Personal and Planetary Healing Entwined

Personal and Planetary Healing Entwined

by Robin Seydel

With each passing day it becomes ever more impossible to deny that our personal healing and that of the earth are inexorably entwined.

If there is to be any kind of healing, any lowering of cancer rates, reductions in children's asthma or elder's chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a decline in heart disease and diabetes, a drop in depression or degenerative and autoimmune diseases, it will come when we acknowledge the links between our health and that of Mother Earth and take action to counter the pervasive disrespect long in vogue.

Many of us have realized that it is not enough to take a magic pill when we are ill.

The drug wears off and in many cases the symptoms return. Real healing is hard work; work that takes personal responsibility for action to make things right.

Many people have begun this long process with regards to their own personal healing, utilizing various modalities including herbs, acupuncture, counseling, body work of all kinds, to name but a few.

Then, too, there are those dedicated activists that are working daily to make a difference in the health and well being of the planet.

Our greatest strength and greatest health is when we combine these activities. Research has repeatedly shown that people who have developed a supportive network and are active in the community on things they believe are important live longer, healthier lives.

Nourishing an Appetite for Health

For many of us, what we eat has a great deal to do with how we feel.

The links between the SAD (Standard American Diet) state of American eating habits, including fast and junk food and illness are well documented.

The high amounts of salt, sugar, fats, artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, additives and preservatives and empty calories have make us, as a nation, overfed and undernourished.

Even before our food gets to the processors, hundreds of tons of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, as well as artificial growth promoters, including antibiotics are routinely used in conventional agribusiness.

Like canaries in coalmines, after wildlife, farmers and their children, especially migrant workers, were among the first to feel the effects of these pollutants.

The logical outcome of a steady poisoning of the food supply (and the environment) with residues of chemicals created to kill, even if they are at parts per billion in our bodies, is today's near epidemic of illnesses.

Now with genetically altered crops, mad cow and other consequences of industrial agriculture adding to the onslaught, the importance of organically produced food is paramount.

Organic food production does double duty, healing both people and the planet. By creating food that is as clean as possible given the levels of pollutants in the air and water, it adds as little as is possible to our already high body burden.

Refraining from the use of toxins it reduces exposures both for us and for Mother Earth. By definition, growing food organically is about processes; building richer soil to generate healthier plants that can better withstand the pests, droughts and other onslaughts of nature.

Moving away from the monocrop mentality to thought processes that celebrate diversity, it helps fashion micro-locales in which we give Mother Earth a helping hand in healing herself, creating sanctuaries for all species.

Organic processes help bring natural systems back into balance. And it is clear that balance is an integral part of health, be it in our bodies or in the whole of nature. Supporting the Organic Consumers Association, among other organizations, in their call for a change in American agriculture to all organic by the year 2015 seems more than reasonable.

Growing your own garden with organic methodology and choosing to eat organically grown products as much as possible are two ways we can all participate in the healing process.

Green Healing, Herbal Wisdom

The whole concept of sanctuaries is one that the Folks at the United Plant Savers have been championing of late (see their Winter 2000 newsletter; contact them ,
or check out their website at .

As more people are turning to herbal wisdom from many cultures for true healing, many of our most powerful healing plants are threatened, due both to renewed popularity and shrinking habitat.

On the "At Risk" list are important herbs, including American Ginseng, Black Cohosh, Blue Cohosh, Bloodroot, Eyebright, Goldenseal, Kava, Lomatium, Osha, Slippery Elm, Wild Yam and True Unicorn, among others.

Only slightly less threatened are those plants on the "To Watch" list, including; Arnica, Gentian, Lobelia, Oregon Grape, Spikenard, Stillengia, White Sage, Wild Indigo, Yerba Mansa, and Yerba Santa.

Creating a sanctuary and encouraging these plants if they grow wild in the area or planting and cultivating them organically can be done on any amount of land, from a backyard garden plot to hundreds of acres.

Land trusts and legally protected wilderness areas are growing in their appeal to landowners in many parts of the country. These simple plants, when used appropriately, are powerful in their ability to heal us.

By taking action to ensure their survival, either through protection of wilderness areas or by organic cultivation we encourage our own.

The beauty of this endeavor is that our activities in support of these green healers, our greatest allies in personal healing, allows us to care for and restore our precious Mother Earth.

And so, the healing, personal and planetary, like the seasons, comes full circle.