April 3, 2022

by Dr. Plastic Picker

Life has been blessed in my imaginary world. It seems like sometimes a dream, where there is eco-avatar me choosing wellness and peace and to be fight the existential crisis of climate change. In my imaginary world, I chose to leave the world of metrics and petty office politics and just to live life with joy and purpose. I chose to just wake up every day and think, what can I do today to stop this existential crisis? And in this imaginary world, very close is the nightmare that awaits us if the rest of humanity does not wake up. So who is living in an imaginary world of petty office politics and metrics and budgets, and who is living in the reality of rising carbon emissions and a world still mired in worrying about retirement age? Will there be a livable world to retire in?

It’s been the longest I’ve gone without blogging. There is enough material on the blog for folks to meander and read, and hopefully be somewhat inspired. Forgive my grammatical errors, I do try to peruse back once in a while to correct. But it’s real me, typing fast and furious in the morning at times or slow and reflective during others – just getting some writing practice in and journaling /blogging.

Last week was definitely an epic week for climate work. I’m participating in a panel at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology National Conference on climate change. It’s a really catchy title. Then last week, I worked with four of our interns on their writing projects and other projects. So mostly last week was helping our interns move forward with their climate and health projects, which is really what I’m concentrating on these days.

But just wanted to let you know that I’m here! I’m well. One of my climate dreams came true. A good green friend from the San Diego Audubon Society brought his lovely family to our farm, and took a well deserved rest and vacation there. I’m trying to figure out how to break even on that property. It doesn’t cost me much at all, but it’s financially prudent to figure something out. There aren’t enough truffles to harvest so I’m looking into perhaps a wilderness medicine elective model. For now, since it’s already costing me some money – I’m saving the earth some carbon and my friends’ some money, by inviting close climate friends to stay there for free. I figure we are all connected, and the earth there will feel the love of my friends and nature will guide them in their next step.