---
title: "Healing our relationship with the Earth"
url: "https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/healing-our-relationship-with-the/"
author: "Marko Savic"
published: "2023-04-22"
type: "newsletter post"
description: "A hard look at ourselves and a food system that abuses the planet. This email discusses domestic abuse and alcoholism, if that’s something you can’t read…"
source: "https://probablyworthsharing.substack.com/p/healing-our-relationship-with-the"
---

# Healing our relationship with the Earth

*A hard look at ourselves and a food system that abuses the planet.*

*This email discusses domestic abuse and alcoholism, if that’s something you can’t read right now please skip this email.*

*Probably Worth Sharing is a reader support publication, please consider a paid subscription for $5/m that. Paid subscribers get monthly PDF recipe books and other exclusive content.*

## Our relationship with Earth

Today is Earth day – a celebration of this planet we all share. Our relationship with Earth is at risk. As society has grown, we’ve made choices that put society’s needs for control and power over those of the planet, over animals, land, water, and atmosphere. Earth is becoming chaotic in response. And without putting in the work to fix our own behaviours, the Earth will not have a relationship with us.

The planet will be here long after we are gone. But we can’t exist without the Earth.

As I think about how to discuss climate change and our relationship to the Earth, I’ve been thinking about the tone of this newsletter. I think the trend across my pieces is emotional eating – connecting our emotions to the food system. Which means today I’m going to share some intimate details of my life to help connect the dots across climate change, farming, and why we eat.

This is difficult for me to discuss in public.

Five years ago I was living with someone I thought loved me – who physically assaulted me in my home on several occasions. The first time he hit me, he smashed my head into a plaster wall, giving me a concussion. The last time, 10 months later, he attacked me in a way that led me to calling the police in the middle of the night. While he lived with me he drank a 12-pack of beer (tall boy cans!) every single day. Some big red flags.

You’re probably thinking about how horrible and unacceptable that is. You’re probably asking why I didn’t leave *after I got a concussion*. You might even question how someone like me, who seems smart, successful, put together, and self aware can stay in that kind of relationship.

But I was raised in a chaotic house where screaming matches meant you were loved. A flip flop to the face was *European parenting*, not child abuse. Threats were how you created compliance. *“Don’t make me get the wooden spoon.”*

So I told myself that this kind of toxic relationship was normal. These are the lies you tell yourself when you don’t want to face a hard truth – because leaving a bad relationship, changing the status quo, is hard work.

I’ve spent the last 4 years working with a relational psychotherapist, who has changed my entire view of myself and my relationships. Re-learning everything you thought you knew about yourself is hard.

Confronting the gap between who you are and the person you want to be is the hardest thing of all.

After that it’s just work.

I’m sharing this very difficult, deeply personal topic because we are in the same situation with the Earth. “The temperature is too hot” – literally, but it’s also true for how we discuss the climate crisis.

I’m going to try to share how our current food system is abusive, how that abuse has been normalized like a flip flop thrown at you by your mother, and then show the hard work we need to do if we want to continue to have a relationship with the Earth.

The Earth does not need us, but we need the Earth. It will spin madly on, long after we’re gone, long after we’ve taken all life from it. The Earth will move on, as it did from the dinosaurs, and learn to live again.

To keep our relationship with the Earth we must look inward. We must ask hard questions. We must do the work.

And we can do hard things.

## What is regenerative farming?

Regenerative farming takes a multi-stakeholder approach, where the animals, the environment, the farmers, society, and profits all have voice. Animal welfare certification and organic certifications are common. Regenerative farming is returning to old practices that indigenous peoples have been using for thousands of years, focusing on the stewardship of the land.

It might sound fluffy and vague, but it really means that we’re going to do the work to rebuild the soil through better farming practices, without carrying the abusive practices from previous farming techniques forward.

Generally, regenerative farming works by integrating the landscape ecology with the specific types of plants and animals being raised.

