the landscape around me has a muted, yet vibrant color palette. leaves of all kinds—a concoction of green if you will. flowers blend into this mixture – a subtle harmony of browns, purples, and greens. desert plants appear, reminding me that beauty can grow anywhere if given the space to grow. there are few trees. layers of exposed dirt. with each step, my view widens. i see how this mountain range shapes the contours of the city below. i notice a thick layer of smog. it distorts the colors, the yellows and oranges that serve as a harbinger of sunset.

insects, bugs, filled every nook and cranny that the rocks have left exposed. their small bodies look much bigger as they fly and crawl from every edge. i follow several of the bugs to the edge of the mountainside, and for a moment i feel light and free-floating as if i was one of them. i look down and see people inching along in their cars. choking traffic. but up here, i can’t hear anything.

i normally listen to music, but here the wind uses the trees as an instrument – a muted trombone perhaps, while flying insects make a bass-like sound. the heaviness in my body seems to lift, even if momentarily. the sounds of this place appear to be shifting, each rock’s irregular shape and jagged edges softened by the wind, the tall, swaying grass producing a faint “sh” sound.

when i reach the peak, it is still. i am still. the birds appear to stop chattering. my feet have stopped shuffling, even the wind has stopped rustling the bushes. all of the weight i was carrying in my mind, and body, seem to disappear. i can finally catch my breath. never have i felt such a sense of peace in a single moment. 

here’s the thing: meat and animal products taste good all on their own, while vegan and vegetarian food require mastery. if you go to a vegan restaurant, the level of time, effort, and skill that must go into the food they’re creating goes above and beyond. further, the food requires no harm to animals, has less of a negative environmental impact, and, therefore, carries less guilt.

while it’s unlikely that everyone will adopt an entirely plant-based lifestyle, eating more sustainably should be everyone’s goal. eating more vegan or vegetarian meals, shopping locally, and using seasonal produce are some main ways to do that. animal agriculture is harmful to the environment in three major ways: excessive water use and greenhouse gas production, and destructive land use.

on the flip-side, there are many benefits to eating a plant-based diet, such as improved animal welfare and personal health, and better sustainability. i’ve been an ovo-vegetarian (someone whose diet includes eggs, but no dairy, meat, or fish) for a few years now. while living in san diego, i’ve been on the search for the best vegan restaurants. san diego is a wonderful place to be vegan or vegetarian, but as our need for more sustainable food grows, so does our need for more sustainable options. so, if you’re living in san diego, or just here for a visit, here are few of those places. they’re delicious, comforting, and provide an array of options that’ll satisfy even the most tenacious of meat eaters.

your new favorite jewish deli: ben & esther’s

a few months ago, a close friend of mine asked me to meet her for lunch at a spot that she’s been dying to try. we’re both vegetarian and are constantly on the hunt for the best vegetarian and vegan food in san diego. ben & esther’s is a hole in the wall style jewish deli, with all the fixings: giant jars of kosher pickles, a selection of baked goods, deli counter salads, and a list of classic sandwiches, bagels, and of course, schmears.

i’m not exaggerating when i say that i was over the moon after seeing the menu. my friend and i both ordered our sandwiches. i went for the rueben, a pickle, and a raspberry jammer for later. she got a bagel sandwich, and some schmear.

since then, i have moved around the block from their location on el cajon boulevard and i’m not embarrassed to say that i have eaten there almost every week since. even my non-vegan mother was impressed. she’s 71 and still asks if they have “regular” eggs at every vegan restaurant we go to.

i reached out to ben & esther’s founder justin king, whose grandparents are the deli’s namesakes. he put me in contact with his business partner marc bennett, who lives here in san diego. marc and i spoke about the main goal of the company, to make consistently quality and delicious jewish-american deli food.

ben & esther’s was born in portland, oregon, and has since opened three restaurants: the location on el cajon blvd., one in oceanside, california, and a second portland location. they are soon opening a location in seattle. marc says that their goal is to open locations all along the west coast, a goal i believe they will have no difficulty accomplishing.

