I’m sitting down at the kitchen table and only my father-in-law is up. He is boiling water and drinks some kind of healthy concoction that is definitely organic and plastic-packaging free. He is very healthy, and never let’s the outside world really dictate or influence how he lives his life. Much of why I am the way I am is from the loved ones around me. For our family, the remnant of the “old ways” are just a generation away. I think this is why I feel like a less-plastic life is so attainable. My in-laws have lived such healthy lives and have never wasted much, and they are rich in the things that matter – family, time, health and love. What more can one ask for?
Everything turned out fine yesterday. I made a lot of headway on several important work projects, creating a newsletter template and have some fun sections that other pediatricians contributed. We tweaked the pediatric schedules in the evenings and weekends a bit, to open up more appointments for needed PE access and vaccines. Even the Medi-CAL Performance Improvement Project Update is going to be fine, because one meeting was cancelled and I moved the other meeting up, so my colleague and I will have an hour to hash things through and type out the proposed project workflow. We’ll have an hour before the official meeting, which should be more than enough time to put things together. This will also be an upcoming publication for us. Maybe I should bring this computer with me, as it has the citation software that I’m using for the article I’m procrastinating on.
It’s 5am, and I’ve been up for already 1.5 hours. I fell asleep early last night, and at 3am I wasn’t sure if I should start my day. But my body said, get up Dr. Plastic Picker – get up Dr. Plastic Picker. I am working on a journal article of the Built Environment and Environmental Justice with four other AAP Climate Advocates, so that article is on my mind. I should be able to write a lot of it today. My section is only about 1000 words which is the length of a blogpost. But it’s a “real article” and I have to get in the emotional and intellectual space to write it.
I have been a Girl Scout Leader for seven years now. Seven years! The early years when the girls were young was actually really hard. I’m a pediatrician and not a teacher. They were really rambunctious and I felt like we were just giving them snacks all the time. Now they are 7th graders, and it’s easier. One of our troop members emailed us asking about doing a service project for homeless/shelterless people. In a very age appropriate way, she wanted to buy things for them that she thinks they need to ease their lives. And I felt like I’m finally the troop leader I need to be. Because indeed each of those girls are future leaders, and will help the world. Sometimes in the midst of planning badges and making time for meeting with other parents, I forget that. But this email reminded me, that Girl Scouts has always been a leadership program and about teaching them service. I was never good at crafts and sometimes did a haphazard job teaching them things. But I’m a leader and I’ve lived a life of service. I responded to this particular troop member’s email and it was very meaningful to me.
So much plant-based goodness packed into this, I can’t even start.
March 21, 2021
by drplasticpicker
I am still flaberghasted that this is all happening. About three years ago I had done weight watchers for a hot second, and I realized that something about my body with that food system was broken. Losing the weight was easy, but the joy out of eating and cooking was gone. I’m not even sure why I was doing weight watchers, since I was a normal BMI. I had gained a few normal middle aged pounds over the years, and I think Mr. Plastic Picker had been diagnosed as prediabetic or borderline. I saw others in my life trying it or doing keto, and I jumped along. This led to a weird period where I suddenly let an app that I paid $19.99 a month tell me what to eat. It was horrible. I had never dieted in my life before, and my brain was going through that keto-brain thing – and I knew this was not the answer. I stopped.
And then other things happened and I was unhappy at work for various reasons. Actually I was completely burned out due to colliding circumstances, and the world seemed broken and I was broken. And then I went to the beach and felt better picking up litter, and gosh darn it a lot of that litter was food waste. It seemed to all make sense. I decided to help save the earth from climate change, and so much of climate change has to do with the food we eat. I became an environmentalist and many environmentalist are vegans or vegetarians or plant-based, and they are so nice. And mostly non-judgmental. This allowed me space to try to combine living a less-plastic life with eating more plant-based, and then it happened. I’m eating really really good food, mostly whole and home-made, plant-based, exploring cooking, saving money, and it’s really good for our bodies. Our entire family is healthier. And with each meal we are saving the planet. Mind-blowing, I know. Who knew, saving the earth could be so delicious??!!!
Art Installation by Christine Nguyen, artists I did not know about.
March 20, 2021
by drplasticpicker
We were at Casa Romantica as the last stop on our brief but much appreciated and much needed OC vacation. We were mostly there to look at the Native Pollinator Gardens, the Monarch Way Station and the views, but the kids surprisingly wanted to wander into some of the historic rooms. And when we did, we saw this beautiful art installation by artist Christine Nguyen. https://www.christinenguyen.art/public-art
Our last name is so common, and I was surprisingly delighted to see it so prominent in such a public sapce.