* Silvopasture, where trees and animals are raised together – such as pigs in an orchard
* Argoforestry, where trees and plants are farmed together – such as beans and almonds
* Managed pasture, where grasslands and animals are raised together – such as cattle ([or the story of chickens I shared last week](https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/chickens-can-save-the-planet/))

These farming styles are generally used with environmentally-beneficial farming techniques like:

* No-till farming – tilling is responsible for soil erosion and compaction, which quite literally destroy the Earth. No tilling helps maintain the Earth.
* Rotational cropping, where crops are moved to new locations each year and replaced with a synergistic crop – such as beans, which fix nitrogen, and tomatoes, which consume it. This helps rebuild instead of deplete the soil.
* Managed grazing, where animals are moved each day so as not to completely destroy the root systems of pasture. This helps plants create deep, robust root systems that can retain water, withstand flooding and drought, and store carbon in the earth.
* Permaculture, where perennials are used to ensure deep root and healthy soil systems that are enduring.
* Cover cropping, which means the soil is never left barren and exposed to the elements where it can be lost to wind and water.
* Composting, where leftover plant materials and animal feces are re-integrated into the soil system to enrich the quality of the soil and feed the natural fungus, bacteria, and creatures that live in the soil to make it healthy.

There are even new crops in development to help foster deeper root systems through multi-year harvest, such as the biennial [Kernza](https://landinstitute.org/our-work/perennial-crops/kernza/). Kernza is a type of wheat that creates grains in its second year. It’s more land intensive than traditional wheat, but it creates deep root systems – as much as 4 feet deep – compared to 6-12” for winter wheat. But with half the yield the cost is much higher.

This type of farming focuses on ending the cycle of abuse to move towards a healthy relationship with our planet.

## Ending animal abuse

Last week I wrote about my experience on [a regenerative chicken farm](https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/chickens-can-save-the-planet/) – where the chickens live great lives outdoors, with only one bad day.

Unfortunately, most chicken farms fall under what’s called “conventional” or “industrial” chicken farming – with chickens living in cramped quarters, without natural light, with poor ventilation, burning their bodies as they sit in their own feces. If you would like to confront the truth, watch *[The True Cost of Cheap Chicken](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/opinion/factory-farming-chicken.html)* from the New York Times.

Animal abuse is rampant – in the dairy industry calves are forcibly separated from their mothers – who are forcibly impregnated. This means the producer gets more milk.

The snap judgment, and only one of many possible solutions to this abuse, is moving the entire world to a vegan diet. Completely removing animals from the abuse of humanity in the food chain. This would be like me saying I will never date again. In fact, I recently told my dad that I’m dating again and he said “that’s not a safe thing for you to do.” It’s nice that he cares, but I think we all see the flaws in his logic.

Removing animals from the food system has an extremely large cost to society:

* Consider the economic size and employment impact of the meat industry – in the US, livestock agriculture is a [$164B industry, with 2.1M people employed, and over 30% of those in livestock specifically](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/ag-and-food-sectors-and-the-economy/). While farming is only 0.7% of GDP, value added services built on farming – like restaurants and food businesses, contribute 5.4% and $1.2T to GDP. There are a lot of jobs riding on this.
* In the US, [70% of beef production](https://www.reuters.com/business/how-four-big-companies-control-us-beef-industry-2021-06-17/) and [60% of poultry production](https://www.rafiusa.org/blog/big-chicken-companies-own-and-control-everything-except-the-farm-why/) is controlled by 4 companies, so without changing how political lobbying is done it will be very difficult to change the regulatory environment. Difficult is not impossible. And please by directly from independent farmers.
* The social, cultural, and religious practices that surround meat are very difficult to change creating large human costs through social relationships
* Around 30% of land suited to pasture and isn’t suited to crops. Animals are the best form of agriculture to rebuild that type of land and fix carbon in the Earth.

There’s a better solution here – it’s rebalancing the stakeholders who matter in farming. Conventional farming relies on shareholder capitalism. In regenerative farming, the animals, the land, and the farmers have as much stake as the investors.

This leads to certification programs, like [Animal Welfare Certification](https://agreenerworld.org/certifications/animal-welfare-approved/standards/), which requires animals have the five freedoms.

1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst
2. Freedom from Discomfort
3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease
4. Freedom to Express Normal Behavior
5. Freedom from Fear and Distress

This creates living conditions like I witnessed when I took care of [Provenance Farms](https://provenance.farm/) – happy chickens, living their best lives. If you met a human who said they lived a full life with only one bad day, I think you would say they were doing pretty great.

For the dairy industry, animal welfare certified farms like [St. Brigid’s Creamery](https://www.stbrigidscreamery.ca/) focus on natural weaning of calves – instead of traumatizing the animals (they are animal welfare certified by A Greener World, [you can read what that means here](https://agreenerworld.org/certifications/animal-welfare-approved/standards/)). Practices like naturally weaning calves means the farm produces less milk, which means less butter, which means more expensive butter. But happier cows produce better tasting milk, which means better cheese and butter.

