Zucchini Garlic Soup

Obviously, unless you're a firefighter or someone in a position to throw money at solutions, you're not going to stop the fires that are currently burning on he United States' West Coast. But each of us can play a role in addressing climate change, which is a factor in wildfires and extreme weather events. Reuters reported, about the current wildfires, that "climate change has made matters worse by contributing to greater extremes in wet and dry seasons, scientists say. As a result, vegetation flourishes then dries out, leaving more abundant, volatile fuel for fires." Climate change "has doubled the number of large fires between 1984 and 2015 in the western United States," according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

This blog is about actions that individuals can take to address climate change. Policy action produces much greater impact (so please make a plan to vote on Nov. 3 if you're eligible in the US), but the actions of individuals can add up.

The New York Times recently posted a four-question quiz about the impact of individual actions on climate change, and I am sad to tell you that the quiz was pretty stupid. Who among us is going to correctly guess the number of hours you could burn a lightbulb to equal the greenhouse gas emissions of running one load of laundry in a dryer (answer: 300 hours)? In fact, the ridiculousness of the quiz is acknowledged right in the article: "Researchers surveyed 965 people in the United States and Canada... Nobody got all four questions right." Um, yeah.

I am telling you about this stupid quiz because it does have some useful takeaways, in addition to the aforementioned tidbit that points to the merits of air-drying at least some of your clothes. I will share the rest with you so you don't have to irritate yourself by failing the quiz:

• Beef farming stresses the environment: To offset the emissions from a one-way, economy flight from New York to London, you’d need to skip approximately 278 quarter-pound beef burgers.
• Hybrid cars represent an environmental improvement over gas models: Driving 100 miles in a gas-powered car produces the same emissions as driving 112-190 miles in a hybrid, depending on the model.
• Vegetarianism is more environmentally beneficial than avoiding food packaging (but why not try both?!): You’d have to avoid food packaging (by buying food in bulk, for example) for approximately 11 years to have the same impact as one year without meat.
• The most meaningful activities you can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are: 1) choose not to have (more) children, 2) avoid car and air travel, and 3) eat a vegetarian diet. 

I am here to help you with moving toward a primarily vegetarian diet, as suggested by that last point! How fortunate for you! 

Why not start with an artichoke? I cooked one of those bad boys for the first time this week. It made a good appetizer, and a recipe from Gimme Some Oven explained every step in detail. We dipped the leaves in Kewpie mayonnaise, which is also new to me. It's a lemony, salty sort of mayo. I like it.

Follow your artichoke appetizer with "Zucchini Garlic Soup" (Kitchn), which I found delicious. Take advantage of fresh seasonal zucchinis; I've been getting mine from a local farmer's market. Serve it with some bread - homemade or otherwise!

Zucchinis are great, but you may want to draw the line at "Streuseled Zucchini Bundt Cake" (Taste of Home). It tastes pretty good, and looks splendid, but it turned out very dense when I made it.