Lettuce growing in the cracks of our front walk-way pavers.
February 15, 2022
by Dr. Plastic Picker
If the above picture is not the personification of environmental-cool, I don’t know what is. Our front yard is this beautiful crazy edible garden powered by our composter and gardening-love mostly from the grandparents. And we have lettuce growing inbetween the cracks of our pavers.
The rouge lettuce in context of the larger garden.
I find gardening metaphors are so powerful. I gave away four succulent plants I had been growing for a while up on our roofdeck. Nothing new, all upcycled but grown with love. Those four small planters were lovingly received by four families yesterday. Two families I knew well, and two that were new to me.
Another shot of the garden.
Trying to live a sustainable and upcycled life, has brought so much growth for me personally and to my entire family. I really don’t worry about the next anymore. For work I have to give another presentation, and it’s in front of an audience that I don’t necessarily enjoy talking in front of. When you truly work together closely, there are scars within departmental relationships. But as I was conceptualizing this talk, I realized not worrying about the next and finding joy in unexpected growth – lifted a dark cloud that used to surround me. I haven’t had tension headaches in years now, and the professional anger and resentment are gone. Knowing that I don’t know the answer, and really just to focus on the present. The current project I’ve been working on. The person who is standing in front of me (whether it be patient, family or collueage). Unexpected growth, rogue lettuce that we’ll eat – brings me so much joy. And realizing we just have to work toward the end we want, and we are all on the same wave and we as a people will land where we land – is so freeing.
PaddleOutPlastic said it looked like an Elizabethian figure.
February 14, 2022
by Dr. Plastic Picker
Maybe I should start signing my blogposts “Dr. Plastic Picker.” I think I had it as a runon name lower case in my attempt to remain semi-anonymous. But really as a women health care leader I need to stand up tall and be recognized. PaddleOutPlastic one of my instagram litter picking friends (she paddles out to LA Harbour to pick up trash) is a constant inspiration. She said one of the pictures I posted on Instagram really did look like an Elizabethian figure. I stopped there and hid inside a sandstone nook on the shore just above the water-line. I had picked up my bag of plastic from the beach, and stood there – just to be there with myself and the earth.
Now that I’m looking back at this figure. This figure is also just standing there, looking out into the ocean.
But most the weekend was spent inside our primary residence, our home. I was up on the roofdeck garden, and outside in our backyard garden and around the composter. Within the property boundaries of our home, I was also surrounded by nature. I made a pizza dough yesterday that turned out particularly well, and our children and I ate it after the halftime Superbowl show. I always use sage and thyme, lefft over seasonings from many thanksgivings ago. I think mixing it in with my flour before I make the actual pizza dough, gives it a special flavor that my family loves. I’ve begun experimenting with putting some cornmeal in it too. The pizza was so delicious yesterday, and I even used bits of leftover vegetables from an unfinished salad as a topping.
Sunday was an epic climate work day for me. I was mostly just typing on the computer, but I had to rest my brain in-between projects. I’m almost due to start the workweek, but I am honestly satisfied with myself. The work this weekend was joyful and something I could do to help bend the arc toward a livable planet for us all. This is what I did. I need to remind myself on this semi-anonymous blog so that I keep at the work. I reflect on this blog, and it makes me know myself better and makes me stronger.
(1) San Diego Union Tribune Letter to the Editor regarding Menthol Amendment: The anti-vaping team did the hard work advocating last Wednesday. But I wrote a blogpost on our advocacy website https://sdpediatriciansforcleanair.com/anti-vaping-team-send-sd-ut-letter-to-the-editor. This is in case the elected officials are looking. Had to compose the 200 word letter with the relevent points requested by our coalition partners and personalize it. Used a sentence provided by our student co-founder. Then had to text everyone to see if they agreed which took a few hours, and then send the actual email to the San Diego Union Tribune. I haven’t heard back and didn’t see it on their website. But the important thing is that we wrote it and our coalition partners know. This is a long battle as the actual state-wide bill will come up in November.
(2) Letter regarding DeAnza Cove from Our Wetlands Team: I had to be in the right mindset as well. I was composing our Feb 2022 Updates for our committee, which is what pushed me to finish this letter. I thought it was well written. I’ll post it on our advocacy site later.
(3) Youth Arts Exhibition: This is happeneing sooner than expected and the interns have done what they can. KPBS is coming and I need to coordinate all the people to be there. And then meet with the gallery owner this Wednesday to talk about ideas. The AAP San Diego is going to do a gallery type post of the winners as well. I really need to get to Staples to get the images all printed on poster board. Maybe I’ll do this Tuesday, a few samples at least. We need to get the audio-loop of the poems and the music made. I’ll be hanging out in Dr. Andrei’s office a lot this week.
