Welcome to Bluedot Los Angeles! Every other Sunday, we share stories about local changemakers, sustainable homes and yards, the nature all around us along with planet-friendly recipes, and advice from Dear Dot. Please email us with story ideas at laeditor@bluedotliving.com. Together, we can make a difference for the blue dot we call home.
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE /Â STORIES
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Savoring a piece of good chocolate is one of life’s pure pleasures — until you learn about cacao farming and the devastating effect it can have on the environment. Inspired to do something to lessen the damage being done by the chocolate industry, a growing movement of chocolatiers are working to bring the chocolate-making process back to its roots, including two pioneers in Los Angeles: Patricia Tsai, owner of
ChocoVivo in Culver City, and Mac Daniel Dimla, executive pastry chef at Providence in Hollywood. Bluedot correspondent Tess Kazenoff talked to both bean-to-bar trailblazers about the issues facing chocolate makers today, what they’re doing to combat those challenges, and how chocolate-lovers can support the industry’s efforts toward sustainability. “Every little moment that you can use chocolate in the way that it was used historically,” Tsai says, “I think inches us closer to really honoring it.”
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Quick Links |
Skip scrolling! Here’s what you’ll find in today’s Bluedot Los Angeles Newsletter:
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Paid Advertisement from Purplecarrot.com
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Transform Your Meals With Purple Carrot’s Prepared Plant-Based Meals
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Purple Carrot is on a mission to prove that plant-based eating doesn’t have to be difficult, boring, or time-consuming.Â
We’ve all been there. You search for recipes, shop for groceries, and spend hours preparing a nutritious meal for your family, only to be left with a lackluster dish that leaves you craving takeout.
With Purple Carrot’s chef-prepared meals and perfectly curated meal kits, you’ll never have to deal with these challenges again. Purple Carrot provides everything you need to put tasty dishes on the table that everyone will love - choose from high-protein, lower-calorie, high-fiber, and gluten-free options every week and skip or cancel whenever you want to take a break
Purple Carrot also knows the power of eating seasonally.
That’s why, this month, they’re offering an array of delicious, summer-themed meals filled with seasonal ingredients, including: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Cucumber Chickpea Salad, Sticky Mango Tofu with Quinoa, and Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Blistered Tomato Salad.
Get these seasonal meals while you can!
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Press Play On Plant-Based Eating This Summer. Customize Your Purple Carrot Box Today!
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When summer comes, the wanderlust hits. So we’ve got a couple stories from here and there (or there and here). First, our Paris correspondent Lily Olsen reports about the preparations for the Paris Olympics, which organizers are planning to be relatively low-impact, at least compared to other games. Then, closer to home, Bluedot editors Jim and Nicki Miller recount their recent trip to Humboldt County, where they found more than just awe-inspiring trees and rugged coastline. Outdoor enthusiasts who make the challenging (but beautiful) drive to California’s Lost Coast enjoy hiking, biking, rafting, paddling, and camping, in a place that is trying to shift from short-sightedly
exploiting nature to showing it off.
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–Illustration by Elissa Turnbull
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Dear Dot,
My wife and I are looking to buy a newly built home and are talking to builders. Here, there is no discussion about environmentally sensitive building or efficient heating/cooling issues. We get blank stares when we mention these issues. Is there a handy checklist you can recommend for us to ask a builder to include in a home? Or things we should look for?
—Joe Lorusso
Dear Joe,
In the mid aughts, when Mr. Dot and I were renovating our leaky, mansard-roofed, two-story 1960s house, we sought out expertise on installing solar panels. We also considered geothermal heating. But the Dots were a bit ahead of the curve, and we were, like you, Joe, mostly greeted with blank stares. So I understand your frustration. Except. Except it's roughly two decades later, and solar panels are as common as dandelions, heat pumps are having a moment, and who in their right mind would even consider an appliance that wasn't energy-efficient? So … what gives? Alas, it seems your fate to be something of a pioneer, pushing forward with environmental consciousness into new territory and urging those around you to travel alongside you.
So, whether you end up buying an existing home or opt for a new build, Dot wants to equip you with what you need to consider or seek out.
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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Gardeners know that July, when our plants are equally lively and thirsty, can bring mixed emotions. Herbs bolt, flowers wilt, and cucumbers double in size — all in the course of a day. So we’re recommending time-tested items to help you maximize your harvests and minimize your time in the midday sun. Happy gardening!
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Irrigate
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These gorgeous clay ollas from wind-powered ceramics studio One Wintry Night will keep your plants happy and your water bill down. Just bury the vessels, fill them with water, and cover; one olla can water a plant for a week.
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Shop today or
read our review.
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Pollinate
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If you want to give your plants a boost, consider installing a Crown Bees hotel in your yard. The company specializes in native solitary bee species, which do a lot more pollinating and a lot less stinging than honeybees.
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Shop today orÂ
read our review.
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Harvest
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Since 1948, the Swiss-made Felco 2 shears have been the gold standard in gardening. When you buy a pair, you buy them for life; you won’t miss hacking your way through thick zucchini vines and woody hydrangea stems.
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Shop today orÂ
read our review.
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Not many flavors say summer more than creamy coconut and sweet cherry. These two recipes turn the spotlight on those two ingredients, providing the perfect menu for an outdoor dinner party.
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In a perfect world, California’s forests and wildlands would be absorbing carbon dioxide to help keep us cool. However, thanks to many millions of acres of smoky fires (like the Lake fire, burning in the Santa Barbara mountains this week), land in California is actually contributing to climate change. But the state, as part of its effort to be carbon-neutral by 2045, has a plan: Reduce fire risk, plant trees, restore wetlands, and encourage better agriculture. Bluedot editor (and
environmental economist) Jim Miller explains the “nature-based solutions” to climate change that California is planning to roll out over the next two decades.
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Add this book to your summer reading list: A compilation of essays penned by scientists, climate organizers, poets, and more, Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility (available on Amazon) addresses the climate anxiety so many of us struggle with. Edited by author Rebecca Solnit and activist Thelma Young Lutunatabua, creators of the #NotTooLate project, it aims to encourage people who are engaged in the issues but exhausted and overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. Playwright and
musician Christopher Lysik explains why the essays inspired him.
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The Fire Next Time |
When my husband and I traveled to Mendocino about a month ago, we stepped off our plane in Santa Rosa and immediately smelled it: the acrid stench of a nearby wildfire. Turned out it was the Point Fire, which consumed more than 1,200 acres before it was contained — and forced us, along with many others, to alter our travel plans. Climate change (and years of fire mismanagement) have made these kinds of catastrophic fires more frequent, but everywhere there are signs of change: greener building, better land management, climate champions in the community. At Bluedot Living, we emphasize the stories of these changemakers because you almost never hear the many, many positive bits of news that add up to significant progress on our environmental challenges.
I’ll be honest: I’m not immune to the waves of bad news. But I find it helpful to pull back and see the larger picture: We’re inching toward a greener, cleaner, better world. Thanks for helping us get there.
And thanks for reading! We’ll be back in two weeks.
–Robin Jones
Do you have a special Los Angeles photo or story to share?
Email laeditor@bluedotliving.com.
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Robin Jones is a Southern California native who served as an editor at Westways magazine for more than a decade. She currently lives in Long Beach and teaches journalism at Cal State Long
Beach, where she advises the award-winning student magazine, DIG MAG. She loves road-tripping across California, especially when the itinerary includes stops in Arcata and Trinidad.
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