Ecology is something we all need to be concerned about. I had never read a book on it before, but no time like the present right! This book is a collection of essays from Native American writers on how to live more sustainably and healthy. Going back to basics is the key in many ways.
“Monsanto Corporation recently acquired a paten on plant genes that render plants sterile. Consequently, farmers could not retain a portion of their harvests to use as seed.”
Seeds nowadays are genetically modified so that when you plant a crop, you can no longer retain some of the crop for seeds for the next year. This allows big corporate companies, like Monsanto, to control their profits. But more importantly it allows them to control our food supply. How do you feel about corporations controlling our food supply? It is a bit scary, huh?
“As we strain the limits of the natural world, we can no longer escape the knowledge that ecological collapse has been the often unrecognized force behind the downfall of many civilizations. Biology is indeed destiny.”
Food is the quickest way to change someone’s epigenetics. Whoever controls the food system the most, is the person/entity that gets to decide how human we are on a gene and cellular level. Now do you understand why seeds and the food system need to be a priority to us all? Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The more people who have their hands in the cookie jar of the food system, the better off we are. Now do you see why the farmers are such an important check and balance in the power systems?
Interdependence is something that is brought up in many of these essays. Also, it is something that is brought up in my family’s cult playbook, The 48 laws of Power. We cannot deny that we are all connected. And it makes us all vulnerable, no matter how much we hate it or want to deny it. We all have an influence in each other’s lives. And it is not an abstract influence. It is a direct influence. We directly effect each other everyday with all of our actions and the way we live our lives.
Diversifying the food supply by planting different crops and having smaller organic farms is part of the solution. Right now we are only growing a small number of crops/strains of food and if these crops/strains fail we are in for a world of hurt. There are only like 3 or 4 different kinds of wheat being grown in the United States. Which can lead to a collapse if one of them fails. This is how it is with many crops in our country/world. The longer we go on like this the fewer strains we will have.
You know how you go to the marijuana dispensary and there are all kinds of different strains to choose from? Or you go to a microbrewery and there are all kinds to choose from? Well, this is what we need the food industry to be like. Some strains grow better in different areas/regions. We need to honor this and diversify our portfolio of food so to speak. When you put all your eggs in one basket, it can lead to disaster.
Housing is also something that needs to be addressed not only for our health, but for the health of the environment. We need to live sustainably in all ways in order to survive and to be human on a gene and cellular level. Since the 1970s we have focused on making our houses/dwellings air tight. But we have also started processing the building materials with more and more chemical toxins. Thus, we are creating an air tight environment in our homes to keep those toxins stuck. Natural building materials for our homes can help remedy this issue. Along with using less toxins to process building materials.
Plus, the move from traditional heating and cooling towards HVAC systems means that we just recycle the air with toxins in it over and over. We need to change the breathability of the walls of our homes. And we need to change the way we heat and cool our homes. Heating and cooling the air in our homes is extremely ineffective and unsustainable. Radiant floor heating is an example of how we can become more sustainable. (But with this option we would also have to address the bad bacteria in the public water system/supply. Spore bacteria survive the way we treat water. And often sewer water is recycled into drinking water.)
There is an example in the book about how even trees are interdependent. In Oregon, there was a clear cut that was replanted with trees. And all the trees died. But when they replanted again and added a cup full of dirt from the base of a living tree with every seedling, these seedlings survived. Because this added bacteria, fungi, and all the organisms that are stripped from the soil when we clear cut a forest. We all are just a collective of organisms. Even trees cannot survive on their own.
Rant: The Redwood forest in Northern California is the largest organism in the world. It is not a forest of individual trees. The roots are all connected. It is one large organism. The largest organism on Earth. Humans are like the Redwoods in Northern California. We are all connected with our roots. Our microbiomes are all connected. This is why one person got Covid in one part of the world and we all were endangered. Our microbiomes are connected just like the roots of the Redwood trees in Northern California. We share bugs. Just like the seedlings needed bugs to grow and survive.
We too need bugs to grow and survive. As a human being you are more bacteria, parasite, and virus cells than you are human cells. You are a bug and you are not even mostly human. You are mostly bugs. If you kill your bugs you kill yourself and your immune system. Your immune system is a a collective of organisms that live mostly in your gut that have created a symbiotic relationship with you. They take care of you because you are their home. You know how you take care of your house and you water the lawn, replace the roof, and paint when needed? Well, that is what your immune system is doing when it takes care of you. It is maintaining it’s home. Because you are it’s home. If you die, they will most likely die too. So they take care of you because you take care of them. Which is the definition of a symbiotic relationship, win-win. (I went off there on all kinds of stuff, but it was good right?)
Diabetes being common in native people when they give up their traditional diets of mostly beans, corn, and squash is a topic a few of the contributors touched on. Chronic illnesses of all kinds are common in all people who eat the standard American diet. Diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease, and heart disease are caused by infections(bacterial, fungal, and viral.) So, it is not technically the food that causes chronic illnesses. It is the infections they feed and grown in our bodies that actually cause illness. Kill the infections and you kill the disease/illness.
This book was great and it touched on a lot of topics that I really enjoy. If we want to reverse the destruction of the modern world, we have to look to see how we destroyed things and where we went wrong. Living a more natural life is the only way we are going to get to be more human on a gene and cellular level. I am not saying we all need to live in the woods and only eat what we kill and grow. But I am saying we need to be smarter about what we are doing. Because the way we are currently living is not sustainable and we are sick. We are a subhuman slave race on a gene and cellular level. And we will continue to be so until we address the environment that is negatively switching our genes on and off in really bad ways. This negative environment is created through the choices we make everyday on how we live our daily lives. You have no clue of what you are capable of because your epigenetics are negatively influenced by the environment which steals your potential. No matter what you have accomplished, you are capable of more. But the environment makes it so you are constantly swimming upstream. You have no clue who you were born to be. Because that person is being stolen from you with every breath you take, bite of food, and drink of water/liquid.