#23 | A love letter to our planet

It’s time to feel the love! This Valentine’s day, we chat about all the things we love about our planet. From people to bacteria to planes, we share some of the things we find awe-inspiring about the world we call home. We believe that finding our love for the earth can help us find the why behind our climate activism and conservation.

We also hear from a few of our listeners, who’ve shared the things they love about our planet. (Thank you, listeners!)

Ready to feel the love? Grab some tea, get comfy, and hit that play button.

Resources and listener shoutouts:

Article | David’s life on Earth - Attenborough and Global Conservation

Kris | "Spring and how everything comes back to life." And "How nature always finds the way."

Kelly | "YOU ON IT." But for real… "All of the things I love about the earth do not include helping the environment. Travel. Sacre Coeur. I guess the beach would count! But only really on overcast days. I conceptually like a flat, cleared path in the woods, but actually getting quite scared by myself."

Claire | "How interconnected every living 'being' is on it. Each plant, each animal, and each person has a role to play and an impact on this beautiful world of ours. We might as well make that a positive impact!"

Avocado Way (@avocado_way on IG) | "Surreal nature which leaves you in awe."

Sharon | "Sun, sand, and breeze."

Carole | “All the environments, the different vibes in different places, so many!"

Kritika | "How she cares for us in spite of how we have been treating her."

Transcript

Note: This transcript is mostly unedited.

Brandee   0:05  

It's not easy living on a dying planet. But it is easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to making changes and taking action to try and save it. Where do you start? Is it even worth it? Can you really make a difference? Welcome to The Tea on Sustainable Living podcast, where we attempt to answer these questions by spilling the tea on living sustainably in a world that's going to shit. I'm Brandee.

Hannah  0:26  

And I'm Hannah. And for years, we've been navigating the big messy gray area of caring about our planet. It hasn't always been smooth sailing, but we're not giving up yet. So brew yourself a cup of tea, get comfy, and let's try and navigate that gray area together.

Brandee   0:45  

Hello, Give-a-Shitters. This is Brandee.

Hannah  0:47  

And this is Hannah. And you're listening to episode number 23 of The Tea on Sustainable Living podcast.

Brandee   0:54  

And Happy Valentine's Day. If you're listening to this when it comes out.

Hannah  0:59  

Do you have any Valentine's Day plans Brandee?

Brandee   1:03  

Well, we were just talking before we hit record that we're gonna get some Valentine's Day donuts vegan donuts this weekend? Or at least I am What about you?

Hannah  1:14  

Um Not really. I don't I think I might go out and and dance but that was not really Valentine's Day related. That's just because every Tuesday there is dance at my done school with live music. And why not? I don't have any other plans so yeah, why not? Why not? And I also will probably don't die don't die

Brandee   1:40  

please don't die

Hannah  1:44  

I wanted to say I will also probably buy one of those doughnuts but that just combined in a really really weird I'm gonna die of being so single no universe I'm not ready to die. I just want to

Brandee   2:07  

put that out there bring it back bring that back from the universe

Hannah  2:14  

Brad to give you an update on Instagram as to whether I'm still alive when this is actually released

Brandee   2:25  

before we get into this episode, lots of noise happening in my apartment and apartment building which I'm sure will surprise absolutely nobody so hopefully a lot of that most of that none of that makes it to the final audio but we shall see or you know now you're listening. So yeah, well Hannah this is your kind of your why originally had an idea for a Valentine's themed episode more about like, the kind of the commercialization of it and how to like do it more sustainably but like I feel like that's been done being done by other people. So then you had this cool idea for that episode we're going to have today we are happening right now.

Hannah  3:05  

We just wanted to we wanted to talk about oh, like a little love letter to our planet. What do you love about it? Why are we even bought that to do what we do? kind of I guess it's like David much not as cool as him but slightly David Attenborough style. As I know, that was always the thing with his the planet Earth documentaries. The first ones there were criticisms because he didn't really talk about the climate issues. And he's always said that like unless people No, I'm paraphrasing, paraphrasing, this is what I understood is what he his opinion is is that unless you like, know what of what our plan is and why we should care about it. Like how are people motivated to take action?

