photo: andrew preble

Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, doesn’t require a bathing suit, although you might want to wear one because it’s great to include some water, such as a waterfall or a dip in a lake, as part of your forest bath. And forest bathing is not an epic trek through Patagonia or a calorie-burning ten-mile run. It’s also not led by a park ranger, and no maps are involved. There will be no compasses or hiking poles.

So, what exactly is forest bathing? Forest bathing is the practice of intentionally connecting to Nature as a way to heal. Part mindfulness, part child’s play, it’s a portal into true understanding of yourself and the world around you. Considered as a form of nature therapy, forest bathing is an embodied love note to Mother Earth and an evidence-based intervention to combat the life-threatening diseases that are associated with modern life.

If you’ve ever taken a walk in the woods à la Henry David Thoreau, you may be aware of the benefits of being outdoors. You breathe easier. The thoughts racing through your head slow down and magically begin to reprioritize themselves—the stuff that doesn’t matter begins to fade away. If you’re with friends, the conversations may go deeper. You may talk about dreams, intentions, desires, and manifestations. This is your soul talking. It’s always talking, but usually we are so stuck in our minds that we don’t take the time to really listen.

Being in the forest deliberately activates you. John Muir, who was unknowingly involved in forest bathing research for most of his life, said, “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” Forest bathing encourages you to hug trees, feel moss, pick up leaves, taste raspberries, and listen to your deep truths. It’s about awakening all your senses, tapping into your wildness, and luxuriating among the trees. A forest bath cleanses your soul and allows you to find yourself soaking in nature.

The History of Forest Bathing

Forest bathing is based on the Japanese term shinrin-yoku (森 林 浴), which was coined by Tomohide Akiyama of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in 1982, in part as a way beyond logging to garner value from the forest. In Japanese, the term comprises three kanji characters—the first character is composed of three trees and means “forest,” the second character is two trees and refers to the interconnectedness of the forest, and the third character connotes the luxury of being fully engulfed in the abundance that surrounds you.

The essence of shinrin-yoku, however, goes back a lot further than when the term was coined. As evidenced in haiku poems about nature and with the concept of wabi-sabi—the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete—much of traditional Japanese culture is based on a deep understanding of and connection to Nature. Ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers, for example, dates back to the sixth century; it focuses on a personal and direct relationship with nature. According to one of Japan’s most influential modern ikeba practitioners, artist Toshiro Kawase, ikebana helps one realize that “the whole universe is contained within a single flower.”

Before forest therapy became popular, the ancient people of Japan honored sacred spirits that they recognized in nature, manifesting in mountains, rocks, rivers, and trees. Shugendō Buddhist priests, or Yamabushi, are mystics and warriors whose origins go back to at least the eighth century. These hermitic seekers live in the mountains, pursuing spiritual powers gained through asceticism. Their traditional role was to help guide people to one’s true nature and to teach discipline and warrior ways. Yamabushi believe that the highest truth exists in nature. Shugendō is a path to help people strip away excess, to understand themselves better through immersion in the power and strength of the natural world. Everything in nature is considered sacred and believed to have health benefits—be it a stone or a river—and practitioners use rituals to honor each of the elements: earth, air, water, and fire.

What religious ascetics have intrinsically known for two thousand years, modern researchers have confirmed with science and data. Japanese forestry administrator Tomohide Akiyama was aware of the pioneering studies of the immune-boosting effects of phytoncides, essential oils exuded by certain trees and plants, when he first proposed shinrin-yoku in 1982. Since then, much research has focused on the stress-busting and mood-enhancing benefits of exposure to phytoncides in nature.

Forest Bathing and Modern Life

Humans have evolved in nature; we’ve spent 99.9% of our time in the natural world, and our physiological functions are adapted to it. We’re evolved to find relaxation and restoration in nature. Nevertheless, today most Americans spend most of their time indoors, including a lot of time in enclosed vehicles. With the constant stimuli and stresses of modern life, our prefrontal cortexes (the fight-or-flight response center that controls the release of adrenaline) work on overdrive, which means we rarely ever enter rest-and-digest mode. As a result, we have chronically high levels of cortisol in our bloodstreams and are plagued with high blood pressure and other ailments.

We’re living in a pivotal moment in human history when the spiritual and the scientific worlds are merging. We’re beginning to understand what happens on both a physical and subatomic level as we engage with nature. It’s been scientifically shown that spending time immersed in forest therapy reduces stress, lowers heart rate, lowers cortisol levels, decreases inflammation, boosts the immune system, improves mood, increases the ability to focus, jump-starts creativity, increases energy levels, and makes us more generous and compassionate.

In a study spanning visitors to twenty-four forests, Japanese researchers showed that when people strolled through a forested area, their levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, plummeted almost 16% more than when they walked in an urban environment. The effects were quickly apparent: within minutes of beginning a walk in the woods, the subjects’ blood pressures showed improvement. Results like these led Dr. Qing Li to declare “forest medicine” a new medical science that “could let you know how to be more active, more relaxed, and healthier with reduced stress and reduced risk of lifestyle-related disease and cancer by visiting forests.”

In forest therapy programs in Japan, groups are led through immersive nature walks, where they are invited to slow down and rediscover the world around them. They may be invited to try out forest bathing activities like smelling fragrant leaves or listening to stories of where beloved foods, such as chestnuts, come from. There are breaks for healing bento lunches, meditation, and soaking in the negative ions from nearby waterfalls. These programs may also include nature yoga, woodworking, and soba noodle-making. Such courses are offered across the country, often in small towns accessible by high-speed rail. The Japanese version of forest bathing blurs the line between eco-tourism and nature-focused healing.

