The vernal equinox arrives today around 10:45 a.m. Eastern Time, so … happy spring! Goodbye winter (though as we write it still feels very much like winter for some of us). Our “At Home on Earth” contributor Yasmin Namini sent us this collection of photographs of Hokkaido, Japan, and we love this “Leaning Into Winter” image, in which a lone tree leans toward the winter horizon at sunrise in Sunaya, on the eastern shore of Lake Kussharo. See more images from Hokkaido. And see more from Yasmin’s “At Home on Earth” collections. 

“Climate change, I did not understand at first, is a crisis of water, of too much and not enough, of water coming in deluges or not coming at all, of a breakage of the patterns of nature that were about the time and pace and quantity of water moving through ecosystems.”

– Rebecca Solnit, Meditations in an Emergency, “Death and Rebirth on the Road Home”

Read more about The Billion Oyster Project in the New York Harbor and shell recycling on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

After a long day, the last thing most of us want is another hour in the kitchen. But takeout and frozen “healthy” meals? They usually come with seed oils and ingredients that don’t leave you feeling great. That’s where Forkful Meals** **comes in—chef-prepared meals cooked in avocado oil, made with grass-fed meats, wild-caught seafood, and organic produce. From protein-packed pasta to plant-based burrito bowls, they’ve got options for every eater. And the best part? Everything arrives fresh, heats up in minutes, and makes healthy eating feel effortless.
Make weeknights simpler—and healthier. Get 50% off your first order today.

We just returned from the New England Press Association’s annual awards banquet with a haul of awards! One of our first-place prizes was for this story by Caroline Sorbom about Boston’s Charles River and her adventures in urban fishing. “I had lived next to the Charles for nearly four years but had never seen anyone fish … It made me wonder: Could I catch a fish from the Charles River and eat it? The thought of eating fish from my local river was not random. I crave food that is as close to the Earth as I can get … My belief in the almost sacred value of wild food is so strong that I don’t mind when other people think it’s weird.” The story is delightful and full of natural history, foodways, and even some perch.

For just $50 a year, you can become a Bluedot Living member — investing in a healthier planet while unlocking real, everyday benefits for yourself. You'll enjoy 10% off every purchase from Bluedot Living Collection, our editor-curated marketplace of planet-friendly brands and products and you'll receive additional member-only store discounts each month. Many members recoup the cost of membership in just a handful of purchases from our store. From there, the savings continue — making sustainable living more accessible, affordable, and impactful.

Dear Dot,

I know moving to a plant-based diet is good for the planet. But I wonder about whether some nuts (cashews and almonds, for example) have a large footprint as well in terms of land use, water use, and transportation. What say you?

– Ann

Dear Ann,

In the interest of accuracy, Ann, many nuts are not true nuts at all. Cashews, it turns out, are drupes, alongside pistachios and almonds. A researcher at McGill University in Montreal tells us that “drupes are fruits that are fleshy on the outside and contain a shell covering a seed on the inside.” Actually, in the case of cashews, the seed grows at the bottom of the fruit, but in any case, what we consume is this seed. Peanuts are legumes — part of the pea family, making the “pea” part accurate, while the “nut” part is not. Walnuts and pecans are, according to the McGill researcher, something of a hybrid. And mangoes and peaches, which we don’t think of as nuts at all, are also drupes, though we eat their flesh, not the seed contained within. Want to get your hands on some true nuts? Reach for chestnuts, hazelnuts, and acorns.

All these picayune distinctions are enough to drive us, well, nuts. So, for our purposes, that’s exactly the term we’ll use. Nuts. To mean all the things we normally think of as nuts.

Over the past few decades, powerful marketing campaigns have convinced us that nuts, while calorie dense, are healthy. Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine determined in a study of more than 200,000 men and women in the Southern United States and Shanghai that the more nuts people consume, the lower their death rates from all causes, and especially from heart disease and stroke! 

Less death is a good thing, Ann. We can all agree on that. But nuts, like any food, have an impact on our environment. Alas, we cannot live on air. So let’s, ahem, crack this climate nut open.

Keep reading!

This season’s issue is all about cooking with intention, using what you have, and setting the tone for a more thoughtful spring. We’re sharing waste-not soup and a closer look at planet-conscious chocolate. You’ll also find guidance on raising backyard chickens, what to know about amla powder, and ideas to help you cook seasonally while we head into spring. Subscribe now to read the latest issue of Bluedot Living Kitchen and get a full year of low-waste recipes, sustainable kitchen tips, and mindful cooking inspiration for every season.

Leslie Garrett has been covering climate stories for close to two decades.  She makes her home in Canada, west of Toronto. She’s still figuring out her favorite spot but it’s definitely near the water.

Jamie Kageleiry, a longtime magazine and newspaper editor from Martha’s Vineyard, says her favorite spot on earth is out on a kayak there, looking at birds.

Robin Jones is a Southern California native who served as an editor at Westways magazine for more than a decade. She lives in Long Beach and teaches journalism at Cal State Long Beach.

Emily Cain is a recent graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where she wrote and edited for the university’s award-winning magazine, DIG.