Miami lizard season used to mean spring. They’d run across our porch screen in the evenings while my husband and I watched and supplied color commentary. Free entertainment! By summer, lizards would have gone the way of sensible tourists, fleeing from the heat. This summer, though, the lizards have stuck around. And grown. They still do lizardy things, like eat bugs and hang out in our garden, but you can’t take a walk without spotting a dozen or more on the scorching sidewalk. They’ve not only decided to stick around into September, they’ve multiplied, and did I mention they’ve tripled in size?
I love lizards, but I have a theory — lizards are reverting to their dinosauric origins, and we, the humans who have wreaked such havoc on the planet, are going back to our primitive, caveman ways. I’m not saying I can prove it, I’m just saying I’ve noticed it. I wouldn’t even mind, were it true. Humans haven’t done right by the planet, so maybe it’s time to let another species have a go at running things.
A friend, who’s wise in the way of these things, told me lizards are a powerful spirit animal, signaling growth, regeneration, and adaptation. They can shed their skins and regrow their tails. Being cold-blooded, they can handle wild swings in temperature, and they can change colors, all of which are pretty nifty tricks. We can learn from them.
We may not be able to change our colors, but we can change our ways. In the grand, evolutionary scheme of things, we still have time to make things right. After dragging its heels for decades, the United States helped nudge things in the right direction with The Inflation Reduction Act , a climate change law wrapped in economic impact. Personally, I bowed out of the opportunity to present in Mexico, which is experiencing an epic water shortage. Some friends have banned air travel altogether. But there’s something we can all do — embrace a plant-based diet, or as I like to call it, a planet-based diet.
As I write in Feeding the Hungry Ghost, “Change your diet, change your life, change the world.” For the better. And now’s the time. It is — somehow — coming up once again on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
This past year has been one quick and bumpy trip around the sun, but here we are again, so here’s our chance to pause, to reflect on all the precious gifts we take for granted. Not everyone has access to fresh, clean water. Not everyone has enough to eat, not everyone has a home or family.
For those of us blessed with these things, we have the power to help the planet, help those who are less fortunate, and treat ourselves well. A plant-based diet does all that. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions, feeds more people using fewer resources, and, well, it’s a delicious way to care for yourself — that one fabulous person who often comes last on your list.
Recommit to the universe, the planet, your fellow creatures, and yourself. Embrace more plants in your diet and more tolerance and love in your heart. Let us all start again, with renewed compassion and renewed intention to create a sweeter world, a healthier planet, and a brighter year.
As the divine Chef Virginia Willis said to me, “Everything you do can have such a ripple effect. So why not have a good ripple?”
September is Whole Grains Month.
That’s 30 whole days and nights of whole grain goodness. Adding whole grains from amaranth to zizania (wild rice) to your diet reduces cholesterol, obesity risk and adds flavor, fiber and fun.
Recipes like Biblical Barley and Herb Salad and Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake get you in the whole grain mood and celebrate the new year, too.
September 5 – Labor Day
September 8 – Beautiful Boards and Focaccia with Flowers ONLINE @6pm ET
Register for My Beautiful Boards and Focaccia with Flowers class. It’s Free, virtual, open to the public, and hosted through Miami Dade Public Library.
September 25 Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts at sundown — make it a sweet one.
Calling all Miami-area home chefs — show off your kitchen creativity! Redland GrowFest, celebrating local, delicious produce and the people who grow it, is back October 15 and 16. It’s a weekend of delicious food and exciting events— like a cooking competition featuring rocking home chefs like you. Email me at ellen@souflulvegan.com for details.
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