With this influx of evidence on the health benefits of nature therapy, the practice of forest bathing has begun to spread to other parts of the world, including Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Forest bathing is the antidote to modern life. This practice may have started in Japan, but it’s evolving into a new way of living, which is actually the original way of living—in right relationship with the earth.

For thousands of years, human cultures have had their own versions of shinrin-yoku—of sensorial practices for soaking in the healing powers of the forest. Each culture may have unique practices and rituals, but all are based on the same big secret: Nature is everything. Nature keeps us healthy and can provide the medicine we need. Spending time with nature provides us with inspiration and well-being. True innovation and the most advanced technologies originate from the planet. You can read this or hear it a thousand ways, but it’s not until you experience this secret that you begin to embody this deep knowing. As you do, maybe you’ll begin to see nature connection as I do—a basic human right and prerequisite for true healing.

Welcome to the New Environmental Movement

Shinrin-yoku represents a realignment with the natural world. Indigenous cultures the world over are innately aware that the health of communities depends on the health of the environment. People who live on the land where they and their ancestors grew up are inherently connected to that land. They know how to speak Nature’s language and know that we all are connected to the earth. As Native American faith-keeper and indigenous rights advocate Chief Oren Lyons says, “The environment isn’t over here. The environment isn’t over there. You are the environment.” All of us have much to learn from people whose rituals and traditions have preserved a strong connection to the planet.

Since the Industrial Revolution, we have considered ourselves conquerors and manipulators of the natural world: Man versus Nature. This feeling of separation from Nature made it okay to destroy the planet for our benefit. But what we haven’t realized is that we are destroying ourselves, too.

As a society, Americans have reached the apex of separation from Nature and are suffering as a result. Chronic illness, including cancer, depression, anxiety, exhaustion, and attention deficit disorders, are widespread and on the rise, even with all the preventive health care available. These issues affect adults and children alike. With the current status quo, chronic diseases are expected to affect almost half of all Americans by 2025.

The pain and suffering we feel on an individual level is reflected back to us in the state of the planet. Since 1970, the world has witnessed a nearly 60% decline in wildlife across land, sea, and freshwater and is heading toward a decline of two-thirds by 2020. As the world population continues to grow, demands for food, water, energy, and infrastructure are putting more pressure on the earth. Massive deforestation, rapidly melting glaciers, coral reef destruction, soil erosion and degradation, extreme weather, and worsening air quality are just a few of the many signs that we’ve been ravaging Nature at an ever-increasing rate.

It seems clear that we simply cannot go on doing what we’ve been doing. But where do we begin? These problems are massive, systemic, and overwhelming.

Sometimes things have to come to a breaking point before they can begin to get better. I believe that all of the calamity and upheaval we are experiencing is heralding a new epoch. At this moment, Earth herself is becoming conscious, enabling humans to awaken to higher values. We have an unprecedented opportunity to create the world we want to live in—one filled with compassion for the whole web of life, and one that we will be proud to gift to our children worldwide.

This shift away from disconnection to the beginning of reconnecting to Nature marks the end of what author Charles Eisenstein refers to as “our journey of Separation” in the essay “The Three Seeds.” He writes that the purpose of this journey that started thirty thousand years ago with a tribe called humanity was “to experience the extremes of Separation, to develop the gifts that come in response to it, and to integrate all of that in a new Age of Reunion.” We are being called to embark on the journey of reconnection to our personal inner nature and outer nature. Forest therapy is a rewilding from the inside out and the outside in, as we learn to integrate our hearts and minds and live in harmony with the earth.

Environmental activist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy recalls the Tibetan legend of the Shambala warrior. “There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger,” she says. “It is now, when the future of all beings hangs by the frailest of threads, that the kingdom of Shambala emerges.” This kingdom is not some place you can go, but rather a knowing in the hearts and minds of Shambala warriors. The warriors are sent to dismantle the dangerous powers-that-be with the weapons of compassion and insight. We all have the potential to be Shambala warriors.

If you’ve been dwelling in despair, it may be helpful to know that several cultures predicted our current difficulties centuries ago: people from Tibet, Latin America, Siberia, and North America prophesied about the future of humankind. The Andean Quechua Inca, New Mexican Hopi, and Mayan cultures share a prophecy of the eagle from the North and the condor from the South, in which the condor, representing intuitive, nature-connected ways, is close to extinction, while the eagle, symbolizing the dominant forces of industrialized society, reigns supreme. The prophecy foretells of violence and materialism that proceeds a moment of awakening, when the eagle and condor realize that they are capable of more love and awareness and decide to join forces and learn to fly in the sky together again.

The urge we feel to rewild and speak our truth is Mother Earth’s own desire. She’s done waiting patiently while we selfishly ravage her. She’s speaking to us and through us. We’re living in an amazing moment of transformation.

As we do shinrin-yoku, we begin to understand how to communicate with trees and plants. We gain the ability to interpret a slight breeze or a bird’s call. We fall deeply in love with the earth. The more we tap into Mother Nature’s rhythms, the more we understand that she wants to help us evolve and live with a higher purpose—all we have to do is learn how to listen. Earth will show us how we can best serve her. As we heal the planet, we heal ourselves.