The piece is indeed beautiful and I will enjoy getting to know her art more, now that I’ve found her webpage. But I was intrigued by her last name which is as Vietnamese as they come and prominently displayed against the very white walls of a very established cultural institution in Southern California.
What does this have to do with #STOPASIANHATE which is now trending on social media? I haven’t commented on this at all on my personal nor eco-avatar social media sites. I was trying to figure out why I didn’t have a visceral reaction to the hashtag or needed to adopt it. Neither did Mr. Plastic Picker who is actually Korean, and indeed was a Korean citizen until medical school right before our marriage. I was born an American citizen, my mother having popped me out on American soil after having been pregannt in refugee camp. So I can become President of the United States of America if I wanted. Not Mr. Plastic Picker. And I did mention to him years ago that he should become a citizen before we got married, so that I would know he was not marrying me for my citizenship.
Coastal Sunflower, part of the native coastal sage shrub flora.
March 19, 2021
by drplasticpicker
Our family is on a short few days get-away in Dana Point. This is just over the border of San Diego County and Orange County. We picked our vacation destination because Mr. Plastic Picker and I are very by-the-book. The County of Public Health website said within 200 miles of your home for travel during COVID-19 pandemic this week, and this was the furthest we could go. We were thinking of going to Palm Springs or Santa Barbara, and I know that likely that would be safe. But we wanted to set a good example and we are rule-oriented but desperate to get a away. Mr. Plastic Picker found the hotel-room which was more than I ever imagine spending $350 a night for a two-bedroom suite at the Residence Inn Marriot. But are kids are very large now, and we wanted a separate bedroom. Given COVID-19, we also wanted a fully equipped kitchen so we could cook and avoid exposures yet still be on vacation. That essentially was our only cost, two nights at the hotel. We can afford it, and it doesn’t hurt anyone and does help the local economy. So Mr. Plastic Picker booked the hotel and we drove up not having any plan as to what we were going to do other than to spend time together. We left the crazy poodle mix at home with the grandparents, and our organic garden and composter. Grandparents although vaccinated are being super-safe still and stayed home to putter around the house that we are still paying the mortgage on.
I love to live for the early mornings. It’s 6am and I have my cup of coffee in my Unicef mug that my co-troop leader of Girl Scouts gave me years ago. It’s an image of kids holding hands of multi-ethnic dress encircling the mug. It’s been 1.5 years of being Dr. Plastic Picker, and I asked Mr. Plastic Picker last night how old my eco-avatar was and he said definitely at least two. I looked back at my blog post and indeed this blog is only 1.5 years. This is evidence that this journey has slowed down time. It seems like I’ve been this identity for two years, but it has only been 1.5 years. Is it possible? It seems I have been Dr. Plastic Picker for glorious decades.
630AM post daylight savings. It was 530 equivalent a week ago. My body is on earth time!
March 16, 2021
by drplasticpicker
OMG my title is so witty this morning. I’m back at the kitchen table after having slept a blissful full night of sleep and realizing it was so deep and restorative. I did half of the YouTube video “Yoga for a Dull Momet” by Yoga by Adrienne, and ceremoniously threw up cell phone out of arms reach when I went to sleep. I was rewarded with a good night of sleep.
For me this journey as eco-avatar Dr. Plastic Picker has had unexpected benefits. One of the first things that miraculously happened is that my sleep improved. As a former research fellow at an NIH group studying sleep, I knew that sleep was important. I had read up on sleep. I had given advice on sleep. I had written about sleep. But I did not understand common sleep issues until I realized that I had them, and I never addressed them and they kept on getting worse. Getting our work iPhone and then becoming Assistant Boss and the barage of text and messages sent my sleep into dangerous dysfunctional category. But now my sleep is better after having picked up a lot of litter. I don’t think it was the litter picking that did it (although the exercise and having to concentrate on little bitty pieces of plastic helped), I think it was being outside under the sun and moon.
This tree is common in our area. Others remarked how beautiful it is.
March 15, 2021
by drplasticpicker
When we did the film screening of Gather, the New York Times profiled film on indigenous food rights and the connections between environmental destruction and our food systems, the best part was actually virtually meeting Chef Nephi Craig. The film makes a wonderful depiction of his life’s work, but actually hearing him relate his professional journey – one realizes how much more nuanced and profound it is. He has a blog as well that I’m perusing now http://apachesinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2014/05/rations-for-all.html. What resonated with me during the time he spent with us, was when he described coming back from Europe in 2009 and “crash landing on the reservation.” This is exactly the same time Mr. Plastic Picker and I left Boston and the Crimson University System with our two young children in our crisis moment, and came back to where I grew up, which is San Diego California.