(4) Feb 2022 Newsletter: Most of Sunday was composing the newsletter that I sent out to our collective group. I think the reason it took me so long, is that I had to conceptually rethink all the projects we are doing and understand it for myself. Making myself get the newsletter out, also prompted me to finish some other lingering climate projects.
This work is joyful but took a lot of time. I’m not sure why I find it all fun and interesting. But the weekend is done, and those projects are done. I finished a work presentation as well and I was proud of that. I need to make each talk new and fresh for the audience. It’s important when people give of their time, to be considerate and do something new for them. I didn’t talk about climate at all, which is rare. The talk is on HPV Vaccine advocacy. I did put a picture of my daughter. Oh, the mortgage broker is calling! Got to make sure we take care of our financial house. Happy Monday to you all! Hope everyone is able to sneak in some projects for the earth as well.
Yesterday was a lovely day. It was one of those lovely unexpected days. We had dropped off our teen son at a friend’s house, as the three best friends were hanging out before the winter formal at Sea World. Our son had his father’s wedding suit which was a Ralph Lauren morning coat ala Hugh Grant, and a $35 top hat that came in an amazon package to compliment. Our son actually forgot his top hat, and his father had to drop it off after the boys had gone to dinner. But between dropping off teen son with reused wedding suit and dropping off the new top hat, the remaining three of us (Mr. Plastic Picker, Dr. Plastic Picker and younger teen daughter) stopped by one of the local master planned parks in metro San Diego.
Truffles are expensive, and it’s flavor is part of the key to a sustainable life.
February 10, 2021
by drplasticpicker
Yes. I’ve decided to become a Truffle Farmer/Forager. We have the farm and likely there are truffles on the farm. I cold-emailed the world’s top truffle expert to ask him about starting the truffle industry in our area in Oregon. He emailed back, and now I’ve looped in one of our neighbors who definitely has truffles in his area. We are going to forage for truffles on our parcels hopefully, but forage via satellite. I was precepting one of the UCSD Rady’s pediatric residents and I often mention my crazy doings, and one of her replies was incredulous. To the extent “how is that possible?” and asking non-sensical questions but in somewhat in a non-believer and slightly negatively nuanced way. Most people don’t know that I know these things. I read up. I don’t have time to explain because my brain is racing and thinking, but I was slightly annoyed. I just looked at her and the look of someone who is a non-Dr Plastic Picker believer, and I honestly just delete that person from my mind. No imagination, I’ve decided. Just precept and teach for the time I’m given, and move on.
So yes my dream is become a part-time Truffle farmer/forager. I’ve declared myself that. I am going to drive out the marijuana growers by bringing in an industry that is sustainable and actually good for the world. Using the water of the Cascade mountains to grow marijuana???!!! EVIL. Truffles that really require no water, and are native to the area and will increase LOCAL and SUSTAINABLE travel and cuisinse- GOOD. So for all you illegal marijuana growers in southern oregon, this pediatrician is NOT YOUR FRIEND!!! The children or Oregon are our children too! Marijuana is not good, period.
Come to think of it, it’s the ugliness of the entire marijuana industrial-complex that angers me as a pediatrician. That is part of what is driving me to really look into truffles for our area. I fell in love with the mountains and the trees on our farm. How does one “own” land? I think of myself as a steward. And I definitely don’t think the land was happy with the marijuana growers.
I’m waiting for another email reply from Professor Charles , our Oregon truffle expert. Mr. Plastic Picker and I are going up soon to spend a few days on our farm. We have two sets of friends going now, and I’ve invited the HMO residency program to use the farm for a retreat. I think I’m done mass inviting everyone. If 3-4 of my friends go, then that is enough. They are all climate friends, and I want them to be renewed by the land and the area. Heal them, and they will help heal the earth.
We are thinking of building a tree house as well with my family member! That would be so interesting!
I am always reminded that I am only Dr. Plastic Picker, if I am continuing to pick up plastic! This month has been a pretty good month since I’ve decided to clear out Dr. Dear Friend’s office and giving myself bags of credit when I recycle or clear out a big box. It really frees my mental real estate to have her office clean, and all that paper is getting shredded and hopefully making recycled toilet paper for us all. Half of the bags are definitely from the beach as well.
I’m trying to care for myself. Yesterday was absolutely overwhelming. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish all the things I needed to finish. But I did. We had our first official AAP California State Government Affairs Expert Committee on Climate Change https://aap-ca.org/. Within our HMO I would have a practice manager organize all of this. But in the outside volunteer world, it’s just me. But most everyone showed up and we had a very efficient quick meeting and talked climate and state-wide projects.