Try It Out

To try forest bathing, simply step outside. You may want to go to a nearby park or perhaps you have some trees in your backyard. There’s no need to go deep into a forest to receive the benefits of spending time in nature, which can even be a form of preventative health care.

Forest bathing is all about getting in touch with your true nature. There are no specific guidelines to follow; no rights or wrongs or shoulds or must-dos. It’s about what feels right to you. Everything I recommend is an invitation for you to try if you feel inclined. If you’re not inclined, you may choose to simply sit under a tree and do nothing. You’ll get all the health benefits that way too!

I’ve found that the quickest way to get into a forest bathing state-of-mind is to give an offering to the Earth. It’s best practice to give to Nature before we ask for anything—whether that is for healing or clarity or anything else. An offering can be anything from some flowers to a splash of water to a song or dance. It’s less about what it is and more about the purity of your intention. This is a way of greeting the land and asking for permission to be there. You can also ask for protection as you go about your shinrin-yoku journey.

Once you’ve greeted the land with your offering, begin to awaken your senses. It’s not always possible, but if you’re comfortable, try taking off your shoes as you do this. In addition to the many benefits of earthing, of having your feet connected to the Earth, you may find that thoughts drain from your head when you have a direct connection to the Earth. Take a moment to acknowledge all of the beings that have stood on that same land over many thousands of years.

Now take a look around you and notice all the shapes, colors, and patterns of the natural world. Our eyes have a fractal structure; when we see fractals in nature, a resonance occurs, and it allows us to relax.

To experience even more forest bathing benefits, close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. You may be surprised by how much more you can hear with your eyes closed. Shift your attention to what you can feel—perhaps the breeze on your skin or the soil beneath your feet. Take a few deep breaths and notice what you smell in the air. Perhaps you smell the phytoncides, the essential oils that trees emit, that boost our natural killer (NK) cell activity. Stick your nose in the dirt and take a big inhale of Earth! And finally—stick out your tongue and notice what you can taste in the air. It’s really fun to taste the raindrops when it’s raining!

With all your senses awakened, you may feel more alert and connected. If there are still thoughts running through your mind, imagine emptying a thought with each step that you take. As you walk slowly, allow your heart to direct you. Follow your curiosities instead of the beaten path.

At some point you might find a spot to sit. Go ahead and take a seat and just stay there as long as you’d like. Notice how the environment changes over the course of a few minutes. After your first-ever forest therapy session, come back to that same place over a few days, weeks, seasons, or years and you’ll really experience the subtle shifts. You may even find that you begin to learn the language of birds, trees, insects, and clouds and that you start to receive messages from them.

This is the simple art of forest bathing. You can absolutely forest bathe alone, and you will receive many benefits from this practice. I also find that it’s important to do this work together. At this moment in time, the reconnection that’s being called for is trifold: to ourselves, our communities, and the planet. Forest bathing in a facilitated group is really powerful because we all bring back unique discoveries from our time in nature, and as we share, we learn a lot from each other and weave a new story.

As shinrin-yoku has increased in popularity recently, it’s possible to find forest therapy guides in many locations around the world. Resorts are beginning to offer these practices, and many guides are on AirBnB Experiences. The Forest Bathing Club is launching a training program in 2020 for people who are looking to start their own branch of the club in their local community. Sign up at to hear about the training at forestbathing.club

Reprinted from The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing: Finding Calm, Creativity, and Connection in the Natural World. Copyright © 2019 by Julia Plevin. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

About The Author

Julia Plevin is a writer, designer, and the founder of The Forest Bathing Club, which started as a meetup in 2016 and now has 600+ members. Plevin has worked as a design strategist at IDEO, SYPartners, and fuseproject, and has written for Huffington Post, The Atlantic, and Venture Beat. She and her work have been featured by Outside Magazine, CNN, Business Insider, Quartz, The New Yorker, and the Sierra Club. Learn more at juliaplevin.com

bow lake, icefields parkway. photo: billy dekom

A trip to Banff National Park Canada will leave you in awe of the sheer power of Mother Nature. Everything in the Canadian Rockies feels larger, grander, and wilder. Some of the mightiest peaks stand over 3,000 meters high and hundreds of species of wildlife call this 6,000-square-kilometer stretch of wilderness “home.” You can expect to share these Rocky Mountain views with a few of these wild creatures and fellow adventure seekers from around the globe. Last year, over four million people from various corners of the world came to visit this park. And after you’ve spent a little time wandering around the steep trails, turquoise lakes, roaring waterfalls, and glacier-studded mountain ranges—it becomes abundantly clear what drew them here. Swapping city skylines for crisp mountain air and wide open spaces leaves you feeling more at ease as soon as you pass under the “Welcome to Banff” road signs. As you drive along the main highway, the sweeping glacier-carved valley will continue to climb up past dense tree lines and up to rugged summits—the scale of which feels almost impossible to capture with pictures alone. The peaks in Alberta are truly massive. Staring up at them you can’t help but feel acutely aware of your smallness in the world and wonder what must have happened geologically to bring these giants into existence. Standing among these towering mountains, you can breathe deeply and let that sweet feeling of oneness with nature and your surroundings wash over you. Here is just a sampling of what stands out in this national park along with some of the top things to do in Banff, Canada.

The drive alone through this park is stunning and makes for an epic road trip.

