Welcome to Bluedot San Diego! Every other Sunday, we share stories about local changemakers, sustainable homes and yards, and the nature all around us, along with planet-friendly recipes and advice from Dear
Dot. Together, we can make a difference for the blue dot we call home.
– Nicki and Jim Miller
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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Eating local is a great way to reduce the impact of your diet, but sometimes our overly complicated corporate food system gets in the way. Inspired by Seaport Village’s Saturday Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, fisherman Travis Tielens made an end run around the big buyers to start a Sunday fish market at Oceanside Harbor. Travis says, “I mean as far as making fresh seafood readily available to the people that live near the ocean, it’s just a no-brainer. Why
is our product being exported to different countries when those resources should be directed to the surrounding community and nourishing the community? You’re hard pressed to find fresh seafood like that being next to the ocean, and it just doesn’t make sense. There’s too much bureaucracy, too much corporate meddling in our resources, and we want to pull it away from the lengthy corporate processes and give the power back to the people.”
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Quick Links |
Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in today's Bluedot San Diego Newsletter:
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Paid Advertisement from Masterworks
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This painting sold for 8 million and everyday investors profited
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When the painting by master Claude Monet (you may have heard of him) was bought for $6.8 million and sold for a cool $8 million just 631 days later, investors in shares of the offering received their share of the net proceeds.
All thanks to Masterworks, the award-winning platform for investing in blue-chip art. To date, every one of Masterworks’ 16 sales out of its portfolio has returned a profit to investors. With 3 recent sales, investors realized net annualized returns of 17.6%, 21.5% and 35%.
How does it work? Simple, Masterworks files each offering with the SEC so that nearly anyone can invest in highly coveted artworks for just a fraction of the price of the entire piece.
Shares of every offering are limited, but Bluedot Living readers can skip the waitlist with this exclusive link.
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Skip The Waitlist
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Chances are, if you think about seaweed at all, you think of it as a nuisance on the beach. But the stuff can actually work environmental miracles. Not only is it important for aquatic habitat, but it can be food
(for both humans and animals), an industrial ingredient, and a tool for cleaning up pollution (though not all at the same time). Sunken Seaweed, a company born in San Diego, is bringing this superfood, grown without the need for a lot of land or irrigation, to market. And speaking of food, if you have a pet and a garden, it’s time to mix the two by growing food for your four-legged friends. Garden maven Laura McLean has some hints for different pets.
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– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull
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Dear Dot,
My eldest child signed up for Misfits Market, hoping to help reduce food waste. They were surprised to see items like strawberries and avocados on the list of available items, given that they live in New York State. One wonders whether the negative environmental impact of packaging and shipping misshapen produce around the country might outweigh the benefits of keeping those items out of landfill?
– Laura
Dear Laura,
Food miles, a study published in Nature tells us, are responsible for three billion tons of carbon emissions globally each year — about 19 percent of total food system emissions. The larger problem, says another study also published in Nature, is food waste, which causes approximately half of the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by global food systems. And so, Laura, the short answer to your question is that letting food (misfit or otherwise) go to waste is worse for the environment than shipping it long distances. …
Read the rest of Dot’s answer.
Got a question for Dot? Write her at deardot@bluedotliving.com.
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Paid Advertisement
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If you make a purchase through our links, including from Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
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This Father’s Day, celebrate the dad(s) in your life with a thoughtful, climate-friendly gift. If this is a day that’s tough for you, consider buying
yourself a gift … or not. There’s no right or wrong way to celebrate a commercial holiday.
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Zoos are basically the last refuge when it comes to endangered species, like the stylish-looking monkey known as the Francois’ langur. Native to southwestern China and northeastern Vietnam, the species was named for Auguste Francois, a French diplomat,
photographer, and adventurer whose conspicuous mustache may or may not have played a role in the designation. Regardless, there are only about 2,000 of the langurs left, and the birth of one recently at the San Diego Zoo is cause for celebration. (Whether zoos are good for animals generally, or simply use conservation as a pretext, is subject of a long and nuanced debate.)
Do you have a special San Diego nature photo or story to share?
Email sdeditor@bluedotliving.com.
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These cool, gray mornings absolutely cry out for a comforting healthy breakfast, and we’ve got you covered. We start with Sweet and Spiced Amaranth Breakfast Porridge, and we know, it sounds weird. But amaranth is a nutrient-dense ancient grain that food writer Nicole Litvak tarts up with spices, fresh fruit, and honey until you fall for it. Then we make delicious (and planet-healthy) Vegan Carrot Zucchini Muffins from chef Rachel Vaughan, who co-founded Direct Effect Action Network (DEAN), to provide assistance to people of Ukraine who have been internally displaced or otherwise harmed by Russia’s invasion.
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Each afternoon, it seems, the local hummingbirds perform an air show over the mass of bougainvillea and trumpet vine in our backyard. They often fly high into the air, and then
swoop down with an almost comically high-pitched war cry. (This diving can either be mating behavior or aggression, though they only mate in winter.) Always charmed by these intelligent and beautiful flyers, editor Jim Miller penned an appreciation of our resident aerialists.
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If you, like us, love both your pet cats and your backyard birds, it’s best to keep them apart. And peep these pics of winged wildlife photographer Yasmin Namini snapped in Costa Rica.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
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June Is Ocean Month
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Having always lived near the sea, and knowing the depressing statistics about the state of many ocean fisheries, we were thrilled to read Nicole Litvak’s story about the new Fishermen’s Market in Oceanside. Both of us have reduced our consumption of animal products (including fish) for health, environmental, and humane reasons. So it was fantastic to see local fishermen banding together to provide fresh, local, and sustainable food to the community, rather
than just letting big companies ship it around the globe. Inspiring, like a married couple trying to harness the bounty of the ocean to feed people without use of irrigation or pesticides. So much of environmentalism seems to be about giving things up. But that’s the wrong way to see it. We just need to do things differently — and learn from one another. Bluedot Living loves these stories, which is why we hope you’ll help us share inspiring, upbeat stories of positive change, and advice for greener living. Think
more, waste less, and live better!
We’ll see you in two weeks.
– Nicki and Jim Miller
Editors, Bluedot Living San Diego
sdeditor@bluedotliving.com
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We live in San Diego and love the opportunity to be on the water and in the mountains in one day. Nicki, a writer and editor, and Jim, a writer and environmental economist, are excited
to combine skills as the editors of Bluedot Living San Diego. Since we’re avid cyclists, you may see us riding along the Silver Strand or hitting the trails in Cuyamaca (probably not on the same day). Thank you for joining us on this Bluedot ride!
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