Cabbage Steaks with Crispy Chickpeas

I take a vitamin every morning, but last Friday, after Russia invaded Ukraine, I looked at my vitamin and paused. I thought about pandemics and environmental collapse and war, and I wondered what sort of future the vitamin is preparing me to face.

With respect to COVID, at least, things are looking better than they have in two years. In early January, omicron was everywhere. Now it is so scarce that school mask mandates are going away, my family has more test kits than we need, and I ate inside a restaurant a week ago! INSIDE!

But in contrast to the pandemic, the outlook is currently bad with respect to global warming. Have you heard about the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? You know, the panel whose many reports are always filling us with despair? Well this new report will... fill you with more despair. Honestly, I could not possibly be more a part of the choir when the IPCC preaches, but I am not sure what else there is for them to say. We know, IPCC. WE KNOW. So now we must act.

I worry a lot about the climate crisis, but I find relief in recognizing that I can play a role in fighting it. One way is by minimizing the animal products in my diet. When farmers raise animals for food, they have to use up more resources than when they grow plants, and raising animals generates more of the greenhouse gases that are changing Earth's climate. 

That brings us to cabbage, which never sounds delicious to me. But it's a perfectly fine wintery vegetable and not expensive, and it can anchor a vegetarian or vegan meal, and so I sometimes make plans to cook cabbage dishes. And then when I cook them, I think "this is not going to be good," but then it usually IS good (remember "Crunchy Cabbage Skillet Dinner"?), and then the memory fades and I start the cycle all over again.

Thus it was with "Roasted Cabbage Steaks With Crispy Chickpeas and Herby Croutons" (Epicurious). I assumed I would not be impressed, but rediscovered that roasted cabbage steaks are great! I found them delicious when I served them with the crispy chickpeas and the herby croutons, and I found them delicious when I added the leftovers "steaks" to sandwiches and pastas and whatnot over the following days.

One person changing their diet isn't going to solve the climate crisis, but the climate crisis can't be solved if nobody changes their diet. It's a step each of us can take, with the heartening knowledge that we are helping.

When it comes to a war across the world, though, what steps can we take? It is horrible to feel like displaying a blue and yellow flag is the best I can do to help in the face of such a grim situation. So I took notice when I read this quote:

“Continued dependence on fossil fuels is the greatest single gift we could give to Vladimir Putin — it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Overcoming that dependence would free us to confront him much more directly.” - Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org

Conflict and climate are connected. Yes, there is more that we can do than literal and figurative flag-waving.

For example, carpooling is possible again now that COVID has receded. Fewer cars means decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and decreased demand for the oil that gives corrupt governments power. 

Let me be clear: It makes me want to sob when I propose cabbage and carpooling as antidotes to environmental disaster and war. Change is needed on a vast scale to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from being realized over time, and war is usually more complicated than energy sources. But cabbage and carpooling are tools that are available to me, and to you, to make the world a better place, and they are available right now. So I commit to doing more, and I swallow the vitamin.