Even just standing outside a café in Canmore or strolling between stores in the Town of Banff—you’ll be immersed in jaw-dropping 360-degree mountain views. The wild beauty of this place is, in a word, inescapable. The first trip we took here, we remember driving along the paved highway cutting through the park. We were ducking down and twisting, turning, and craning our necks trying to catch a glimpse of the mountain tops through the rental car windows. Clouds swirling slowly and hypnotically around the highest peaks. It’s the kind of drive where you end up turning the radio dial down low. Keeping an eye on either side of the road, pointing excitedly across the windshield. Looking, searching, taking it all in. Hoping to spot ribbons of water cascading down the steep slopes. Squinting for signs of critters between the evergreens. Peering past the edge of the road as the ice blue Bow River comes into view. You almost don’t know where to look, there’s just so much beauty to take in. While this park certainly attracts a subset of people drawn to challenging outdoor sports and activities—there’s tons to see just from the road or by those able to take short walks to the water’s edge. Further up in Banff, along the Icefields Parkway, you can spot glaciers from the road. Look for large snow-white masses tucked into the mountains and don’t be surprised if you find yourself stopping at almost every turnout, viewpoint, or lake along the way. mistaya canyon. photo: billy dekom

Canada’s first national park is best known for its stunning glacial lakes.

There is no denying that the breathtaking glacial lakes are considered the best of Banff. The color of the water here takes on such vibrant tones of blue and green that you almost have to experience them in person to believe they’re real. Varying from deep jade to vibrant turquoise, these glacier-fed lakes draw people from all over the world who hope to stand at the water’s edge and see them with their own eyes. Crossing their fingers that the shots they take from the shoreline will capture the color well enough to inspire others to make the trip north. These lakes owe their signature color to something called “rock flour,” which is made of fine-grained particles of rock created by the grinding of bedrock during the glacial erosion process. Since the material is so small, it becomes suspended in the meltwater—making the water appear slightly cloudy and giving it that solid-looking, surreal blue-green color (totally different than clear blue ocean water). Along with the ability to see some of the world’s remaining glaciers, these bodies of water are what set Banff apart from any other vacation destination.

Banff is a dream destination for adventure seekers.

Wondering what to do in Banff if you love an adventure? There are ample opportunities for hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, biking, canoeing, kayaking, climbing, mountaineering, running, paddle-boarding, and sightseeing. As the snow melts in the summer and the higher elevation trails start to reopen, you can expect the park to draw more travelers. But the winter months offer slightly smaller crowds. In those months, you can also take advantage of the snow-packed trails and frozen lakes to enjoy some downhill skiing, ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and snow-shoeing.

The vastness of this place will keep you coming back.

We’ve spent a combined six weeks, spread across two summers, exploring this stretch of Alberta and still the list of things we have yet to see continues to grow. The sheer number of things to do and places to explore in Banff can feel overwhelming. There are a lot of things to do in Banff. If you come visit in the summer months, you may leave itching to see the same lakes you hiked around when they’re frozen in the winter time. Or wonder how magnificent the landscape looks during larch season in the fall. You’ll want to find a way to see, hike, and do it all, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself making a “must-see” list for your next trip as soon as you wrap up your first one. We’ve heard park rangers say that even if you were to stay there all summer long and backpack the entire time…you still wouldn’t make a dent in it. That’s how vast the number of lakes, trails, and peaks is. And while it would be a fool’s errand to try to capture all of its wonders in just these few pages, in this travel guide to Banff, we’ve collected a list of what keeps us coming back year after year. bighorn sheep on the icefields. photo: billy dekom

1. Wildlife Viewing Opportunities

There are a lot of things to do in Banff National Park, which include wildlife viewing. Wildlife is abundant here. Like much of the American Rocky Mountains, this is bear country. Banff National Park is home to both black bears and grizzlies. They share this territory with a number of other species—including other predators like wolves, foxes, coyotes, cougars, lynxes, and various birds of prey. You’ll also see elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, caribou, deer, and moose along with plenty of smaller animals like pine martens, marmots, pikas, squirrels, and more. But don’t let the wildness of this place scare you off. With simple respectful, sensible practices and an awareness that these are indeed wild animals—you can travel very safely throughout the park. Just stop by any visitor center to speak to a friendly park ranger for a quick, but thorough, lesson on wildlife safety practices. Bear spray is also available throughout the park for purchase, and you’re encouraged to carry it if you plan to hike or camp during your stay. Some of the best times to view wildlife are at dawn or at dusk, when they are most active and out foraging for food. Bow Valley Parkway is supposed to be one of the best spots to see them but we’re willing to bet you’ll stumble across plenty of them just on your drives throughout the park.

2. Experience a Sunset at Moraine Lake

Experiencing the sunrise at Moraine Lake is one of the many things to do in Banff. When you search for “Banff National Park” chances are very good that an image of Moraine Lake at sunrise will come up right away. This spot is known for its picturesque views and is particularly striking at sunrise. Early in the morning, the still lake waters look like glass—perfectly reflecting the snow-capped mountains on its surface. This lake sits in the Valley of the Ten Peaks and taking in a sunrise here can be a very calming, spiritual experience. moraine lake. photo: billy dekom Another reason to arrive early is that the parking lots at Moraine Lake and Lake Louise tend to fill up very quickly. Occasionally they do have overflow parking lots with shuttles available, but it’s worth it to sneak some time in while everyone else is asleep. Park at the lot right near the lake edge and make your way up on top of the rock pile. It’s a short walk up there, but this height lets you fully appreciate the reflective views. On your way up, listen for high-pitched squeaks coming from the rocks and keep your eyes peeled for the darling little critters called pikas. They are tan colored with short bodies, round ears, and no tails. You can also take in the view from the water’s edge or rent canoes to paddle out onto the water. From this spot, hikers can choose to take the Larch Valley Trail to Sentinel Pass. In September, the larches start to change to a lovely golden yellow color—making for a very striking autumn scene in the valley along the trail. Photographers travel to this spot every year to try to capture the larches turning.