And then I gave another talk for the HMO. I’ve been talking a lot around the HMO, doing the work work that I get paid to do. But I’m going to have a breather soon after Monday’s talk about HPV vaccine advocacy with a respected colleague at the Women’s Health Champion meeting. And then I need to remember that having Saturday’s big climate project completed was a huge thing. Saturday and playing our part of the Rewild Mission Bay Coalition https://rewildmissionbay.org/ was a big milestone for us. It was such an important thing to be there.
But yes I was tired. I felt overwhelmed at the end of yesterday. Plus I’m doing one last loan application for a rental property. This rental property is such a good buy, and it’s going to be an even better buy when we solve the Tijuana Sewage issue.
But reporting out to you, our dear blog readership, how many bags I am at really keeps me focused. If you want to see my lifetime totals since adopting this eco-avatar then click here! https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/ Yes I’m at 630 bags of plastic pollution collected and 1853 salvaged items.
I’m usually happy these days, but I think recently I’ve been neglecting myself. It’s so important dear earth friends to take care of yourself. I’m going to try to get to the beach today and do a bag. Those bags are the most restorative. But I was tired yesterday and a bit frustrated. I told Mr. Plastic Picker – I may just finish my 1000 bags and disappear into the night. But that was the darkness speaking, and now it’s 542 AM and the sun is about to rise and Dr. Plastic Picker is reborn. I’m even helping sell Girl Scout cookies for my daughter this morning.
So here is January 2022 totals and proof that Dr. Plastic Picker picks up plastic! Sending green hugs to all my plant-based friends, those that eat lots of plants and those that are plants.
January 2022 Plastic Picking Totals! 22 bags and 27 items!
I don’t feel guilty much these days. Mothers and doctors, we tend to blame ourselves for everything. Our own child gets a B+ in a class, our fault. Our child has plagiocephaly from the back to sleep campaign, our fault for not recommended strongly enough tummy time. The climate crisis, our fault for not having enough money to buy a Tesla. But after you realize the true villains that caused the climate crisis – you will stop feeling guilty. Vaping company CEOs – villains. Fossil fuel companies who knowingly still push pro-fossil fuel policies – villains. People who litter knowingly and with darkness in their heart when they do that act of littering – villains. Me? Not a villain!
But I do somewhat feel villainous when I blatantly made the best Instapot chicken soup out there. It’s hard not to feel guilty when you are an environmentalist and hang out with vegans all day. But we are plant-based, not vegan, and I made chicken soup with a game hen and it was so delicious. I now realize after putting in an Ecosia search that a game hame is essentially a chicken that is a toddler, and I feel even more guilty.
Avatar of a defiant person, defiants teenagers. Just half kidding!
February 3, 2022
by drplasticpicker
I’m not an easy person. I realize that. I’ve calmed down now in my still youthful early-mid forties. I thought it was being a Crimson University graduate, but Dr. Dear Friend summed it up well. She said I can intimidate people. I honestly can’t help it. It’s not where I went to school, but who I am. I tend to like to get things done. Despite my being more centered and holistic, I am ultimately a goal-driven and project-oriented person. It may be an artificial sense of completion, but I like to tick things off my check list. Number of bags of trash. Number of vaccine quality projects done. Another super interesting place to give a presentation.
Realizing my need to complete tasks is part of my own internal make-up, I have now created earth-tasks that I am hyperfocused on. My current earth-projects are the Rewild Mission Bay work and getting the AAP California State Government Affairs Expert Committee on Environmental Health and Climate Change off and running. Oh and helping our premed advocacy interns onto their journey to medical school.
It makes me not such a popular person at times. That’s okay. It’s never been important to me, popularity. I’d rather be impactful and effective.
But I’m here on the blog today to remind all our readers (and thank you for your continued presence) that it’s okay and actually necessary for all of us do-gooders out there to also take care of your financial house and parent your children. And honestly the last few weeks that has been my focus. I am in the middle of two large real estate transactions, and one came in pretty close to deadline. If I had not gotten that done, it would have cost me thousands in capital gains taxes. We are also in the process of doing a property exchange on a rental condo in Imperial Beach. It’s really nice. My mother called me and asked me why I hadn’t called her, and I told you – I was busy with loan applications! The interest rates are going up mommy! She understood.
