Hi friends,

I’d considered a calm intro to segue us into a mindful 2025 but as LA is ablaze, food prices soar amidst depleting soil, fact checking leaves social media (amidst a torrent of other environmental and social disasters) I am changing tone.

Let 2025 be the year that radicalizes you. 

There is no soft resolution about it–we must make drastic change. If you have, up until this moment believed you are powerless in position, in your ability to influence a different outcome, you are simply, wrong. The fact you are reading a plant-based, low waste newsletter indicates as much. And we need you, collectively, to believe as such.

At the end of September I left a highly coveted job at Nike, designing shoes for the likes of Lebron James and other incredible athletes. I loved the practice but there was more important work at stake. At the start of 2024, Nike asked employees back to the office 4 days a week. In an effort to reinforce the “Move to Zero” policy, I created a petition asking the company to re-implement a previous policy, offering subsidized public transport to offset the additional environmental impact from upwards of 10,000 cars driving to campus. In less than 48 hours I’d garnered almost 1,000 signatures of support and growing. Within 72 hours, I was asked by HR to remove the petition immediately under threat of further consequence. Fearing the loss of my job, I complied. Nike never reinstituted their public transit policy and within a few months slashed the majority of the sustainability department to almost nothing. I knew it was time to leave.

The deep, vital work of protecting this planet will be unfavorable to most corporations. It will be uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable as the grim future a staggering number of climate refugees will face in the coming years. But it must be done.

I am aware the privilege in leaving a job to start a business, in choosing rescue dogs over kids, in being able bodied and resourceful. And I am aware the privilege in complacency. The disconnect between ourselves and community and environment. Regardless your position, there is something to be done. You have voice and if nothing else, it is the most powerful tool at your disposal. Use it wisely, there is work to be done.

Scroll on for a list of ways to make an impact this year–reply back with all your other ideas, questions, grievances. After all, big change takes big community. <3

Stay hungry,
Hawnuh Lee | Founder, Closed Loop Cooking

Use-it-up buddha bowl with crispy tofu.

The dish >>

• A list of mutual aid resources to help those displaced by the LA fires.

• Amazing to see Chef José Andrés receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

• Get started on your sustainable storage collection this year.

• Did you know these things have microplastics?

• Making this veg heavy use-it-up buddha bowl with crispy tofu to kick off Veganuary.

• Satiating my snack tooth with tangy sourdough discard crackers dipped in this herbaceous carrot top + kale dip.

• Looking for another sourdough discard sweet treat? Try this chocolatey banana bread.

• Dedicate a leftover water bucket in your house.

• Will be looking forward to this 12 month foodie illustration challenge.

Carrot top + wilted kale dip.

19 ways to help the planet in 2025 (that you don’t need extra $$$ for)

Important ways to take imperfect action in the new year by Hawnuh Lee

1. Limit your AI / ChatGPT searches. (This list is written without AI!) Every query uses approx 1 tbsp of water and every data center mines deep earth minerals and displaces local flora and fauna to be built.

2. Eat more plants. Start with Veganuary and just keep that train moving through the next 11 months. Follow CLC for inspiration, ask your friends for recommendations, check cookbooks out of the library. Industrialized animal farming is one of the top contributors to climate change and it’s about time we upend the system.

3. Learn to cook. Even one dish or technique. Teach yourself a new method and learn about the ingredients you’re using.

4. Get to know your neighbors. Like today. In an emergency situation the people physically closest to you are going to be the most important. Get friendly, share leftovers, cul de sac gossip, just connect.

5. Delete your Amazon Prime account. Or limit your purchases as best you can. There was a time before Prime and there will be a time after. Consume less stuff and find the stuff you need from local shops.

6. Don’t have a “no buy year.” Have a buy mindfully, buy local, buy less, upcycle, thrift, swap, or DIY year instead. Keep dollars local when you can and support BIPOC vendors.

7. Grow something. I saw a Thread recently saying ‘growing food is a privilege.’ Assuming food will always show up on shelf is a privilege. Start with regrowing seeds from grocery store produce or saving green onion stalks to resprout or volunteering at a community garden. Just get connected to anything you eat.

8. Get a library card. Support this epically important social service and encourage your friends and family to join the cause.

9. Read Parable of the Sower. Octavia Butler’s incredible pattern recognition is humbling and a must read education. I recommend getting a version in print. 

10. Attend a civic community event. Find one cause, class, club (ideally free) in your neighborhood or surrounding area that supports positive civic change and make it a point to show up. Ask questions, get to know one other person and become someone who is engaged in your community.

11. Stop wasting food. As in, keep following CLC for the best tips. Learn to use up ingredients you have on hand and make it a point to repurpose, freeze, meal plan, etc to make sure nothing goes to waste.

12. Educate yourself on Indigenous land practices. Read Braiding Sweetgrass. Support Land Back petitions and reinstating Indigenous stewardship.

13. Foster or adopt a pet, today! As said by someone with four rescue dogs, shelters are over and at capacity, everywhere. You can make an incredible difference for an animal in need with some tender love and care.

14. If you can’t foster or adopt consider donating supplies or volunteering time to take dogs out on walks or to have play time. It makes a world of difference.

15. Learn how to fix shit. I know planned obsolescence is a reality but we can all extend the life of our products by learning simple fixes to make them last longer. Find a repair clinic near you.

16. Understand the billionaire's authoritarian rhetoric.

17. And under tyranny, do not obey in advance.

18. Drive less. If at all possible, walk, bus, bike, carpool, public transit whenever and wherever you can.

19. Acknowledge collective grief. And share in it with friends. Community is everything.

I love this delicate cauliflower arrangement.

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Have an idea we should feature in the newsletter? Want to work with us? Drop a line at [email protected]. We can’t wait to see what y’all cook up next! #closedloopcooking