Hello Earth

and a recipe for an avocado, chickpea and feta chopped salad full of freshness

The miracle is not to fly in the air or to walk on water, but to walk on the earth

—Chinese proverb

I have mixed feeling about Earth Day.

It’s not because I don’t love and appreciate all that this wonderful planet offers. It’s more about the same rush of conflicted emotions I have about any kind of calendar event that is meant to focus our attention on a particular issue, group or cause. International Women’s Day. Black World Water Day. Global Wellness Day. We can feel good about taking pause to focus on a issue without necessarily doing the heavy lifting to make real change happen.

But then I’m reminded about what my wise friend Carrie once said to me about moments in time like this:

There is an enormous need to take pauses where you get to gather everybody's attention on issues that are important. It’s not to say that those things didn't matter before and won’t matter the day after. Rather we've put a stake in the ground to say: on this day we're going try and get as many eyeballs, brains and hearts engaged in an opportunity to communicate where the challenges are. Because if your energy and capacity has been focused on your relative worldview and you are surrounded by people who share your worldview, then you’re preaching to the converted. And designating a special day is an opportunity to broaden the conversation in a meaningful way.

So, hello Earth. We’ve been especially poor tenants and it seems like you’re gearing up to kick us out. I’d really like to still be friends.

The miracle of Mother Nature

I have a theory about why animal videos are so popular (and yes I am especially addicted to cute cat videos). We marvel at the friendships between the cat and the fox or the dog and the dolphin. Maybe it’s because it’s hard for us to find common ground with others who are not exactly like us. Nature shows us the possibility of creating unexpected bonds. Animals are infinitely wise, trusting their innate instincts to tell them when to attack or turn up their bellies for a rub.

Shouldn’t we humans, with our gifts of instinct, intellect and logic, be able to take this even further? I’d like to think we can try.

What about Earth Year?

In the run up to Earth Day you may have been inspired to do something special. Perhaps you planted a tree, participated in a community clean up, walked instead of drove, bought a reusable water bottle.

These are important and worthwhile, to be sure. But Earth Day isn’t “one and done”. I’ve been thinking and reading about what actions can we take that might take hold year round and become second nature. Here are three that I’ll be adopting.

Buy less, do more

We’ve always spent thoughtfully when it comes to the more expensive stuff, whether that’s a sofa or a set of dishes, with a goal that these things were meant to last. As we get ready to move, many of those items don’t fit in our new space.

As those treasures get replaced, we’re using places like Furniture Bank to give our things a new home. Furniture Bank is an amazing social enterprise-powered charity that “provides low-income individuals and families with gently used furniture and household items to create the comfort, dignity and stability that come from having a furnished home”. When I think about our dining room table with a new family gathered around it, my heart sings.

And I’ve always been a sucker for vintage. There are many local vendors that find treasures from times past. Two favourites are The Find Sisters and Butterdish Vintage.

Keep your head above water

I’ve long stopped letting the water run when I brush my teeth. Extending that to washing veggies, dishes and cars just makes sense. It may feel more virtuous to wash dishes by hand, but it’s actually more wasteful: you use up to 27 gallons of water for a sink load of dishes washed by hand. That compares to as little as 3 gallons with an energy-efficient dishwasher. If you like to drive shiny wheels, seek out a car wash that uses recycled water.

And that shower? The average shower uses roughly 17 gallons of water and lasts for around eight minutes. Every minute of shower time equates to 2 gallons of water. If you shower daily, cutting back your shower time by just a minute could save sixty gallons of water per month. Or skip the daily shower once a week. Trust me - you won’t lose any friends.

Get outside

The more time we spend in nature, the more we see. In our part of the world at this time of year, the earth is unfurling and shrugging off its winter coat. As we watch the birds and the bees and the tiny plants gaining a foothold in the most unlikely of places, we can constantly be reminded that we are the visitors here.

And yet nature continually gives us gifts simply by being in her presence. Spending time in nature has been shown to relieve stress and our lower cortisol levels persist after being outside. The health effects can be even more dramatic the longer we’re immersed in nature. Japanese forest bathing encourages us to spend time in the forest, and has been shown to have an immediate positive impact on our immune systems.

A dose of nature also sharpens our focus, calms our minds, increases longevity. As we benefit from this beautiful world around us, perhaps that time will also encourage us to be better stewards of this amazing planet, every day of the year.

Chopped salad with chickpeas, avocado, feta and herbs

Lidey Hueck, New York Times Cooking

Serves 4-6

Another way that I’m trying to be kind to the earth is by consuming less meat. We’ve never been big meat eaters to begin with, and I’m loving all of the recipes I see daily that are plant-rich. With both vegetarian and vegan diets on the rise, it seems we’re finally catching up to other parts of the world that have always used plant-rich recipes as the star of the dinner table. Follow Planetarian Life for even more great recipes and daily inspiration.

I love a chopped salad as a dinner main, and this version is my new favourite. With chickpeas and feta, it’s wonderfully satisfying, and the olives add a briny deliciousness, as does the dressing. I used basil and mint for the herbs.

Note: the original recipe calls for oven toasted croutons to be added, so by all means make this even more hearty with that addition.

Ingredients

1 romaine heart, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise into ½-inch pieces

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed

1 medium (or ½ large) English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and diced

½ cup pitted Castelvetrano or other green olives, roughly chopped (about 3 ounces)

⅓ cup thinly sliced scallions (about 2 scallions)

⅓ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon drained capers, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon minced shallots

¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 firm-ripe avocado, halved, pitted and diced

¾ cup diced or crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)

¼ cup chopped fresh herbs, such as dill, basil, mint or parsley, plus more for serving

1. Place the romaine pieces in a large mixing bowl, along with the chickpeas, cucumber, olives and scallions.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, wine vinegar, capers, shallots, mustard, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and whisk well.

3. Pour enough dressing over the salad to moisten; toss well. Add the avocado, feta and herbs and toss gently, adding more dressing to taste, and adjusting salt and pepper as needed. Top with a generous sprinkle of herbs and serve.