## Ending land abuse

According to the World Economic Fund, without a change to farming practices [we run the risk of running out of soil in 50 years](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/10/what-is-regenerative-agriculture/).

Monoculture, or constantly farming the same crops leads to nutrient degradation. To get the same performance from soil, we pump it full of fossil-fuel based nitrogen fertilizers. Most of that fertilizer runs off into our water systems – the soil can’t retain it, as it’s been compacted and eroded from tilling with heavy machinery to farm at scale. The root systems are destroyed every year.

Land not suited to crops is being razed. Waterways are being replaced with concrete so that we can direct water farms in deserts. This is creating water issues for farms and adjacent cities. Pesticides are being used to increase yield. And global warming is causing historically successful crops to fail – due to drought, due to too much water, too much heat, or not enough. It’s become unpredictable.

Almost all of this can be solved through regenerative farming practices, like integrating beans with almond trees. The beans fix nitrogen into the soil, reducing the need for fossil-fuel based fertilizers. The beans build root systems that retain water, reducing the need for complicated irrigation systems. The trees provide shade, wind, and pest protection for the beans.

It’s more complicated farming with more manual labour, but it’s just work.

## Ending water system abuse

Water systems are at huge risk due to climate change – we are facing unprecedented waves of drought and flooding. We have broken the Earth’s ability to self regulate through destroying root systems and ocean reefs. Fertilizer runoff creates algae blooms that destroy entire water ecosystems.

Water rights are also problematic. Arizona is a desert, but due to water rights, [70% of the Colorado River’s water is being used to grow alfalfa](https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23655640/colorado-river-water-alfalfa-dairy-beef-meat), for “grass fed” cattle [on the other side of the world](https://www.verifythis.com/amp/article/news/verify/national-verify/saudi-arabian-company-fondomonte-uses-arizona-california-water-grow-alfalfa-cows/536-d5b40f20-259e-4099-845f-9da5a7157dd4). The connection from water to grass to cow is broken in this model. This is the difference between “grass fed” and regeneratively farmed. In regenerative farming, like managed grazing, the cows are integrated into the landscape that rebuilds the Earth.

The deep root systems made by regenerative farming help hold ground water. In drought, it’s available to rise up. In a flood, the soil can hold more inside itself – rather than flooding over the surface. Root systems keep the soil intact, instead of it washing away in mudslides.

Using land appropriately means we do not need to artificially modify water systems.

## Ending atmosphere abuse

The atmosphere is being abused by every industry – energy, transportation, manufacture, and yes agriculture – [agriculture is around 10–15% of carbon emissions](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.577723/full). Changes to agriculture like regenerative farming can turn it from a polluter to a carbon remover.

Think about regenerative farming like a partner in deep therapy. They are putting in the work. Carbon neutral systems are like self regulation, you are no longer imposing your negative actions on your partner. Carbon *negative* systems are like healthy, supportive partners, who give you space and support to be your best self.

A lot of the discussion on how to fix the atmosphere is very heated, in a black-and-white thinking sort of way. *“Anyone who eats animals is against the planet.”* Is a type of broken thinking, like me saying *“I can’t date anyone who drinks.”* This isn’t a boundary, it’s a value judgment, and one that ignores the social and cultural costs of not meeting people where they are. It makes people feel terrible and it doesn’t move the conversation forward.

To break down the agricultural impact on the atmosphere we need to discuss 3 greenhouse gasses, each with different impacts, drivers, and solutions. I’m going to use cattle as a demonstration of this, but it can apply to animal and non-animal farming.

For example, is carbon-neutral, animal welfare certified, regenerative cattle farming on prairie land better than monoculture soy farming with fossil-fuel based nitrogen fertilizers in land that used to be a forest? Of course it is. But that requires a nuanced conversation, not “animals bad, plants good.”

Don’t get me wrong – I’m here for a plant-forward diet. We should all eat more plants and plant-proteins, like beans. They are good for us. They are good for Earth. They taste amazing. They are affordable.

But a vegan diet is not the only solution, nor is it socially, economically, or culturally available to everyone. Including the fact that most people simply don’t know how to do this type of cooking. We need to “yes, and…” our way out of this problem instead of shaming people for not being where you want them to be.

Regenerative agriculture at scale could [remove 10% of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the next 25 years](https://www.syngentagroup.com/en/regenerative-agriculture), and [over the long term completely neutralize all human activity carbon emissions](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.577723/full).