Brandee   3:54  

Yeah, I feel like we we talk about you know, how to figuring out like, what your priority is when like you're trying to make make changes in your life to be more, you know, planet friendly, etc. So yeah, I think this is a good a good way to kind of know your wind to like, kind of keep it going. Motivate yourself. Be inspired by this beautiful planet. Brandy, Hannah,

Hannah  4:23  

where do you live our planet?

Brandee   4:24  

So I thought it was interesting when I looked back or like kind of reread what I like first jotted down and then like kind of like looking at what you wrote what I got some responses from you listeners from Instagram and one via email that we'll share too, that mine was like a mix of nature and like just the sheer volume and variety of like, like landscapes and climates and but then also I had things I wrote down like people and architecture clothing style. I Um, food.

Hannah  5:02  

I mean, it's one of the most important ones. I didn't just put it in mind, but I should have done. It's, I feel like that's awesome.

Brandee   5:09  

It's like, connects, it connects it all because it's

Hannah  5:13  

Yeah, I mean, we comes from

Brandee   5:15  

our planet. And yeah, we are able to live here because of it. Right. But I also was thinking more of like, the different types of cuisines. Like, it's so our plan is so big and diverse. And then I kind of ended on like, I'm, like, constantly amazed by like, our ability to, like, get shit done when we want to. And that, like, we do have to capacity ability to, like, you know, make some, like massive changes, like when we're motivated enough, you know, individually collectively, so, so mine was a mix of like, things that like, occur actually on like, planet like nature related. But then a lot of it was like people why so like, the planet like, obviously allows for all this diversity? I don't think I'm expressing myself very eloquently. But I hope my point is coming across.

Hannah  6:02  

Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, I mean, it's like, we can't, I guess we're good at worst. We're like, always, we're understanding the planet through our perspectives and humans. But obviously, every individual have their own perspective. But humans, I think, have a particular like, I don't know, just like the, our, the way our bodies are, like, the way we move through the planet, like has an impact, you know, like, what we can see and hear and smell and what we can, that must have, like an impact on the way we like relate to the world around us. Yeah,

Brandee   6:38  

absolutely. And just the, the sheer like size of it, like it's hard to grasp, like how big the planet is, and how many people are able to live on it.

Hannah  6:50  

Yeah. Yeah, it's true. And how many animals and insects and bacteria bacteria are everywhere, folks,

Brandee   7:03  

we are all bacteria, baby.

Hannah  7:08  

Yeah, that's pretty incredible. Honestly,

Brandee   7:12  

I got me thinking, like, it's easy. When you start thinking about how big the planet is, it's easy to kind of think that, you know, like, when you drop, like, maybe like a drop of like food coloring, like one drop in like glass of water. You don't notice that. So like, whether that's like, you know, making any, like, sort of change, or like, oh, well, that's not really going to impact anything. But it does. Because then you start the more you like, look at our planet, and yeah, all the animals and food and people on it. Like, can you see like, how connected everything is? Yeah, that for me, just like kind of reaffirms that like, okay, it is all connected, like ripple effects like that. That is a real thing. No,

Hannah  7:53  

I just, I mean, yeah, it's just like, kind of crazy. Like, just the world we live in is crazy. Like, just the fact that we're alive. Like, I don't know, if I just sometimes I like, walk down the street. I'm just like, What the fuck?

Brandee   8:10  

I same way when I start thinking about like, the universe and space and like, right, I mean, so that's a nice one. But then the fact that like this planet exist

Hannah  8:22  

in in that? Yeah,

Brandee   8:25  

I guess.

Hannah  8:27  

Like just how we've ended up like, you know, for like, good and for bad. But just like walking around. And like, we just like, when, like, I'm just like walking through a through street in a city. Wearing clothes. Why am I wearing clothes? Like, why? Why did we build things just like how is this happened? You know? I'm like, yeah, go out for like a nice meal and meet all of these other humanoids

Brandee   8:57  

that are also wearing clothes, right. Walking around buildings and and it's just nuts. It is nuts. I think like how how quickly like we've advanced and like if you've ever done gone to like any sort like history museum where it like puts on like a like this one of like their massive walls about like when life started on Earth and then all the way up until current like civilization. And then you see like our century as like the tiniest dot and then how it's all concentrated like towards the right of that timeline. And how quickly we adapt and watching like Viking show on Netflix now. I'm like, I don't think I'd love it like last for very long. And those conditions

Hannah  9:47  

Yeah, I mean, that's a whole other thing. Like you know, I It's true. I remember when my my whole family has asthma. like growing up. We all had Last summer, like we like went like 100 150 years ago, be very likely at least one of us would have died. At least if we think in terms of like the advancement in medicine in the last like, 100 and 150 years alone.