vegan food, that’s reminiscent of your favorite jewish deli order? what more could you want? both justin and marc sign their emails “for the animals,” a phrase that speaks volumes, as kindness and accountability are two of the pillars of the vegan lifestyle. so next time you’re craving a blt or a philly cheesesteak, check out ben & esther’s. and make sure to grab a raspberry jammer for later, though be warned, it probably won’t survive the car ride.

the date-night spot: donna jean

i like to think that the future of food is in restaurants like donna jean. it’s a glorious, sustainable brunch and dinner restaurant on the outskirts of balboa park in san diego. i spoke to its founder chef roy elam about his gem of a vegan restaurant, whose namesake is his late mother, donna jean. when donna was diagnosed with breast cancer, her doctor recommended that she start eating a more plant-based diet. according to a 2017 review, a vegan diet reduces overall cancer risk by 15%. this is possibly due to the presence of phytochemicals — biologically active compounds in plants that help protect against cancer. there are other benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet, such as better metabolic health, healthier gut microbiota, and lower cholesterol.

roy flew home to st. louis, missouri, to help her veganize some of her favorite recipes. years later, he was inspired to create a restaurant that, while plant-based and sustainable, offers beautiful and delicious seasonal dishes. my favorites are their house bread with maldon salt (i recommend upgrading to the garlic butter sauce — it’s unreal). seasonal dishes like the sea bean caesar salad, and their hot shrooms: deep fried oyster mushrooms with pickles and nashville style hot sauce.

they even have pasta and pizza, made with their own vegan cheese that actually melts. chef howe (of donna jean) and chef roy created scratch house vegan cheeses. chef howe was unimpressed with the vegan cheese options on the market and embarked on creating his own. just look at their “fungazi” pizza. i’m in love.  

chef roy works with local markets and produce suppliers to make a menu using seasonal and local produce. therefore, the menu will vary depending on season, and location. they have recently opened a second donna jean location in sherman oaks, a neighborhood in los angeles. reservations are required for the l.a. location, and strongly suggested for san diego. it’s just that good. chef roy eventually hopes to open another location, in st. louis, missouri, to bring home some of his amazing recipes. but in the meantime, make a reservation at donna jean in san diego or l.a., it’s food at its best: seasonal, sustainable, and comforting. i promise, donna jean will transform how you view vegan food.

the punk rock quick bite: underdog

the newest member of san diego’s vegan lineup is underdog, a food truck on the borders of university heights and north park. they opened their truck only three months ago, but they’re already getting noticed. i reached out to married duo chelsea and mark ross who created underdog. together they embarked on a journey to veganize classic street foods. they’ve both been vegan for two decades and wanted to create a food truck that’s entirely vegan but boasts all your favorite street foods. they’ve got everything from korean-style corn dogs to animal fries and chili dogs. the concept is vegan food but punk rock, no limits, no rules. 

as with the previous two establishments, underdog has a similar goal: providing delicious food without any harm to our animal friends. i’m a big fan of their corn dogs. they’re truly a perfect food; fluffy, savory, and served with a choice of condiments, though i’m a ketchup and yellow mustard purist all the way. however, the next time i stop by, i’m grabbing the “goblin’s club.” it’s their korean-style corn dog covered in french fries, panko, and sugar. 

i reached out to chelsea and mark. we spoke about how they’re stoked on the vegan community here in san diego and surprised at how strong it is. we bonded over our shared experience and how much we appreciate that san diego is becoming something of a vegan oasis. when you go looking for them, their truck is bright orange and parked on the corner of el cajon blvd. and texas st. you can’t miss it. they’ve got the perfect location if you’re looking to grab a quick bite. whether you’re vegan or not, they have an amazing selection of delicious options. they might be the underdogs in this list, but they’re already making a name for themselves.