3. Stop and See Lake Louise

No Banff travel guide would be complete without recommending this stop. The main draw of this area is its namesake body of water—Lake Louise. Sitting at the edge of the Fairmont Chateau, its turquoise waters are truly stunning. People traveling in groups will love how easily accessible Lake Louise is—just a few hundred feet from the main parking lot.You can take in a view from the rocky lakeshore, rent canoes to spend time out on the water, or walk around toward the backside to see where the glacial melt feeds into the lake itself. You’ll be mere steps away from the historic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise—and, even if you’re not staying at the hotel, it’s a great place to wander around or grab a meal.

4. Hike from Trail to Tea House

Not surprisingly, hiking is one of the many things you can do in Banff, Canada. From Lake Louise you have your pick of several hiking trails. Two of which have tea houses waiting for you once you arrive at your destination. What makes these tea houses so unique is that they have no electricity and no running water—supplies like flour and sugar are flown in by helicopter at the beginning of the season. All fresh food is packed in by the tea house staff members, carried on their backs up the trail. All trash is packed out the same way. Their menus feature specialty teas and made-from-scratch goods. Heading off to the right side, up and away from the lake will take you up to Lake Agnes—another glacial lake with clearer waters and a tea house serving snacks, sandwiches, desserts, and tea. You’ll want to bring cash with you if you’re interested in enjoying some food while sitting by the lake. If you continue past the tea house, you can take the trail even further up to Big Beehive, which overlooks Lake Louise and the Chateau down below. Those craving a challenge can head up for an even higher vantage point at the forebodingly named Devil’s Thumb. Going back to Lake Louise, if you chose instead to take the trail that goes around the shoreline, it will lead you to the trail of the Plain of Six Glaciers. This will also take you to a tea house; but between the two options, this is the one we prefer to spend our money and time on. It’s decidedly less crowded here and the Swiss-style rustic building (built in 1924) is very charming. There’s also a friendly dog, named Arlo-Barlo, who has spent the last ten summers living up at the tea house. It’s a sweet place to enjoy some tasty food in Banff and pause before continuing to the final area where you can view the Plain of Six Glaciers. And depending on the time of year, you may even spot an avalanche off in the distance. In contrast to the one at Lake Agnes, where you’ll find long lines (for the food and for the outhouses) and people talking loudly, bustling around—at the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House you’ll find most hikers and patrons are often quieter. Smiling at each other over sips of tea, remarking upon the delicious bread freshly baked that same morning. Respectfully, calmly taking in the scenery around them. Happily sharing tables with hikers who have just arrived, regardless of whether they know one another or not. Chili and hot meals are made on a propane stove, along with freshly baked goods, and an impressive selection of specialty teas (especially considering this spot is a 6.4 kilometer climb away from the trailhead). Experienced hikers might try hiking from tea house to tea house—connecting the two trail routes we’ve laid out here with little detours to Big Beehive or Devil’s Thumb.

5. Hike along Rushing Water and Waterfalls in Johnston Canyon

One of the best places to stay in Banff if you want to relax is in Johnston Canyon. There’s a number of hiking trails sprinkled along the Bow Valley Parkway but one of the most rewarding day hike areas is in Johnston Canyon. Like most places in Banff during peak season, get here early to avoid the crowds and park in the lot right at the trailhead. In the early morning driving in, you may be able to spot wildlife feeding along the road. johnston canyon. photo: billy dekom The paved trail and series of walking bridges follows rushing water up to several beautiful waterfalls. You can even take the trail further out to an area called the Ink Pots—where five gorgeous, turquoise pools in an idyllic meadow setting will be waiting for you. These pools are mineral springs, and you can sit on benches and watch sandy pools swirl in circular patterns. With mountain ranges surrounding you and Johnston Creek just past the pools, it’s a perfect place to picnic after this moderate hike.

6. Take a Gondola up to Sunshine Meadows

One of the best places to escape the crowds and see wildflowers is in Sunshine Meadows. You can take a shuttle up to a gondola that drops you off at the very top. With a view of Mount Assiniboine in the distance and a platform overlooking three stunning lakes, you can take in some gentle hiking trails up here and see a huge variety of flowers. Even with a wildflower guidebook in hand, we still came across some blooms that we’d never seen before or didn’t know the names of. The views up here are breathtaking, and because you have to drive a bit away from town and pay for a ride up—you’ll shake some of the crowds by heading up to this gorgeous day-hike area. On the gondola ride, keep an eye out for bald eagles circling in the skies, and see if you can spot the winter ski lifts glimmering on the other hills in the distance. Tickets are available online for advance purchase. If you are still wondering what to do in Banff, this is a great option for many. Lush greenery and tall trees are everywhere you look. And if you find yourself here during peak wildflower season (mid-July to mid-August), you’ll find bright blooms of all shapes and colors dotting the landscape too.

