 We need to teach children now more than ever, that they vote each and every day. They vote with their mouths, they vote with their forks, they vote with their wallets, they vote with their screen time. And it's very important to be judicious and understand that in all that we do. And that's the way we're going to reclaim the world for the better of all instead of for the better of a few. Steven is an internationally acclaimed award-winning educator, author of best-selling book, The Power of a Plant and founder of Bream Bronx Machine. Known as America's favorite teacher, Steven is responsible for creating the first edible classroom in the world. He and his students have grown more than 100,000 pounds of vegetables in the South Bronx. Yes, you heard me right. South Bronx have been celebrated by Obama at the White House and three times have been featured on the cover of IMS Magazine for Kids and are the subject of a new full-featured documentary, Generation Growth. Steven was just awarded the 2020 Changemaker Award by the New York City Food Policy Center for his work, advocacy, and impact in public schools across New York City and America. To date, Steven's work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC, TNT, Disney, NPR, PBS, Univision, and Upwardy. In many international media outlets, his TEDx Manhattan Talk boasts over 975,000 views, and it's probably over a million by now, ranked in the top 10 food education on TED Talks of all time and is used for teacher training, workforce development globally. Steven is an Office Depot feature teacher, teacher changes lives. And in 2013, the United States Department of State and the New York Foreign Press Corp's board representatives from 40 countries across Stevens' work sites and classrooms. Steven, it is a dream and a pleasure to have you here today. Thank you so much. Good morning, Mark. That's all you got, man. Come on in to your homework. Oh my god. I'm honored and humbled. It's rather remarkable. You dug deep, as we'd say, in the soil to bring out some gems in the past. So thank you for that very magnanimous and far too kind introduction. I'm an educator, I'm an author, and an advocate, and here I am. So let's get it started. Thank you so much, Steven. I want to tell my listeners, before we get too far into things, how we originally met. It was in 2018, Seeds and Chips. It was hosting a little event there, a fresh food reform that is healthy and sustainable for everyone, and how can we change our food systems? And you were front row and center with your cheese hat. And that's the first time we've met live. Our pass across probably a few times before that. And I'm just so blessed to have you here to get into some deep dive discussion about all the wonderful things you have done. First and foremost, my goodness, you're coming live from New York, from your classroom. I can see the cheese hats. I can see you're animated behind you. And I'm sure in somewhere there's some grow towers and other things around. Dude, we got it going on here. We got food growing. Last week was our first, actually our second harvest of the school season, but we've already got seedlings growing. We've got all kinds of exciting things. Hold on, I'll show you something really cool. Great, great. But just for our listeners, that's coming right from the South Bronx, live in the classroom would really suggest you, you go to the video and check it out. He's bringing over something. You've even got little, in addition to that, we're using Hamama trays to now grow seedlings. And we're gonna turn every window, so in the South Bronx into a little micro farm. So I'm proud to be using Hamama seedling trays. But to your point, this classroom right here, four stories up in 110 year old building was a formerly abandoned classroom. And we kind of visioned it into a place of passion, purpose, hope and opportunity. And it has been nonstop ever since. That is beautiful. So this year actually started out with a bang for most people, really the decade of action, some things started happening and then bam, things went to heck in a hand basket, so to say. I wanna know, because you've been doing this for a long time, you've been educating, you've been speaking about these things, been talking about food, and really right from the bottom up in the hardest places in the world, how have you weathered the pandemic? What's happened? Can you give us a little update? And a lot of things have been going on. Sure, so I do not want to minimize the pandemic and realize four of the five highest infection rates in all of New York City are right here in the South France, combined with the poorest congressional district, America, combined with some of the largest food insecurity issues and food distribution challenges in the nation. So something like this has blown up the food system. If there was a year that our food system and our educational system, and certainly the social justice system has exploded, it is this year. And the results or the consequences have just been unimaginable, absolutely unimaginable. And this virus is obviously symptomatic of three larger viruses, the virus of greed, the virus of corruption, the virus of racism. And it was a perfect storm if you are, and then you throw in just a wave of racial violence and economic uncertainty. It is the absolute recipe for disaster. And what does that disaster look like? Well, we're facing it now. Some schools open, some schools closed. There's really not a good plan in place. The digital divide, the absolute lack of any food in this community at times. So, the alarms were going off for years. People were screaming about this for years. It's sad that it took a pandemic for us to say, oh, now I'm awake like hello. The alarms have been going off for years. Some context in our own community. We've lost over two dozen friends, family, and colleagues right here in this school. We've lost teachers. We've lost loved ones. We've lost family members. The flip side is the greatest percentage of essential workers. People who provide the backbone of the economy for New York City also live here. So it is a conflicted and challenged time. I'm here to say, we've had to help people claim bodies around immigration for fear of deportation. Things that you would have never, never, never imagined. Things I would have never imagined. That said, organizationally, we have proven to be as nimble as nimble can be, and it has really forced us to up the game in ways that we've never imagined. Last weekend, we were proud to distribute 30,000 pounds of food in partnership with Brooklyn Borough President and mayoral candidate Eric Adams, along with City Harvest. Last Friday, we delivered thousands of pounds of food door to door to our senior citizens. So we have looked at organizationally and as residents as ways to number one, solve the program and create new paradigms of success, to leverage every single asset in our community. One of the things I'm noticing, we've delivered, in addition to what we've grown, we've delivered well over 100,000 pounds of food door to door, plus helped feed 2,300 people a day. And this is a small grassroots organization, but it's really leveraging the power of our community. It's also looking at what systems exist and how they were designed and whom they serve and kind of reconfiguring that to make sure we're included. So a community that is traditionally been apart from the table has literally figured out how to build their own and build their own seats and grow for themselves. Now, have we achieved equity? Absolutely not, but I do believe that we've created awareness and opportunity that can undo some of the largest systemic problems we as a nation and the world face. And I couldn't be prouder. We've grown gardens across New York City. We've created subterranean farms, 10 stories under the ground in New York City. We've taken gardens and turned them into internet hotspots so you don't need to go to Starbucks and I'm not knocking Starbucks, but you can go to the garden, get your food, get your outdoor on, get your community on and have access to the internet. So we are really looking at engaging people and every single aspect of our community towards a greater common good. And that is one of liberation, self-determination and equity because it's not enough to say, I am not a racist. And I believe that there are a lot of people who out there who are not racist, but now more than ever it's, how does your behavior, you know, demonstrate, effectively demonstrate anti-racist and pro-equity behavior? It's one thing to say I'm all for equity, but how are you on a daily basis removing the systemic barriers that promote and facilitate injustice and realize that basic lens is food because food justice is racial justice. Who has access to what, when, where and how at what price determines everything. And that's really what this is about. You know, people have been getting fat off the dysfunction