### **Carbon**

The large carbon contribution from cattle is how cattle is raised – forests are being torn down to grow corn and soy to feed cattle. Cattle aren’t suited to eating corn and soy, so they create more methane. The cut down forests add carbon to the atmosphere. The chemically intensive monoculture for feed creates nitrogen waste. Transporting beef around the world has a carbon impact.

Regenerative farms focus on integrated grazing, pastured animals like cattle into natural environments where they can eat grass – a food they are designed to digest as ruminants. These pastures, grasslands, account for 30% of Earth’s farmland. Grasslands aren’t suitable for many other crops, so grazing animals are a great use for that land. Grazing on grasslands helps fix carbon in the earth.

### **Nitrogen**

Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas – it traps **300x more heat than carbon dioxide**, depletes the ozone layer, and lasts for 100 years in the atmosphere (compared to 300–1,000 years for carbon dioxide, and 12 years for methane).

[6.2% of greenhouse gas emissions from the US are from nitrous oxide](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases). [77% of nitrous oxide pollution comes from the agriculture industry](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#nitrous-oxide). Much of this is due to the overuse of fossil-fuel based chemical fertilizers. These are used in crop agriculture (whether for humans or animals).

Moving to organic agriculture and regenerative farming is a must. We have the tools to do this already. To be certified organic, farmers must be chemical-free for 3 years. This requires changing farming practices, increasing labour costs, increasing documentation – and all of this burden rests on the farmer for 3 years before they can see the revenue benefits of being an organic farm. Farming is already a low-margin business. Why take that risk on your livelihood?

Farming subsidies must move to supporting farmers transitioning to organic and regenerative practices to incentivize them through the transition period. Whether we have a future with animal agriculture or not, this change needs to happen.

### **Methane**

Methane is a problematic greenhouse gas, and the main focus of evaluating whether we should have a cattle industry. It’s more 25x stronger at trapping heatl than carbon dioxide, but it only lasts 12 years in the atmosphere. Methane is a natural, manageable part of life. You make methane. Cows make methane. We need a plan for methane.

[Methane accounts for around 12% of US greenhouse gas emissions](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks), and of that the [agriculture industry is responsible for 34% of methane](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane) (4% of total greenhouse gasses). Yes we should fix the agriculture methane problem – but 96% of the problem will still be there if all of the cows were gone tomorrow.

[This paper](https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sustainability-paper-Tong-Wang-corrected-by-WRT-13-Oct-2015-v2.pdf) discusses the impact of different grazing strategies for regenerative farms to remove carbon, but concludes that methane remains a problem. Recent research has been focused on how seaweed enzymes (like [our dear friend alpha-d-galctosidase](https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/beans-are-magic/) helping take the farts out of beans) can [help reduce cattle methane emissions by over 80%](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0247820). More studies are needed, and Governments should fund this type of research. Combined with regenerative grazing and animal welfare, this could potentially lead to a cattle industry that resolves most of the key issues for it to be sustainable.

People are going to continue to desire and eat beef, milk, cheese, and butter. Moving to a healthier relationship with how cattle impacts the environment is an easier ask. Subsidizing a path to regenerative farming for prairie lands, instead of subsidizing corn and soy to feed cows (which they can’t digest so it makes them produce more methane) is a better use of capital.

The solutions here are a “yes, and…” Yes, we should reduce meat consumption AND we should improve how we farm animals. If the facts of the UC Davis study on seaweed can scale, that’s a solution we can implement in years, not decades. Changing the global diet and changing an industry worth over 5% of GDP is going to take generations of multi-government cooperation, if it’s even achievable.

We should do both. We should have multiple plans. And if they all work, great. But we only need one of them to work.

## Just do the next right thing

In relationships, it can be hard to believe that things will be okay, particularly if you’ve been raised in an environment where it never was. Attachment theory is the study of this, such as identifying what causes anxious attachment or avoidant attachment.

If you spend any time online you’ll see a lot of people in emotional responses from flooded nervous systems. They live in anxiety and fear about losing our relationship with the Earth.

Everything is broken, so why try? No one wants to put in the work, the adults in the room aren’t showing up. Why would you bring a child into this world when the world is going to leave you anyway?

It’s easy to spin each other up. It’s easy to be anxious. It’s easy to be scared. It’s easy to stick your head in the sand.