Last night, I also had to do something that needed to be done. I can only be Dr. Plastic Picker if my teenage children are on the straight and narrow. They are definitely on the straight and narrow, and generally very good children. But there was a minor issue with one of them and it needed to be dealt with at dinner as a family. In our family if you vere on a questionable path, it’s not just you that is affected – it’s our entire family. That includes your father Mr. Plastic Picker, your mother Dr. Plastic Picker, your grandparents, your sibling, your puppy and your two bunnies. The entire family weighed in and said “that is not acceptable behavior.” Well actually it was mostly me Dr. Plastic Picker that said in a very calm and measured voice “I received an email from school, and we have discussed it. You will email your teacher and apologize for yourself and on behalf of your entire family.” In the end it was such a minor minor infraction, and honestly the teacher dropped the ball as well for not dealing with this in class. And society has become so permissive that for a majority of people it would not seem like a big deal. But again, for my children and for me – I expect more from my children. It’s hard to be my child. All that parenting and that concern 100% comes with strings. It comes with ancestral strings and expectations, that how you act reflects upon me and your entire family. With that, I was a super strict parent yesterday.
But that was how my father was with me. He was happy go-lucky with other people’s children, but very strict with us at home. And that is how I am in general with our children regarding public behavior. So take care of your financial house and make sure your children are doing okay. You are the only one who will take care of those two things. And then if there is extra time, yes – please help us avert the climate crisis!
I have no idea what this is. And it’s not necessarily this child or the other child that was reprimanded last night. It’s nice to be vague on the blog.
It’s been 6-8 weeks of Korean-drama binge watching on Netflix and the “Asian Crush” app. Yes, I have been in Korean-drama land. The Korean dramas I watched just to name a few were “Crash Landing on You,” “Hometown Cha Cha Cha,” “K2” (that one is so good but there is a scene I would be a little bit embarassed to watch with my kids), “Revolutionary Love,” just to name a few. I honestly know for me this binge-watching was not unlike my previous periods where I was really into an author and binge read certain genres. There was my George Eliot period when I read Middlemarch almost in one sitting in 8th grade. I then proceeded to read everything she wrote. There was the more whimsical Jane Austen period, which I went through at the same time with one of my high school friends. I think Pride and Prejudice back then was $1 on the scholastic book order form? And then was the Clan of the Cave Bear series, where again I would read the new release and then I remember not eating for almost a day and almost passed out when I finally stood up after reading one of the novels. These were thick tombs over 600 pages long.
“Floating weed” from Korea has anti-cancer properties.
January 28, 2021
by drplasticpicker
We all live in our own personal vortexes of pain, grief and suffering. We all have different fears, worries and anguish. It’s hard to be a doctor and it’s hard to be a pediatrician. We live within not only our own vortex, but the emotionally vortexes of our patients – some of whom are very sick. And then there is the planetary vortex of air pollution, changing climate and species extinction.
I’m still plugging along on the climate work. Met with policy people at Children’s Now, which is a California based advocacy group. https://www.childrennow.org/ I had never heard of them before, but was asked to meet with them on behalf of the AAP California State Government Affairs Committee on Climate Change. I was tired and I had no idea who these people were, but I learned a lot. They seem to have a lot of money and resources, and now want to work in the climate and health space. I’m sure I sounded at times inarticulate but I told them about the climate and health space I am coming from, and most importantly I showed up.
Rewild Mission Bay work is continuing and I sent an organizing email out to our friends to get organized because it’s happening in a week. I think we’ll be okay. I talked about this work at the meeting with Children’s Now, and I know it probably seemed unrelated – but it’s about getting projects done. I can only do what I can do from where I am. They have a lot of money and people. I probably expressed some of my frustration. I don’t know what the answer is, but certainly they are part of the answer and I hope they step up. For physicians, we tend to be goal oriented and like to do things. The endless talking gets tiresome.
But talking is important and I know it’s impactful. My talking with the two policy people from Children’s Now was not as impactful. It’s hard when you don’t have a connection with someone and you are meeting on Zoom for the first time. But they are going to start talking to a lot of other climate people. Hopefully something happens. I’m sure they will be in there with the rest of us soon.
But mostly today I’m here on the blog to remember that I have a friend who is really sick. I’m sad. My family is trying to help however we can. This friend loves the earth and is fighting for life. How do you heal? For this friend, it’s through food, love, the earth and believe in miracles. And that is true for the earth as well.
Picture I sent my friend because she loves birds too.
I’m up at my regular blogging time now. It’s been a while. It’s pitch dark outside and the house is quiet. I have my matcha green tea soy latte in a Yeti Tumbler, a gift from the former regional chief of pediatrics for participating in a gun safety pilot program. It’s a long weekend for the kids and they have Monday off, and I somehow managed to remember to take that day off too. The Yeti Tumbler keeps my morning matcha green tea at the right temperature for longer, and there is some sweetness with some sugar – but much less than I used to drink with coffee.
