Meatless March

No matter how completely I have internalized a mostly vegetarian diet over the past five years, I still feel hopeful when I come across an article with a first line like this one: "Cows are not the problem." My saliva glands swung into action as I read about livestock farming practices that support carbon sequestration.  "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me. At tea time, everybody agrees." Regenerative agriculture practices are great -- really great, seriously! -- but the key word above is carbon . None of the solutions described in that article addressed the problem of cows being a major source of methane , which dissipates faster than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but traps more heat around the Earth, pound for pound . When it comes to methane, cows really ARE a problem. Then I turned to an article whose headline stated that "Innovative solutions will be necessary to reduce methane emissions".  And again, this article has useful and ho

Achoo! Where I live, we're on the cusp of spring allergy season, and if you're an annual victim of pollen's cruel effects, maybe you should consider eating less meat and dairy. Same if you value safe drinking water, or want to avoid lung problems or insect-borne diseases. Why? Because animal agriculture is a significant driver of climate change , and climate change has major repercussions for human health . Longer springs mean longer allergy seasons . Heavy rainfalls and sea level rise contribute to fresh water pollution and salination, and droughts and earlier snowmelts can reduce water supply, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency . Air pollution from more frequent and severe wildfires can impair lung function and increase a person's risk of heart attack, stroke, lung cancer, and cognitive decline .The burden of malaria and other vector-borne diseases is poised to increase with climatic changes to animal and insect habitats. Even poison ivy is more

 Like the pierogi casserole from my last blog post, " Sheet-Pan Sausages and Brussels Sprouts With Honey Mustard " (NYT Cooking) is easily made vegetarian by substituting fake meat for real meat. In this case, I used Beyond sausages rather than real ones, and the results?  Ludicrously delicious. I fought the urge to eat all four serving by myself in one go. If you are wondering why you wouldn't just use pork sausages, as people have been doing for perhaps 4,000 years , it's because animal agriculture is a particular contributor to the climate change that is a feature of our modern industrial society. While we are unlucky that global warming is a side-effect of our modern lifestyles, we are lucky to live in an era of science so advanced that it tells us what causes global warming and how to fight it. To ensure that our species and others last another 4,000 years, we need to apply that science. As an individual, you can apply the science by consuming less meat (and da

I find it deeply satisfying to identify things, from unknown people in old family photographs, to the fabric content in clothing, to the weeds in my garden.  The Great Backyard Bird Count last weekend seemed, therefore, like it was designed just for me: "Spend time in your favorite places watching birds...Identify them, count them, and submit them" to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its partners. Even better, the bird count is an annual environmental effort, "to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world." Bundled up against the chill, and armed with binoculars, the Merlin app on my phone, and an ancient copy of "A Field Guide To The Birds,"  I set up a camp chair in my back yard. I immediately logged a grackle based on its sound recording on Merlin, and then I spotted a woodpecker, but it was gone before I had a chance to identify the species. And then...nothing. I began to get cold (it was in the 30s), and someone in the ne

I recently cooked with harissa for the first time, and that dish was good, but then I was stuck with a jar of harissa that was still almost full. I hopped around the internet, looking for recipes to help me use it up, and that's how I came to try " Coconut Quinoa with Harissa-Roasted Sweet Potatoes " (AllRecipes). I substituted veggie stock for chicken stock, because animal agriculture is more of a driver of global warming than plant agriculture, so I minimize my meat consumption. Don't blame that substitution for the fact that this meal was a little bland. My harissa was mild, so I think it just needed a smidge of heat. I dosed it with some hot sauce. I like heat in my food, not heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. After almost five years of being mostly vegetarian, choosing meatless options when I cook is automatic, but I don't think anyone needs to be overly rigid about it to make an impact. If you minimize your meat intake, you're acting a

Change is hard. When you grow up enjoying burgers and bacon and cheese (and bacon cheeseburgers), like I did, you might understandably resist cutting back on those things when confronted with evidence that they are contributing to the climate crisis. I speak from personal experience about this resistance, which I maintained for years. My husband proposed to me over a milkshake in 2010. And so I say to the Wall Street Journal editorial board member who authored an opinion piece called " First They Came for the Cars, Then the Cows ," take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. And you can be part of the solution. The author was peeved because policymakers in various countries are trying out policy options to discourage animal agriculture, which she acknowledged is contributing to climate change: "Livestock production accounts for about 11% to 17% of global greenhouse-gas emissions and about 32% of the world’s methane, which is 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Pound

