Dear Anita

Sending hugs to T, on their gender identity. I feel like for many trans people  who are questioning their identity it’s helpful for them to use gender-neutral pronouns as they work on building themselves up. Most trans people are okay with people using they/them pronouns for them as they explore their gender identity. They/them refers to a person who doesn’t fit into the binary gender spectrum and the transgender community  consists of those gender-nonconforming  individuals. Over time as T, starts to explore support groups they might decide they want to use he/him pronouns. Sometimes it’s hard for trans people to express themselves from the start because society tends to have different expectations of gender and it takes time for people to explore themselves. There may be some initial confusion at first and that’s okay. Support groups are very helpful since they allow people to connect with others who are feeling the same way. Oftentimes children growing up born as a biological sex male or female learn certain gender expectations for society or their parents. But gender is a spectrum and there’s different genders outside the binary. When children feel a “disconnect ” with their gender identity from their biological sex then they may be experiencing gender dissonance since their gender identity doesn’t match their biological sex. Support groups like local lgbtq groups in the community can be helpful for the child questioning their gender identity because they will be among other individuals where they can learn more about things and be free to express themselves more. A website, I enjoyed was allymoms made by the mother of a trans son. She made the website for trans people to talk with people online that helped them connect with resources in their location. A trans person  could talk with a mom that understood their feelings and feel validated. Since support groups for trans people are now becoming more common, it’s significantly helped with trans people’s mental health. Some libraries have trans books that are very helpful. There is no set age that a person can know that they are trans. Since children often learn about gender when they are five years old, they will likely start forming a grasp of their gender then. Gender dysphoria is often very common during the teens because people as they hit puberty will feel insecure about their bodies. Gender dysphoria is the intense feeling that the body that the person is developing doesn’t match how they feel and this can provide lots of anxiety for people. For trans people gender dysphoria might be early before teens but in teens it tends to become more noticeable. Not all trans people have intense gender dysphoria and some have less gender dysphoria. Having supportive environment can help T work through their feelings.  Many trans people who have a supportive environment will have lower depression and anxiety. Maybe they can talk with a gender therapist and start wearing gender neutral clothes. Usually, when socially transitioning and wearing gender neutral or male clothes a person identifying as a transmale feels happy. Exploring what makes you happy is what’s a good plan.

Hugs anita, thanks for all your insights

I still get anxiety over things and it’s hard for me to speak up sometimes. I need lots of practice and hiking nature trails is calming. I’ve been thinking of working with nature park conservation or helping with sustainable management. Sustainable management provides equity such as food justice for impoverished families, environmental friendly services, ways to conserve resources so our future generations can enjoy them, making sure that people get fair wages. Sustainable management covers economic growth as it works on environmental health because with a better environment and more equitable management of resources people will be happier and increase productivity. I find that the UN has the sustainable development goals and they are very fascinating. They want to limit environmental health hazards like pollutants from smog, improve access to people getting jobs, end poverty. I have always been fascinated at sustainable agriculture and how people can feed a growing population without degrading the environment. Currently the issue is water in the pine barrens in new jersey. Many of the freshwater ground water pools are drying up due to development. People are cutting down trees so that the soils don’t hold as much water anymore and agriculture uses 30% of world’s water. So the concept of sustainable agriculture and sustainable nature conservation is very fascinating because I wonder how we can protect the environment that we’re losing. There used to be lots of tall pine trees but they were mostly cut down to make charcoal for furnaces or medical use and the last charcoal furnace was in the 1990s. My pine barrens class and the UN class I took last semester are fascinating, been learning lots.

I’ve been planning out things not to overwhelm myself or berate myself, working on being kind to myself. I still slip from time to time but I’m working on reminding myself of my worth when my inner critic tells me I’m not worth it

Grateful for you

Dear Anita

I love that question you wrote “Are you and the people who teach sustainable management optimistic?”

I feel that most people are optimistic about sustainability because people want to protect the earth they live on and conserve resources for future generations. Sustainable farmers tend to be optimistic about sustainability because they have experienced the Dust Bowl times. In my plants and agroecology class last fall, I learned that industrial agriculture is bad for the environment since it uses lots of synthetic fertilizers, tilling the soil which reduces organic matter, and decreases the health and biodiversity of the soil. During the Dust Bowl, the soils were farmed extensively without adding compost to repair the depleted top soil layer so when the wind blew it caused the soil without cover to blow away and cover homes making people lose lots of their products. Industrial agriculture tilled the soil so much with plows and tractors that the top soil didn’t have very much time to grow (an inch of top soil takes about 500-1000 years to make from the physical weathering with the breakdown of rocks to make soil minerals) so the top soil is being depleted faster than it is replaced and without the soil layer erosion from wind and water can cause soil to move around. Sustainable farmers are optimistic about developing more sustainable farm practices such as cover cropping and reduced tilling. In cover cropping, the farm plot is covered with a crop (buckwheat, chives, spinach, clover have been used) to prevent weed growth and keep the soil loose so they don’t have to till as much with the plow or tractor. The cover crop can be composted returning the carbon to the soil for plants to grow. Furthermore, if farmers grow a food cover crop like spinach or buckwheat they can harvest it to sell on the farmers market along with their other produce. The cover crop does another important thing which is that it covers the soil and prevents it from erosion. Sustainable farmers use natural methods to control pests and bugs like spraying with baking soda and citric acid (found in lemon juice) to clean off bugs and powdery mildew. Since industrial agriculture uses lots of expenses of pesticides and fertilizers (usually after they deplete their top soil so they need to apply fertilizer), it can be expensive for them. Whereas sustainable farmers will use intercropping which is planting crops together that grow well such as planting corn, beans and squash. The squash grows low on the ground and the beans are higher. Beans are legumes so they fix nitrogen and it is an organic way for plants to get nitrogen from the atmosphere for plants. The beans can climb along with the corn rows which grow tall but leave some space for the squash to get just the right amount of sunlight. Another form of intercropping is planting crops to prevent pests from eating plants like planting peppers near the potatoes to reduce potato beetles without use of pesticides. Many farmers use old harvests and plants as compost to return organic matter to the soil and replenish soil nutrients. most synthetic fertilizers contain npk (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Oftentimes industrial farmers spray too much fertilizer on their plants and then the nitrogen and phosphorus is leached into the ground where when it rains it leads to algal blooms in water bodies known as eutrophication. Eutrophication from fertilizer runoff kills the fish in the oceans since they cannot get adequate oxygen due to the algal blooms. Also, the algal blooms in the oceans result in the red tide people see and that red algae contains a neurotoxin that is harmful for organisms which is why it’s advised not to go swimming in algal blooms polluted waters. Sustainable farmers can get more just as much crop yield as industrial farmers and they do it without degrading the environment.

