SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES

Conservation Through the Eyes of a Resource Ecologist

Along the San Dieguito River at the Arroyo Preserve in Rancho Santa Fe, conservation takes the form of chainsaws cutting out invasive trees (eucalyptus and fan palm) to make way for native sycamores, cottonwoods, and willows. Native trees provide much better habitat for local critters. And, importantly, they provide much better fire protection. Resource Ecologist Jonathan Applebaum works with the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy on this important project.

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Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in today's Bluedot San Diego newsletter:

• Get Those Kids Moving! 

• Dear Dot Improves Your Diet

• Swap Out Meat for Better Options! Check Out Our Instagram 

• Tasty Preserved Lemons

• Don’t Waste a Drop of Water

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Featured Stories

Reducing your energy use, and then using green energy, is the most important step you can take to help the environment. Not only do you reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but you also reduce the emissions of other pollutants, and you protect sensitive natural areas from industrial development. So when doing work on your house, here are some things to consider to make it more efficient. An important issue with renewables is the need to store energy. Battery storage is ramping up big in California to store excess solar energy, and small-scale private facilities like the EnerSmart facility in Chula Vista are part of the solution. The benefits of energy storage are huge, and these private operators set up shop at no cost to ratepayers.

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Dear Dot: I Want to Eat a Plant-Based Diet. Where Do I Start?

– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull

Dear Dot,

I’ve heard all the stuff about how hamburgers are harming the planet, and I want to shift to a vegetarian or vegan diet. But the idea of giving up meat entirely stresses me out (especially when my boyfriend is a dedicated carnivore). How can I do this and not lose my mind, my appetite, or my paramour?

– Maddy

Dear Maddy,

Bluedot Santa Barbara’s Notes from the Home Front columnist Lizzy Fallows’ family of six eats exclusively plant-based meals (Finding the Plant-Based Path), so Dot invited her to share her best advice for plant-based eating. Lizzy worries that people think plant-based eating is more complicated or overwhelming than it needs to be. “I think people don't start because they think it has to be all or nothing,” she told me. She recommends that readers/eaters “take it one meal at a time.” Once one meat-free meal feels easy, move to two meals. “Take something you love to eat and swap the animal product out to make it plant-based,” she says. “This means tuna salad becomes chickpea salad, chicken curry becomes tofu curry, spaghetti bolognese becomes spaghetti with lentil bolognese.”

She also urges the plant-curious to shift the focus. Instead of focusing on eating less meat, Lizzy says, focus on eating more plants. “Anytime someone is eating more plants, they are doing something positive/healthy for their body, the earth, and the animals. It's a radical act! A meaningful act.” …

Read the rest of Dot’s answer.

Got a question for Dot? Write her at deardot@bluedotliving.com.

BUY LESS/BUY BETTER: Picks for Dry January

If you make a purchase through our links, including from Amazon, we may earn a small commission.

Increased energy, better sleep, and weight loss can all be benefits of participating in Dry January, an international campaign encouraging people to cut out alcohol for a month. Last year, 25% of American adults participated. These alcohol-free, planet-friendly beverages can help support you on your Dry (or damp) January journey.

Sophisticated Alcohol-Free Drinks

Boisson offers alcohol-free beverages that feel decidedly adult. Great options include nonalcoholic beers like Athletic’s IPA; terrific dupes like the Phony Negroni; and a range of intriguing adaptogenic drinks, including Three Spirit Livener, which can help boost your mood, and De Soi Purple Lune apéritif, which is formulated to help you wind down. Shop today or read our review.

Your Perfect Coffee

If you’re looking to refresh your morning cuppa, give Trade Coffee a go. The company curates tasty coffees from small roasters nationwide and offers well over 100 brews that have Organic, Fair Trade, and Rainforest Alliance certifications. From there, you can choose from 13 different flavor profiles. Shop today or read our review.

Our Cup of Tea

Our marketplace editor is a big fan of the Climate Neutral, Organic, Fair Trade tea company Numi. She got herself their Organic Tea by Mood gift set, and enjoyed sampling different teas to help invigorate, focus, sleep, and more. (Her favorites are the well-balanced Moroccan Mint and grounding but energizing Emperor’s Pu-erh black.) Shop on Amazon or read our review.

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How to Get Kids to Hike

Bluedot Living Kitchen

Preserved Meyer Lemons, Moroccan Style

Meyer lemons are in season, so if you have a surplus, here’s a great way to preserve these handy fruits for use all year long. Add finely chopped preserved Meyer lemons to add a tangy, salty burst of flavor in salad dressings, stews, and dishes like this chicken dinner.

We’re excited to announce that a new issue of Bluedot Living Kitchen magazine is out! Subscribe now and get six digital issues per year!

– Shutterstock

I grew up in the Pacific Palisades. As a teen I routinely went to the “show” on Saturdays to see a double bill with my best friends and happily wander the small shops in the Village. The Palisades was a small town in a sprawling city where everyone had a sense of community and neighborhood pride, a place people loved. My old friend Bill Bruns, once a top editor/reporter for Life Magazine, ran the Palisadian Post with the same dedication he gave to his award-winning national assignments. His wife, Pam, taught journalism five days a week as a volunteer at the local high school, my high school. She inspired hundreds of kids. Their house is gone. So are the homes of dozens of my friends, too many to mention, but among the thousands lost from the Palisades to Altadena on the other side of Los Angeles. 

Today I set aside my optimism to shed tears for my friends, my old town, and the planet. These raging weather events are part of a much bigger picture that we need to grapple with. Maybe it’s time to truly embrace a post-fossil fuel future and remember, we’re all in this together. 

Thank you for being a Bluedot reader. 

– Victoria Riskin

The Fire Safe Council of San Diego County has some great resources on preparing for wildfires, as does the County of San Diego. Be safe, and be ready.

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Change Mindset

The calendar has flipped again, and 2025 looms before us with challenges and promise. As we get older, we’ve found it ever more important to have what psychologists call a “growth mindset,” a concept developed by psychology professor Carol Dweck. A growth mindset is the belief that our talents can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and input from others. That we’re open to learning new things and not afraid to be a beginner with all the failures inherent in that. We often write about change, because we will have to change so much to get the world we want. But the one thing we’ll need to change most is our minds: flushing out the old, un-useful ways of thinking, and seeing things in new ways.

Your valued contribution allows us to keep shining a light on more sustainable living.

We'll see you in two weeks.

– Nicki and Jim Miller

Editors, Bluedot Living San Diego

sdeditor@bluedotliving.com

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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