From the Eco-Justice Collaborative Newsletter July 2025

Eat Less Meat! That’s the answer many people give when asked to name the single most effective change we can make in our personal lives to lower greenhouse gas emissions. If you’re looking for protein from sources other than animals, you might be interested in this recording from Climate Action Now’s recent Plant-Based Revolution Climate Action Party. And at the website of the Good Food Institute (gfi), a nonprofit think tank “working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals,” you’ll find their primer, “Alternative Proteins 101.”

As anyone who has followed this blog knows, I have been a vegetarian for most of the past 40 years since I read DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET, by Frances Moore Lappe. To help you, Colonial Diner in Woodbury has a vast menu of vegan items. One of my former favorites, no longer on the menu but very easy to make was: vegan chili in baked potato boats! My vegan chili is so easy: 2 cans of each - red beans, black beans, white beans, a large jar of mild salsa, 2 cans of corn. Bake several potatoes and scrape out the insides (save that to make potato pancakes!) Just put a scoop of chili in each half potato and if you are a vegetarian you can sprinkle some grated cheddar on top, if not, just eat as is or sprinkle some coconut bacon (Vegan item I buy at The Station in Merchantville - very tasty).

I am always trying to adopt more climate freindly hapbits - first, I became a vegetarian. After I bought this house, and read up on permaculture I have long since gotten rid of a lawn in favor of a little shady grove of trees and shrubs. Over the years, we (my daugher and I) planted Christmas trees we bought with root balls instead of cut trees. This past 2024, I started buying sustainable bamboo sourced toilet paper in place of the toilet paper made from Canadian trees. There are many ways I can improve still ahead of me that I haven't adopted yet. Of course, I use only oil cloth shopping bags, but I could get rid of my Dunkin Donut's latte' cardboard cup in favor of a re-usable metal thermos, and one of these days I have to stop using Poland Springs gottled water. I have two great water filter pitchers but I am not good at drinking as much water as I should, and using the bottles is a good way for me to make sure I drink what I should each day. Room for improvement.

Happy Trails! wrightj45@yahoo.com