Philippe Lazaro
OCTOBER 2016

A Better Way to Plant Trees

I used to think of planting trees as one of the simplest ways to do something good. Trees are pretty straightforward, help heal the earth, and are simply pleasant to be around.

Turns out, the act of tree planting can be pretty complicated! In a frenzied effort to plant as many trees as possible, there have been several recent examples of tree planting going really wrong. These include scenarios where reforestation sites have displaced human communities, cases where harmful species have been planted, or where a failure to account for social factors have resulted in a net loss of trees.

Get this, though. Tree planting is still important. We just need to figure out a better way to do it, one that turns up the good and reduces the harm.

Based on my recent visit to a Plant With Purpose reforestation site in Ethiopia and my conversation with tree planters, here are a few core ideas behind tree planting in an effective way:

🌳 Plant the right tree in the right place

🌳 Let the locals lead

🌳 Pay attention to social/economic factors

🌳 Focus on beliefs around trees, not just behaviors

🌳 Strive for whole-ecosystem health

Tony Gwynn

I wanted to do a Tony G piece this year since it’s been ten years since the Patron Saint of San Diego passed. Saw a thread polling people on the hardest ballplayers to hate, and unsurprisingly he was a top five response.

Once I met Tony Gwynn at a Gateway Computer Store. Had to have been one of the most 1990’s days of my life. Great guy. Great hitter too, of course.

The Bad News Bias

A big announcement dropped a couple weeks ago.

A pre-exposure prophylaxis medication against HIV had its phase 3 study end early… because it had already shown to be so effective that anything delaying this from getting to the public would at this point be unethical.

The tools to end, or at least significantly disarm the threat of HIV within our lifetime are now coming into focus, and I keep thinking about some of the HIV-impacted kids I spent some of my earliest post-college years working with.

This is perhaps the 6th or 7th major disease this decade I’ve seen this happen with. What would’ve been an ominous prognosis 20 years ago is now liveable. I’ve also seen very few headlines about this. No major media outlet blasted this, you would’ve likely needed to seek it out, or have heard about it from someone more immersed in HIV reporting.

I think of all the people I know who face copious anxiety, at least partially because of all that goes on in the world. Yes, there are a ton of horrors too. But bad news travels so much faster than good news, even really good news. Don’t forget to factor that in to however you feel about the world.

Rhys the Travel Buddy

I took Rhys traveling around Finland for a week and by the end, couldn’t help but think to myself… I got a really great travel buddy.

We talked about our “big snowy trip” for months. He got real familiar with the Finland page of his world map book. He triple checked with me to make sure the wolves and wolverines would stay within the woods of the Taiga and not be in our way.

Kid took to the adventure with all the enthusiasm and curiosity that comes natural to a four year old, but also with a sense of adaptability and teamwork that many adults struggle with. In the end, he had a great time. I had a great time.

I kept thinking of our first year together. Him as a squish and both of us cooped up at home. At some points it felt like I might never travel again. A part of me was okay with that, and another part was dying. Four years later, I can be both dad and backpacker. We get to walk together to find the right train platforms and food markets.

It’s brought me so much joy to hear him share stories from the trip with the rest of the family in his own words. We did so much cool stuff, but what was really cool was getting to do it with him.

Best Books of the 21st Century

The NYT Books section recently released its picks for the Top 100 books of the 21st Century, so far, given that we just hit the quarter-mark.

I was honestly surprised to see that I was in agreement with so many of their picks! Then I read the reader picks and thought… huh, this list is pretty good too.

Then I just needed to make my own. But I don’t read quite as much as the whole books section of the biggest newspaper. So I cut it in half. Here are my top 50. My excuse for every snub is that I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Tree Planting Day in Ethiopia

Check out this reforestation day in Ethiopia.

Here is something I often see left out of the conversation around tree planting, unfortunately. The local population. COMMUNITY! A lot of time it’s easy to think of forests and imagine National Parks or the Canadian Rockies, places that have very little human activity. But in some of the most critical and endangered forests in the world, like the Amazon or the Congo Basin, human communities play a vital role in maintaining the forest.

When you have a community that understands the social, spiritual, cultural, and economic benefits for having trees, and when you address concerns like poverty that often drive tree cutting, you wind up with local caretakers and protectors of the forest. And they are the most effective stewards of the land that you could ask for.

10 years after one of my best days

It’s been a decade

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the ten year anniversary of my proposal to Deanna. (Yup, that’s something I track and celebrate… at least for big numbers like TEN)

Anyways, it was a great day. Naturally, we rewatched the video of the event a couple times. I managed to recruit friends and family from all kinds of corners of our life and turn a pier in Santa Barbara into a blitz restaurant.

Here are some notes & observations of the proposal, ten years after the moment…

1) To make a moment meaningful, make it FOR the person you’re celebrating

Sometimes it can get a little too tempting to create a moment around my own sense of what would be romantic or fun. I’ve made this mistake on dates more than once, but there was no way I was going to do that on our proposal.

It seems obvious, but make sure whatever you’re planning actually lines up with what your person finds meaningful!

For Deanna, I already knew that a proposal needed to have her family around. Maybe a few of her closest friends

The summer leading up to the proposal was actually full of fake-outs, most deliberately to throw her off my trail and keep the element of surprise alive for the real thing! We spent that summer in the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Montana, and Lake Tahoe, so there was no shortage of opportunity for a proposal in any of those settings that would’ve been romantic… but it wouldn’t have been as meaningful for her, especially since I couldn’t get her people all out to those spots.

The reminder to make things FOR the person you’re celebrating continues to be important, as I’ve had more opportunities to celebrate different people… including three kids each with their own distinct tastes and personalities.

2) Build that Village

One of my favorite parts of rewatching the videos of that day is seeing the faces of so many people we love cast into different roles in that mock restaurant.

Her cousin was the greeter who seated us. My cousin and another friend took our order. One friend was the floral arranger who was really hiding cameras in the centerpieces. A couple other friends from school and church came to serenade us.

It was a remainder of the people we were fortunate to have in our lives in 2014, and the way community has always mattered to us.

At that point, we were only a couple years removed from college. It was where we met and the bulk of our friendships came from there. It was a really easy season in our life for making friends. In the ten years that have followed? It’s gotten much harder. Schedules busier. People’s lives whisking them in all sorts of directions.

But the importance of having community, of building that village, remains.

I’m thankful that the past 2-3 years have been more plentiful in that department. Sometimes you’ve gotta keep going until you find more people who also recognize the importance of having other people around, switching things up as needed to make it a priority.

3) Set yourself up to be proud of your younger self

I’m not going to lie, rewatching the video makes me proud of that moment. I’m proud of how everything came together for the whole experience. There were at least a handful of things that I did really, really right in my mid-twenties and so many of them came together on that pier.

I once had a friend say that he wanted to keep growing and getting wiser in life, so much so that in five years he’d only look back at his present-day self and laugh at the foolishness.

I love the growth mindset, but if it means drifting so far away from your present day self you have nothing left to do but to discard it, I dunno. Something about that seems off. Might as well get Jason Bourne’d every few years.

I prefer to think of growth as building on top of the foundational blocks you put down today. Of course you grow and evolve and change in many ways. But thinking that I’m building on-top-of today is a better motivator to doing my very best with it.

4) Crafting an experience is one way to show love

And I think it might be my favorite way.

I love taking my kids out on 1:1 mini-adventures with dad.

I’ve loved taking several friends on trips in recent years.

One of the things I love about improv, speaking, and performing is the aspect of creating an experience for the audience.

I think I place an extra strong emphasis on creating moments because in the end, it’s what we’re left with. Most gifts come apart with age, but our actual lives are a string of moments, and to be able to add an exceptionally good one, a memorable one, on someone else’s string seems like one of the best gifts.

Plus, I’m a big believer that life is a little too big of a gift to not want to free it from repetition and routine to remind us all of how incredible it is to even be here.

5) The Crappy Parts Fade

So there’s another part to the proposal, one that kind of sucks, and one that I often forget about. And I bet almost everyone else who was there doesn’t remember it until I bring it up.

I bought Deanna’s engagement ring as a set with a wedding band, and just after she said yes, I took out the box to show her the other part. Opening the box had the effect of thrusting the ring upwards and out of the box.

It fell onto the pier, spun around a few times, and right into a crack between planks.

