January 24, 2021

by drplasticpicker

GATHER was featured in the New York Times and a critically acclaimed film on Indigenous Food Systems and Indigenous Food Rights. It explores the connections between restoring ecosystems and food systems. (Peds Chief) , (CATCH Peds Obesity Clinic) and I are proud to invite limited interested members of our medical group to a free virtual film screening of Gather, and panel discussion with Chef Nephi Craig (Western Apache Nation and professional chef) and our own Dr. Dana Patton (Pediatric GI) and Dr. William Pfeiffer. Target audience is primarily the AAP-CA, Kaiser SD Peds Department, and San Diego Area Pediatricians, but we will have room for some interested in our medical group outside of pediatrics. This is funded by a generous grant from AAP-CA3 San Diego. You will be emailed a link to view the movie for free, and panel discussion for CME will be on March 5, 6pm. Please comment below or email Mr. Hakim Tokhi to RSVP AAPCHILDRENSARTCOUNCIL@GMAIL.COM

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January 23, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I made this wine-cork upcycled ocean plastic figure yesterday. I was in an intense storm of professional angst, and he came together from the bits and pieces I had saved from the last solo beach clean up. I remember where I found the figure, who I now know is Evil Kenevil, in the sand embankment where the Surf Rake deposits it’s load. I found the blue plastic sand toy handle nearby, broken as many cheap plastic beach toys are. People are often surprised that there are plastic hangers in the beach. I’ve found many like the one above. Just the top parts. I don’t know how and I don’t now where from. I just find them and keep the interesting plastic bits. It all came together to make a sailboat, and a plastic figure (now I know from Toy Story 4) that was trying to ride off into an unknown future.

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January 22, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I just wrote this great post that I won’t publish. I needed to work through some emotions and a work situation. I feel a lot better now, but I don’t want to create more waves than I need to – so I’ll keep it to myself. Writing is ever therapeutic for me. I’ll instead try to be productive and get stuff done for the environment today.

1. Movie Screening “Gather.” Wrote to Director Sanjay again to try to nail down a date and time for a film screening. I’m wondering if professional creative types and their email response times. Maybe he has a lot on his plate. Maybe he’s working an another fantastic movie. This is my first time interacting with a director!
2. CleanMed 2021 Abstract Submitted: Possible Conference May 2021

Climate Activism from A Middle-Managers Perspective: How Do I Engage The Department?

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January 20, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Hello Climate Change & Health Committee Members,

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January 19, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I watched my KevinMD podcast at least 15 times, maybe more. Mr. Plastic Picker asked me if I was watching it AGAIN, and I got a bit irritated at him. The reason I was watching it multiple times because it was almost like my Plastic Picking Senior Thesis. My actual senior thesis in college likely only three people ever read. It was a year of futility because I picked a topic that would be doable within the year at Harvard, and not something I was passionate about. I was so focused on the mechanics of getting into medical school and not a passion. I need to remember this for my now 5 AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health interns. I need to find them work that they are PASSIONATE about. This is the only way to true growth and progress. I was not passionate about cleft palate and eugenics theory. I learned the mechanics of academic historical writing. I AM PASSIONATE about plastic picking and ocean beach cleaning, and physician wellness and management and environmentalism. I think this is demonstrated in the KevinMD Podcast interview. Plus, I kept on listening to the podcast because honestly I did not prepare for it. I thought I was very tangential as I was giving the interview. But the interview is actually the culmination of what picking up almost 400 bags of ocean plastic pollution and salvaging over 1500 items from the ocean/landfill and reploying it into the circulation of human consumption does to a person. This litter picking journey and ocean plastic pollution reduction journey for me has been about passion. I think that passion is evident in the podcast interview.

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January 18, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I think my work iPhone broke! Oddly I’m totally okay with that. I was carrying it downstairs this morning to start blogging at about 430am, and it was on top of two laptops. I was balancing the iPhone and two mouses as I walked carefully down the dark stairs. When I reached the kitchen safely, something plopped loudly on the ground. I was worried it was the mouse, but it was actually the work iPhone and it had fallen exactly horizontally planar onto the ground. No glass is broken. But it won’t turn on. I’m oddly OK with it. I have the day off anyway today. My work iPhone is the only way for me to check Instagram and udpate (or at least how I typically use my devices) or for people to text me. I’m sure it will start working when I replug it in, but I’m enjoying the work Iphone quiet right now.

