Does Being Resourceful Lead to Destruction?
Plus a Sheet Pan Spaghetti Squash "Lasagna"
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A lot of things have been swirling in my mind this week. I was originally going to write about soybeans and the fact that even though the plant originally came from China, soybeans are now second only to corn in crops grown in the US while China has to import them! I truly do find that fascinating but when I started to read about the history of the soybean I was taken by the human innovation behind the rapid growth of the soybean from a little known food called tofu to the massive commodity it is today.
For context - global production today is more than 13 times higher than it was in the early 1960s. Even since the year 2000, production has more than doubled. Unfortunately, some of this has been at the expense of forests particularly in the Brazilian Amazon.
This spiraled into thinking more about human ingenuity and our ability to be resourceful. When I stop to really think about it, it’s hard not to marvel at how humans have endlessly found ways to innovate and find new ways to use the resources around us. That being said, we must acknowledge how so much of what is deemed “development” is actually capitalist greed and exploitation.
As part of my soy research I found out that even though we grow so much soy to feed to animals, a lot of it is the by-product of creating soybean oil aka vegetable oil. Imagine, when you press out the oil from the soybeans you have the meal left, so someone said why not feed this unwanted protein source to confined animals? A little twisted but ultimately resourceful.
Or let’s take it back thousands of years, when someone discovered a certain rock could burn that later became coal, there was widespread adoption.
I was chatting with someone yesterday who told me that when there used to be rendering plants all over Brooklyn a man named Peter Cooper was trying to figure out what to do with all that gelatin from the horses (gross I know) so he invented JELLL-O! Random but true.
Fast forward to reading the newspaper this week and I read about a giant sun shield scientists are now hoping to experiment with as a desperate attempt to save the Earth from warming. Trying to block rays of the sun by sending 2.5 million tons into outer space like a giant umbrella.
As I processed all this information it started to turn into a common theme. Our ability to be so resourceful often leads to destruction and this destruction requires us to become resourceful again to get us out of the mess we caused. All of the modern achievements of human civilization are now being called into question because of climate change and ecological destruction - cars, oil, pesticides, CAFOs, mines, the list goes on
(If you’d like to add any visualizations to this destruction its captured in the film The Anthropocene)
So now that we are in this fork in the road, can we modify our current behavior to live more within planetary boundaries? Or do we have to create an entirely new way of living to adapt, which might include a giant umbrella in the sky shielding us from the sun or the experimental zero-emissions community in my friend Elvia Wilk’s book Oval.
Just like in our personal lives, sometimes it can be harder to change our current ways than to start over. Like with a job you don’t like - rather than trying to improve it, we often start to look for another one. Or a house we don’t love, why remodel when you can house-hunt?
So as we move through this precious decade I hope we all can create some space for change rather than just waiting for the new solution to be revealed. I’m not banking my future on a giant umbrella in the sky.
Gems of the Week 💎
✨ The USDA Updated Its Gardening Map, But Downplays Connection to Climate Change
✨ Dolly Parton Cake mixes. Check out
essay on the questionable ingredients used in these mixes and using fame to promote ultra-processed foods.
✨ The Best Advice To Help Change Your Life With Liz Moody -Interview on Cherry Bombe. Once I get through the 5 books I’m try to read I will order hers
✨ Wildbrine Kraut from Costco - I haven’t been to a Costco in years but decided to give it a whirl and didn’t find too much that made sense for our household of 2 but having a giant kraut has brought me much joy and should last 3 weeks!
✨ Third Kingdom - new restaurant in NYC that is entirely mushrooms on the menu
✨ Spaghetti Squash “Lasagna”
Using a sheet-pan has become a pretty great cooking hack. Who can argue with using less dishes? In no way is this dish actually lasagna but when I saw someone make a version on Instagram I knew I wanted to try it.
We are fans of spaghetti squash as it really can be an occasional substitute for pasta. This version is with spinach, mushrooms and ricotta but of course can be whatever ingredients your heart desires or what you have in the fridge ❤️
INGREDIENTS
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 Jar Tomato Sauce (We use Raos)
Spinach and Mushrooms
Ricotta
Parm
INSTRUCTIONS
Halve your squash down the middle (as shown in the picture)
Lightly drizzle oil, salt and pepper
Heat at 400 with the open side down and cook for 30 minutes
Meanwhile saute mushrooms and spinach (if you have extra time squeeze out liquid)
Let cool and then scoop out squash onto a sheet pan
Mix in the sauce
Cover with spinach and mushrooms or the cooked veg you are using
Add dollops of ricotta and parm or mozz
Cook at 350 for 20 min
Serve with a spatula and good bread
I was wondering what to do with the ricotta in my refrigerator, and now I know! Thanks!
Thx for sharing my Dolly Parton newsletter!!