Health@Heart
Our cruelty to Mother Earth
It does not take an Einstein to understand that clean air, pure water and uncontaminated environment are conducive to health and longevity. In certain parts of the world, like in the serene Okinawa to the verdant valleys of Ecuador to the unspoiled hills of the Himalayas, a significant number of people normally live to a hundred. A common denominator among these centenarians is an environment that is nature’s best, untainted by the toxic byproducts of the advances in technology in this modern world of ours.
Today, man, in most parts of the earth, especially in well-developed cities, is no longer living in harmony with nature. He has been hostile to his environment, gradually killing it with emission of poisonous gases and deadly chemicals from our factories and toxic smokes from our vehicles that pollute the air and deplete the ozone layer which protects us from excessive solar radiation, with noxious substances we use at home for cleaning that eventually end up in rivers and oceans destroying bodies of water and their inhabitants and contaminating our drinking water, destruction of our forests, and other human activities that negatively alter the “homeostasis” in our world and the equilibrium in our environment.
These and other unwise human behaviors, mostly self-inflicted, and his cruelty to Mother Nature have boomeranged. Our immune system as a species, for one thing, has been adversely affected. Various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, diseases of the heart, lungs and various other organs, and some unexplained ones, have increased, especially in the last century or so. Our misadventures are now haunting us and our children.
While the governments of the world are trying to remedy this dire global situation, it behooves us, earthlings, to do our daily share in showing more respect and love for our environment. After all, this is the only home we’ve got today. And destroying it is like exploding a bomb on board a plane we are in.
Organic is Healthier
Most of the produce and products on the market today are “contaminated” with some type of chemicals used in fertilizing them, protecting them, making them more appealing, preserving them, or enriching them. Our farmers and manufacturers in the world today have been so programmed and enslaved by modern automation, even in their thinking, to the convenience and practicality of resorting to chemicals and substances that will increase the marketability, sale, and maximize the bottom line of their business, with customer’s health and safety lower in their list of their priorities and obligations to society.
Versatile plastic wares abound in the world, many of them releasing vinyl chloride and other toxic gases, or contain phthalates, which are cancer and birth defect-causing agents, and which are also harmful to the lungs and liver. Surprisingly, unbeknownst to most of us, some plastics are also used in chewing gums, cosmetics, carpeting, mattresses, toilet papers, sanitary napkins, polyester clothing and tissue papers. The use glass containers, natural fiber clothing, personal care and cosmetic products made with natural ingredients, wooden toys for kids, etc, and staying away from aluminum cook wares, to prevent aluminum poisoning, are the healthier ways to go.
All white paper products are bleached with chemicals which leaves behind residues of cancer-causing dioxin, which are likewise found in lunch bags, coffee filters, diapers, paper towels, napkins, tissues and toilet papers. Dioxin, like other harmful chemicals, enters the soil and eventually contaminates groundwater.
The use of organic household cleaners, “Green Your Clean Routine,” is the safer and healthier alternative. An effective and safer cleanser, for instance, is diluted vinegar, for use in the kitchen and bathroom tiles, mirrors, and even in carpets, to inhibit mildew and bacteria.
Equally, if not more, important, we must avoid processed foods and opt for organic foods —- vegetables, meat products, fruits, etc. that are organically raised and produced (without pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, coloring) —- are obviously safer and healthier alternatives. The current significant drawback is the prohibitive cost of these organic foods. Hopefully, as more consumers go organic, the price of these items will be more reasonable. We also hope that the manufacturers and purveyors will subjugate their material priority to the health and safety of the public and the world as a whole.
The basic principle in all this is for us, the inhabitants of Planet Earth, to be responsible and good to our environment by not contaminating our natural habitat with poisons, and to allow Mother Nature to flourish at its best. The purer and healthier the air we breathe in, the water we drink, the food we eat, the healthier the ozone layer is, and the healthier lifestyle we live, the healthier our world will be, for humankind as a whole, and for the future generations to come.