the future is vegan 

not every city has as many vegan and vegetarian restaurants as san diego. however, the future looks promising and it’s thanks to restaurants like these. i am so grateful to ben & esther’s, donna jean, and underdog for making excellent dishes that give vegan food a new trope: good to your taste buds, and good to the planet. these restaurants have helped make me more optimistic for the future of vegan food, that maybe people (regardless of diet) will choose to eat at plant-based restaurants. making this choice becomes significantly easier when there are more vegan restaurants to choose from. so, whether you live here, or are visiting, i hope you choose to check out one of these restaurants. i promise that you’ll love them.

do the chirps of birds wake you up every morning? that’s the case in our house and after long enough, we decided to listen to what they were saying. due to urbanization, many birds may not have had a choice in moving in; but with the help of research we discover the power of change homeowners yield in refurnishing their yard. ornithologists (bird scientists!) have been conducting case studies since the early 2000s and we took to some citizen science while studying our own neighborhood. 

we found it especially interesting how bird species native to the area may be at a disadvantage when competing with birds that have adapted to the man-made conditions of cities. to improve the wellbeing of native species, consider planting native fauna in your yard or nearby parks, providing supplemental feeders, and advocating for proactive change in conversations with your municipality.

all material is that of paula milenkova and maya thompson.

• most buildings were designed for an earlier climate – here’s what will happen as global warming accelerates. climate change is drastically altering the environmental conditions in which our buildings were designed to function. but how exactly does climate change affect our building materials? 

• 5 ways to make buildings climate change resilient. building for resilience against heatwave, cyclones, coastal flooding, and extreme cold — what does the future of infrastructure look like?

• an architect with an eye on the environment. increasingly, architects, and builders are thinking about how their creations affect the health of the planet. meet kunlé adeyemi, a nigerian architect who has built his career around that question.

check back tomorrow for more info on what is being explored on the final day of cop26 — and more good reads to keep you informed!

“when we first got furloughed, we thought it was only a couple months, like two months, three months,” kwong said. “and then they keep extending, extending, extending. the city opened back but the hotel didn’t have enough conventions, meetings, or tourists so they don’t have the revenue to call everyone back to work.”

the month he was put on furlough, george started volunteering at the san francisco marin food bank to help out his community. months later, in june 2020, the food bank hired kwong. he plans to continue working there even after he returns to his job at the hotel.

“working at the hotel wasn’t just a job, it’s what i like to do,” he said. “if people are happy with the food you make, you are happy too. same thing, when you serve the community, you help people and make them happy.”

as the covid-19 pandemic triggered a global economic crisis, many were out of work and unable to afford food. out of the 2.6 million people in california who lost their jobs between february and april 2020, 64% were in jobs in low paying industries which disproportionately employ people of color.

in early august, 2021, over a year into the pandemic, new covid-19 cases reached the highest daily average since january 2021––coinciding with the rise of the delta variant. in the united states, communities of color have been disproportionately hit by covid-19 due to economic inequities that stand to continue in a post-pandemic world while wealthier majority populations return to “normal life.” this trend held true in san francisco, where people of color, 54.8% of the population, accounted for 63.3% of total covid-19 cases as of august 28, 2021. the case rate was even more disproportionate at the beginning of the pandemic, from april 2020 through august 2020, when latinx residents accounted for over half of the cases each month despite making up only 15.2% of the population.

when california became the first state in the u.s. to issue a statewide stay-at-home order in march 2020, communities needed adaptation and expansion of food assistance initiatives. in response, the city of san francisco partnered with local non-profit and community-based organizations to minimize food insecurity through the pandemic. the city spent more than $80 million in the 2021 fiscal year to create new food security programs and initiatives, said susie smith, deputy director of policy and planning at the san francisco human services agency.

smith said that this budget “provided for continued support for food access through local food banks, programs for older adults with disabilities—people (who) were specifically being asked to stay at home—as well as meals for unsheltered people and meal delivery options for people (who) needed to isolate and quarantine.” 

the san francisco marin food bank partnered with the city government to pilot pop-up pantries which provide produce free of cost. 