of these communities for years and it's time that we take ownership of the problem, ownership of the solution and create blended communities that serve all of us for a greater common good, including the planet as a whole. So it's been a time of great introspection, innovation, a lot of aggravation and a lot of pain, but then, you know, let us always remember the pain, let us continue to say everyone's name, but let this moment be the birth of a movement so that we don't get back to normal, but instead get back to better, get to equitable and grow something greater for everybody. That's so beautiful. And so I really hear some resilience where essential services, where you kind of kept the doors open, kept things moving, kept delivering some food. I really want to even go a little bit deeper. Is there some moments of resilience where your specific students that you've touched over the years or projects that you started before the pandemic where you've heard stories come out, boy, because of what we learned in your classroom, because of the thinking of how vital food is. We had some tools and tricks or we started a new project because now we were seeing grocery store shelves room empty and that some of those things have really proven to be a better business model in times of pandemics. Of course, there's the negative, but I'm also hearing a lot of positive things that still happened during this time. And then after you answer that, then I want to get into, was it always planned that your documentary would come out during this pandemic or was it because of the bubbling to the surface and the microscopic view that that kind of sped up things to get it out faster or that's the kind of the, I want to know if the resilience. So you've got a lot of questions there, Mark. You bet. A lot of questions. But first and foremost, let's get real. In an age where the vaccine may or may not manifest itself, we certainly know we will be the last people to get it. Let's be clear about that. That vaccine will go to the rich, the powerful and the connected. It will trickle its way down here when it's profitable for other people to make sure it gets here, not a day sooner. So what's the one thing that we know that science tells us? Well, the best way to increase your immunity to this virus is through the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. So what are we seeing? We've cultivated an appetite for fresh fruits and vegetables before the virus hits. And we know that if we continue to deliver them, grow them and provide access to them, that food is medicine and medicine is thy food. So we have cultivated an appetite in a culture where people really understand that people look forward to our delivery of greens every single week. Not only because it tastes good, but because they know that is one of the best ways they could boost their immunity system. And again, you know, I will say very wholeheartedly, I'm in four of the five highest zip codes in America. I'd state and I'm out a lot, but I believe I'm sure I've come into contact with the virus, but I fundamentally believe the only reason I have not contracted the virus besides being smart and wearing a mask and doing what I need to do is because the copious amounts of vegetables that I consume and my access to good organic healthy soil right here in New York City. So number one, we've cultivated an appetite for what best inoculates us. And that is that self care, you know, supersedes health care any day of the week. That said, there are a tremendous amount of people here. There are 45,000 people here in eight square blocks, you know, the hurricanes and blackouts of this summer basically left 1.2 million people without power. So imagine what that's like if you're on the 20th floor of an apartment building in a wheelchair. You're not getting down. People are not coming outside. And when they do come outside, it's a tough situation at best. So we have facilitated what I call unity into our community. That's the answer, closer to home. You know, you asked about how our children are involved. Well, even my own daughter is growing food. She was working for Gotham Greens in a greenhouse eight blocks from this very school. One of the proudest things that I could say about Green Bronx machine, the biggest accolade that we have is that we partnered towards 2200 living wage jobs here in New York City and a bulk of them in food, a bulk of them in hospitality and all of them dedicated to what I call a quintuple bottom line, people, planet, progress, profit and purpose. And that which creates a greater sense of equity and opportunity for everyone while respecting Mother Earth. So in that regard, it's been great to see children who understand that the best way to stay healthy and stay safe is to eat the vegetables that they love to grow and can continue to grow. And we will be growing, you know, efficaciously. We took to Zoom cooking, Zoom teaching in a way that no other organization in the world was able to do. And what did that look like? It looked like delivering food to each and every student to access points on Tuesday and then getting online on Wednesday as a community sharing. Now there are tons of great Zoom cooking programs out there and I'm not finding fault with any of them, but it's horrible to watch kids, you know, sitting at home with nothing or shoving Pop Tarts in their mouth while some celebrity chef is cooking Chateau Brion or a brilliant roast or a beautiful roast and there's none of that in our community. So we felt the greatest thing to do was to give children the ingredients. First, level the field, then convene online, provide access and it has gone viral. I'm proud to say that I've touched thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of children in one shot through the summer. So in some ways this and even this magical TV notion, you know, here I am talking to you on TV, if you will through the luxury of my computer has forced the world to really look at how we communicate, educate and inform each other on best practices and best policies. It's come at a tremendous price and let us never, ever forget the price for which we have paid for it, but instead respect it and go forward in a way that's unimaginable. As for the documentary Generation Growth, well, please go to the Green Bronx Machine website and check out the trailer. The documentary should have been done literally probably a year ago. The pandemic, you know, created issues of epic proportions. Whether it was, you know, getting people to work together, figuring out how to collaborate, how to edit, how to get people involved. I would have loved to have seen it come out, you know, earlier, but there are a lot of things that I'd like to see and the one thing that, you know, time is, is time is a thing I must earn. And as we say in the film, you can't rush growth. So there's a season for everything and we're in the season of the documentary, which by the way is earning awards and accolades everywhere. People are really excited to see it. They really enjoy it. It screams that teachers change life. It's the teachers change lives. I think the documentary is far more a celebration of everyone and everything and all that is possible when people come together in the best interests of our children and our community. So I think it wound up being very timely. As we speak, you know, we are in the process of working on distribution. That's a whole other nightmare. There are so many other things that quite honestly are very pressing in the world. So prioritizing, you know, our wants versus our needs is a lesson that we continue to learn. But people who see the film absolutely love the film. I want to give a big heartfelt shout out to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield for sponsoring the sites that are in there and for underwriting the documentary itself because it's something that we could have never afforded or thought of doing at that time. But case in point, the farm in Appalachia, I don't know if you've seen the trail, we have a first foster care farm in America run by children in Appalachia. It's up and running, it's making money and during the pandemic, what are they doing in lockdown? Growing copious amounts of food and staying healthy. So the impact has just been magnificent. You know, in my nutty mind, the dangerous place to live, I might add. I'm already thinking of things that'll be great for the sequel, but the documentary could not be more timely, could not be more appropriate. You know, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll jump for joy. It's a full 97 minutes. It's mind-numbing. It went from being a series of shorts, social media shorts, highlighting the work and documenting what we were doing to really featuring the movement and highlighting the trajectory of these children's lives over a period of two years. So it's absolutely fascinating. The growth that you will see and the impact