any other child, and has been in the real grind – forgoing the normal teen social scene to study and do her work. It’s not really a sacrifice for her, because she actually likes studying and doesn’t do well with loud noises and over stimulation. She also has a very active imagination and happier in her clubs that deal with books than dancing. Every child is different and there is a place and journey for each of them, especially if you go to prep school. But in her world, she is stressed because all the juniors are worried about college and talking about college – and where to apply early next year.

I told her that until the day before those applications need to be submitted, she can change her mind. We have 8 months left until the day she decides and another year before the final decisions for schools comes around. It’s going to be a beautiful exhilarating time for her and for our family. We are so inordinately proud of her.

But the difference with her is that she’s the kid that wasn’t supposed to make it. She’s the preemie that beat the odds, and having been loved so dearly by her community and especially by her family – she has become the beautiful talented and interesting person that she is.

And I told her last night “Go for it. If you don’t dream now, when will you dream! If you really want to apply there early, don’t worry about mommy and daddy’s Harvard alumni status and that you are quadruple legacy. Go for the school you want. Mommy doesn’t want you to have any regrets. Harvard is just a place.” And with that I encouraged by almost 17 year old and gave her the freedom to consider applying to Yale early, which is her dream school. The baby that one high risk ob-gyns encouraged me to terminate. The baby that was born and intubated and whisked away at a little over 2 lbs to the NICU. The baby who was gavaged my breastmilk that I diligently pumped out 60 oz a day because I wanted her to have the best shot. The baby that had asthma, pneumonia, otitis media, emergent ear tubes, and mastoiditis. The child that I purposely did not let test out of spanish and math because I was worried about stressing her out, but now is one of the top students in her class and absolutely has the numbers and the resume.

Apply to Yale Early baby girl! Mommy and Daddy say go for it! Harvard is just a place and you are a miracle child. If you don’t dream, how can I? And we are a family of dreamers. You’ll land where you are meant to be. And our family, we keep on shooting for the stars.

A memorable lunch with my daughter. It was so simple.

February 9, 2025

by Dr. Plastic Picker

It’s Sunday late afternoon at 4:21 pm. It’s an unusual time for me to blog, and I’ve been blogging less and less. I’m grateful for life these days to be surrounded by so many who are trying to be climate activists and advocates. They are trying to help and find meaning, and also to move forward with their own lives and careers. So many pediatricians and so many premedical students and medical students. Finally one is almost launched off to medical school after the second application cycle, and two more I’m meeting this week to go over a presentation. Another one we have a presentation at the end of the month at a regional conference. These are real students with real career aspirations, and I’m their real mentor. Like any responsible pediatrician, I’ll see them toward the artificial end goal post of any premed mentor – admission to medical school or decision to pursue a different path.

But I realized something this morning, after several instances where I had to redirect the energies of a particularly energetic and well meaning premed – enough is enough. I’m done taking any additional students. We have many many more still left that I’ll make sure to mentor toward their goals. Still many years of climate work to do and to happily collaborate with them. But today I realized that it’s time for me to say no. I don’t need to recruit anymore. I’ve recruited enough people to this climate work. I’m not helping any of my current students by taking on additional students.

It’s been absolutely freeing realizing that. We have three students now in medical school, and about 3-4 every year that are applying under our collaborative group. But honestly, it’s mostly me. It’s mostly me and a handful of other physicians. And it’s time for me to move on. I never meant for this to be forever. It was meant to be a decade of advocacy and I’m almost at year 5 or was it 6?

I started to say no. I said no to a big premedical conference talk, because I don’t need to recruit anymore students and this is all on my free time. It’s on a day that I’m already scheduled to work, and I’d rather go to work and not have to change shifts with someone else. I didn’t even ask them to ask me next year. I’m probably going to not attend on of the talks that one of my other students is giving that is not related to climate. I’m so proud of them for this talk and actually advised them to apply to give this talk. But they have many other mentors that can help them, and it’s not related to climate and they have been launched. I have been their supplemental advisor anyway, never was paid but did it because it was the right thing for the earth. It was a magical and meaningful collaboration for the last three years. But they were mentored, and had multiple presentations and abstracts and letters of recommendations – from a premedical advisor that was all volunteer. I realized yesterday in a state of panic during a disaster that was barely averted, that I don’t need some of the stress that mentoring so many students has given me. Too enthusiastic. Too giving. All of us. It’s all meant to be, and I’m so proud of them and it all ended up fine. But I took it as a sign that it’s time to slowly finish the climate projects one by one.

I still have about 3-4 years worth of students and climate projects to complete. I’m really happy to start saying no. Everything comes to an end. Our girl scout troop is coming to an end soon, as the girls finish their Gold Awards. I have a meeting with one of our troop members, and I really owe it to her and her family to help with her Gold Award. This is a young woman who I actually know well and in real life, and she deserves my attention.

But what won’t end is that I’m still a pediatrician who now realizes I love to practice medicine. I’ve learned so much letting everyone know that climate affects health and environmental pollution affects kids. I’ve gotten so many awards, and been on TV and published papers and invited to conferences to speak. I’ve met so many interesting people.

But the truth is that in the end it began because I was burned out and I started picking up trash. And then I was better and I realized the climate crisis, and realized I should get involved in doing impactful legislative work on climate and health. And it was because I love my children so very much and I care for my patients, and pediatricians aught to try to save the earth for them. And that’s what thousands of pediatricians across the country have been trying to do – trying to stop global heating.

But one person can’t do it all. One person can’t pick up all the trash on the beach. I had this super human strength and motivation for the last few years, but it’s starting to naturally wane and that is okay. There are so many ways to help the climate movement and I’ll continue to do it. But I realize that our advocacy group has become somewhat unsustainable. Really what I need to do is make sure all our mentees actually grow up and finish their projects and move on with their lives.

So that is what I’m doing, just concentrating on the students in front of me that I know now. I’m not looking for more. And the truth is that this entire endeavor was always volunteer, two $20 websites. It was born out of love and need for connection, and wanting to show the world what could be done when one puts climate and children at the center. After almost 50 talks and media interviews, I’ve said it enough. And I have someone special waiting for me to hang out – to talk about something other than climate.

I’m always waiting for her and she’s waiting for me.