“investing in the bank was our mass distribution effort,” smith said. “(the food bank) created a robust network—about 20-22 pop-ups across the city that the food bank had organized.”

meanwhile, the nonprofit meals on wheels san francisco delivered 2.4 million meals and served 16,460 individuals overall in 2020, three-times the number of people served in any prior year; the organization broadened their services beyond their pre-pandemic demographic of senior citizens, according to jim oswald, director of marketing and communications at meals on wheels san francisco. meals on wheels partnered with the city to become the intake for the isolation and quarantine line—a hotline for individuals to call if they were impacted by covid and could not get groceries. according to their blog, nearly 87% of meal delivery requests through the hotline are in african-american and hispanic communities.

another program, farm to family repurposed wasted produce from farms and delivered it to food banks. the federal and state governments expanded supplemental nutrition assistance program (snap) benefits to increase access through pandemic electronic benefits transfer (p-ebt) cards, which repurposed the money towards summer meals for low-income students to spend on food. 

hilary seligman, professor at the university of california, san francisco, has studied food insecurity and hunger policy. seligman said, “this layered intervention is a quilt of things between school meals, women, infants, and children (wic) changes, snap changes, pop up pantries and farms to family. through all those things together, i think we really kept food insecurity rates much, much, much lower than they would have been.”

while the city of san francisco and local organizations innovated to serve food insecure populations, some initiatives were built for the short term and lacked the infrastructure to be durable, seligman said.

for instance, great plates delivered, a unitary federally funded california emergency food project, ended its food assistance program in california after 18 months. and farm to family, though federally funded, lacked infrastructure at the state level to be distributed fairly through the state of california, according to laura reid, director of communications at ca association of food banks. keely hopkins, communications manager at the san francisco marin food bank, said she recognized anecdotally that the food bank might not be serving certain demographics as well as others and that they hope to take a more data driven approach to inform targeted outreach in the future.

in a perfect world, seligman said, fewer people would rely on nonprofits and community based organizations for food.

“ideally, we would have a social safety net in place that was provided equitably to all people so that there weren’t people who fell through the cracks,” seligman said. “we’re not there.” 

local and state governments are limited in their ability to spend on social programs because they can’t run deficits, according to michael hankinson, professor of political science at george washington university. they can take out debt, but that starts to hurt them in the long run.

still, the pandemic brought broad attention to a pre-existing need for policies to address food inequity in the long term––and illuminated a path toward durable and equitable food policy initiatives, according to samina raja, professor of urban and regional planning at the university at buffalo and leading expert on building healthy and equitable food systems. 

“society at large felt there was a crisis because the wealthy and majority populations were bearing the brunt,” raja said. “that’s why everybody started paying attention (to issues of food insecurity). that kind of crisis already exists in my city in the black neighborhoods. i have elders, black elders, who are routinely without food, who are routinely without deliveries, who do not get calls from their social service workers. that is not new for them. in fact, some of them were like, ‘we know what to do, because we’ve seen this before.’”

she continued, “going forward, local governments would be smart by investing in (policies) and programs that center black communities and brown communities because they actually know what their neighborhoods need. the lesson from covid is when you move forward beyond the crisis points, remember that community networks are essential for developing thoughtful food policy.”

according to raja, one way to bring black and brown communities into the conversation is to establish black and brown-led advisory groups within local governments. this develops more infrastructure for food initiatives by ensuring communities of color are represented in policy deliberations. 

this method is being tested in baltimore, where the city government implemented a food policy council. resident food equity advisors work closely with city staff to provide recommendations that support the community with nutritious and culturally appropriate food.

raja recommended another solution involving the consultation of communities of color––reforming urban agriculture. this may come in the form of community land trusts that are controlled by black and brown households in black and brown neighborhoods. 