that we have had in these schools is remarkable. So it's really exciting and I couldn't be more excited. So go to the Green Bronx Machine website and check out the trail or documentary growth and sign up for an update because it will be coming to a theater or video on demand near you soon. I will definitely put all the links in the show description and obviously it'll be a video on as well as audio as well. I really appreciate you going into detail on that and kind of getting us up to speed. What you've experienced during this whole time has just been tremendous and has been strength for all. I think no one could have put it more eloquently than you. You've taught around the entire world, students and adults on different things. But in the Bronx, you focus on, can you tell us a little bit more of what age groups you focus on? Who is your main students? And is it really always around plants or are there other subjects that you teach as well as a science? Can you go into more detail? And then let's get into the curriculum as well, please. Great, great, great question. And that is that stuff. Home run question of the day, Mark. So Green Bronx machine started initially as an after school program, basically for over age under credited children. And it was an opportunity for me to connect them to living wage opportunities. So if you bring your body, your brain will follow. And if your body and your brain come together and you were sufficiently motivated to get a job or work, we were able to provide that. So inherently, it was very much a carrot and a stick program. There were a whole lot of carrots, not too many sticks. And if you showed up, you growed up, so to speak, literally. And we started some of the best program to employment pipelines in all of New York City, which gave me a great deal of credibility on the streets and with employers and most importantly with students. I'll never forget the talk I gave at Columbia University called From Crack to Cucumbers, where I brought down a bunch of young people who were selling, who were at one point in their life for a variety of reasons. We're selling drugs that are involved with incriminal activity across the South Bronx, Washington Heights, and Harlem. And they got involved with the green movement, so to speak, and literally went from crack to cucumbers. And I think no matter what your feelings are about the green economy or any economy, everyone's better off when children are selling cucumbers instead of crack. And that's insondegotiable. We can all check a box there and go forward. But literally, I went from working with overage, undercredited children to realizing that, wow, I wanted to open up the first career technical education school in the world dedicated to urban farming. And it would be dedicated to urban farming and healthy living because here in the Bronx, we are the least healthy county in all of New York State. Not only the poorest performing, the poorest health outcomes in the state, but one of the poorest performing school districts in all of New York City, in the poorest congressional district in America. And what is it here? This has some of the highest rates of obesity, health disorders, fast food consumption. So I had this idea, if you will, that if we created a school rooted in the notion of urban farming and health, wellness, and mindfulness, that the outcomes would be herculean. Now, that was a very disruptive idea when I had it 15 years ago and a lot of people were not on board. I was just very forward thinking, goes to show you, I helped open, I took that idea, and while New York City didn't relationship, the wonderful people overseas in Dubai and ESOL education did, and we opened up the first net positive food and energy city in the world. It's now ranked as a top 20 school in the world in Dubai globally. So it goes to show you that with a little forward thinking, amazing things can happen. But you know, fast forward, here we are. And I also had this big epiphany that listen, I was always a champion teacher. And I believe that there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of champion teachers that I am not the exception. I'm probably more the norm than people realize. I believe the teachers get up each and every day and wanna change children's lives. I really do, teachers change lives. And for the teachers out there today, I salute you and I say thank you and God bless you. But you know, let's be real. I've been asked to graduate elsewhere in my life. I've been asked to work elsewhere along during periods of life and not because I'm not competent or dedicated because I'm outspoken. At times I can be a fire hose as well. And I've learned through time that you can't sip from a fire hose. So better to be a good, cool drink of water. So I focused my message, but also there are a lot of systems at play here that really don't want. And change because, you know, the status quo works well for a whole bunch of people except for the people who are caught up in it. So the one thing I realized is I could, you know, I could change, you know, I could cure diseases. I could get children jobs, but people were really focused on school attendance and test scores. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think that should be the sum of the work that we do. And I think now more than ever, we're understanding that children are far more than the sum of their data points and we did need to hold schools accountable. So I understand the need for that and I support accountability, but children are far more than the sum of their test scores and what data indicates. But my epiphany was this, that if I changed attendance and I was able to influence test scores, my work going forward towards scale would probably be a lot easier. You know, if I came up with something that people said, wow, works not for champion teachers, but for all teachers and was a uniform lens of entry, my battle, my struggle would be far better received and I probably able to scale much sooner. So we developed the Green Bronx Machine Classroom Curriculum which is the Art and Science of Growing Vegetables aligned to Common Core Next Generation Science Standards, P21, the STGs and International Baccalaureate. So it is a whole school program and that is probably what differentiates Green Bronx Machine from any and every other organization in this space. Yes, we grow copious amounts of vegetables. Yes, we get kids inspired about gardening and healthy eating. But what do we really do? We really transform the lens of public education in some of the most marginalized and high need communities in the world with low cost technology and whole school instruction. Ta-da! Game change. What are you doing? I love it, I love it. And we've gone from one school to now over 500 schools in America. Our work, for example, in Chicago with Jonathan Taves and the Chicago Blackhawks has taken 60 really high need schools that were struggling and given them a lens into both academic performance. So principals and superintendents are loving it and personal health outcomes. So the children are loving it, which is win, win, win. And when children are fueled to learn, as if Pugh has opposed to fueled for chaos and dysfunction, they do learn. And when you start them at a younger age, they really develop the appetite for healthy, fresh food. It's one thing when you're 18, 19, and 20 and your diet is fast food and that's what you become accustomed to. But it's a whole other thing when inherently, I'm not fighting that when they know that I have children here who come here and want a rubella, an eggplant, and cauliflower. It's crazy, you know, here in the South Bronx, we're growing a whole new generation of vegans. And that's really exciting. We're developing a whole new appetite for what can be eaten and what should be eaten. And I'm really, really excited. Growing environmental and social justice steward when the children find out that Wendy's didn't want to pay the farmers one penny more per pound and they looked at the farmers and said they look like my aunts, my uncles, my nieces, and my neighbors, maybe we shouldn't go to that new Wendy's. And you know what? It's working. And while, listen, there's still people going to Wendy's for every burger that I keep out of a child's belly and replace it with a banana, with a fresh head of lettuce, with something that we've grown in the classroom. Think about the benefit for those children and also for the planet. So in some ways, you know, it's really the multiplier effect of the work that we are doing here is mind numbing. A lot of it has to do with reducing our, I call it localization. I don't think that, you know, I can stop the world from eating meat, but ideally 21 people have 21 meals a week. If I can get people to have one meal a week that has no meat globally, that's a pretty big impact. You know, and what we've been able to do is move school after school into herculean spheres of