When respected weather forecasters start sounding like mad scientists from a Hollywood apocalypse movie … maybe it's time to start taking things seriously.
BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Whether your thoughts about climate change are emotional (that'd be Red) or based on fact and science (Black, of course), there's no getting around the fact that it's a controversial subject, although the recently released United Nations report seems to be undeniable.
Red may not pay attention to all the details, but she's been a climate change "believer" for a while now. To date, she hasn't been a "Debbie Downer" (as she'd say) or outspoken (although she does admire the tenacity, if maybe not the personality, of environmental activist Greta Thunberg who got the world's attention with her "How dare you" comment to the United Nations), but things have now changed dramatically,
One of my favorite movies is "The Day After Tomorrow" with Dennis Quaid, which is all about an unexpected, and disastrous, turn in the timing of climate change. When it was released in 2004, I thought the movie had great special effects, good acting, but a logic-defying plotline – now, I feel like it was more of a Hollywood version of a documentary predicting where we're heading. Rapidly.
Black is used to Red's love of movies, and the occasional analogies to real-life (and often rolls her eyes at them), but couldn't help but think that it was only two years later, in 2006, that Vice President Al Gore was behind the documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." While many people questioned the seriousness (and timeline) of climate change, Black asked herself, "What if it was the reason for the rapidly changing weather patterns?" And that if we did nothing (which she often explains is a decision – a decision to maintain the status quo), we might find ourselves in a dire situation. One that could've been avoided.
We aren't experts, but there's no ignoring the United Nations report (technically, it was issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of scientists convened by the United Nations) that forecasts a potentially extremely dire situation within the next few decades. It explains how the dramatic and catastrophic weather events we've seen in the last few years aren't coincidences but rather a harbinger of things to come.
Regardless of what you may have thought before, it's becoming harder and harder to deny the potentially catastrophic impact of climate change and what we've already seen in our lifetime (National Geographic has a library of climate change articles). The key's not only talking about it … but doing something about it. Yes, governments need to take action, but as individuals, we can do our share. And even though cars are part of the problem, Black can't help but have a racing analogy,
When you race, there is not much you can do about the next corner because it is coming too quickly. It is a commitment you have already made. You see it in your peripheral vision, but you are focused on the things you can change. On the next lap, you focus on improving what you did last time. But, if you find yourself heading straight toward a wall, you quickly slow down and steer away. We are heading toward a climate change wall – at full speed – and need to take control of the wheel. Immediately!
When the news is challenging or life’s stressful, there’s something comforting about Girl Scout cookies. Always has been, which is why we’re rerunning this post from several years ago.
Girl Scouts, though, are about so much more than cookies, as year-round girls learn important life skills, gain confidence, and discover leadership skills. But buying cookies is such a sweet way (sorry, we couldn’t resist) to support the organization. Red’s favorite is the classic shortbread (now known as Trefoils), and Black buys a large assortment and gives them all away.
But hurry! Cookie season ends on March 23.
P.S. - If S’mores and Toast-Yay! are your favorites … make sure you stock up as this is the last year they’ll be available.
Let's play word association. If we say, "Girl Scouts," what's the first word that comes to mind? Ok, what's the second word?
BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: When Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low organized the first Girl Scout meeting – hoping to create an organization that redefined what was possible for girls everywhere – there was no way for her to know the difference it would make in the lives of millions of girls and their communities.
Many people's first (and sometimes only) image of Girl Scouts is as cookie salespeople – either selling door-to-door or at a make-shift table at a grocery or other store (or having their parents hand you an order form). But if you've been a Girl Scout (both of us have) or know someone who has, you know that Girl Scouts are about so much more.
So, as we celebrate the Girls Scouts being around for over 100 years, we should celebrate the years of fun and friendships, and for helping girls learn important qualities such as responsibility, courage, strength, and independence. Qualities that are as important in 2021 as they were in 1912.
And what better way to celebrate than to buy some Girl Scout cookies? Guilt-free as you're helping a good cause.
Today’s turbulent times for Jews may overshadow the celebration of the Jewish New Year, one of the holiest of the Jewish holidays. Yet, ironically, we feel it should strengthen its significance, as the holiday is a time for reflection on the past and hope for the future.
If you think today’s politics are ugly … let’s talk about a man who named himself “dictator for life” of the Roman empire, and is then assassinated by a group of senators, including his best friend. (However, there’s a “pretty” part – Cleopatra was his mistress.) Food trivia and leadership lessons aside, the fact July is named after him is the perfect excuse to rerun one of Red’s favorite Banter Bites …
Quick! If someone says "Julius Caesar," what comes to mind?
BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Almost everyone has heard of Julius Caesar, but how many of us really know much about him, or at least that's what Red starts to wonder when she receives the usual flippant, but still accurate, reply from her sister, after feeling very proud that she knew that July was named after the famous Roman.
Which is what got Red to realize, much to her surprise (shock, if truth be told), that even as a straight-A student with a love of history, that when it came to Julius Caesar, a famous historical figure and possibly one of the greatest generals and statesmen of all time, she couldn't tell you dates or battles or anything "historical" associated with him.
Even as a theater major in college, she never read Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," although she knew just enough about the play to know that it was where the fortune teller warned Caesar to "Beware the Ides of March." Instead, her knowledge of Caesar came from her love of movies.
My first, and probably my most enduring, memory is of a brilliant general who not only commanded armies as he conquered lands far from home but was a great statesman who was also involved with one of the world's most beautiful women. And while he was Julius Caesar and the woman was Cleopatra, to me, they'll always be Rex Harrison and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, a movie almost as controversial as the general himself.
And Black? Besides knowing that Caesar Salad was invented by a different Caesar, she appreciates Julius Caesar's leadership skills and way with words,
There is much we can learn about leadership from Julius Caesar, whether on the battlefield, in politics, or in business (start small, take risks, communicate well), including what ultimately led to his death (always consider worst-case scenarios, never get complacent or arrogant). Many of his quotes speak (pun intended) to his powerful way with words, and the ability to not only deliver a message but to inspire (and story tell), with my favorite being, "I came, I saw, I conquered."