“(a land trust is) a specific mechanism that allows communities themselves to take control of land and decide how it serves the needs of residents and neighborhoods of color,” raja said. 

unless paired with policy measures to ensure affordable housing, increasing property value can be counterproductive for residents of low-income neighborhoods, who may be pushed out by increased rent or property tax. organizations like the dudley street initiative implement strategies that encourage development without displacement, raja said. 

entrepreneurial grant programs for black, indigenous, and people of color communities also aid in the prevention of food insecurity because they allow “black and brown communities, immigrant and refugee communities to start up their own food businesses,” raja said.

yet, according to seligman, these initiatives are easier to implement on the local and state level. california has already implemented a universal school lunch program, school meals for all. 

“a lot of the policies in place for government programming systematically exclude people,” seligman said. “they are rooted in a desire from previous generations to limit access to that programming. and while there are efforts to unwind many of those policies, the federal systems tend to do this unwinding slowly.”

while community organizations provided short term solutions during the economic precarity of the covid-19 pandemic, those invested in food security may look ahead to the next renegotiation of the farm bill in 2023. according to seligman, 80% of the funds included in the farm bill are dedicated to federal nutrition programming, presenting a substantial opportunity to change the infrastructure of federal support for the food system across the u.s.

—

about this series: the planet forward-fao summer storytelling fellows work was sponsored by the north america office of the food and agriculture organization of the united nations (fao), and the fellows were mentored by lisa palmer, gw’s national geographic professor of science communication and author of “hot, hungry planet.”

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs. 

just outside of the cvs that i could barely get myself to walk to, there was always a man sitting on the corner, covered in beads of sweat from the thick humidity and sun beating down on his bald head. earlier in the spring, when it wasn’t so hot, he asked for spare change. now, he asks if i can get him a bottle of water. 

heat already kills more americans than all other extreme weather events combined. by 2100, some projections show that deaths from heat may surpass the current rate of deaths from all infectious diseases combined.

and one of the greatest solutions to extreme heat is planting more trees. us cities are pouring millions into tree planting initiatives––washington, d.c., seattle and houston are already on track to meet million-tree planting goals by 2030. i dove into the heat issue last summer when i wrote a piece for the guardian about the shortfalls of these plans. i found that cities are really good at planting trees in high-income neighborhoods, and not so good at planting trees in low-income, majority minority neighborhoods, where it can be up to 15 f hotter.

the issue becomes even more complex when you factor in tree micro inequalities––yes, it’s actually a thing. boston seems to be doing pretty well in distributing tree canopy across all neighborhoods. but david meshoulam, president of boston tree nonprofit speak for the trees, described that low-income neighborhoods rank well in tree canopy because they have big parks nearby, which factor into the neighborhood total. boston is really struggling to plant street trees, which offer that shade on your walk to the grocery store, but you can’t see that in the data.

we really don’t know where to plant trees if we look at tree totals by neighborhood, like we have been. those totals will hide those micro inequalities that cities should be targeting. so, if houston has a goal to plant 1.6 million trees, where should they put them? 

that’s exactly what 100 community scientists in the city set out to answer.

on august 7, the nature conservancy and the city of houston had scientists with thermal sensors attached to their cars and bicycles to cover 300 square miles––the largest geographical mapping effort in u.s. history––in hopes to produce a detailed thermal map to inform their tree-planting decisions.

these 100 scientists, who i like to think were armed in their white lab coats, thick glasses and wirey hair––the archetype of a scientist––pedaling all over town with their heat-sensing devices, are sparking a trend across the country. the nature conservancy also has similar projects going on in phoenix, denver, los angeles and new york.

jaime gonzalez, tnc’s lead on the urban heat map community event, said strategic mapping like this will solve multiple problems at once. not only will it help with heat mitigation, but it will also fix inequities and help the city to laser-focus their mitigation efforts on areas that need it the most. 

many cities are starting to realize that many steps come before actually planting the trees. initiatives like finding where to put them are just as important as the planting itself––what’s another tree in an already tree-heavy area going to do? and it’s becoming more and more important as our summers continue to get hotter.