But here’s the thing – we can do this. John Doerr’s excellent book *[Speed and Scale](https://amzn.to/3Lx3NmF)* provides a roadmap for this, it’s incredibly enraging and inspiring. *[The](https://amzn.to/3LnKr34)**[Carbon Almanac](https://amzn.to/3LnKr34)* is also great.

And we have done this before. We fixed the hole in the ozone layer.

Yes, we have got a lot of really hard work to do. But it’s work we can only do that work together.

## Turning down the temperature

Politically we’re in a deep crisis of polarization. There are climate change deniers, whether their denial is a performance for political points or self delusion doesn’t really matter. There are climate activists, who are very well intentioned and are moving the conversation forward, but we are missing moderate voices to bring the massive amount of people in the middle towards solutions.

However well intentioned climate activists are, sometimes it can feel like the equivalent of me shouting “YOU’RE AN ALCOHOLIC!” at my ex at 3am. Not my best moment.

Was I right? Yes.

Did my ex know he’s an alcoholic? Probably, but denial is a powerful drug. It’s a lot easier to blame everyone else.

Did me shouting it help us move to a place of healing so he could get treatment for an addiction and solve the problem? Absolutely not. It ended with me calling the police.

Often the advice on helping people move past issues they don’t want to face is to use gentler questioning. It’s a softer way to help people shift their perspective. It’s less cathartic than fighting with your Trump supporting uncle at Thanksgiving – but is the goal to heal our relationship with the Earth, or to feel like you won from your high horse?

Reframe the conversation when the temperature gets too hot:

* Instead of “Climate change is real, just look at the weather!” Try “Have you noticed how unpredictable the weather patterns are?”
* Instead of “Eating animals is cruel and you’re supporting animal cruelty!” Try “Have you heard about these happy chickens that live outside?”
* Instead of “The world is going to end if we don’t change!” Try “What’s your relationship with the Earth like? What do you think the Earth needs from us?”

Shifting your thoughts shifts your actions.

## Progress, not perfection

The first couple of months I was in therapy I spent trying to figure out what I could have done better to make my ex stop hitting me and stop drinking. It was the classic “If only I didn’t have needs he wouldn’t have hit me” self blame.

The work I needed to do was learning to recognize toxic and healthy relationships are different. That I need to leave toxic relationships. I need to invest in healthy relationships. And I need to forgive myself when I confuse the two and treat a healthy relationship with mistrust.

I’m still working on accepting that I don’t need to be perfect, something I’ve struggled with my whole life. I’m not perfect, that is very clear. Perfect is unattainable. But I hold myself to such a high standard that it becomes paralyzing when I make a mistake.

I think many people get paralyzed when the discussion of climate change and food intersect.

These discussions are difficult because they can cause a lot of feelings of guilt and shame in people. I like meat and cheese and eggs and butter – does that make me an Earth hating bad person, willing to take what I need but not give Earth any space?

No. But if you want to continue to eat meat, cheese, eggs, and butter, it’s worth considering the impact it has on Earth. It’s worth considering if you can change the products you buy, if you have the space in your life to put in the work. It’s difficult to change your diet. It’s difficult to change where you shop. It’s even harder to do that when you have a partner or kids or a busy job.

Can’t I just buy a cheap Costco chicken and not think about the life it lived?

Sure, of course you can. The status quo is easy, as fucked up as it is, it is easier to continue living in an abusive situation than to leave one. That’s why I stayed with my ex for so long. That’s why you’re probably going to go to Costco after reading this. But eventually you’ll have space to make a different decision. I’ll wait without judgement while you find that space.

Changing how you approach food is like doing deep therapy. It requires you to confront what you thought you knew, likely since you were a child. It requires you to learn new skills, you’ve [probably never made good tasting beans before](https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/beans-are-magic/), or [considered how cabbage can be a main course](https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/ugly-vegetable-winter/). And you’re probably going to mess up those recipes the first few times *because you have literally never made them before*. Changing your approach to food requires doing what’s hard, instead of what’s easy, because you want to have a healthy relationship.

I’m learning to accept that I don’t need to be the perfect man to be in a healthy relationship, but I do need to choose to be a better man with the capacity I have. I have to do that work. So does doing 85% of the work buy us more time, to figure out that really hard last 15%? Yes. But waiting until we can do 100% of the work means we will never do the work, it’s an excuse to stay comfortable – and assume the broken systems will never be fixed. Which means you can still buy chicken at Costco.

