Broccoli Rising and 21 Earth Day Actions that Mean the World
Do you want the carrot (cake) or the stick?
Tomorrow is Earth Day, so let’s celebrate the old girl. Just how old is she? Well, Earth is a little coy about her age. She admits to being 55 but scientists reckon she’s closer to 4.5 billion years old. And by the looks of things, she’s feeling every year of it.
What with climate change driving up global temperatures and creating drought, famine and flood, biodiversity loss upping our risk of disease and reducing our food supply, and loss of habitat, which pits humans and other animals against each other in a struggle for food, land, water and other vital resources, the Earth isn’t feeling so hot. Or rather, she’s feeling too hot. And so are we. Multiple studies show last year was the hottest on record. Oh, and btw, we may be on the road to mass extinction. Total buzz kill.
We can do better. We have to. That’s why Earth Day was created in the first place, so humans would wake up and protect the Earth, our only home. That first-ever Earth Day (back in 1970, young ‘uns) spawned the Environmental Protection Agency and spurred Congress to pass the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. Since then, though, subsequent administrations and congressional actions have chipped away those and other Earth-preserving initiatives, and we’re kind of back where we started. Then as now, we were in a time of war and social upheaval, even while facing an environmental, existential threat. The thing is, now it’s a half a century later. In that time, we’ve managed to do something never accomplished before in human or geological history — generate a staggering amount of carbon.
Despite what we’ve done to her, the Earth may live another 4.5 billion years. We won’t. Doomscrolling hasn’t saved us. Taking action might.
Ten ways to help the planet and feed more people from Civil Eats.
Ten more from Farmers Almanac.
And one from me — go plant-based.
Our daily food choices affect the planet in profound ways. The United Nations says so, I say so. A vegan diet has just a quarter of the environmental impact of a meatcentric diet. Give the Earth a gift that truly means the world. Go vegan. Show the Earth you love her by choosing the foods lowest in greenhouse gas emissions Spoiler alert — they’re plants.
Making choices that can save the planet and ourselves seems like a no-brainer. I don’t know why humans need the threat of eradication to mend our ways. Some design flaw.
I keep thinking of the Aesop fable the Sun and the North Wind or the carrot and the stick. Granted, I do mention in Miami Vegan that sea level rise may soon mean everyone in Miami owns waterfront property, but personally, I don’t respond well to threats. I do better when I’m coaxed. I’m offering you the carrot. In fact, I’m offering you the plant-based carrot cake, complete with vegan cream cheese frosting, decadent but dairy-free.
I love carrot cake. We served carrot cake at our wedding. Even then I wanted to coax people into eating vegetables. So for Earth Day and for you, here’s a vegan carrot cake recipe. Because as Julia Child said, a party without a cake is just a meeting.
Keep the plant-based party going with my new cookbook, Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes from the Tropics to Your Table. Happy Earth Day.
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