Unknown Speaker  10:19  

No, not. Like, I mean, I, one of the things I wrote down was about flying, because that's the thing that always gets me I was like, say something about that.

Hannah  10:29  

I just think it's like, the craziest kind of like amalgamation of like, the best parts of humans, and also our interaction with the natural world. Like, I just feel like it's just like, humans, like we have this like, capacity to like, dream, and be creative. And like, we wanted to fly. Nuts. We're not we're not we're not supposed to fly. We're not

Brandee   10:58  

birds. Yeah, you're right.

Hannah  11:03  

Right, that's like, June's just nuts. But like, some people were so creative, and like, imaginative to even dream that it was possible, possible. And then, like, combined with this, like, incredible capacity we've developed for, like, for logic and for trying to understand like, how the universe is created, by like, how we can like, men meld and like, make things happen. And like the scientific side, and this like combination, and then also kind of like, the very nuts like, you know, like when you, you know, when you read about early flight, you know, you weren't necessarily going to survive that. You know. So it's like this whole, like, weird, I just, like find it like, insane. And then I remember I read I like, just I find flying insane in general. And I remember reading this, like, the like a biography about the Wrights Wright Brothers, and like early aviation, and it was saying, one of the things that was crucial was the Wright Brothers, I can't remember which one, but one of them was observing. They were like, really keen observers of the natural world. And they realized that like, ever, that birds wings weren't like, static, they weren't like that they move that their feathers move during flight. And that was like, that was like a key turning point of like, modern flight like before that most people were trying to fly using, like rigid wings. And the Wright brothers were the first people to introduce you know, like, when you fly. I mean, it's still what happens today, it hasn't really changed. Like when you're flying, and you look out on the wings, and they have the mid at the back that like moves. Like that came from like the observation of birds. And how birds fly. No nuts.

Brandee   13:03  

I think I think it was the left brother. That's

Hannah  13:09  

a terrible job. Have you been sitting there?

Brandee   13:15  

Waiting till you finish talking?

Hannah  13:18  

Have you been listening to what I said? You were just like,

Brandee   13:22  

John Yes. You don't yet. Know that is not watching this Viking show. They don't like specify how long it took exactly. But not quickly to go to take a boat from don't know what's modern day, Norway, I guess to England. And back. And that was like, a journey for that like a multi day? Yeah. Probably not weeks. I don't know. I have no concept of how long it would take to rowboat between a while between those countries, but a lot slower than flying. And then I just got back from a trip to the states where I was able to like see all my people who are like spread out all over. Within a three week period. I was in three different states. Less than three weeks, and then back like that. That would be like, I don't know, before month before cars and flying and that would take months if not like a full year. Yeah, I don't know. Like how, how quickly we've advanced and yeah, positively because I was gonna ask because this is gonna sound negative, like the way we can like, take advantage of like the Earth's resources to Yeah, to make these accomplishments. Obviously, I mean, you could argue we've taken it too far. Climate change. Yeah, we have. But yeah, this is a love letter episode. So focus on the positive and look at resourcefulness.

Hannah  14:54  

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I don't know non human thing. I really meant Should it but like and I don't know enough about it, you might know more as a sciency person. But bacteria like this bacteria I'm touching my face is bacteria just like chillin there all the time this like bacteria just like we are bacteria a lot of bacteria just living in my stomach send a message does up to my brain. Like that's pretty cool. I mean like this survivors. They're gonna be here long after we've got

Brandee   15:30  

Yeah, absolutely. I mean yeah, there's a reason we're here without some

Hannah  15:35  

right? Yeah I mean good job bacteria.