7. Take a Road Trip up the Icefields Parkway

Along the drive up the Icefields Parkway, you may feel the urge to pull over the car and stop at every viewpoint. This is one of the most beautiful and scenic drives in the world, and there really aren’t any “bad” places to stop to take it all in. Not only can you spy glaciers from the road but there’s an unbelievable number of peaks surrounding you along the way. As you leave behind the busy Lake Louise village area and your cell service drops out, you’ll start to become fully immersed in miles of ridgelines. It is one of the funnest things to do in Banff because you can choose your own adventure. Stop at Herbert Lake, just off the road, for a beautiful mirrored view of the skyline. Then continue up the parkway to see even more gorgeous lakes. Once you arrive at Bow Lake, pull into the parking lot and take the short trail out to the water’s edge. Walk along the shore and cross the little bridge to get a better view of Bow Glacier Falls across the water. Further up the parkway lies Peyto Lake—where you can park and take a short, paved walk up to a viewing platform. Further past the platform, you’ll find a trail that heads out to an even more scenic spot. Keep going on the paved section until you see a dirt path disappear into the trees. Take that path. It leads you to a large rock pile and open area overlooking the lake where you can enjoy the views with far fewer people. peyto lake. photo: billy dekom Mistaya Canyon is another beautiful spot to stop at—a few minutes’ walk will take you to a bridge overlook where you can see and hear the water thundering through the narrow slot canyon. Cross the bridge to access spots that take you even closer to the edge, though be wary of wet rock ledges in the summer and slippery ice in the colder months. One of the most impactful and scenic hikes along this stretch of the parkway is Parker Ridge. A hike up to the top gives you a fantastic perspective of the Saskatchewan Glacier just on the other side. The ratio of distance to wow factor can’t be beat here—for a relatively short hike you will be rewarded with epic views. Now, that we’ve covered what to do in Banff, you might be wondering where to sleep, where to eat and where to explore next!

Lodging

When it comes to lodging, you’ve got several choices of where to get a restful night’s sleep. Within the park boundaries, the Town of Banff offers a number of hotels to choose from. The advantage of this is that it places you close to restaurants, shops, grocery stores, and cafés within walking distance from your room, but expect crowds and difficulty finding street parking. Look for a hotel that offers free parking for guests, and keep in mind that many of these underground garages have a height limit (good to know when you’re choosing a rental vehicle that bigger isn’t always better). For a unique experience just outside of town with stunning views, check out the Juniper Hotel. Perched up on the hillside, many of its rooms have a panoramic view of the park. There’s a bistro right on site, making it one of the best places to stay in Banff. The Lake Louise area also has a handful of places to stay, but with fewer dining options available. You can expect prices per night to be about the same in either area but expect to pay a premium if you choose to stay in the historic hotels. The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and the Fairmont Banff Springs both offer luxe accommodations for those looking for an upgraded experience. Just outside the park boundary is Canmore. After two three-week trips to this area, this is our favorite place to stay and where we recommend you go if (like us) you’re crowd averse. There are plenty of options here for dining and shopping, with a much more laid-back vibe than the touristy (but lovely) Town of Banff. Plus, there’s a greater selection of grocery stores and a Canadian Tire (a large department store where you can pick up any outdoor gear you forgot to pack for a cheaper price than shops in the park). No matter where you choose to stay, try to secure your bookings in advance. Places fill up quickly in the summer and in peak season you’ll be hard pressed to find vacancies in town.

Camping

Of course, the most affordable way to experience this area is to opt to stay in the many campgrounds sprinkled throughout the park, which is also one of the most highly recommended Banff National Park things to do. Tent camping, trailer, and RV sites are available. Some can be reserved in advance and others (usually the ones sprinkled along the Icefields Parkway) are first-come first-serve. Something unique about Canada’s park service is that it stocks many campgrounds with wood piles for campers to use—just ask at check-in if fires are allowed and pay for a fire-permit for your site. Each place has different amenities available, and it’s worth noting that not every one has showers—so if you aren’t mixing your campground stints in with hotel stays, choose one that has the facilities you need. Having tried a few of the campsites and places to stay in Banff, we recommend trying to reserve a spot at the Lake Louise campground. While this will put your home base further away from the dining options in Banff and Canmore, the campground is fantastic. Clean, large sites; showers; flush toilets; and an electrified bear fence surrounding the entire campground. Plus, it’s just a short drive away from Moraine Lake and Lake Louise if you want to catch a sunrise or get an early start out on the trails. Parks Canada has an online reservation service you can use with detailed information on each of their campgrounds, along with pictures of each site when you book.

Where to Eat

There is a variety of food in Banff. Just outside of the park in nearby Canmore is our favorite spot to eat when in Banff—Communitea Café. They have options for vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters alike, with a variety of nourishing bowls, fresh salads, in-house baked goods, and a truly delicious breakfast burrito. They serve up fantastic coffee from Pilot Coffee Roasters. Pick up a bag of their light roast called “Academy” to take home with you as a souvenir. The Town of Banff also has some great options for food and dining: The panoramic view of Banff from Juniper Bistro is hard to beat, some even considered it the best of Banff. Definitely plan on coming here for brunch at least once. The menu has healthy foodie favorites like avocado toast, a “brekky salad,” and shakshuka. But the indulgent brie-stuffed French toast is also worth consideration. Balkan Restaurant has delicious, fresh Mediterranean fare with lots of gluten-free and vegetarian-friendly options. The Greek bowl makes for a great lunch. The creamy feta dressing is wonderful, and the crispy fried chickpeas taste like buttery croutons, but better. Indian Curry House has delicious food with plenty of options for omnivores and vegetarians alike. Hidden in an upstairs location, it might not seem like much at first glance, but their garlic naan, coconut rice, and tikka masala are fantastic. Indulge in some of the world’s best ice cream at COWS (ranked number 1 on the world’s top ten places to get ice cream by Tauck World Discovery in 2017). On a hot summer day, you can spot the line snaking out the door on Banff Avenue. They have classic and unique flavors—including strawberry ice cream made from fresh-picked berries from Prince Edward Island. Some of our other favorite food in Banff includes Park Distillery + Restaurant + Bar (quality food with a commitment to sustainability practices) and Earl’s Kitchen + Bar (offering a wide selection with a great choice of mocktails). In the Lake Louise area, we recommend skipping the eateries in the village area. Drive up to the Chateau instead. For something light, head to the very back of the hotel to visit Jusu Bar (featuring fresh juices, acai bowls, and smoothies). For lunch, just past the main lobby, you can dine at the Lakeview Lounge. It has fantastic views overlooking the lake, and you won’t want to miss out on their sweet potato fries or house-made seasonal sodas. Grocery For those who want to cook on their own (whether in an Airbnb or in their camp kitchen), you can stock up on healthy food staples at the natural grocery store—Nutter’s Bulk and Natural Foods—in Canmore. This is the only place we were able to find things like stevia, organic snacks, clean bath and body products, nut milk, and quality local honey. There’s also a Safeway in Canmore with a lot of produce options. And if you’re really in a pinch, there’s two grocery stores within the Town of Banff with much more limited selection—IGA and Nester’s Market. Farmer’s Market We also suggest that you look into the farmer’s market schedule while you’re in town. Although it’s not one of the top things to do in Banff, the combination of fresh produce, local goods, and mountain views can’t be beat. In the summer, Canmore has a farmer’s market every Thursday—check out the artisan soaps, local berry jams, and fresh food vendors. The Town of Banff holds theirs on Wednesdays.

Beyond Banff

If you have time to explore a little beyond Banff’s borders, consider making the drive out to any of the adjacent parks. Here are some of the most notable spots where you can experience even more of the wonders that the Canadian Rockies have to offer.

8. Jasper National Park + Mount Robson Provincial Park

When it comes to hiking here, the 360-degree views from the top of Sulphur Skyline are well worth the steep trail it takes to get there. After trying out all the interesting things to do in Banff National Park, traveling here could be the best idea. For a relaxing trip on the water, book a boat tour at Maligne Lake out to Spirit Island, one of the most photographed spots in the entire world. athabasca glacier. photo: billy dekom For an unforgettable bucket-list experience, book a tour with Ice Walks to spend some hours walking on the Athabasca Glacier. Do yourself a favor and skip the tour with the rovers—you can spend some real time on the ice, peeking into ice-blue crevasses and trying a sip of pristine glacial water with a mountaineering guide instead. A short drive outside of Jasper and into Mount Robson Provincial Park will take you to the world-renowned Berg Lake Trail. The full trail up to Berg Lake is a multi-day hike for experienced hikers and backpackers. But there’s a gentle day hike out to Kinney Lake that offers exceptional views as well and gets you closer to the base of Mount Robson—the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

9. Yoho National Park

After hiking the best of Banff, traveling to Yoho National Park is highly recommended. About a 15-minute drive from the Lake Louise area will take you out of Alberta and into British Columbia where the Banff National Park terrain transitions into Yoho National Park, which sits just to the west. Hikers will recognize Yoho as the home of famed Lake O’Hara—another beautiful glacial lake area with miles of trails. Besides the gorgeous color of the waters, what makes a stay at Lake O’Hara so unique is the limited access. Unlike some of the other lakes in this area, you cannot just drive up to it—you have to park your car at the bottom of the 11 kilometer road and either hike up or take the paid shuttle bus. You’ll need advance permits if you want to snag a camping spot in this idyllic hiking destination. You can also look into advance reservations if you prefer to stay at the Lake O’Hara lodge. Either way, expect to call (and call again) on opening day for reservations—it’s an internationally sought-after destination for lovers of the outdoors.

10. Kananaskis Country

If you have extra time to visit other locations beyond the stunning town, you may choose to drop by the Kananaskis Country. Just southwest of Banff, this area includes several other provincial parks all in one park system. Away from the hustle and bustle of the Town of Banff or the tourist-packed Lake Louise area, things look and feel a little wilder out here. This area has a number of ridge hikes for those who are up to challenging hikes and scrambles. Opal Ridge in particular offers exceptional views from the top. The hike up is difficult—you’ll have to use your hands to scramble up the last stretch of scree to the top, but the view from here is well worth it. This lesser-trafficked trail means you might have those views all to yourself. If possible, try to schedule enough time up here to weave in a trip that doesn’t just include spots in Banff but includes Jasper and a few other surrounding areas as well. You won’t be sorry you did. No matter how you choose to spend your time in Alberta, there are hardly any wrong choices. The abundance of beautiful trails and ways to spend your days up there can feel overwhelming, but we hope this Banff travel guide inspires you to keep coming back season after season.

About The Authors Lauren Kenson is the recipe creator and writer behind Free Your Fork, a taste-driven yet health-minded food blog. She is passionate about helping others discover the joys and benefits of cooking in their own kitchen. Her blog is a resource for those looking to develop more mindful eating habits and a happier relationship with food. She is committed to using local, seasonal, and organic ingredients whenever possible. Outside the kitchen, she is an avid long-distance hiker who loves camping and exploring the outdoors with her partner and food photographer, Billy DeKom. Learn more at freeyourfork.com Billy DeKom is a self-taught landscape and adventure photographer based out of the California Bay Area. He’s an avid hiker and backpacker who is passionate about conservation, leave-no-trace, and eco-friendly practices. Billy seeks to encourage others to get out and explore the outdoors by showcasing some of nature’s wildest places through his photography. His Instagram and website are inspiration for those who love to travel. He also does food photography for his wife’s wellness blog, Free Your Fork. Learn more at billydekom.com

What’s Hiding in Our Beauty Products?

