Living inside the Beltway for over 3 years I learned a valuable lesson.  Sometimes you really do have to find a way to laugh so that you don't cry.  Thankfully while working on and getting depressed by the George W. Administration's environmentally "protective" activities, I had the Daily Show and Colbert Report to keep me laughing.  And that was before Congress made doing nothing the most electable trait.

So I've long been an admirer of folks who can be pithy and funny about climate change.  It's a talent I will never possess.  Especially when it comes to fitting it all into 140 characters or less, like Stephen Colbert did in my favorite tweet ever... 

​That right there, boom.  Makes you see the absurdity of what people say about this issue.  Bless satire for this power.  

And here's a shiny new best example, the comedic viral video geniuses behind Funny or Die partnered with celebrities to make this spoof on 1985's "We Are The World"...now titled "The Earth's Not Getting Warmer" and brought to you by the Koch Brothers.  Having seen "Green Team" from many years ago, which is funny but unnecessarily off-color, I had my reservations.  But this thing is 110% enviro(ish) approved.

Keep us laughing comedians.  We simply have to laugh so as not to cry. That's been my motto for this past decade, but I might have to rethink it.   With an international climate accord for the first time ever...maybe The Force Awakens is on trend beyond the box office (Harrison Ford! Love that guy.  Bless)...it's time for A New Hope that things are looking up for once.  There is hope for humanity (and our planet) after all.

The first 18 years of my life were spent in very sunny places.  Denver-born, San Diego-raised. I spent the last 4 years back in sunwashed southern California and so the first question I get is how I'm coping with the Seattle weather.  Well, truth be told, I lived in New Hampshire and Washington D.C.  But when I really give an answer, it's usually this:
"I left the state when it was in drought and on fire, so I absolutely love the rain".  And seriously.  I mean it. 

My favorite link right now is the weather in Seattle.  It's an El Nino year not seen since 1997, and I am so excited I just can't hide it.  Halfway through December has already had more precipitation than average.  Bless. 

The more I think about living up here in the PNW (that's the way only Californians like me refer to the Pacific Northwest), the more sustainable it really is.  I take a long, hot, guilt-free shower without turning it on/off navy-style in the way that just was never thinkable in California.  Which leads me to my theory....

I'm going to break tradition here at enviro(ish) and post a really long video on this one.  Because it was new to me when I heard about it at SXSW Eco in October, so you have the full, unabridged keynote from Isha Datar at that conference below.  I am no longer "ick", but excited at the idea of someday being able to eat meat from a lab.  Just like a brewery makes artisan beers, someday we could have customized meat products.  It could grow the market, provide more access to protein to an increasing and undernourished global population, reduce health risk and have the same environmental impact as your regular building instead of this CAFO catastrophe.  WOW.  Definition of a game changer.  Personally, I'd be happy just to finally be a guilt-free meat eater (I know I should be veggie for many reasons...but bah!  I love my meats!)

The idea of growing proteins in a petri dish is actually not that special or hard scientifically.  Making the proteins grow into the textures we are used to eating is the hard part that's currently getting worked on.  We live in a world where biotechnology is actually pushing towards growing replacement organs out of your own tissue/DNA.  And it's significantly, INFINITELY, easier to get edible animal muscle proteins than getting ones your DNA won't reject.  So from that standpoint, this is really a "duh/of course we will" new idea.

So what a fascinating, next-level pursuit Datar is taking with the non-profit New Harvest.  Trying to advocate and support funding and businesses in this new economy and most importantly, change consumer perception.  Because yes, the hardest piece of the puzzle will be getting you to feel comfortable ordering and eating these  new meats.

And if you think this is too far in the future, it's not.  The future is here!  Already! Beyond Meat - the most amazing plant-based meat alternative company from (holla!) El Segundo - is now in Walmart stores nationwide. 

Peoples, this is a trend that's here to stay, and as an enviro(ish) environmentalist...I'm SUPER excited at the idea of getting to still have my meat and eat it too!

I've been reading about the climate deal struck in Paris over the weekend and reflecting this whole year about what might happen.  Something different was in the air.  And it's really, actually, happened.  200 nations have signed onto the climate accord, and it's been something I've hoped for going on 12 years now.  Personally.  Even the horrible California drought I escaped from this year had a respite after five years.  This has been the longest drought of my enviro-life (let's not talk about dating...)

On the Paris Agreement there's nay-sayers and yay-sayers and everyone weighing in and yet I don't hear the most impactful thing being discussed here in the U.S.  It's been and continues to be earnestly discussed.  Since 2007 climate change was buried in the media and hardly given the focal point it deserved.  I've had to read articles outside the U.S. for the best news coverage.  Unlike the past, this year I've heard daily coverage of the talks in Paris in the manner they should be covered - who's there, what's being traded, what's the impact, what the island nation coalition says, what corporations are advocating for.  Every day I hear the coverage and said a prayer in gratitude for the fact that this massive global climate treaty was being treated in the press like a massive global climate treaty. That in and of itself is a huge WIN.  Seriously.  HUGE.  And that's not just my Stockholm syndrome induced by climate change deniers talking.

How climate change is presented and communicated matters.  In fact, I believe that the presentation of this issue matters more than any other aspect.  Climate change is not actually controversial.  Scientifically, logically, morally.  It's pretty straightforward in substance.  Not so straightforward and in fact, twisted, when it translates into the public domain.  In fact, I've been paying close attention over the past year to some signals that fiscal conservatives and Christians from evangelicals to Catholics are rallying behind this great moral test of our time.  Our use of natural resources that is unsustainable and comes from war-torn and unstable places....and maybe that's the best reason ever to stop overusing those resources.

Oh you want to hear more about the actual climate accord and my take?  Not just celebrate the AMAZINGLY POSITIVE news that it's happened and call it a day?  That my friends is the problem with society!  But fine fine, EcoPartyDownload after the jump...