academic success, the stuff that whether you like kids eating vegetables or you want them eating filet mignon five times a day, no one can take umbrage with. And I like being in a place where no one can take umbrage with the work that I'm doing. So it's been a blessing and make no doubt about it. What is the biggest underlying factor for school performance? It is food. The most important school supply in the world is food, especially if you don't have it. And let me repeat that. The most important school supply in the world is food, especially if you don't have it. So when you teach children to grow it and eat it and share it and relish it, everything changes. There are so many numbers and statistics during the pandemic and that a lot of children only ate at school. They weren't getting any food at home. And so now that schools were closed and locked down, there was a lot of issues and concerns really coming out of that as well as the fact that the time where they're not receiving some form of education, that that can actually have a drastic long-term effect of things that they're missing out on in the future. And so I'm sure you've seen and you've also got better statistics than I do on that. Yes, and we've seen the immediate effects. So, you know, realistically, a lot of supermarkets here have closed and you would think that they would be thriving but number one, with school closures, we have parents who have to stay home and take care of their children. Number two, with social distancing, the numbers game for supermarkets no longer make them profitable. If you're not letting in X amount of people through the doors a day unless those 10 or 20 people who are coming through an hour are spending thousands of dollars, which they are not, the supermarkets can't be profitable when you look at the cycles of public assistance and everything else that affect business here in the South Bronx. So to think that supermarkets are closing to think that people are getting their groceries from gas stations and drug stores and bulletproof windows, you know, what I call a mess manufactured, edible synthetic substances, crap, calorie rich and processed food, which is only fueling inefficiency, obesity, lethargy and disenfranchisement, it's horrible. So there is a multiplier effect here that again really goes to the benefit of big business but is counterintuitive to the health and longevity of this community. And that's not a good thing. So I'm proud to be someone who is fighting that daily and seeing it happen. Do we need more of it? Absolutely. I'm so glad that you are and that you're there at the front lines of the wonderful example and the good advocate for the future of how that needs to go. During this time, I saw a lot worldwide, you know, parents and total frustration now that they've never had to homeschool, so to say their children before, they've never had to see the inside of their zoo, their human zoo so close in a lockdown period. So not only do they have the kids at home, now kind of had to jump into the role of teacher and keep them busy. And do you have enough computers if you have more than one child to, you know, and how do you divide up that time and things that parents just were not prepared for? During that time, we did a, it was called Earth School, it was a nothing great, but it was the best we could come up with. A 30-day quest for children during the lockdown period and it's called Earth School. It was in conjunction with Ted Ed and we reached 50 million, hopefully all of students in grade school levels to do quests half on the computer and half outside. So I know that there's just so many needs in our world that the current systems that we have are failing us, we need new systems, we need to take the microscopic views that we've gotten during this time and really apply some of the things, the curriculum that you talked about, the thinking of how food pays, plays such a vital role in our lives and that we have a different lens and a way to view that, to change a system, to start the movement, to create long-term effects. I have some really, I don't know, kind of maybe funny questions for you because I've been asked separately before on that. So you wear the belt buckle, you wear the cheese hat, you wear the green shoes, you wear the crossword puzzle tie, do each of those have a certain meaning? You wear the wonderful shirts, can you tell me, are there certain meanings for there? Is that just to animate and get the youth on board and more kind of distracted from their iPhones or from other technologies or what's the reason that you use those? So the answer is check all of the above. I mean, it's very easy. I believe that number one, people need to know who we are. So who are we? We are a green bronze machine and I wear lots of ties. I mean, this is my scrabble tie because I like putting things together and repurposing and recycling objects. And by the way, you can buy these bow ties on the green bronze machine website. So please do 100% of the proceeds support the program. But realize my own odyssey through this world is one of self-enlightenment and self-care. 10 years ago, and you talked about my TED Talk, which in some ways is a wonderful thing. And I'm very grateful for the opportunity. I showed up, I'm still looking, you know, you talk about TED, I showed up looking for the guy named Ted. I thought I was gonna meet someone named Ted. So Ted, if you're out there, I would love to meet you and talk with you. You know, it was a random talk. I'm forever grateful to Diane Hacks for giving me that platform, but I had no idea what it was or what it would be. And literally, you know, at that time, I was 300 pounds. I don't know if you knew that. I'm an ex-athlete who was eating himself obese simply because of what was available in my school and in my community. You know, I was eating school food, which was highly processed, highly meat-based, highly, you know, all that processed meat and processed food. I was eating what was available in my community. I was drinking copious amounts of soda. And I went from being an athlete, you know, a slim, trim and sexy athlete one pound at a time because that's how you gain it and that's how you lose it to being over 300 pounds. You know, I became diabetic. I had a serotic liver. I was on tons and tons of medication, going to and from doctors. And one day I got my medication confused and practically had a heart attack in school in front of my daughter. And my daughter was so afraid of me losing my job for getting sick. She was young at the time in school that she didn't even tell the principal. They went and had to get a teacher who she thought would help me. And I woke up in the hospital and I said, wow, you know, this has to change. And it started by simply modifying my diet. But you know, when Michelle Obama took the White House, I was there and you know, she said, the way we treat our children is indicative of who we are as a nation. This used to be me and it was all on my belly. So here I am. I like to say I'm bringing sexy back, but healthcare and self care, really it all starts with us and decisions. And you know, now more than ever, sure, there are things that work against us in the environment, but it's not birthplace, it's breakfast. It is not lineage. It is lunch and it is not DNA. It is your dinner that determine outcomes in how you genetically express your ability to thrive or not thrive in life. So nourishing our bodies is critical. And that's a message that I wanna bring forward. How did I get the cheese hat? Well, it's an interesting story. When I started farming with children in school, I got a farm hat, you know, a straw hat. But for years, because I was the dean of students at Walton High School, something I really affectionately and lovingly document in my book, The Power of a Plant, the children called me the big cheese because I was literally 300 pounds. I was big. I was usually walking around school, eating processed food, a slice of pizza with that God awful pepperoni and sausage. So I was literally the big cheese. I got my principles and supervisory license and went to my first conference in of all places, Wisconsin in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And I got off the plane and in this teeny tiny airport was it where cheese hats and the kids had been calling me the big cheese for years. So I ditched the farm hat, got the cheese hat and came home and kids really loved it. It really gave me a lens into little people because the big kids, they got a kick out of it. They thought it was fun, but little children, really it was something that they wanted to ask me questions about. I mean, the little, little guys, they like to actually eat it. So it creates all kinds of opportunities and one thing led to another. I was somehow fortunate enough to be blessed to be named the top 10 teacher in the global teacher finalist contest. And it literally, I show up around