#5SmartReads - November 30, 2022

Hitha on the future of food, a climate warning, and the show (and star) you're about to be obsessed with

November 30, 2022

When you hear the term "processed food," what comes to mind?

For me, it's a convenience store shelf filled with chips, candy, and other snack items that have been formulated with that magical combination of salt, sugar, and fat to make you eat the entire bag - and go get another bag.

You probably don't think about the salt you season your food with, the milk you pour into your coffee, or the bread you toast and slather with your favorite spread.

These foods are also processed. But rather than be formulated to be addictive, the latter are formulated to be more nutritious, safe, and to last longer.

Like everything else in the world, processed foods have a spectrum - but we only focus on the two opposing sides of it. I would even argue that we only hear about the dangers of ultraprocessed foods and assigning this fear to the entire spectrum.

This is a very smart piece that delves into the fears around processed foods and offers clear explanations based in science, not emotion.

I'm resisting the urge to make all the tea puns right now. If any article deserved them, it's this one.

Living in England made me an ardent tea drinker. When we moved to Colorado shortly after our time in the UK, I was enamored by the locally made Celestial Seasonings tea, and would brew a cup of Sleepytime Tea every night before bed.

Little did I know that this tea has a backstory that needs to be a Netflix documentary. The founders of Celestial Seasonings were devoted believers of The Urantia Book, which is filled with an incredibly racist and eugenicist doctrine that seems at odds with the peaceful, cozy bear that adorns every box of tea.

I'll never look at a box of Sleepytime Tea - or the little quotes on the boxes that used to bring me comfort - the same way again.

The heat wave of 2021 in the Pacific Northwest was not an aberration. It's a warning of what the new normal will be.

A combination of increasingly drier soil and a distorted jet stream pattern are the key factors here, and only stand to get drier and more distorted in the coming years.

"Our study is the first to pinpoint how warming-induced land drying has transitioned the Pacific Northwest from a wet region without effective soil moisture-temperature feedbacks to a transitional climate between wet and dry," said study coauthor Mingfang Ting of Columbia University.

"That can strengthen land-atmosphere feedbacks and thus large temperature swings."

Climate scientists are doing the hard work of understanding the causes in depth to correct the climate models we have now and come up with near and long term solutions. And while the key culprit of emissions are massive enterprises who are slow-walking any efforts to reduce emissions, I hope we all take micro-actions to do what we can to live a little more sustainably.

I need Beatrice Ayorinde to write a parenting book, because her daughters are literally taking over the world (as they should!).

Esther is reshaping the world of technology sales as the founder of GrowthQ and as an investor. Demi Grace's music will soothe your soul and change your life (really). After turns in Girls Trip, Harriet, and Them, Deborah is taking over the lead role and the family business in Amazon Studios' forthcoming Riches, which premieres this weekend.

Riches may be billed as Black Succession, but it so much more than that.

"My favorite thing about this show is the representation. You have not only Black British people represented, you have Caribbean, Nigerian and African American—Nina is, in a sense, is American as well because she spent so much time there. That reflects a lot of my story as well. It's been a blessing to see that representation on screen and bridge that gap between Black people everywhere. It’s something that I'm so proud of when it comes to the show.

For me, Nina’s story is probably the closest to my own personal story that I've ever played in my career thus far. When I read the script, I literally asked [series creator]  Abby Ajayi because it shocked me that we hadn't met before, this is so much of my story in this script. The show has, from the beginning, been very personal to me. It wasn't hard for me to understand Nina: it wasn't hard for me to understand the nuances of her life and why she is the way that she is. I feel seen, to be honest."

Most of the headlines from the midterm elections are focused on both chambers of Congress. But there are some races that will affect the daily lives of Americans - and Black candidates made history this election and stand to make a tremendous impact in their terms and in the future.

“If we have more Black, brown, female lieutenant governors, that’s more amazing candidates to have in the pool to be able to run for governor. In our 300-year history of this country, to only have had three Black governors is pretty disturbing when Black people are a significant population of the country,” Pearson said. “I think more Black lieutenant governors are going to be important. … They’re able to take that knowledge to the governor’s mansion for the benefit of an entire state.”

The attorneys general, secretaries of state, and lieutenant governors elected this cycle have been impactful in their previous roles, and have big plans to continue their work to create a more just union.

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