Hi, I’m Jessica and this is my blog. I live in beautiful San Diego with my husband G, our two-year-old daughter V, and our pet snake Nosey. (Fun side note: Nosey has been G’s pet since he was six years old!)
I’ve worked as a lawyer in San Diego since 2008, mostly doing litigation. I like to spend my free time exploring San Diego with G and V. (Nosey prefers to stay at home.)
G&V. Always the photographer, never the model. #momlife
Nosey. Our engagement photographers clearly had a family favorite and it wasn’t the bride or groom.
I started this blog as a passion project. I have always been a nature lover. My earliest memories were of taking “nature walks” with my dad in our backyard in Brooklyn. Even in our tiny urban backyard, I was amazed by all the beautiful things there were to admire (grass! a fig tree! snails!).
In college, I majored in biology, and was particularly interested in environmental biology and conservation. As an adult, my favorite moments are ones I can spend outdoors admiring amazing natural scenery and landscapes.
G & me at Torres Del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia—a truly amazing place to explore.
For many years now, I have become increasingly concerned about the damage we are doing to our planet. My stomach turns at every report of the breakneck pace of global warming, or the plastic catastrophe we have created in our oceans, or the destruction of forests and other crucial ecosystems, or the threatened extinction of animal species, or any number of other environmental disasters threatening our planet.
But despite my appreciation for the environment and my awareness of its endangerment, I devoted almost no time to actually doing anything about it. I assumed that on a planet of 7 billion people, I was too inconsequential to make a difference, and that change needed to happen at a much higher level.
But the evidence is overwhelming that the “powers that be” are not getting the job done. We are now on the precipice of crisis. How we behave during this next decade will determine whether or not a parade of environmental horrors will come to pass. We have an enormous responsibility to future generations of humans and to the other creatures with whom we share our planet. And in this dire state of affairs, it is clear that we must each accept this responsibility, and stop waiting for industry, or government, or charity, or some “other” to do it for us.
Yes, we need systemic, top-down change. So we should vote with the environment top of mind and put pressure on our leaders to enact large-scale change to address environmental concerns. We should petition. We should protest.
But we must also do our part at the consumer level. The truth is, as consumers, we wield significant power to fix the environmental disasters we’ve created. The industries that continue to pollute and destroy exist only to serve us. They will only stop polluting and destroying if we stop buying what they’re selling.
It’s easy to think that what we each do, as one person, is inconsequential. And relatively speaking, it is. But problems whose solutions require collective action, such as the environmental crises of our day, require us to set aside such thinking, and each do our part. In a way, we are individually inconsequential, but we are also essential for these problems to be solved.
Furthermore, our actions can inform and persuade those around us—our families, friends, and communities—so that they become part of the solution too. That’s a big part of why I’m writing this blog. We really don’t need anything fancy to help spread change.
Armed with a new sense of purpose and power, I’m diving into the literature to learn more about how I can turn my desire to “live green” into concrete action. And I’d love for you to come along with me!