the world and if I don't have the cheese hat, people are upset. I got to meet Mrs. Obama and the first thing Mrs. Obama said was where's your cheese hat, Steven? She knew me by name. I couldn't believe it. I said, well, Secret Service wouldn't let me bring it in. They thought it could have something in it. And so I've never taken, while I've taken pictures with Mrs. Obama and met her, I've never been able to get it with the cheese hat because Secret Service won't let me sneak it past. And I don't want to be offensive, but I wore it all through the White House. That's for sure, but just not with her. I couldn't get close to her with the hat because they, you know, for security reasons, but they know about it. I've had children in Cairo in some of the poorest, you know, communities in the world show up to take pictures with me and bring them cheese hats. I've had children line up in the mountains of Columbia all to wear the cheese hat. So if a guy with a goofy affect and a fun cheese hat can be the lens into health, wellness and opportunity, equity and education, I am delighted to do it. Right now we're working with children in Cutter and UAE to redesign what may be a more effective costume, if you will, or outfit for me. But I like to think of myself as a modern day Mr. Rogers, you know, Mr. Rogers had this sweater and the kids, you know, I've got a cheese hat and green shoes and still be it. I believe everybody has stuff. I mean, I've got the long hair and all is wear some kind of a jean shirt, Kimball Musk, he always wears a cowboy hat and a belt buckle. And everybody's got their little, little thing that they do. I think that's totally fine. Recognizing. I say Superman has a cape, Batman has a belt. I've got a cheese hat and green shoes. Watch out, I'm coming for you. I love it. So, what my listeners probably don't also know is you're also kind of contributing a piece to Menu B, my book that'll come out by the end of this year. And I really appreciate you doing that as well. And I'm hunkering down on that this coming holiday weekend, don't you worry. No problem, no pressure. I know you're busy doing so many things. It's just so important to have your voice in there. And I believe that so many factors of this global food reform or global food system is covered in what you teach and talk about every single day. I really haven't even got into the hardest questions yet for you on our show. And you've given us, like you said, it's not crazy in my opinion at all. You're letting us drink from the fire hose. And I love that because you have a plethora of knowledge that we all need to get a different lens on how we view food, how it touches every aspect of our life, but also if we understand it, if we apply it, if we change those things in our life that the whole world changes for us. It's just a better model. It's a better way of living. And you're not alone. I used to weigh 350 American pounds before. So, 50 more than you weighed. I also have clothes like that that I could show you that I've had altered. So, I really appreciate your honesty and telling me the journey that you've been on, the transformation and how it's affected your life personally. My hardest question will be the next one to ask you. My first one is, since you teach around the world, since you are really doing the curriculum and you've been doing this for a long time, and I mean, even with all the craziness that's gone in the US, do you feel like a global citizen and how would you feel about a world without nations, borders and divisions of humanity? If you think about during the pandemic, the only thing that was a global citizen or a couple of things that was a global citizen was not only the coronavirus, but was food. Food had no borders, no divisions holding it back and air and water and other species, but we as humanity are holding each other back and you have a very diverse school. So, I wanna know your thoughts and feelings on this and would that change how we see, you know, what's going on with the race? I'm gonna start with a couple of simple premises. Yes, very much I consider myself to be a global citizen. Somehow I have found a platform or a platform has found me. And while yes, I'm an educator, I'm an author, I'm an advocate, I'm a farmer. I'm a seed spreader and I literally consider myself to be a peace promoter. And to think that, you know, a dyslexic Jew from New York, instead of saying, oi, oi, walking around saying yo, yo can connect people around the world for a greater good rooted in self and the planet is an amazing thing. But it speaks to a couple of very simple truths. And the first one is the degree to which we resist injustice is the degree to which we are all free. So in that regard, you know, my goal, the calculus of my advocacy is not to be my brother's keeper but it's really to be my brother's brother. I don't want to be the solution. I want to be the handshake. I wanna be the person who's there. I wanna be my brother's brother, not my brother's keeper. The other thing to realize is that no one can do everything but everyone can do something. And I challenge people to make these small little changes in their lives and the lives of others that really add up. I will never forget many, many years ago. Probably almost 20 years ago, I started a toilet paper campaign. I was just fascinated by the amount of toilet paper that children were using. And you know, they go to blow their nose and come with all these big reams of toilet paper. And can you use one square a day less? And then could we bring, and because we were facing this huge funding cut in the arts programs in my school, I was like, wow, we could probably make a whole lot of art out of toilet paper and create some kind of social messaging. And it was basically remarkable to see the changes that we were able to, can you shut the water off a little? You know, these little things that really add up and I call it localization. So little things become big things in huge ways. Listen, I don't want people to, I do want them to radically change their diet, but I'm not going to be the food police. So instead of going to McDonald's one day, can you have a banana? You know, instead of having, you know, the biggest compliment, I've gotten a lot of interesting compliments in my career, but this spring I was outside and playing basketball with the children. It was a really hot day and we were all sweaty and disgusting. We had a great game. And after the game, one little child said, oh, mister is I'm so hot. Can you take me across the street and buy me a soda? And another kid turned and said, ask him this direct for a soda. Are you crazy? That's like asking your mama for a cigarette. And it was literally that level of accountability. I was like, you know, I felt like the seal. Irv, I was just so happy. It was just, it worked. So I hold myself to a standard in public that I hope other children aspire to. And nobody, nobody rises to low expectation. So I like to set the bar as high as possible. And if I fail here, it's a lot better than succeeding here. And that's kind of how I go about everything in life. Is setting the bar as high as possible and being recursive and inclusive in all that I do. But I do consider my, I do see a world without borders. I think colors are a way that we kind of, you know, it's how the devil divides us, so to speak. Whether it's skin color or ethnicity, the world is increasingly smaller. It's increasingly more crowded. You know, I even hate the notion of the universe. I don't think it should be called a universe. I think it should be called a diverse because there's so much diversity in it. So why limit it to one? But those are some of the larger philosophical questions. I think how you live your life on a day to day basis and all that you do can be a lens for change around the world. And you know, the opposite, and it starts with courage. It really starts, you know, you've got to be willing to stand up for what you believe in. And the opposite of courage is not cowardice. The opposite of courage is conformity because even a dead fish can go with the flow. Then we are not dead fish. If the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement has taught us anything, it's that we are swimming. And you know, and we need to swim and just keep swimming and don't stop, can't stop, won't stop, you know, the degree to which we resist injustice is the degree to which we are free. And that's what guides me. And you know, I just ask people in their daily practice, no matter what it is, to do something today that your future self and future generations will thank you for. And if it's consuming less, that's a good thing. If it's advocating for health, that's a good thing. If it's being kind to a stranger, that kindness is contagious. We have the ability to be the antivirus and make no doubt about it. I believe that collectively we are the antivirus. Definitely, for sure. So you know that I