There’s at least one gold ring down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean if anyone wants it.

When that happened, it felt like the easiest thing to shrug off. There was no way I was letting that bring down how good of a day it was. What’s a ring when held up against an entire future together? I thought of the spinning ring as comical, then shrugged it off for the rest of the day.

Of course I’m not thrilled about losing something that valuable to the ocean. But what can you do? Making the choice to not feed the disappointment with any oxygen was the right choice.

Also, we ended up getting a matching set from a quirky jeweler at an Oregon farmers’ market that we’ve been wearing the past decade. Seems more ‘us’ in the long run, anyhow.

I love having moments in the past that I can look back on and simply say, “yeah, wow. I’m really glad I did that.” And since my early-to-mid 20s were such an eventful time in my life, it feels like I’ve been commemorating a lot of those lately.

But the way you get there is to simply make the choice in the present to make the moment. Give your future self some gold to look back on. (Just not literal gold. That’s for the ocean.)

Paella

Wikipaella is an online platform on a mission to save Valencia’s signature dish from being bastardized and lost in translation.

A proper paella isn’t meant to be a seafood showcase. It’s traditional proteins have been chicken and rabbit. It’s actually meant to be more of a presentation of the rice and saffron, highlights of regional trade, rather than all the fixins. And the Wikipaella editors aren’t afraid to take shots at the likes of Jamie Oliver for his inclusion of chorizo. “Imagine if we said that we were making typical British fish and chips and we were putting oranges in it?”

Are they cops? Yes. Cops of cuisine. Are they gatekeeping? Proudly. It’s impressive and intimidating all at once. There are as many things to argue about regarding paella as there are ways to make the dish.

So you want to plant trees

Planting trees is in many ways more popular than ever.

On the whole, it’s a good thing that there’s so much interest in reforestation. But, there’s a right way to do it. There’s more to it than frantically planting a large quantity of trees. You need to think in terms of the ecosystem.

When you think about the entire ecosystem, it becomes important to plant the right tree. It becomes important to involve the local community. It becomes important to not just plant trees, but to protect them.

Things That Demand Presence

Improv, travel… even baseball. There’s this throughline between the things I enjoy doing most.

They’re things that ask you to get out of your own head. To be in your body. And to be totally present.

It’s strange and a bit unfortunate that being present like that, having to focus on nothing but the event right in front of you, takes special effort and invitation. But locking into that flow is so rewarding.

I’m a bit of a chronic multitasker and doer-of-too-man-things in everyday life. Time usually feels like it’s going too fast. Rather than always trying to go faster I love those invitations to hop off the treadmill through something that feels a bit more like play.

Finnish Happiness Hits Different

Finland has been named the World’s Happiest Country for several years in a row now. It’s a nice little win streak.

But if you were to spend some time in Finland and got to know a few Finns, you might start questioning that. Like, wait… these are the happiest people in the world? They don’t exactly seem especially jolly.

Generalizing, of course, but Finnish culture tends to be reserved. And they have a habit of tempering expectations in a way that might seem like pessimism to a lot of other cultures. It’s really different from how I’m used to thinking of happiness. Finns aren’t terribly caught up in futuristic ambitions. Back in the U.S., there’s a constant effort to try and ‘make it,’ to accomplish some big feat.

In Finland, people set their aim toward being just okay. Reaching a state of contentment. Being okay or content is a higher priority than being exuberant.

On one hand, I like that. It keeps you grounded and present. On the other, I dunno. I kind of like riding the highs and lows of a pursuit.

Sanya

Seven years ago this summer, I took my first visit to a Plant With Purpose program site: Tanzania.

Dropping new art of Joyce in Sanya to commemorate it.

I visited communities right at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It made the links between climate change and poverty pretty clear.

Melting ice, unpredictable rain, longer dry seasons all set up the land for soil erosion. When you’re in a community where everybody farms and life is already difficult, an inadequate harvest is devastating.

Despite this situation affecting some 800 million people, I never saw an approach well tailored to deal with this intersection until Plant With Purpose, taking it a step forward to improve people’s land and livelihoods by integrating their spiritual lives.

Thanks for the outstanding hospitality, Tanzania. I still have strong memories of the enthusiastic welcome.

Valencia

A flavorful little taste into our life in Valencia:

Evenings of making poser paella, a playground right outside our front door, windy beach evenings, using the colorful gym at the end of our street to navigate, xurros and orxata, city buses, Mercadonas, and the best Gulliver’s Travels themed park I’ve ever been to.

Top 100 Books, Tick Tick Boom, & Mongolia's Olympic Drip

The Very Best of July 2024

Ah, July 2024, what an absolutely normal, uneventful month you were, yeah?

We all know what’s up. The forces that shape the world’s headlines must’ve tapped in a few telenovela writers to contribute because, sheesh, what drama. I’m hoping that whatever helps ground you and bring peace has been at arm’s reach.

Amidst all that drama, it’s also been a pretty wild month in my personal life. At the start, I was supposed to run a marathon, but 72 hours before race day, I learned that it had been postponed until September, thus kicking off a strange season of running in maintenance mode to stay in shape but avoid injury.

While that was going on, I learned of the passing of two family members, and a friend’s dad, all within 72 hours of each other.

With those losses running in parallel alongside all the surprises this month, it served as a very stark but important reminder to not take anything for granted. That any day you wake up healthy and surrounded by your people is a day worth embracing.

While none of us know how things unfold from here, I can say that it’s a privilege to unearth each day.

The very best Debate: The NYT’s Best Books of the 21st Century 

I could note the very worst debate, but let’s not go there. The book section of the New York Times has been very busy. Seeing as we’re a quarter of the way through the century, they curated a Top 100 list of the books that have been released so far, a list that undoubtedly stirred up some controversy!

They simultaneously released a list of reader picks, and the contrast seemed to reveal some of the flaws of the editor’s lists, namely a narrow focus on certain genres.

I can’t resist making my own list of picks that I’ll probably share sometime in the near future, but for now I’ve got to say, I’m surprised with how much I overall agree with the “official” list.

The very best live performance I saw: Tick… Tick… Boom!

Deanna and I recently got to spend a date seeing the Cygnet Theatre put on a local production of Tick… Tick… Boom!

The autobiographical black-box musical of Rent composer Jonathan Larson’s pursuit of a dream has so many themes that are right up my alley, most notably feeling like you’re working against the clock to do what you were made for. (I’m guessing this is a thing for Lin Manuel Miranda and perhaps the reason why he refer to bring the screen adaptation led by Andrew Garfield to life).

Anyways, the production I saw was so well acted that it was the performances that stood out the most. I sort of

had a hunch that would be the case when I saw A.J. Rafael in the lead. That’s a pretty big deal for Filipinos of a certain age. AKA, my own age.

The very best memoriam: James Lawson

The US lost a giant of Civil Rights and social change last month. The Rev. James Lawson was a dedicated teacher of non-violence for decades and decades, having influenced leaders of movements like the Nashville sit-ins and Memphis sanitation workers strike. MLK called him America’s greatest teacher of non-violence.

I love the tribute written by one of his students and protégés, Kent Wong:

“When he joined me for tea in my living room, his tone and message were somber. Rev. Lawson challenged me as he had many times during the course of our friendship. He told me that I had to reach into my inner being and come to terms with my purpose in life. He assured me that my time was not yet up, and that there was other important work I had to do.“

The very best thing I watched: Supacell

Okay, to put it simply, this is a slick, slick show. We’ve all seen the “various people around the world develop superpowers” thing before, but in this world, it’s just Black people and it seems to have something to do with sickle cell.

I don’t want to spoil a whole lot, but this show is definitely one of the freshest I’ve seen in a long time. I almost instantaneously started hearing whispers of a season two and I’d be all here for it.

The very best Olympic outfits: Team Mongolia

You’ve perhaps already seen it featured in some viral posts, but when it comes to which team showed up for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the best style, I find it hard to disagree with what seems like the consensus pick. Mongolia. Those ornate threads go really hard.

That said, I also think proper respect needs to be given to the next team on the list, and in my opinion, that’s gotta be Haiti. Haiti’s been in such a rough patch that seeing Haitians go hard on national pride is something I can get with.

The very best quotable social media post: Hank Green

“The abyss is both undesirable and pretty avoidable. Also, pitching the abyss as inevitable feels like a pro-abyss talking point.”

 –Hank Green

This quote appeared in a thread responding to the sense of doomerism that seemed to really be kicked into high gear mid-month.

To be honest, fatalism is becoming a real pet peeve for me. Stop acting like the game has been lost when there is plenty of time left on the scoreboard.

The very best little life hack: Cooking a bunch of food at once

I’ve always rolled my eyes a bit at the obsessive meal planning I see people take on online. Does it really save that much time?

But I discovered another motivation.

The other week, I whipped up three meals simultaneously: a black bean, eggplant, and tofu mix, along with a veggie and vermicelli pan. Both could be served well on a bed of white rice. I also made a whole container of garlic noodles with mock pork crumbles and spinach.

Dishes were a bit obnoxious that night. I didn’t feel like it saved me a ton of time in the moment, but I did realize the benefit of having lots of food in the fridge ready to go.

It kept me from my not-so-great habit of reaching for easily nuked stuff when I had these meals in mass quantity ready to go. If I can put a dent in the amount of processed stuff I end up eating, I’ll be pretty happy about it.

The very best outing I took my kids on: The Birch Aquarium

I brought Kai out for an afternoon adventure at the Birch Aquarium at UCSD. They’ve got a pretty impressive display going right now, including a cool section of dragon fish and some kid friendly touch tanks.

Most of all, walking through the halls of an aquarium is incredibly soothing. It’s hard to walk past the blue lights and ocean creatures without breathing a little more easily.

The very best throwback video I came across: Fred Rogers on Arsenio Hall

This popped up randomly on my timeline, as things tend to do, and it was a nice little timeline cleanse.

The interview was from 1993, and Rogers both embraced the setting while delivering a very Fred Rogers message of why it’s so important to remind each person of how valuable their lives are.

Fred Rogers had such a knack for completely being himself, sticking to a core message that’s uncomplicated but that people need to hear, and bringing it to all kinds of audiences- from Arsenio to Congress. Sometimes it’s not about overthinking your hot takes, but simply bringing a core truth with you wherever you wind up.

The very best art I bought: Like Father by Chuck Styles

I’m revamping my workspace, and thus investing in some art. I finally found a way to buy one of my favorite pieces at a good price… and it turns out this is so large I may need to ultimately find another spot for it. But I absolutely love this Chuck Styles piece.

There isn’t a whole lot of ambiguity about why this speaks to me. My role as a dad is one of my favorite things in life. And I love how this image captures that tenderness as strength. It’s soft, masculine, full of heart, and royal all at once, and something I can’t stop looking at.

Lola's Picture

I’ve long called this my favorite photo I’ve ever taken. It’s now ten years old.

This is from the last time I got to see my Lola, at her 96th birthday. I went with Deanna to give them the chance to meet while we had the opportunity. At her birthday party, she tried hiding her ube cake, watched her great granddaughter play in the pool, and smiled at something just in time for me to snap this.

Miss you, Lola. Happy to report that your more recent great-grandkids are as wonderfully wild as ever.

Best City in Europe?

I know at least a couple people who’ve made the claim that Porto is the best city in Europe.

Is it? Does it have a case to make for that very subjective, easily debatable spot?

It’s an extremely well-rounded city. Big enough to have all the excitement, while still feeling cozy and easy to get around. The city parks are fantastic. There’s a lot of easy access to great spots to eat. It’s walkable, accessible with transit, and right on the coast.

It’s a good city to visit, and it also seems like a solid spot to live.

There are so many cities in Europe I have a fondness for: Vienna, Helsinki, Valencia, Verona… and I’m sure there are even more I haven’t gotten to yet. I’d have to think much harder about my pick. But Porto’s definitely got a spot on the shortlist.

Why Finland always wins at happiness

I spent a week in the happiest country in the world

Every year, the World Happiness Report puts out their list of the happiest countries in the world. The top of the list is usually unsurprising. Half of the top ten spots are usually claimed by the Nordic/Scandinavian countries and sure enough, for something like the seventh year in a row, Finland claimed the top spot.

How do you say dynasty in Finnish???
(dynastia)

With such good grades, Finland’s approach to happiness has become something of legend. The Finnish Tourism Department hasn’t missed the opportunity to advertise the Find Your Inner Finn masterclass, offering visitors a chance to invest in their own happiness by learning from the best.

