Lorie Buckingham, Author at One Planet Life

How will we Face Climate Change, Sharknado, or Ministry For the Future?

by Lorie Buckingham | Oct 27, 2022 | People and Planet First, Protect the Planet, Quality of Life

Fiction is a window into our future.

While I was reading the book, The Ministry for the Future, my nephew and I watched the movie “Sharknado.” These contrasting climate stories stunned me. Our climate fiction centers around disasters with only a few people surviving, such as Sharknado. The Ministry for the Future is a story about how many people around the world take action to stay under the 1.5-degree Celcius threshold. The journey is disturbing and hopeful. Let us explore these two different future stories.

The cult-favorite “Sharknado” movies center around a series of severe storms that make “Sharknados” emerge, wiping out cities. Fictional sharknados are tornadoes with the power to pull sharks out of oceans into funnels and rain them down onto land. This comical series has people going about their daily activities, ignoring the bizarre weather pattern until it is too late. Only lead characters Fin and April, along with a small group, are able to save the day.

Is this how we want to deal with climate change? Do we want to hope that there will be a couple of heroes with whom we happen to be when the disaster occurs? While disaster movies are fun, they don’t help us see a path to the future.

The book The Ministry for the Future (read our review) is science fiction rooted in science and human nature. For the next 30 years, the climate crisis is navigated – yes, terrible things happen, and many die, but humanity does survive – both terrifying and hopeful. This story engages us in thinking through how we might journey through this. If we all understand more and take action, small and big, we can be a part of getting as many people and all life through this crucial point in time.

How will we handle this challenge? It is easy to feel powerless facing challenges that no one person can solve.

We strongly believe that people can make a difference.

It is why we developed the One Planet Life app; to assist you on your journey. It works like a climate fitness app. You select actions that work for you to reduce your CO2, track your progress and celebrate everyday victories. When 16 of us reduce our CO2 emissions by one metric ton, this is equivalent to one person going net zero! Imagine 160 people making the change, then 1,600 achieving the same victory. The good news is that reducing your first metric ton of CO2 emissions is very doable.

It will take many people acting, and we believe we will get there. If each of us takes action or joyful changes as we refer to them, they add up.

Let’s make changes so we don’t have a “Sharknado” future! Join us today!

Written by Lorie Buckingham

OPL Founder and Wayfinder

“Over the years, I was struck by how our lifestyles cause stress both on us and the planet. This led me to explore and learn about sustainability and wellness. With a deeper understanding, I began to make tangible changes in my life. One Planet Life LLC was founded to connect with others on this journey. I hope that together we can make a significant difference for people and the planet. “

Rebel Chef Inspires Delicious Veggie-forward Recipes

by Lorie Buckingham | Feb 11, 2021 | People and Planet First, Protect the Planet, Quality of Life

In Dominique Crenn’s book, Rebel Chef In Search of What Mattered Most, I was drawn deeply to her chapter on “The Ethical Kitchen.” It is impressive how this honored chef who sees food as poetry makes vegetables the center of her elegant dishes. While she is not a vegetarian, she understands that “too many people eat a meat-centered diet, when for the health and for environmental reasons, meat should be a secondary ingredient.” I love her message: think before you eat, and consider where the food comes from. It is well-documented that industrial farming is not only inhumane to the animals, it is also harmful to the environment and ourselves.

An OPL Recommended Book — Rebel Chef, In Search of What Matters.

Author: Dominque Crenn

You can read our brief synopsis of this book here.

As a French chef living for decades in the United States, Dominique sees how we “like to buy cheaply and discard, creating unneeded waste.” All of this comes into play in her amazing vegetable-forward meals, where she makes vegetables shine in new, creative ways and works to avoid food waste.

Dominique Crenn’s book inspired me. While I will never come close to being able to create the dishes (out of my league), it motivates me to think about the ingredients in my vegetarian dishes and how to make them shine. The more vegetarian dishes I eat, the more I crave them. Here are two of my go-to vegetarian recipes. Additionally, we have two more from our home chefs. Enjoy!

Pasta with tomato sauce and dollops of pesto

Fried rice with a sunny-side-up egg, topped with ginger & garlic toasted

Lemon Butter Zucchini Orzo – Home Chef Sarah Biddle

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze – Home Chef Sarah Biddle

Let us know how the recipes came out at your home. Please share your favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes.

Mindfulness and Meditation are Gifts for Yourself

by Lorie Buckingham | Dec 19, 2020 | Quality of Life

In these trying times, self-care is essential.

As I was writing the book summary for The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, an all time favorite, I was inspired to share my experience with mindfulness and meditation. In these extremely challenging times, it is even more important to be able to find your place of stillness. Your place of total rest. Thich Nhat Hanh shares that each of us needs total rest and most of us do not get enough. In his words, “Even a night of sleep doesn’t provide total rest. Twisting and turning, the facial muscles tense, all the while dreaming – hardly rest.” Mindfulness and meditation are gifts for yourself. It goes beyond relaxation and is the path to your center of joy, peace, and a clear mind.