Brandee   15:40  

Yeah I forget the numbers but there's just when you look at the sheer number like bacteria that like exist on an in a human body it's yeah we are bacteria it's not like we just have some a little bit on us like we are made up like,

Unknown Speaker  15:55  

yeah, yeah, we are bacteria. Yeah. And then just like as well like, the kind of like, beauty of like, every day, you know, that we can I guess we probably missed it. But you know, you can leave the house around this time with like the evening and just see amazing sunsets.

Hannah  16:18  

You know, we're like, feel the wind on your skin and like, all these trees that have, you know, well maybe they're not that old, but some of them are very old. You know, just like things growing. Kind of crazy.

Brandee   16:33  

I don't I I'm not like much of a gardener. I know you have some stuff on your patio. But yeah, and I like follow up people who like do like home gardening and talk about like, how hard it is to get certain things to like grow properly. But I don't know if that's because we're trying to grow things that are just more difficult trying to grow something like out of season or whatever. And they're like animals and things to like, kind of keep away from your home garden. But the fact that like things do just grow on their own with no human. Yeah, intervention interaction, whatever. Yeah, like live off of that is wild. Yeah.

Hannah  17:09  

And just like the I know, I can't think of any examples because I haven't looked it up but I know there's like I remember watch it in one of the the Attenborough documentary is actually in like them talking about like a type of bird that is like just like evolved to be able to drink or eat from like a certain type of plant. And just like this kind of like interaction with like, between nature like it's not obvious it seems can seem static, but over time, like how it's changed and developed

Brandee   17:47  

and the way humans have adapted but like we've we've kind of progressed our society so much that like we can't keep up with it and so like that's why we have problems like eating too much salt and sugar because like back when we did just live off the land like that like meant things for our our house like that meant survival things that yeah, sweet and then salt so you might even go dehydrated and oil so you like fatty things so you'd make it through the winter so now like we crave these things because we still think we're still hardwired that like that means our survival but then like we overdo it because of the negative society that like we're not we're not really going to talk too much more about the fact that like that adapted like we can like we adapt to Yeah, okay, that is that's just wild to me. Yeah. What else did you write down?

Hannah  18:42  

Um, I mostly Yeah, I guess like

Brandee   18:45  

oh

Hannah  18:48  

yeah, like how many colors well I'm just like how incredible the natural world is I didn't really expand but it's just like you know, there's so much like when you move from one place to the other there's so much that like changes and just you know like the like the colors again it's like you know, like I always so shocked when I go back to the UK and it's just so green it's just such like a vibrant green color from like all the range and you know around Madrid that's like not a color that you see in that like vibrancy but you have all these like shades of like the from like this yet like the oranges and like the from my kind of the more desert a dry

Brandee   19:33  

and like beautiful blue clear blue skies and like the size

Hannah  19:38  

of amazing here. Yeah.

Brandee   19:42  

I was thinking about this when I was California was one of the states I visited and we went to the beach still one day and just like I forgot, like how, like I told myself I wouldn't but I ended up taking it for granted when I lived there. Like sitting on the beach. Like looking at the mountains and just Just like how do those two things like exist like net like next to each other? Yeah to like watch the sunset, throughout like on a beach surrounded by mountain it's, it's just crazy to me and then you can like hike go for a hike in the morning and like, just have this beautiful, just absolutely gorgeous view of the ocean. And then like half a day on the beach and see a gorgeous sunset. And then like drive an hour and go skating. It's like all of those like gorgeous things exist so close to each other. Pretty great. What does Dawn rather Earth well done?

Hannah  20:40  

Beautiful. What did some of our followers

Brandee   20:42  

say? Oh, yes. So start with on Instagram put out like a story sticker. And got, say 123 answers from that. Chris to do lots of two's on Instagram. Get two responses. They said spring and how everything comes back to life. I thought that was a good one. Yeah, the seasons. Yeah, we didn't even talk like briefly. climates, the different climates. We've talked about that. But yeah, just the changes in seasons, depending on where you live.

