Is climate change stressing you?

I did a quick check to spot my oldest entry relating climate change and the food that we eat.  Looks like this from 2014 might be it,  though there may be a few more from prior years--I don't have the patience to do a more thorough check!

Until I arrived in this land of the free and the home of the brave, I was a strict vegetarian. Even when my vegetarian friends and siblings talked about having tasted animal food--this was back in the old country--I remained steadfast in my convictions.

In the adopted land, I slowly drifted away from the staunch vegetarianism.  But, it was not as if I could not live without getting animal protein in me every single day. I could not care if I didn't have a piece of chicken or a burger. But, it certainly made things easier, logistically speaking, especially when traveling.

Over the past years, evidence relating the food we eat to climate change has been piling up. 

It is the same with many other aspects too.  Do we really need more evidence about the harmful effects of plastics, coal, ...?

We continue to gather evidence, however, perhaps with the hope that some day we will change our behaviors, and we will also change the societal decisions on these.

So ... "how can we begin to move the numbers?"

WRI’s authors provide some suggestions, including drawing on lessons from marketing, celebrity endorsements, packaging, and product display to change the cultural norms around meat. The government can also employ some powerful sticks and carrots, including taxes, subsidies, and the power to make buying decisions for schools, federal offices, and the military, the report states.

The government ... under this tRump administration couldn't be bothered with climate change.  Working through "alternative facts," the current government does not even care for evidence!

Maybe the market is the one that will have come to our rescue.  Mission Impossible!

In addition to the climate change angle, a plant-rich diet can also help reduce stress!

The collection of evidence is compelling that reducing food waste, increasing plant-rich diets, practising conscious consumption and improving food systems can help to improve mental and physical health and displace anxiety.

And, to top things off, vegetarian meals can be awesomely and pleasingly colorful; if only people understood that vegetarian food is simply fantastic!

In the bowl: Baked yellow beets and burrata with a white balsamic vinegar reduction (with honey and vanilla)
On the plate: Basque peppers--pan sauteed with olive oil--and crackers with muffaletta