Reading The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh is like receiving letters from a wise friend about how to introduce mindfulness into your busy, stressful life. The book evolved from letters that Nhat Hanh wrote to Brother Quang to encourage workers during a dark time in Vietnam. Read our summary here.

The Miracle of Mindfulness

By Thich Nhat Nanh

My meditation practice gives me comfort and joy, and opens my heart to opportunities.

While I am not an expert, my meditation practice gives me comfort and joy, and opens my heart to opportunities. I started exploring meditation over 20 years ago when a friend of mine introduced me to Deepak Chopra’s books. By nature, I like to understand both the approach and the science behind it. Deepak does a great job of bringing years of meditation learning and science to the layperson. It has been a slow journey for me to get some routine to my practice. Today, I meditate most mornings for about 30 minutes. During my meditation, I take time to remember my aspirations for the future and to focus on what I am grateful for right now. Then, I get ready for the day with a deep sense of joy. Throughout the day, I try to take time to be present. I use simple exercises to bring me back to the now. For example, in the afternoon, I take a cappuccino break. When drinking the cappuccino, I focus on the smell, the taste, and the warmth — and enjoy. It may sound crazy, but it gets me out of my head and back to the here and now.

When I get way out of balance, I take a day of mindfulness. I choose a weekend day when I can make sure I have no other commitments. It is almost like an at-home spa day. I start with my morning meditation, then my cup of tea, followed by a warm bath. With each activity, I am focused on just being in the moment. Experts recommend that you try to maintain a spirit of silence all day. I am only partially able to keep silent, but I keep talking to a minimum throughout the day. At lunch, I have a small, healthy lunch that I prepare for myself. I spend the rest of the day looking out the window, reading, or taking a walk. Then a light dinner and off to bed. This quiet, peaceful day gives me strength and joy. While I only take a few mindfulness days a year, each time I gain a sense of renewal.

One thing for sure, mindfulness and meditation make my life more joyful.

By nature, I am not a structured person, so my practice has its ups and downs. One thing for sure, mindfulness and meditation make my life more joyful.

In these trying times, self-care is essential and if you have not tried meditation, why not give it a try? I started in my early days with the guided meditations by Deepak Chopra. You can find them on the Chopra app.

My sincerest hope is that this glimpse into my mindfulness experience and sources are helpful. I would love to hear about your meditation practice.

Reading of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss for the Child in All of Us

by Lorie Buckingham | Aug 28, 2020 | People and Planet First, Protect the Planet

I am an avid reader of books on climate change and nature. I enjoy turning to a children’s book for insights. Written in 1971, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is a whimsical gem. The Lorax is desperately trying to stop the senseless cutting down of trees. As the story unfolds we learn about our magical connections with all living things and how we unknowingly harm them. This book is a gentle reminder to open our eyes to the impact of our actions and to make caring changes.

I asked my niece, Joanna Henry – artist, musician, teacher, and all-around wonderful person, to read this story aloud for the OPL audience.

I invite you to enjoy this video and reading of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Please share it with all of the children and adults in your life.

Planting Trees to Mitigate Climate Change

by Lorie Buckingham | Jun 29, 2020 | Protect the Planet

I was surprised to learn that planting trees is among the most effective strategies for climate change mitigation. We know that trees renew our air by absorbing carbide dioxide and producing oxygen. The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually. But how many trees do we have on the planet and how many do we need?

Thomas Crowther and his team (crowtherlab.com) started asking these questions and used big data and machine learning to understand the world better and explore ways to restore the planet.

Thomas and his team used a unique approach to determine how many trees are on the planet. Instead of relying solely on satellite pictures, which do not tell you what is going on the ground, they leveraged tree counts by thousands of people that had been done on the ground for other projects. By leveraging big data computing they were able to combine the counts and satellite data to find repeatable correlations. This led them to creating a global model and the “Tree Density of Three Trillion Trees” which was published in 2015. This was astounding as from just satellite pictures the number of trees was thought to be 8 times less!

This video by nature.org is a stunning visualization of our tree coverage.

Armed with this information the United Nations realized that they had not sized their tree campaign properly. So they changed their Billion Tree Campaign to the Trillion Tree Campaign (trilliontreecampaign.org). So far, 13.6 billion trees have been planted and more are planned. I invite you to go to their site and you can explore around the world the number of trees planted, current forests, and restoration opportunities.

While trees are effective at absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, is there sufficient, suitable land to plant enough trees to make a significant difference?

According to the data analytics results from Thomas Crowther and team, “Excluding existing trees and agriculture and urban areas, we found that there is room for an extra 0.9 billion hectors of canopy cover, which would store 205 gigatonnes of carbon in an area that would naturally support woodlands and forests.”

Translation: It makes a huge difference and we should all conserve forests, plant trees, and support others who are planting trees. With the continued urbanization of the world, we have the opportunity to increase our forests in rural areas as the population reduces and to increase the greening of our cities around the world.

Armed with a better understanding of our world, what actions can you take?

Join up with people who are working to protect existing forests around the world, find out about tree planting in your community, and support organizations that plant trees. To get started, look for a local organization such as treesatlanta.org and also global organizations such as 8billiontrees.com which are both doing great work.

Let us know about your tree efforts; no progress is too small. We would love to hear from you!