Hannah  21:17  

Yeah, I'm sure you really change and like the Earth. Kind of like, you know, like it kind of sometimes it's like, well, at least you know, in Spain in the UK that was pretty defined like the four seasons. And I do feel it is kind of like a blink and you miss it. But it's also very obvious. It's like, one day you're out walking. You're like, oh,

Brandee   21:40  

it's spring. Yeah, it's like the day to day is gradual. But then when you look back you're like, oh, wait a minute. Yeah, there was suddenly like flower snow on the ground. Like, a few weeks ago. And yeah, beautiful flowers. Trees coming back to life. Yeah, that fall is the best season. Spring is nice. Chris teaches you to do lots of things. But yeah, fall on that to throw in mentioned a special match your profile. And they also said how nature always finds the way. Thank you for those answers. And then the next response was Kelly, who still has yet to leave us a voice note. Just saying she said I got my more serious answer but her first response was you on it so on planet earth so thank you for that. That's very nice, Kelly. But then I said no but seriously, like, what's your answer? And she said all the things I love about Earth doesn't include helping the environment travel Sacher she said oh, I guess the beach would count but only really on overcast days. I conceptually like a flat clear path in the woods, but actually like gets quite scared by myself.

Hannah  22:52  

That's that's fair. Yeah, that's fair. I had a very panic I went on this multi day hike in the summer which is great except we like completely underestimated how long one of the days would last and we ended up kind of speed walking through a forest in the dark. There was a very clear path and I'm glad I was with someone else but yeah, it was not an ideal situation.

Brandee   23:18  

I think I would be scared by myself during the day also because like if you're like really out in like the middle of the woods and like there's like no civilization like around you can't Yeah, like if you I don't know if I tripped and hurt yourself like what what would you do? I feel like I find

Hannah  23:34  

that hard to conceptualize being from the UK because there is like no wellness. So like the like I don't think I am like like I remember actually when I was like 18 and I traveled to the states and I got like the train from the west east coast to west coast shook a very long time but it like just went straight through Texas and just being like well I blasted by there was literally nothing what

Unknown Speaker  24:06  

hours yep

Hannah  24:10  

and that is not like that is not how the UK

Brandee   24:14  

No no, it's I like the visuals that that she painted with like like an overcast beach day and like yeah clear path and like that like like picturing that so should the woods one like just feels very peaceful and reality No, I don't think I would like it by myself but like it just like visioning that envisioning. is nice. And then avocado way on Instagram said surreal nature was leave which leaves you in awe. So that I think is a good way to describe what I was describing like the beach and the mountains in California being like, like that is just surreal to me that that they exist. And then I find clarity email said how interconnected every living being is on it. Each plant each animal each person has a role to play and an impact on this beautiful world of ours, we might as well make that a positive impact. I like that answer as well. Thank you.

Hannah  25:09  

That's true. That's a very nice one to end on, actually. Yeah,

Brandee   25:12  

I think so, too. I wanted to go off on a tangent about what Kelly said about traveling, but we can save that. All right. Because we're within our 10 minute warning. Yeah. Yeah, actually, let me just quick see if I got any more responses because I did post this on my like business Instagram. Oh, yeah, I forgot. My friend Sharon said, Son, sand and breeze.

Hannah  25:40  

All right. That's yeah, that's a pretty good day.

Brandee   25:44  

That one so thank you. Everyone. submitted your answers. And yeah, that is our love letter to our planet, which I think I'm going to make the title because I really liked it. Yeah.

Hannah  25:59  

Yeah. Yeah. Being a wonderful Valentine's Day or not Valentine's Day, if you're not listening to this on the 14th.

Brandee   26:07  

And if you do for something to do do something, yeah. As as out in nature as you can. So I know it's tough city dwellers, but even a park would do. And even not about as I just ended, that's a good like, I want to like be better about getting out in nature and like, kind of more continuously, like reminding myself about why, why we're trying to save it. To save. Yeah. And if you missed some of your answer before this episode, you can still always you can let us know. Even after this has gone live on our Instagram at the T on sustainable living, and yeah, see you in the next one. Bye.

Hannah  26:56  

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Tea on Sustainable Living podcast. Now go share it with a friend, a co-worker, a partner, a family member, or whoever. A pet, your cat, someone on the street.

Brandee   27:08  

Whoever you think could use a little more support on their sustainability journey, share it.

Hannah  27:13  

You can send them over to our website, theteaonsustainableliving.com. And while you're there, check out the show notes for more info on today's topic. 

Brandee   27:23  

All right, Give-a-Shitter, tea you later. Get it? Tea you later? As in, see you later? So punny…

Hannah.  27:28

Brandee!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai