Disclaimer: Brace yourselves, this is going to sound like a brag.

 

 

In 1986 I heard David Suzuki on ABC Radio telling Australia about global warming, pollution, and the hole in the ozone layer and decided I would always walk or take Public Transport, and that’s what I’ve done.

 

I’ve created a survey and petition to improve our regional Public Transport services, which is getting support, and I’ve contacted politicians, transport organisations, and the state government planners, and the local paper are interviewing me next week.

 

I’ve been eating vegan Food for 4 weeks.  I never liked red meat, and after a kid vegan started bullying me on Twitter, I finally decided that being over 50 I can eat whatever the fuck I want.  People don’t like the idea of being vegan because they don’t want to be bullied the way they bully and insult vegans.  I’ve now started bullying meat eaters on Rate My Plate.

 

I’d read the full EAT-Lancet Global Health Commission Report July 2019; and since then, its Affordability Study November 2019 confirmed my decision.

 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext

 

Vegan is the optimal health and productivity recommendation from the world’s dietary & agricultural scientists, biologists & food geneticists, and humanitarians, despite what TV told you in 1980.

 

If we don’t all eat vegan, and if we all only ate mince once a week, a roast or cut of red meat once a month, and had 3 meat-free days a week, then 65 million people would still have to spend 86% of their weekly income on food, and we still would have malnutrition, war and/or food-related family violence amongst the 10 billion people we are going to have in 2050.

 

We can’t keep using 45% of the world’s arable land on growing food for our food (i.e. livestock fodder) even with optimal yield and distribution rates and minimal food waste.

 

I’ve got 4 fruit trees in my back yard.

 

I have only two other food types planted, and I would like that to be more, but I need to set up a drip watering system or do an affordability/ecological study of my own for that.

 

I’m a member of our local “unpackaged” food collective-buying group, where we split bulk orders of various ethical food and household products.

 

Our house has an electricity provider which supplies the grid with Energy generated from a hydroelectric scheme in Tasmania.

 

My personal Investments are in sustainable/ethical funds & companies & technology.

 

I created a spreadsheet for our local types of Recycling collection points (lots of things can be recycled by smaller initiatives), and our town council have asked to use my spreadsheet on their website’s recycling page.

 

Our town collects 3 bins from our kerbside:

 

1. FOGO (food, green waste, and organics): big bin, council collection available every 2 weeks;
2. Paper/glass/plastic: big bin, every 2 weeks.
3. Landfill: smaller bin, once a week. I have been putting it out every couple of weeks with a small amount in). Still would like to have that close to zero landfill waste.

 

I also have containers in the house for collecting these things to take to their local recycling collection points:

 

Batteries;

E-waste (electronic waste);

Plastic bottle tops;

Bread tags;

Pens;

Dental products;

Printer ink cartridges;

Soft (scrunchable) plastic;

Clothing;

Paint tins & brushes;

Home and furnishing items.

 

 

For 3 months this year, I did a Slow Fashion Challenge and online course about global pollution, recycling, Clothing manufacturing, ethical employment, and sustainable development.

 

I have only bought 1 item of new clothing in the past 7 months. Not bad for a woman!

 

I’ve got into mending and Repairing things a lot and designing and sewing things again.

 

I use the Ecosia Chrome Extension for searching the internet, which is a non-profit Tree-Planting initiative which has so far planted 65 million trees using ad referral click income to fund its work.

 

I follow the world’s leading dietary and fitness scientists, the UN, climate activists, Reuters, AFP, NYT, global share markets, developments in Universal Basic Income pilot studies (great results in Africa recently), I read/listen to the pioneers in Circular Economy and their books, and I follow news of the countries who are implementing Circular Economy plans, I am one of The World Economic Forum’s “top fans” on social media, and a (verified) former head of the UN started following me on Twitter the other day.

 

I’m on a mission to save the world!!

(50 sounds like a rough guess at the stuff in this post, but this doesn’t count writing about and discussing politics, economics, logic, social media, art, weight loss, health and fitness, and facilitating and coaching running.)

 

 

 

 

Vegetable dumplings (or they could be fried slugs, not quite sure, they were in a box).

Ketjap Manis & Sriracha Sauce for dipping.

Green Leafy Stuff with Lime Juice, Walnut Oil, and Sesame Seeds.

Real Raspberry Liquorice and a Carob bear (for when you’re meh with chocolate and sugar hits in the supermarkets).

Some sort of Dandelion/Chicory “Coffee “made by a local Barista (probably called Catweazle) which actually doesn’t make you feel weak in the veins or nauseous or high/low/high/low all day like the Coffee Rollercoaster.

 

 

(It’s actually suitable for veg%ns but we won’t mention the ve-jay-jay word so you don’t get traumatised by feeling the pressure to reject wartime ideals of nutrition.)

 

Ingredients

 

Crusty, nuclear-winter-white bread roll.

Frozen fake meat burger that people will say is carcinogenic despite less evidence for that than there is for Nessie.

Sriracha sauce. End of.

Olive oil spread (I can’t believe it’s not rancid yak butter).

Hummus with a dollop of some sort of garlic crap that you get charged extra for.

Ye Olde Dieter’s Nemesis – Lettuce leaves.

Macadamias.

Mini, orange tomatoes (had to use those up).

Baked pea crisps, which look just as “toxic” on the nutrition label to anyone who is just informed enough to be detrimental to their own health, except they aren’t the same old thing we’ve been eating since Benny Hill was cutting edge.

I have a heartfelt belief that my diet should be expensive, time-consuming, and attract insults about my social agenda.

I’m over 50, started eating a vegan diet 3 weeks ago. This is my latest batch of lunches/dinners to nuke in the microwave for when I’m hangry.

Ingredients:

 

Pulse Penne Pasta (Aldi brand made of peas, chickpeas, borlotti beans, & lentil flour),

pumpkin,

edamame,

tomato,

red capsicum,

chilli,

vegan cheese probably made of someone’s old polyester running T-shirts,

spring onion,

olive oil,

salt.

It took about 30 minutes to prepare, cook, and serve in the storage containers.

Nuked the pumpkin and edamame.

Boiled the pasta in a pan of water on the stove then drained it, put in everything else, then served it in containers for freezing.

Made it look traditional by adding the spring onion and plastic-looking bio cheese (I’d rather not think about the mental picture that name gives me).

 

I could post all the nutritional/energy/macronutrient details because I’ve been an obsessive kilojoule counter for nearly 5 years and lost 35 kg, but you’re probably already freaking out about my apparent sense of superiority and food perfectionism.

Disco version: One of 4 servings in a batch of instant meals that keep me full for ages.

 

 

What’s the verdict?

Love or hate?