85% moves us from existential crisis to solvable crisis. Of course there is still work to be done. Politically this gets decried as sacrificing the big picture and not doing enough, but incremental change has compounding benefits. If we would have even done 30% of the work in the 90s, we’d be in better shape today.

## Looking inward

Everyone has a lot going on right now and not everyone can do the work. The advice below is for people who have the space – financially, emotionally, with their children’s behaviours, with physical access in their communities.

If you can’t do this right now, that’s okay. If you read *Speed & Scale* you’ll see these are fundamentally Government, Regulatory, and Industry problems that require global solutions. Changing how you shop is great, but voting is what will save our relationship with the Earth.

### Change how you buy meat, eggs, and dairy

Shopping is an immediate place you can make a change, but it’s going to hurt your wallet and might require you to go to new stores.

Look for regeneratively raised, animal welfare certified meat, chicken, eggs, and dairy products. Failing that, opt for organic.

If you’re local to me, in Kitchener-Waterloo, you should consider:

* Chicken and eggs from [Provenance Farms](https://provenance.farm/) (available online for delivery to KW)
* Beef, salami, and pepperettes from [Rogers Ranch](https://www.rogersranch.farm/) (at the Kitchener Market)
* Pork, sausage, and bacon from [McIntosh farms](https://www.mcintoshfarms.ca/) (at Legacy Greens)
* Butter from [St. Brigid’s Creamery](https://www.stbrigidscreamery.ca/) (available online for delivery to KW and at Rogers Ranch at the Kichener Market)
* [Fore Quarter Butcher Shop](https://fqbutchershop.com/) also works directly with independent farmers, so you can ask them directly where each product is sourced
* I haven’t found a regenerative milk, yogurt, or cheese vendor yet so if you know of one let me know!
* And for produce this year I am subscribing to [Lucky Bug’s CSA](https://luckybugfarm.com/)

You can make this change tomorrow. However, if meat costs more it might mean you need to eat less to keep your food budget flat.

### Less meat, not meatless

I don’t buy into the technocratic solutions for plant-based meat alternatives, like lab-grown meat and chemically processed meat alternatives. Maybe they will work, but betting our future that these can scale without causing environmental or health consequences is a bad bed. We need multiple bets. [Plant-based milk can either be really great (like Elmhurst 1925) or filled with chemical thickeners (like Silk)](https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/why-is-there-corn-in-your-cheese/).

Rather than no meat, it’s easier to eat less meat. This requires you to learn new recipes and new skills.

Start by getting one meal with less meat. Try that for 3 months. I have recipes for beans, Spring is a great time to explore veggies. Treat it as an opportunity to learn a new skill. It’s one meal a week, you can do that.

As you find success with that you can look to scale up the number of days. But going from 7 days a week to 0 days a week is hard and unsustainable for most people.

### Activism and Politics

Activism is a broad spectrum – not everyone can be Greta, who is pushing us all to talk about this in very powerful ways, but you can be an activist in your daily life. Try to do the work of not lecturing (nobody likes a lecture). Instead, have a conversation with your friends and family. Demonstrate the healthy relationship we should have with the Earth with your own actions (without being a holier-than-thou asshole pouting in the corner).

This newsletter is activism. I took friends to the farmer’s market this morning and explained why Rogers Ranch makes the best summer sausage – because the cows are happy!

Food is political.

For politics, you need to vote in every election. 98% of the carbon we need to remove from the atmosphere can only be regulated away through Government interventions and funding. Beating yourself up because you ate a steak, like butter, or just don’t like cashew cheese is fairly inconsequential if you didn’t vote.

Register to vote. Help others register to vote. Remind people to vote. Drive them to the voting station. Do it locally, to fix recycling and compost systems. Do it at the state/province level, California and Florida are case studies proof of the impact that can have. Do it Federally.

Every single election matters.

Vote like your relationship with our planet depends on it, because it does.

In addition, you can work with your congressperson or member of parliament to create a petition for change. You can write letters. You can provide research.

After I wrote my newsletter on grocery prices I had the opportunity to meet with my member of Parliament, Mike Morrice, to share what I would like to see him act on as it relates to our food system. There are great politicians who want to do the right thing. Help them do it.

Focus your outrage here and not at each other.

## We can do this

The Earth needs time to heal if we’re going to have a relationship with it. We can give it time.

We just need to put in the work.

I’ve never been afraid of work.

And I don’t think you are, either.