Our Bodies - Our Planet


By Lori Thayer, PhD


“There is no separation between healing ourselves and healing the earth.”


T


his wise adage was shared at the commencement of a shamanic heal- ing journey at a drum circle I attend-


ed several years ago. And its message has reverberated in my cellular memory ever since. As I pondered the many ills suffered by both humans and the earth, I realized the many ways they refl ect back on each other. As we mistreat and malnourish and desecrate ourselves, we are often infl icting the same upon our environment, whether consciously, out of indifference, or even from a basic lack of awareness. And just as we discharge so many, many toxins onto and into the earth, we are ingesting an equally unprecedented number of toxins into our bodies. What we do to the planet and how we treat our own bodies are not only interconnected, but mirrored actions.


In particular, I would like to talk about one glaring “refl ection” on this topic — the acidifi cation of our waters. And when I say ‘our’ waters, I mean the 70% of fresh and salt water that covers our earth’s surface and the approximate 70% of water that makes up our human assemblage. We have been hearing much debate about global warming, and the eerie potential calamities that might arise — but less about what has


been deemed global warming’s evil twin — acidifi cation. Since the Industrial Revolu- tion, our seas have become as much as 30 percent more acidic, a rate not observed in 300 million years. This has a wide range of consequences for marine and freshwater ecosystems, as well as for the billions of people who depend on the ocean, rivers, and lakes for food and survival. Water bodies are often treated by humans as a giant waste bin — a catch basin for dis- charged human produced waste — and are particularly prone to becoming polluted.


Healthy water bodies tend to be slight- ly alkaline, in the pH range of 6.5- 8.5 (on a pH scale of 1-14 with lower values being more acidic and higher values being more alkaline) and the EPA sets similar pH stan- dards for drinking water. Healthy human blood needs an alkaline pH of about 7.4. Yet the acidifi cation of our lakes, rivers, streams, and even oceans is heavily on the rise — a detriment to plants and animals and the ecosystem as a whole. And in some cases, even our treated drinking wa- ter may have a lower pH than what might be considered optimally healthy. One way to remedy this is to keep a container of water with fresh lemon slices in it that help alkalize your drinking water.


As for our human bodies, a diet heavy in acid-forming foods — namely meat, dairy, sugar, and processed foods — has been theorized to lead to higher rates of chronic diseases. Conversely, greater con- sumption of fresh organic fruits, vegetables, and legumes are more alkaline, and less in- fl ammatory. Furthermore, our conventional industrial agricultural complex produces contaminated runoff that leaches into our waterways, which also increases nitrogen loading, a signifi cant source of water body acidifi cation. Compounding effects of in- dustrial farming also include toxic pesticide exposure to farm workers and the ongoing inhumane practices that breed toxicity in our meat and dairy products. An acidic palate breeds an acidic planet.


But beyond the physical ramifi ca- tions of toxic chemical compounds, there exists an even greater surreptitious source of acidity — the toxic load of negative emotions. Negative thoughts can create 2-3 times more metabolic acids than the ingestion of acid-forming foods. Think about someone who is bitter, sour, acerbic, or who has an acrid disposition. When we hold on to these negative emotions, it can eat away at our insides, like acid in a can. In turn, feelings of peace, hope, forgive-


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