December 18, 2019

by drplasticpicker

It’s that time of week again! Wednesday is a day that is midweek, and to get over the hump day and to get closer to the glorious weekend – I need some hope and something to be grateful for. We all need hope! I recently went to a large regional middle management celebration and there was a talk about the power of gratitude. Gratitude is really the same as the power of prayer. The world is more secular and less people pray, and prayer is where we used to express our gratitude. Perhaps we all need to go back to church/temple/synagogue? Or just join civic groups like Rotary/Optimist/Lions/Kiwanas where gratitude is hard-wired in their DNA?

But for those who want to access the power of gratitude without joining organized religion or not yet ready to jump into an established civic organization, there are resources on-line. There are research articles “How Gratitude Can Reduce Burnout in Health Care” by Catherine Brozena. UC Berkely has an amazing online resource “Gratitude as Medicine: A Survival Kit for Health Care Organizations.” http://ggsc.berkeley.edu

As I was sitting at the large regional middle management meeting and listening about gratitude, I realized that I was practicing gratitude already with our “Hopeful Wednesday” blog series. Wow, drplasticpicker ahead of the times. So here we go! 5 Great Reasons to be Hopeful this Wednesday for the Environment.

1. Big Finance Goldman Sachs is Waking Up: On Monday, December 15, 2019 – Goldman Sachs (the world’s largest investment group) rules out financing any new thermal coal mines and coal-fired power projects world-wide. They also stated they will not finance drilling in the Artic including Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This was the biggest news in months!
2. California Shelves High Desert Corridor Freeway Project: The LA Times reported that the California Department of Transportation shelved plans for the 63-mile High Desert Corridor that was to be 8-lanes wide. Someone realized that creating the LA Bypass from I-5 to I-15 didn’t make sense as we need to transition away from cars.
3. Costa Rica Ends Single-Use Plastic: Costa Rica continues to be a shining light in the world. The small Central American country announced it will erradicate all single-use plastics by 2021.
4. Effective Middle-Management can Help People can Help the Environment: Yesterday I had 2 long middle management meetings. I have signficantly less headaches than 4 months ago since becoming drplasticpicker. But I still get them occassionally. I think yesterday more because I was coming down with a cold. But one of our young physicians with 2 small children told me, “I forgot to tell you, I started running again! And growing veggies! I have broccoli and arugula! Squash coming soon if you want anything.” Our middle management team has spent so much of the last 3 years trying to improve physician work-schedules and improve work-life balance for pediatricians. In my heart, knowing that these improvements for humans are also helping the natural world is beautiful. Veggies, broccoli and arugula from one’s own garden has the shortest food miles ever. And so much fiber! I am sure this young physician’s children have glorious bowel movements. I texted back “That makes me so happy” with heart emojis.
5. Middle-Manager Friend Using Real Spoon and Fork Now: One of my middle-management friends was at the same large regional middle management meeting. He told me that he now has a set of real cutlery from home that he keeps in his office. He has drastically reduced his single use plastic use. Mr. Plastic Picker perked up while we were chatting at the coffee break and said, “I do that too.” Even if he only has a 50% success rate, that is about 150-300 plastic utensils averted every year. Wow.

I am learning to listen to my body. I went plastic picking last two mornings, but will rest this morning and slowly enjoy my morning coffee in a ceramic mug. Lots of love to all our readers during this flu-filled and busy time of year!

Next post in the series https://drplasticpicker.com/12-25-19-christmas-and-five-reasons-to-be-hopeful/