advocate a lot for the sustainable development goals. I speak all around the world about environment, sustainability, climate crisis. I know that you know that all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are all intrinsically tied to agriculture, seafood, food and beverages, that they're all a system, they're all tied together. And they're not for cities, countries, businesses. They're for us, they're for humanity. They're basic needs of, you know, our needs, breathing air, water, food. And I wanna know how you in not only your curriculums and your teaching around food, you've made some comments a little bit about the sustainable products and things like that. How do you integrate in your teachings and out what are your feelings around sustainability and even more so the resilience that it gives us to weather pandemics like this, to get a better future, to create a different world for us? So you know, it's funny Mark because I'm here today at school with my wife. And if you were to ask me how my relationship is with my wife, if I say sustainable, well, that's not really a good place. You know, so sustainability should be the entry point, not the final destination. If it's not sustainable, I don't even wanna talk about it. You know, the goal is resilience, the goal is restoration, the goal is regeneration, the goal is, you know, how do you take one and one and not make two, but make 11? So we've gotta start thinking less selfishly and more selflessly. We've got to start thinking two and three and four generations down and a lot of that has to do with a lot of the great practices of indigenous people no matter what continent they came from, but indigenous people really have the answers and it's really to respect nature and look at biomimicry. I think those are really where the answers are at. And to realize that the solutions are right in front of us. You know, I'm looking right into your eyes and it's mind-numbing, I'm here in a computer and we're probably very similar in age or maybe I'm a little older than you, but I remember, I'm not going there, I'm not giving out my age, but I will tell you when I was a little boy and we were able to get a TV, there was this show called The Jetsons and the Jetsons said that, you know, oh, one day we'll be able to talk to each other through this through TV screen. And I thought it was so ludicrous. I thought it was really so, I couldn't even fathom it. You know, when I met my wife going online was something that you did, for example, in a supermarket. There was no online, there was no computers. But, you know, as a child, my big goal, the one thing that I wanted more than anything was that big four color pen. I don't know if you remember that blue and white big pen with the, yeah, with the black. I might even have one here, so. I have them at home and I give them to special friends and people said, I wanted that as a kid. Remember how desperately everybody wanted that as a kid? That was just one simple thing. And, you know, now we've evolved into a society because, and what do you want to do with that pen? You wanted to make art and you wanted to send cards to your parents or to your best friend or to site for secret codes. And, you know, when we were children, and when I grew up, you know, we didn't know that we were in poverty because we were all together. The internet has created such an awareness and so much noise and so many signals that it's really tough. And we have now gone from a world that, you know, used to love people and that used to use things and love people to loving things and using people in the process. And we need to get back to that moment. And I say it because I bring up the notion of that one little big pen that had such impact around the world. And when you think about it, that's this moment that we are in right now. A simple practice that really can bring people together for unity, health and really, you know, pushing back on some of these horrific impacts that we have made on the planet. And that is really important to me. That's the most important thing that we can do right now. So coming to work in a uniform makes sense to me. Teaching about, you know, using less water, respecting animals, respecting the planet, respecting the earth, respecting the air is important. You know, we've got to go from a society. We really very effectively learned how to monetize children and looking at children as the epicenter of profit. You know, McDonald's does it well. They scaled with the happy meal. I want to scale with happy, healthy children. And I think, you know, we don't need the official soft drink, the official computer, the official laptop, the official snack bar, the official glass of water for every single product in the world. And that we need to teach children now more than ever that they vote each and every day. They vote with their mouths. They vote with their forks. They vote with their wallets. They vote with their screen time. And it's very important to be, you know, judicious and understand that in all that we do. And that's the way we're going to reclaim the world for the better of all, instead of for the better of a few. So you've had a fortunate opportunity. So Michelle Obama, I don't know if you got to meet Barack Obama at the Seeds and Chips in 2017, or if you've met him there in the US, you were with the Pope. You've been with numerous other people. You've participated on those shows. You're working with participant media and many other greats. Those do you see as opportunities to create a movement to get the message out there to more people to create a critical mask. How do you, I mean, you've had governors and representatives and all those people in your schools. How is that? How does it feel? Do you feel like, wow, you know, you asked me 10 years ago, I would have never imagined I would have been here or is this just a wonderful blessing to see what's- Well, make no doubt about it. It is absolutely a wonderful blessing. You know, I marvel at who I've met and where I've been. But, you know, I'm someone that's far less about celebrity and far more about integrity. So it's great to meet some of these wonderful people. You know, I think in some ways it gives some credibility to the work that you're doing and they're doing and certainly I am inspired. You know, to meet Michelle Obama, what was a blessing? I was inspired by her. I'd probably be obese still if it wasn't for her and some of the advocacy. So there's a certain amount of saying thank you and not giving back, but taking forward. You know, I'm a very spiritual person. So to have met his holiness, who I call the people's pope, you know, was magnificent. But the most important people in my life on a day-to-day basis, really are the children. You know, it's being here, it's being critical, it's being accessible. You know, people know where I'm listening. Schools are closed, but where am I today? I'm in school and the children know where I'll be and how to reach me. And they'll know where I'll be tonight and they'll know where I'll be tomorrow. And that's the most important thing and realize this, all the data in the world points to a single fact. And I talk about that a lot in my book called Power of a Plant is that, you know, children to have access to one kind caring adult in life will be successful. And it's my goal to be that kind caring adult for as many children and teachers as possible. You know, my path has not been easy. So it hasn't been an easy ride. There had been a lot of pain points. There are a lot of painful things even today and right now going on in my life. But, you know, if my journey can make it easier for the next generation of Stephen Ritz's to be out there and I believe that there's not just one of me, there's tens of thousands of me waiting to be born. You know, get out there guys and do it. Make epic happen. You know, that's what I sign on the inside of my book. Make epic happen. And epic was a word that I learned from one of my students here on a fourth grade, you know, a fourth grader when I helped him celebrate his birthday, he came to school, he was depressed, he was sad, there were no president home, there was no day. And I said, we're gonna have it. We're gonna make you a birthday. We're gonna celebrate your day Christian. And you know, he came to, I said, Mr. Ritz, this is epic. And you know, everyone has it in them to make epic happen in their lives and in the lives of someone they love. And you know, for all the celebrity that I've met, you know, listen, we're still looking for sponsors. We're still looking for partners. It's very hard to fund this organization. People think because I've met all these people, they've written me big checks. They haven't, you know, a lot of these big events that you get to do, they're more about the profitability of the big event than they are about really long-term impact, let's be real. So I've learned to be more, you know, more