However, sustainable development on a world scale is very difficult and people aren’t very optimistic about it. Africa still has high infant mortality rates and people living in poverty (sciencedirect). The sustainable development goals of the United Nations is to end poverty, provide economic justice for all like fair wages for women, social justice where no one is marginalized for their race or ethnicity and provide environmental health.

People are interested in electric cars because they are supposedly sustainable but the batteries for the car charging contain lithium which has to be mined and mining often destroys the landscape. Electric cars like the tesla model 3 produce more emissions if a person drives it for less than 20,000 miles because the lithium battery voltage tends to decrease efficiency with more charging. However, above 20,000 miles the tesla model 3 produces less emissions than the gas powered cars (reddit) So there might be reduced carbon emissions and less global warming effects but the lithium battery only lasts four years and then it needs to be recycled. The international panel of climate change in 2014 stated that cars produce 72% global emissions and planes 10%. Electric cars store energy in their batteries (made from rare earths like lithium and nickel) which are mined deep below the earth so they have negative environmental consequences. Unless people can maybe use solar energy or maybe wind energy to power electric cars than maybe with these renewable sources it would be more sustainable. In the EU in 2011, only 5% of the lithium was collected and incinerated than the rest was just thrown into landfills which contributes to more environmental effects.

The population is estimated to grow to nine billion by 2050 and earth’s carrying capacity is about 10 billion so there would need to be more wiser ways to manage resources. Although the rare earths like lithium for cars appear to be adequate supply for the upcoming futures, we might not have enough as the growing population increases.

That’s why sustainable agriculture is important to help provide food for a growing population but if earth exceeds it’s carrying capacity there isn’t a lot of land space for all of us.

Therefore sustainability covers the political, social, environmental and economic aspects of the world. For political, it would be country borders and electing leaders fairly because a nation with strong leaders who protect people’s rights can help with economic growth. Economic growth cannot occur without social progress either, if many people are living in poverty then they don’t have adequate resources to build roads to participate in the trade markets. The UN Peacecorps has been helping with political issues like country borders and helping distribute necessary supplies like clean water and sanitation supplies for people in Ghana to improve their social and political welfare. And the environment is often forgotten when seeking profits but sustainability’s biggest part is the environment we live in. If we don’t have a world then the political, economic and social things wouldn’t work.

So although sustainability is difficult, it is important and provides optimistic value to improve our living on earth.

Some interesting resources

https://youmatter.world/en/are-electric-cars-eco-friendly-and-zero-emission-vehicles-26440/

Dear Anita

I’m glad that T and T’s father have you as a supportive person to talk to. Supporting a child who is transgender or questioning their gender identity can be difficult and it won’t be without mistakes. But it’s important that children know they are loved and safe being who they are. Parents listening to their children, and telling them that they love them will help their children feel less alone as they explore their gender identity. The child might not have all the answers yet and parents and children will be learning along the way. It’s important that parents check with their child’s feelings, sometimes when children identify as transgender or question their gender identity they might experience feelings of anxiety. Letting children know that you are there for them can help children feel more comfortable talking with their parents. I found dara hoffman-fox videos “asking a gender therapist ” videos on youtube very helpful. For a child questioning their gender identity, it can help them feel better about themselves if they have opportunities to explore how they’re feeling. I think dara hoffman-fox says that if a person feels happy and confident being the opposite gender they were born as then they are transgender. There’s no right or wrong way to be transgender. If a person identifying as a transmale feels happy dressing with suit, ties, sweatshirts, sweatpants, darker more masculine colors they’re valid. The important thing is for parents to reach out to support groups in their area. Pflag and glaad are lgbtq resources that provide trans resources for transgender people and their families.

Callhimhunter is a resource for transgender people to talk to trans ally moms about their feelings. It was created by a mother whose son came about as transgender and wanted to be called hunter with he/him pronouns. The site has ally moms that are available in different u.s. states for trans children to talk to.

I really liked the book trans bodies, trans selves. There are often resources at local libraries. If the person ever feels like they are alone and struggling with mental health, trans lifeline is a national network that is available to talk via text or phone call and trans lifeline can help trans people get access to resources.

Another book I loved was the gender workbook by Kate bornstein where trans people can explore their gender identity and have fun with it. I will try to share the pdf file.

Resources

Resources

point of pride has binder requests that transmales can apply for binders to help with their dysphoria. binder requests are up to two years.

gc2b often has raffles for giftcards for binders.

binders can help transmales feel less gender dysphoria and anxiety.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Rh1T1PQ-OJ527Ce1z15kFZgcOtAF87G/view?usp=drivesdk

Kate bornstein book