My interview on KevinMD posted and I’m still in that cringy/shy stage after revealing myself and the blogstory. https://youtu.be/d4QVLqg7Okg or https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/how-ocean-plastic-picking-made-me-a-better-pediatrician-podcast.html I watched it several times, and am truly happy with it but can still be cringy. My friend Dr. McFrugal was right, Kevin Pho is a very kind and encouraging interviewer. In the end, my daughter and mom really liked the interview and that made me happy. I posted it on my personal facebook page and several groups I am part of. The entire point is to raise awareness about the plastic pollution crisis and environmentalism, so I need to share it. I questioned again why I am so open and why I began this blog journey, and my daughter reminded me that “Mommy, if this encourages one person to start picking up plastic – than it is worth it.” Tweens are so wise at times. And so it’s all worth it. The story is simple and straightforward and it’s mine. I should be proud to share it. I did look great on camera though! My mom liked my shirt. She doesn’t know that I bought it at Good Will. LOL.

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January 16, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I’ve had an intellectual breakthrough in the last few months. Litter-picking and Instagram and Envrionmental Activism has led me to think more about the world and myself. We are all inter-related. Being presented with departmental problems that are unsolvable and then health systems issues that are unsolvable within the framework given to us, made me realize that it’s the framework itself/ the system itself that has to be redesigned or reimagined.

I’ve found a lot of intellectual growth watching Chef Nephi from the Western Apache Nation, and his efforts to solve substance abuse through food. Food is in this case is actually medicine. The whole process of food, the restoration of the land that it grows on, the cultivation, the cooking, the community that eats it, the actual recipes and the stories that surround the food. Having come from a community and family whose food traditions have stayed intact for centuries, I know in my fish-sauce infused blood that I am intertwined with the fish that I crave and the water that produces the fish. This is why the destructions of rivers and wetlands and oceans panics me more. I am a person that has been bred near a delta, and raised on food that comes from the rivers and the ocean.

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January 15, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I am really happy this morning. I am really happy because I have always had so many kumquats in my life. Kumquats are a citrus and the kumquat tree is relatively easy to grow. It bears these small little fruits that you can eat the entire thing including peel. My mom has given me kumquats. Friends have given me kumquats. We have a kumquat tree and my mother-in-law always has them in a square plastic container of food from the garden that we need to eat. She puts it in the center of our large kitchen island to prompt the family cooks to use that ingredient. There are always kumquats.

But we should appreciate our kumquats because through the power of Ecosia, I now know that organic kumquats are $10 a pound. Isn’t that crazy? $10 a pound when I’ve neglected previously gifted kumquats. I know kumquat trees are relatively cheap as I see them at the local home improvement stores a lot yet the organic fruit is $10 a pound. We have two kumquat trees in our front yard. We also have a lemon and lime tree. We always have fresh lemon and lime, and now kumquats.

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January 14, 2021

by drplasticpicker

There is no way that granola is a health food. This is probably one of the great myths that has partially worsened our obesity epidemic. Growing up as an immigrant kid, I thought granola was healthy and it was American. Granola bars are ubiquitous especially with their plastic wrappings. I’m not saying that granola is not a perfectly fine food to eat, but it’s really a dessert. It should be used as a topping on oatmeal, or as a rare treat on top of something healthier.

I was inspired by my Instagram friend @lowwastejoy who was one of the first Instagram environmental friends I made years ago. We’ve never met, but there is a back and forth in the Instagram community that is real. Every time she posts something, I think it looks like a great idea. I think maybe because I know she is Asian as well, and maybe our thought processes through some kind of shared cultural experience and trying to be eco-minded is similar? I’m not sure what it is, but I often think her ideas are great. She posted last night home-made granola and I had been looking for a new granola recipe. One that I got from a friend was too burnt and I did not like the spices. It looked pretty on Instagram and we ate most of it, but it was for me a fail. I realized it was too burnt and @lowwastejoy had a recipe that seemed more gooey which is more to my liking.

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January 13, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I can’t even believe that I’m in the space to be able to know that Bobbie Flay’s pizza dough recipe is not the best. I can’t even believe that I am in the space that I considered buying more than bread flour versus 00 flour in order to make a better pizza dough. That we discussed with my daughter different rise times of pizza dough, and that as she explained to me as we debated a 1 hour rise time versus a 24 hour rise time. My tween explained to me “a longer rise time allows the ingredients to ferment and there are more complex flavors.” I felt privileged to be even begin to understand a little bit about what she was talking about. This journey has been about decreasing processed food, decreasing the plastic in our lives, decreasing the salt, and increasing the vegetables and saving the planet. Likely the other recipes use less yeast which is the most expensive ingredient, and made me consider another recipe. But I am all too pleased to have delved into the great pizza dough debate. For now and for this time in my life, I am done. This is my pizza dough recipe. Bobbie Flay – you are it!

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