Hi! I'm so glad you're here.

My name is Florencia Ramirez, an award-winning author of EAT LESS WATER, a public speaker, and an environmental (KITCHEN) activist. I wish I could invite you into my kitchen in real life, but let's pretend I am serving you something delicious on your plate and in your glass at my kitchen table. If you connect with me on social media, read my book, listen to my podcast (THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST), or subscribe to my monthly email newsletter, you will find me talking about the kitchen and, by extension, the farms connected to the food I would serve you on that imaginary plate because the kitchen is the most powerful vehicle we have to save this planet. 

At first, this may sound absurd since the sustainability actions we've taught over the decades focus on recycling, short showers, and lugging around your reusable water bottle. This list was the extent of my sustainable living practices until I learned that 7 out of every 10 gallons of fresh water was flowing to grow our food and understanding the virtual water footprint (the total amount of water required to produce food) hovers between 800-1300 gallons of water per day per person in the United States. 

Learning these facts was a game-changer for me. It set me on a seven-year journey to visit farmers and food/beverage producers around the United States to research my book EAT LESS WATER: THE SOLUTION TO WATER SHORTAGES IN THE KITCHEN. 

But before I understood the power we could harness in the kitchen, I spent a lot of time in the shower—of course, not with the water on but focused on reducing shower time! "You can save 2400 gallons of water each year if you shave 4 minutes from your shower time," I repeated thousands of times. My small water conservation business sold 80,000 shower timers to individuals, retail stores, and water agencies.

I'm not minimizing the need for short showers and recycling. What I'm saying is we need to do more—much more. My focus on shower time was a direct result of a water conservation campaign promoted by my local water agency about a dozen droughts ago. But it's time these conservation campaigns, whether focused on reducing water or greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), include action steps focused on the kitchen and the food systems that stock them. Only until we focus on food can we repair this planet we love.

 Nothing comes close to altering the landscape and bodies of water on every continent on a mass scale than food production. Not only does food/beverage production use the lion's share of the global freshwater (it's also the most significant water polluter), but the global food system accounts for a third of all GHG emissions. And then there's the issue of all the food waste hauled from our kitchen to the landfill emitting methane gas (20 times stronger than carbon dioxide).  

"Destruction of ecosystems and habitats will threaten our ability to sustain human populations unless we change how we produce food," according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). If we don't make fundamental changes as a global community, food production alone will add a 1.7 °F (1 °C) increase in warming by 2100. But this is where the news gets good because we control what occurs in our kitchen. We decide what food we purchase and how it's stored. All you need are the action steps. What is the slogan? Education is power? Something like that. Do you know what else is powerful? The collective action we take to make simple changes in our kitchens, like meal planning and supporting food producers that are not concerned only about increased profits but also building planetary well-being. 

Since the publication of EAT LESS WATER (also available in Italian, GOCCIA A GOCCIA), I have appeared on television, radio, and podcasts, including NPR, CBS, American Public Media, KCRW's Good Food, New York and Pacifica Radio, Entertainment Weekly, and KTLA Morning News. I am the host of the podcast THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST. I am also the founder/director of the Pesticide Free Soil Project, a youth-led community-based program that works with schools to move away from harmful pesticides from the playground (with Compost Tea Parties) to the cafeteria. 

My home is mainly in Oxnard, California, an agricultural town on the Pacific coast, and sometimes Santa Fe, New Mexico. My next book, A KITCHEN ACTIVIST, will be out in Spring 2026. 

If it seems too long to start taking meaningful action steps now, stay tuned for the rollout of KITCHEN ACTIVIST 101, set to launch this fall! I hope to see you at my kitchen table soon.

Be Resplendent

Florencia