I swear that no one gets called for jury duty more than me. When I lived in Washington, DC, I used to get called back even before I was eligible again after my last service, and I would have to phone the court and explain their error.  I'm as willing as the next person to honor my civic responsibilities, and jury duty is usually interesting (although often depressing). But the best benefit it has ever given me was during the first trial on which I served. One of the other jurors, Colleen, became my friend for life.  We have had some great times together through the years. Through Colleen, I have made several other friends, and one of them introduced me to my husband. Colleen and I traveled to Kenya and Tanzania together, and I couldn't decide which photo of the two of us on that trip was best: Colleen and I in Zanzibar The black lumps in the river are hippos Zanzibar. All photos taken by Michelle, another cool person I met via Colleen! The trial during which we met as jurors wa

Gather 'round, kids, and I'll tell you a story about perseverance. Unlike the rest of this blog, it has nothing to do with environmentally sustainable food choices; I just needed to record what happened so that in the future, I can avoid some baking errors that I made today. My first mistake was probably in answering the call put out weeks ago by the parents'/guardians' association at my backup dancer's school. Show the teachers some love, they begged, by contributing three dozen cookies to fill boxes we're giving them before the holidays. "Freshly baked," they added, smugly. No one will be shocked to learn that the people who signed up to bake cookies were 38 women and 3 men, as far as I could tell from their names, so why did I fall for this stupid gendered addition to my holiday to-do list? Sigh. Now, I'm a veritable wizard when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, but they're not festive. And while I make terrific gingerbread and sugar cooki

I frequently choose masochistic methods when I cook , hoping for superior flavor, but I cut myself some slack when I made " Tofu Mushroom 'Quiche' " (NYT Cooking), in that I used a premade gluten-free, vegan, frozen pie shell. I was afraid it would taste like cardboard, but it was actually perfectly good. I used silken tofu, and 1/4 of a cup of nutritional yeast flakes rather than Marmite. I recommend pre-baking the shell 15-20 minutes before filling it (rather than 10), and I thought my quiche was done after 36 minutes, but it needed longer to set; next time I'll check it on the inside to make sure it's not still liquidy. While it wasn't perfectly set, my quiche tasted very good and was enjoyed by 2/2 backup dancers. It was savory and comforting. I am thinking that for next time, it could be even better with the addition of some dry veggies, like spinach or broccoli steamed and then squeezed (squeezing is one of the masochistic methods, but okay).  The qu

My backup dancers and I recently visited Hyde Park, New York, and the historic estate of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Everyone should have a silver jacket. The woman who toured us around the Roosevelts' home told a story about how the World War II black market for rationed goods dropped after the president gave one of his radio broadcast "fireside chats." He warned that American troops would lack what they needed to survive if, say, a woman who wanted to make a new shirt made a black market purchase of silk that could otherwise have been used to make parachutes. When the president personalized the negative effects of people's actions - their loved ones in the military could die - people changed their behavior, at least according to this tour guide. Most people I know don't take simple, everyday steps against climate change, like minimizing their driving by combining errands, or eating less meat and dairy, or hanging some of their laundry to dry. We could

  Boo! I'd like to take the occasion of the spooky season to inquire whether you find tofu scary. I did, back before I came to terms with the impact of animal agriculture on the environment. I never chose tofu over a meat or dairy option. One of the best qualities of humans, however, is our adaptability. When I learned that animal agriculture is responsible for a large portion of methane emissions that are warming the planet (see, for example, this 2021 UN report ), I explored how I could reduce my consumption of foods that come from animals. One of my strategies is substituting tofu for meat or paneer (a cheese used in Indian cooking), and it turns out that tofu isn't scary at all. Mattar Tofu in the making You can use tofu in a recipe like " Mattar Paneer " (NYT Cooking), as its author acknowledges. I have found that tofu always turns out well when you press the water out of it gradually over half an hour or so, rather than just patting it dry. I use a tofu press th

I am going to share something that's a little embarrassing: Reading the news in the morning very frequently brings tears to my eyes. Sometimes I even indulge in a few sobs before I start my day.  My companion when I read the morning news This is not new. These past couple weeks it's in response to what's happening in Israel and Gaza, but there's also Russia's war against Ukraine, and the Afghanistan earthquakes, and before that it was the flooding in Libya and the earthquake in Morocco and the Hawaii wildfires, and before that it was something else, going back forever. Sometimes the trigger for tears is on a smaller scale, like the gun violence that is almost constant, or the exploitation or abuse of a person. Yesterday, as I dried my eyes and blew my nose, I thought to myself, "Can this possibly be a normal response to simply reading the news?" But then I reasoned that I might have to be abnormal NOT to be gutted by the awful things that people experience