My children threw me a life line: "Return to your roots - food - and rewrite your first book, Diet for a Small Planet." I learned that if I could just show up, in this case, if I could just get myself out of bed, get to the computer in my tiny office at MIT, and start writing, help would start arriving.

We can choose who we bring into our lives. We can choose who will reinforce our risk taking.

For me, just showing up for the traveling and writing gave me the power to overcome my fear of fear.

Old models of farming with chemicals and credit mostly favored privileged men.

What was so moving for [Diane Wilson], and also for me, is that she felt the Bay itself was like her grandmother. She said, "I don't think there's a woman alive who would give up fighting for her child, or her mother, or her grandmother."

We can't see ahead of time what actions are going to be the ones that move history in dramatic ways.

Hope is a stance, not an assessment.