Hello, hello!

This month we have two new recipes for your table, Spanish gazpacho and minted peas, both different and fabulous in their own ways. We also look at plastic, its implications on human health and our environment, textile waste and how we can use our individual power to punch up.

Isaias Hernandez recently posted on the era of crisis, the climate crisis, housing crisis, career crisis, romantic crisis, et cetera—prompting followers to consider which era(s) applied. Lately, this is the question we are reflecting on—is your relationship to the climate crisis, or any other kind of crisis rooted in fear and scarcity or abundance and love? Reflect on your spectrum of feelings. Are they in alignment for exponential growth?

We both receive and read James Clear emails, and a more recent one contained an excerpt from author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury on the power of cumulative action.

"Action is hope. At the end of each day, when you've done your work, you lie there and think, Well, I'll be damned, I did this today. It doesn't matter how good it is or how bad—you did it. At the end of the week, you'll have a certain amount of accumulation. At the end of a year, you look back and say, I'll be damned, it's been a good year." Source: Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203.

What better way to combine the richness of tomato, cucumber and capsicum than into a traditional gazpacho? Gazpacho is a versatile staple cold soup from Spain, a mixture between a drink and a salad, and it is (surprisingly) easy to make. All you need to make sure of is to pick up flavourful ingredients, drop in the blender with tonnes of garlic, mix and ya esta! You have an unpretentious, delicious, colourful meal. Consume chilled—and garlicky, did we say already?

Most of us do not think much about the manufacturing of plastics, but we should. Here we discuss phthalates, and while some materials can be effectively recycled and safely made from recycled content, plastics cannot.

Fashion is a powerful engine for cultural change, and the industry has a tonne of influence, so we need to push that influence towards this cause, rising to address the environmental crisis of which it is a part. Here we discuss Vestiaire Collective’s fight against fast fashion, the classist argument of poor shaming and its implications for us, in what we throw and give away and what this does outside our bubble.

This recipe pays homage to a childhood favourite but also, in practical terms, is a delicious side dish made from a bag of frozen peas, olive or coconut-based butter and herbs. Peas are also a good source of fibre, protein and Vitamins C and K, so with that in mind, I’ve included five other ways to use a bag of peas.

1. Auckland and Wellington Council collaborated to promote a carbon footprint calculation tool. Estimating your carbon footprint is helpful to get an idea of your situation and target some aspects of your lifestyle more adapted to lower carbon emissions. For me, it was transport. I know I’ve been having a better impact since I use the bus to go to work instead of my motorbike.
   
   
2. A lot of what I know about fashion is thanks to listening and reading Clare Press. A few months ago, she was featured on the WILD with Sarah Wilson podcast, and it was super insightful to listen to. The pair covered diverse sustainable fashion subjects, from fabrics to labels and certifications. I loved this podcast and currently listening to other episodes on my long drive to my regular site visit in Tauranga.
   
   
3. This insightful Instagram post will link the various thematics of this late February newsletter, covering pollutants and fashion. Published by @intersectionalenvironmentalist and @circularitycommunity, the post covers per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often used on textiles and clothes we wear, and how they damage our health. So here, the two groups share tips on identifying PFAS and getting away from them.

1. I do not venture outdoors often for leisure, but this mat would encourage the ritual. Made from 100% recycled polypropylene plastic, each SUNNUP outdoor mat is created from the equivalent of 100 recycled plastic bottles that would otherwise have gone to landfill. When we talk about plastic recycling, creating more single-use items is entirely pointless, it is a waste delay, so it is exciting to discover brands utilising recycled plastics for longevity. I also love the ethos, connecting you to the present through the tactile nature of the mat. And to unplug. We could all do with the subtle reminder.
   
   
2. Hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera, Discarded is an Erin Brockovich for the new age centred on a community in the Mississippi River area known as "Cancer Alley." Discarded details the fight of Sharon Lavigne and her community, St. James Parish in Louisiana, to keep out one of the largest plastic manufacturing companies in the world. A four-part investigative series, the podcast also dissects themes of environmental racism and the contamination and destruction of our environments, including our most intimate — our bodies.
   
   
3. If you are yet to discover Kirsten Dirksen's YouTube channel, then this is exciting. I have watched a LOT of these episodes. Each one takes you to super interesting places and people. Resilience is an underlying theme and these are conversations nurtured on this channel. A recent watch was the Solar Greenhouse Project set on the outskirts of Barcelona, an experimental project carried out by a team of brilliant individuals designing new ways forward, self-sufficient methods of food cultivation, an ecological agricultural transformation and progress in tackling food and energy poverty. If your relationship with the climate crisis is rooted in fear and scarcity, watch this episode and many more.

Thoughts, questions, you can always direct reply to these emails.
We look forward to hearing from you!

Tracey Creed & Amandine Paniagua