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Every other week, Bluedot Living Martha's Vineyard will share stories about local changemakers, Islanders’ sustainable homes and yards,
planet-healthy recipes and tips, along with advice from Dear Dot. Did your friend send you this? Sign up for yourself here. Not interested? No problem — click here to be removed from
Bluedot Living emails.
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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This cluster of late summer beach plums evokes abundance — not just of local food, but of the talent and generosity here on Martha’s Vineyard. Tim Boland, executive director of the Polly Hill Arboretum, shared this “Field Note” with us — ‘Could Beach Plums Be the Next Local Food Craze?’ Love this line: “Picture this: Dark gnarled branches buried in sand, forming dense, twiggy colonies along the barrier sand dunes of Lambert’s Cove beach …” (Thanks, Tim!)
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Quick Links
Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in this edition of the Bluedot Newsletter:
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Justice On
Our Shores, and Beyond
By now, everyone in the Western hemisphere has heard about the cruel political stunt that sent unwitting Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard where, we’re all proud to say, we stepped up to feed, care for, and connect these people to resources.
We know climate change will create more migration. More people fleeing drought and hunger. More people fleeing political instability and war. More people seeking refuge.
Gina McCarthy, stepping down from her role as the country’s first National Climate Change Advisor, wrote in a New York Times op-ed about the need for a harmonized global effort to confront climate change. “When I see one-third of Pakistan submerged by extreme flooding, or over 700 million people globally without access to power, I am alarmed,” she wrote, adding, “to get where we need to go, we need the entire world to run together.”
We must center environmental justice. Consider the just-released platform of Ocean Justice, a collective of 18 organizations that offers a consensus set of principles and policy priorities for putting justice at the heart of ocean policy. (You can sign the platform here.) Take a look at the White House’s own Justice40 initiative, which aims to direct at least 40% of climate funding toward disadvantaged communities. But listen too to the voices that point out how the world, particularly wealthy Western nations, falls far short.
Environmental justice recognizes that those most affected by climate change are those least responsible for it. Liz Durkee, our Island’s Climate Change Commissioner, says it best: “We have to come to grips with how we help each other in a moment of real extreme challenge.”
This past week gave us just a glimpse. May we rise to the challenge.
–Leslie Garrett and Jamie Kageleiry
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Radical hope is not about ignoring the grief and fear we (and, perhaps, you) feel as we absorb the magnitude of the climate crisis. But we take courage in the work being done by activists, young and old — those who, in philosopher Jonathan Lear’s words, “facilitate a creative and
appropriate response to the world’s challenges.” Feeling both the fear and the promise is what radical hope is. It reminds us that our world continues to hold surprises. Victories that are small until, suddenly, they are big.
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Meet Lily Olsen, Bluedot reporter and editor. She’s sporting Opolis Optics shades on a sunny Santa Monica day. Opolis, founded by James Merrill, produces the sunglasses from optimally recycled or plant-based materials, in partnership with businesses in Bali, Nairobi, and other spots, that are working to make their environments cleaner and their citizens
less vulnerable to terrorism recruitment. Cool, huh?
See more great marketplace picks on our Hub website.
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Dear Dot,
I’m really impressed when I hear about universities divesting from big oil. I know that the biggest impact I could make would be to follow suit. Help me make a change. I don’t know how
or where to begin.
–Overwhelmed, Santa Monica, CA
Dear Overwhelmed,
Cheers to the waves that the divestment movement has made in recent years. As Bluedot’s Lily Olsen wrote in “The Power of Divestment,” more than 1,300 institutions with assets over $14.6 trillion have thus far committed to divest. The beauty of this movement is its chain effect — with each entity that pulls financial support from Big Oil, others are inspired to join, and one of those people is you.
Before we get into the nitty gritty, let’s just recap divestment basics. Depriving fossil fuel companies of funds applies economic pressure, serving as a powerful force
in the transition away from atmosphere-destroying fuel sources to more sustainable alternatives. You want to be part of this change. It makes sense — but does it also make cents? ….
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Open your fridge. Where do you see plastic? Mushrooms in shrink-wrap? Lemons in a plastic bag? It’s relatively easy to reduce plastic in the produce aisle, says writer Mollie Doyle. She puts fruits and veggies directly into her cart and herbs into a reusable mesh bag. Over time, this eliminates a ton of plastic.
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And just like that, it was fall, and our thoughts turned to soups and earthy tastes, and right on cue, contributing editor Catherine Walthers sent us this yummy recipe. “Plant-based soups with mushrooms offer an umami quality that can be as satisfying as meat,” she said. Cozy times ahead.
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Bluedot Living magazine and bluedotliving.com are published by Bluedot, Inc., and distributed by The Martha’s Vineyard Times. Visit the Bluedot Living MV website here: marthasvineyard.bluedotliving.com, and our new national site here: bluedotliving.com.
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The Martha's Vineyard Times, 30 Beach Road, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, United States
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