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.

Something else I’ve learned from Chef Nephi is that to truly heal the ecosystems, and to address problems that I need to contribute to the answers like pediatric obesity, pediatric asthma, clean air for children – is that I need to stimulate in others and continue to ensure for myself that I remain in what he reminds me is the “Growth Zone.” It’s the beautiful intellectual and emotional space where one finds purpose, lives dreams, sets new goals, and conquers objections. I hope that space for everyone, especially those of good hearts and pure motives. In the end I believe that is how we save the planet. Free our creative selves and let millions of free minds loose on how to solve the climate crisis.

This is why I come back to the blog every morning, and I don’t repost things between the blog, my personal facebook page and Instagram. Each is different and helps me be creative. That creativity can be simple. Using a new ingredient, a new word in a blog post, or a new yoga move or ones interpretation of a yoga move. I know that these “smaller” creative steps lead to big creative ideas. I wish this for everyone.

So this morning I eagerly woke up and I sent a few emails moving forward some of the climate work, letting creativity direct me. I made baked oatmeal following a previous recipe, but this time used left over pear and apple and sprinkled cacao husks for a chocolate aroma. It was a food waste project, and again the ktichen smells so aromatically apple and maple syrup at 646AM. And this weekend, I’m creatively trying to stay off social media and do some projects around the house and help our daughter get her Girl Scout Digital Cookies Page set up. Sending everyone lots of weekend virtual hugs. Dr. Plastic Picker off to the beach. I’ll have some baked oatmeal when I get back after the kids have woken up. They and the whole house are mostly asleep. They usually are when I slip off to the beach to get my bag.