careful with my time. I say, no, a lot more than I say yes these days. And sometimes saying yes is a big headache. It doesn't really, the most effective work that I can do is to be here and be accessible daily. And that's why I choose to be here. I know even in scheduling with you, I said, I really wanted to the interview from my classroom because that's the most important place in the world. And that's what I love about you. And I brought up the question about the, I guess the personalities of the celebrities more for not because of who you've met is because they've almost honored you and your message and your reach of those true impact stories that you have which you have numerous stories of those impact. And that's really because I believe that's the true impact in honoring that so that their followers also know, hey, what's going on and where we need to go in a different direction. You know, it's funny you bring that up. Yeah, I've met some very notable people. And you know, you say Michelle Obama, people know who she is. You say the Pope, they know who they, you say Richard Branson. I'll share with you a story. And one of the partnerships that I am most proud of is my partnership with Jonathan Taves in the Chicago Blackhawks. And I don't know if you're aware of it, but we're in 60 schools now and I'll never forget when Jonathan called me up and I didn't even know who he was. I hung up on him. I was like, dude, I'm just not in, you know, I didn't see the connection. I'm not a sports guy either. Yeah, I'm not, you know, listen, sports, you know, I'm willing to get in shape for the Knicks. This is my last year. So if they're listening, I know they're rebuilding, I'm available, but I think I've kind of passed that. But you know, here's a guy who really is making a difference in people's lives. And it's one of the book, and it's one of the wider celebrity relationships that I have, you know, people want to see that picture of me at the White House. They want to see that picture of me with the Pope and Oprah Winfrey and so on and so forth. But the picture I'm most proud of celebrity wise is Jonathan Taves. Then he realized in his career, that, you know, the key to longevity in his career aside from doing the routine stuff was really food. And, you know, here is a guy who dug deep into, you know, understanding food and the relationship to it. And came across my work while watching a movie with his girlfriend in defensive food. And saw the impact that my program was having or our program was having with children across the South Bronx and said he wants some of that. And then he realized, wow, how could we take that to children? Because he, you know, the guy, he's adored. He's really adored. And I was clueless. I didn't know anything about hockey. Now I'm a hockey fan. I love the sport. But you go into 60 of these schools across Chicago and it looks like the United center on game night. And what are the children really excited about? They're really excited. The captain of their team is growing vegetables. And, you know, we have tower gardens that are adorned with his jersey. It's remarkable. I got pictures here in my classroom. You know, the kids, they love it. They absolutely love it. You know, I'm so proud of him. And here's a guy who really put his money where his mouth is. And the remarkable thing, and this is something important to realize is that Green Bronx Machine is one of the most cost effective programs in the world. It is not expensive to get involved with us. We are the anti 501C3. And what I mean by that is I don't believe that there's a nonprofit group in the world that's in the business for the wrong reasons. But there are a lot of unholy alliances between nonprofit work and for-profit institutions. And I think we need to be mindful of that. And there is definitely a, what I call an industrial nonprofit business complex emerging out there. And nonprofits are not going to solve the problems of all the world by being profitable. What happens is nonprofits expose a fundamental flaw in the for-profit system. They address a need that the for-profit system has either created or fails to address. But we're not, you know, we can't be a borough of nonprofits and expect, you know, each of us to donate to each other. So what we need to do is come up with paradigms of success. So, you know, we have no annualized fees, no tiered subscriptions. We give lifetime site licenses, all the things that are the antithesis of good business are really making very good business decisions and bigger impact for those who need it most. And, you know, to think that you can transform a school and pedagogy and culture with our curriculum for $975 in a garden that, you know, that costs approximately $1,200 is game changing. Whoever thought of that, you know, when you look at the millions and millions and millions of dollars that have been invested into public education, try and solve the problem. Sometimes the solution is right there. It's the teachers who are showing up daily and the children who are showing up daily. And if you give them simple, actionable tools and take the monetization out of it, wow, game on. So, again, one of my most famous celebrity relationships is with this guy, Jonathan Tays in the Chicago Blackhawks. And, you know, organizationally, when you look at how the Blackhawks have responded and how the United Center has responded to the needs of their community in Chicago, which has a lot of issues, it is herculean. They are the gold standard. So it's great to be involved with the gold standard. You know, we're not the exception, but the norm. And the coolest thing is guess what? What is hockey rooted in? Hockey is rooted in water and power, you know, water for ice and electricity or some kind of power to drive that ice. And what are we doing? Transforming a lens of public education and health outcomes using 90% less water and 90% less power to fuel schools. So when you talk about the sustainable development goals, when you talk about something that's game changing, you know, God bless Jonathan Tays in the Chicago Blackhawks. And we're proud to be talking to other teams as well. So, you know, I like to say from disruption to delivery. And that's what this movement is all about. I love that. Here's my hardest question for you today. It's the burning question, WTF. And no, it's not the square word like you think, although we've all been saying that this year many times. It's what's the future, Stephen? So I thought WTF is where's the funding? You know, that's what I would, you know, where's the funding? You think that people would be lining up to fund programs like ours. And I'm hoping that exposure through your program and this program is, so if there's a funder, a sponsor, a board member out there, please reach out to us. We are looking for impact-oriented individuals and companies and programs. Think about embedding your product into our curriculum that goes to hundreds of schools and thousands of children, both here in America and around the world with stellar success. But you know, what's the future? Well, the future, we're living it right now. It's meaningful dialogue. It starts with meaningful dialogue. It's great to know that this program was not brought to you by, it is not featured by, and it's not sponsored by, but is really a deep dive into truth and honesty and advocacy. So I think it starts with that, you know, and I always say, let's not confuse the green new deal with the screen new deal. Because there are a lot of people making a whole lot of money off this pandemic and off this opportunity without really impacting people's lives. So I think what people now, more than ever, are demanding is honesty. And it starts with conversation. It starts with respect. It starts with the ability to disagree respectfully and get to a better place collectively. And that's what the future will be. That's hopefully, you know, what the future will be. And I think it's conversations like these and opportunities like these and forums like this and your book, which I'm very excited to contribute. My book, which simply speaks to a power of the plant and what is possible in public education. I'm mindful that all the proceeds of this book go to support our organization. So I think, you know, it's transparency in business relationships. It's understanding, just like when you buy a box of food, what the ingredients are and aren't. It has to do with transparency and putting the labels on and being clear and honest about that. And it's less about celebrity, quite honestly, and more about democracy. And again, you know, many people, I'm championing this relationship with Jonathan Taze. I imagine that none of the people watching this know who he is. I bet none of them do, very few do, yeah. And I think, you know, and that's the void. That's the beauty of having an honest voice is because hopefully we'll get more like-minded people to understand, you know, the