I already had my own reasons for visiting Finland. Child friendliness, the Northern Lights, and the Arctic Circle being among them, but I figured why not pay attention to the happiness thing while I was there.

I spent time in both Helsinki and Rovaniemi with my four year old. I want my kids to develop the habits of observantness and curiosity, but I’m not so sure I’m the one coaching them. Those traits seem to come naturally to kids.

For what its worth, our own happiness seemed to surge during that week. We had a really good time together, playing around in the snow, riding the trains, and exploring around town. 

One early and immediate observation was that Finnish people were on the reserved side. Incredibly nice and helpful when it came to it, but there was a strong sense of respect for others’ space and less going out of one’s way to talk. I ended up talking to people who moved to Finland in adulthood. A restaurant owner from the Philippines. A driver from the Gambia. They affirmed the observation.

Finnish people, pretty nice, but reserved, they also noticed.

So if I’ve got to highlight the aspects of Finnish culture and society that stand out about happiness, one early observation is this.

1) In Finland, happiness is a byproduct of measured expectations.

There seems to be a sense of aiming for contentment rather than exuberance in Finland, and that results in less disappointment.

Interestingly enough, Finnish attitudes seem to anticipate a certain degree of disappointment and things not working out in life, and many say that this preparedness provides some mental resilience against hardship. The value of Sisu, or finding the courage and willpower to overcome life’s adversities incorporates a level of acceptance and a willingness to face it head on.

That’s why I often say that Finland is the happiest country in the world, but you probably wouldn’t consider it the most optimistic country in the world.

It’s also not the bubbliest country in the world, the most celebratory country in the world, or the most pleasure-oriented country in the world.

Finland doesn’t score high on the World Happiness Report by reaching high highs, but rather, maintaining a solid level of satisfaction and making it accessible to all.

To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about this.

I tend to think the highs and lows of life give it some flavor. I think that guarding yourself from disappointment inevitably also cuts yourself off from living fully.

But that’s just me. I’m pretty happy in life, but I certainly haven’t been called the happiest country in the world for seven years running.

2) That social safety net, though!

It’s impossible to read any proper analysis on Finnish happiness without coming upon some discussion on the country’s strong social safety net. It’s not dissimilar from its Scandinavian peers, which is why all those countries likely show up in the top ten year after year.

Finland was the birthplace of the housing first approach to homelessness. Social services are accessible.

In the words of my Finnish-Gambian driver, “this isn’t really a country where you’ll become rich.” The country’s economic structure keeps most people towards the middle. There are diminished returns on pursuing a high income, high status life, and I can see how that can help bolster a happiness score as well. Without work playing an all-consuming role in most people’s lives, it’s a little easier to live a more integrated and balanced life.

At the same time, you aren’t very likely to totally bottom out in Finnish society. There are plenty of programs supporting those in a state of struggle, funded by the government and Finnish taxpayers.

This keeps poverty at bay, which I think benefits everybody. Not just those avoiding poverty.

If I’m doing really well, but the community around me isn’t, that’s only going to get me so far.

Finns have known that a person’s well-being is connected to their environment.

Historically, that has led to practices that enabled them to fare better against harsh winters. Now that way of thinking extends to the social environment.

Living in a setting where so many people are struggling, desperate, or insecure will still impact the lives of those who have more.

Speaking of the environment…

3) Nature has something to do with it.

There’s a pretty widespread sense of appreciation for being outside in Finland. And we’re talking about a country where the outside temperature isn’t always the most hospitable.

But even when you’re in the most urban spot in the whole country, you’re only about 30 minutes from a national park. In Finland, opting outside doesn’t mean you have to go large distances to visit somewhere pristine, remote, and untouched. It means simply, going outside! That can look like biking instead of driving, walking the scenic way, etc.

In Finland this goes to the extent of letting infants take their naps out in the open air under a blanket, understanding that the open air is “good for you.”

It’s tough to deny the simple mood boost that being outside brings. If you’ve never tracked the ratio of hours spent outside against your overall mood, it’s worth the trouble to examine.

Finland, simply, was one of my most fun trips. I had a great time there, and that seems consistent with its reputation for happiness. I would absolutely embrace the joy of a return trip sometime.