“this year there were 10 days that felt 105 f or greater in houston,” gonzalez said. “by 2065, if no actions are taken, that jumps to 74 f. that’s an entirely different city to live in, and we already see the inequity and we know that that’s going to get worse.”

as we see more lab coats hit the streets, hopefully we’ll also see city planners fill in those tree gaps. although we have a break from the heat for a little while, we can still prepare for what’s to come in just a few months.

in contrast to other transit networks in major u.s. cities that have made alterations to the frequency of service, the san diego metropolitan transit system (mts) has been continuing bus and trolley service on schedules nearly identical to those pre-pandemic. according to brian lane, a senior transit planner at san diego association of governments (sandag), which works in conjunction with mts, keeping these schedules is crucial for both allowing for social distancing on board with reduced capacity, and ensuring that essential workers throughout the county are able to commute with as little interruption as possible.

one thing that differentiates san diego from similarly sized cities is the scattered nature of employment centers. the downtown region is the third biggest employment center, following kearny mesa and sorrento valley, suburban business centers located to the east of downtown. the geographic spread of employment makes improving first and last-mile options a priority, lane said, citing palomar airport as an example. many businesses are located along palomar airport road, but implementing a new bus line along the street would still leave many commuters at least half-mile from work. it is largely for that reason, lane says, that shared modes of transit for first and last-mile travel are so critical to the 2021 plan. 

the cornerstone of the 2021 regional plan is the “5 big moves”: five overarching strategies to change the way san diegans use transit. all of these moves are contingent on a willingness and motivation for commuters to both switch to or continue using transit.

a global pandemic understandably impedes some efforts to change commuting habits. the most significant losses in ridership occurred in mid-april, according to sandag’s regional travel survey. during that month, scheduling was reduced slightly to accommodate the need for drivers and essential transit employees to stay home. april also saw the most marked decreases in ridership attributable to the pandemic: system-wide, there was a 75 percent decrease in ridership. 

by the time of a joint meeting between sandag’s transportation, regional planning, and borders committees in mid-july, network-wide ridership had recovered by 53 percent. trolley ridership rebounded quickest, particularly on the blue line. the blue line trolley is regarded as the backbone of the mts network, with many essential workers commuting by a combination of trolley and bus. san diego transit is unique in that the mts network serves a bi-national metropolitan area, with blue line service at the u.s./mexico border in san ysidro. though the border has been closed to nonessential travel since march, essential workers have been commuting throughout the pandemic. 

while continuing to serve those working in person during the pandemic, sandag highlighted the positive environmental impact of teleworking as a means to achieve the 2021 plan’s long-term carbon emission goals. using data gathered from community-based organizations, sandag has set higher teleworking goals for the upcoming year, proposing that up to 25 percent of regional businesses could engage in some form of telework long-term. further development of the teleworking portion of sandag’s icommute program, which provides resources for organizations looking to transition into telework, is also a facet of the 2021 plan. although teleworking is connected to a decrease in emissions, the fact remains that those who are teleworking still drive for leisure, a fact that can obscure a clear understanding of exactly what highway driving trends will look like going into the future. 

what is much more evident is a persistent, longstanding need for accessible and equitable transit within the county. this is all the more crucial given the demographic of mts commuters, a group with an average annual income of $17,800 compared to a regional median of approximately $75,000. 

during july’s committee meeting, sharon cooney, the ceo of the mts board of directors, spoke about trends in the perception of transit as revealed by the 3700 responses to sandag’s regional transportation study. the results are promising: only 4 percent of respondents replied that they had used transit in the past, but would not again after covid. 18 percent of respondents reported having not ridden transit before and expressed an interest in integrating san diego’s transit network into their travel within the county post-pandemic.

in summary, cooney said, “fear of transit is not as profound as we expected.” 

while this is an overwhelmingly positive narrative, simply the idea of fearing transit implies that commuting by transit is a choice, which it is not for the 20 percent of mts commuters who do not have access to a personal vehicle. for these riders, it is not only the innovations brought forth by the 2021 plan, but consistency in and improvements to existing service that will prove critical in the coming months and years.