beauty and the philanthropy and the kindness and generosity and empathy that this gentleman is all about. You know, I like to say for me, you know, we have a whole new movement that I call education, not asphyxiation. So that to me is what it's all about. You know, we need to educate our communities, not choke them, and whether it's with dirty air, dirty water or a knee on our necks, we need to educate and not asphyxiate. And I hope that compassion becomes the new curriculum going forward. Let empathy, compassion and kindness be our North Star. No one will lose for that. Some companies may not make some extra money, but that's okay. I think we need to get to a new business model and we need to really start thinking about children in the next generation and the next generation, not quarterly profits. And I think if we move in that direction, we will get to a place where the earth heals itself and we as nations learn to heal and respect each other. But again, we're here because of one single point of entry. Food, you know, food is a language through which society reveals itself. Food is non-negotiable. Everybody needs it. It's like air and water. And we need to be respectful of where it comes from, who's producing it, how we're producing it. You know, I will share that even in my own practices, while I have always advocated for the consumption of less meat for a lot of reasons and a less animal protein for a whole lot of reasons, when I started seeing what was going on in those factory farms, you know, for food, I said, you know, no one needs a hamburger at the sake of someone else's life. No one needs a hot dog that badly that someone needs to die. And you know, I used to love that processed meat was killing my heart. It's what gave me all my health conditions. You know, so I could keep eating that and then keep going to the doctor and keep spending money or I could slow down on what I was eating and have a whole new life. So for me, the notion that we are one large ecosystem is really revealed in the process of growing food, even in something as small as these amazing hamama cakes. So, you know, because you wouldn't want to use dirty water in the food that you're growing. And you know, we are all part of living, breathing ecosystem and growing food and respecting farmers is important. And yes, I've met the Pope, but every day when we sit down to eat in this class, we say two things. We say, thank you farmers and thank you chefs because we want to acknowledge who and where this food is coming from. And we want to acknowledge those who help us prepare it and prepare it with dignity and love and kindness and compassion. And you know, I'm looking at your, you know, your STG goals on your little, but you know, those are, those are what all those goals are rooted in. Yeah, absolutely. I have three more questions for you and they're kind of a little bit selfless because they're for my listeners. I want you to give them something that will impact our lives and that they can have as a takeaway to apply or that will make them better. And so the first one is, if there was one message, you could depart to our listeners as a sustainable takeaway that has the power to change their life. What would it be, your message? One less meal of meat a week. It's an easy hoop. But if all of your listeners and all of your viewers and all of your fans did that, think of the impact. So, you know, one less burger, one more banana. I'll make it actionable. Don't have a burger, have a banana. I love it. What should young innovators and looking to be teachers in the futures or gardeners or farmers be thinking about if they're looking ways to make a real impact something they can do today? Something they can do today is think small. How about that is a very disruptive answer. How can you maximize your time, your energy and your space? Listen, no one can go overnight and grow a 100 acre farm or a 500 acre farm or a 30,000 square foot grow facility. But I want every child in the world to grow healthy greens on their windowsill. I want them to grow what I call the unders and the, I don't want to rip it. Hold on, I'm going to do something. You're not supposed to, but. Hold on, I'm going to make sure you see this. It's coming through the paper. How can you grow healthy fresh food in your home? That's a critical piece. So I want everybody to take a two liter water bottle and think about growing some lettuce, some oregano, some celery or some really cool stuff like carrots and radishes under the ground with little children. I want people to realize that this is, no one will go broke giving love. It won't cost you a dime. So, you know, give it freely and give it endlessly. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. You can donate an hour a week. You can donate one of your meals. You can donate part of your meal. You can be kind. These are the things that I want people to realize. And for young people, I also want you to realize, don't be afraid to fail. I am the world's greatest failure. Let me tell you, I've got failure down to a science and I keep bouncing back up. There's a reason why Formula 409 is called Formula 409. It's because the first 408 iterations failed. The most common household product in the world, WD-40, water displacement 40. It's called WD-40 because WD-1 through 39 didn't quite work right. So, don't be afraid to fail. Somebody, ooh, I want to be a success. Ooh, some of the greatest successes and successors in the world are consummate failures. But they do one thing really right. They become resilient. So, don't be afraid to fail. It's not about the report card. It's about the journey. It's about the education. Well, I love that. And so, I'm gonna skip the last question because you answered it already. It's about the journey because my last question would have been, what would you have liked to know on this journey so far that you would have loved to know from the start? And I feel... Oh, that's easy. Okay. What? So, I've really come to love fresh fruits and vegetables. I've loved the taste of them. I wish I knew how tasty fruits and vegetables were at a young, you know, like, I wish I had cultivated that taste at an earlier age because I would have been, you know, as healthy as I am today, I would have been infinitely more healthy. So, you know, not to be seduced by the shiny objects. You know, things that have to be put in media and made shiny and sexy probably really aren't. They just want us to think they are. That some of the sexiest, shiny, healthiest things are right in front of us and, you know, celebrate local. You don't have to go around the world to be a hero. Be a hero in your home. Be a hero in your bedroom. Be a hero in your building. Be a hero in your community. Be a hero in your school. Reach out to others and that random acts of kindness are really amazing. They really are. You know, rivers don't flow so that the water drinks itself. You know, trees don't bear fruit so they eat themselves. We do things so that we can give unto others. And, you know, if you develop and nourish that spirit within you, you are going to attract people around you that really make a wonderful impact for you and for the world as a whole and make your very limited time here on earth that much more special. Stephen, thank you for letting us drink from the fire hose. I've had my mouth wide open the whole time and it has been absolutely fabulous. I could take a lot more and I hope my listeners will too and they'll dive into the links and the show notes and look you up and support you and all my listeners who would like to get in touch with you. Please feel free. Stephen has given the okay to reach out and help. Let's make a movement. Let's create some critical mass and get these things to everybody in the world. This is a big- And remember, no one can do everything but everyone can do something. Sometimes the greatest contribution you can make is your voice. So if you like what you see in here, feel free to share it. It's important to say that this is important to your friends, family and colleagues. Sometimes the greatest donation is just forwarding good news because there's so much bad news. There's so much conflicted news. So please, vote with your clicks, vote with your checks, vote with your checkbook, your mouth, your fork but follow us on social, visit the website and we love to partner with people. And we're also looking for board members, partners, sponsors and funders. So please get involved. Thank you so much, Stephen. You have a wonderful day. I've seen your wife in the background, I believe. Yeah, she's been going back and forth. Tell her, I appreciate, she's doing all the great things on the sidelines but I know she's a big part and I really appreciate her and your daughter and you guys doing all the wonderful things that you do. Thank you so much. Thanks kindly, yee-haw and si se puede. We'll see you soon. See you soon, brother. Take care.