You’ve, most likely, either noticed the cultural shift toward a more natural look and simpler, cleaner products or started implementing them in your own life. But the beauty industry has always gone through fads and trends. Is this just another temporary craze? What are the harmful effects of chemicals in cosmetic and personal care products? Let’s pull back the curtain and look at the science of how conventional makeup, as well as skin-care and hair-care products, have been harming us and our ecosystem, and why we need to continue to turn toward natural cosmetics.

+ Our skin is our largest organ for absorption, so anything we put on our skin is being soaked into the bloodstream. Products such as birth control, nicotine patches, and other pharmaceuticals can be administered through the skin precisely because it’s so permeable. In fact, many experts even agree that absorption through the skin is more dangerous than ingestion by mouth.

+ Substances absorbed into the digestive system have the slight benefit of passing through our detoxification organs (the kidneys, liver, and colon), where enzymes help to break them down. Substances absorbed through the skin don’t go through this process—they pass, unfiltered, straight into the bloodstream.

+ Women are disproportionately exposed to these dangers. On average, American women use twelve beauty products per day, which translates into the exposure of more than 168 synthetic, unregulated chemicals in cosmetics. And teenagers, who are using an average of seventeen products per day, are even more vulnerable to these risks.

+ It’s now being discovered that toxins in beauty products can even pose a major danger to unborn babies. The Canadian NGO Environmental Defense tested the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies and found that babies are now being born “prepolluted.” They found that each child had been born with 55 to 121 toxic compounds and possible cancer-causing chemicals in their bodies.

Sadly, many conventional beauty and personal care companies have overlooked the negative effects of cosmetics on health, and most mainstream products are unnecessarily filled with chemicals and toxins. While developing AVEDA, Horst Rechelbacher was in constant disbelief that conventional beauty products don’t come with a warning label. Even today, in the United States, no policies have been enacted to get rid of—or even warn consumers about—the harmful chemicals in beauty products (while the European Union has completely banned hundreds of them). Thankfully, resources do exist to help inform and educate consumers. Of all the potentially harmful ingredients we may find on labels, research has been done to prioritize the removal of key ingredients known as the “Mean 15”, which are some of the major cosmetic ingredients to avoid. Adria Vasil, the author of Ecoholic Body, takes us through the following ingredients, which pose the greatest risk to both human and environmental health:

1. BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene): The International Agency for Research on Cancer has listed these chemicals as potential carcinogens. They’re not restricted in the United States, but California includes BHA on its list of chemicals that must be listed on product ingredient labels as potentially cancer-causing.

2. Coal tar dyes or PPD: Coal tar dyes are also among the makeup ingredients to avoid. They are very popular in the cosmetics industry because they provide rich, long-lasting hair color. But, like a lot of petroleum-based products, researchers claim that any degree of exposure can lead to health risks. Long-term use of these dyes can even lead to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

3. Cyclomethicone and siloxanes: If you like a clean windshield, dry underarms, or a smooth makeup base, you’ve probably used products containing siloxane. They interfere with hormone function and damage the liver. Environment Canada says that D4 (cyclotetrasiloxane) and D5 (cyclopentasiloxane) may build up in fish or other aquatic organisms. The European study reached a similar conclusion, rating the chemicals as “high concern.”

4. The ethanolamines (ammonia compounds)—DEA (diethanolamine), MEA (monoethanolamine), and TEA (triethanolamine): These unfriendly acronyms are found in creamy and foaming products such as moisturizer, soap, sunscreen, and shampoo. They react to form cancer-causing nitrosamines, which are not only harmful to humans, but also to fish and other wildlife.

5. Dibutyl phthalate: It keeps nail polish from chipping, helps PVC remain flexible, and is used as a solvent for dyes and fragrances. But is it worth it? This chemical has been found to interfere with hormone function, especially during pregnancy.

6. Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, methenamine, or quarternium-15): These are widely used in hair and nail products and in moisturizers. They’re used as preservatives in cosmetics and as active ingredients in some toilet bowl cleaners. Formaldehyde is proven to cause cancer.

7. Parabens: Widely used in makeup and moisturizers, parabens are common chemicals in beauty products with links to impairing regular hormonal function. Studies have shown that parabens can mimic the effects of estrogen, which in an imbalanced state could lead to breast cancer for women and interfere with male reproductive function.

8. Parfum: Present everywhere, even in products marketed as “unscented” (it may also be listed as “scent,” or “fragrance”). Parfum is actually not one single ingredient—it’s a compound of many chemicals and, sometimes, essential oils. Since there are no regulations requiring companies to disclose the ingredient lists of their signature scents, the blanket term parfum is used. For people with chemical sensitivities, these unlisted ingredients can trigger other harmful effects of chemicals in cosmetics such as allergic reactions, migraines, and/or cause asthma.

9. Polyethylene glycols or PEG: Widely used in conditioners, moisturizers, and deodorants, PEG can be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which may cause cancer. If perfectly pure, they’re considered generally safe, though they’re not recommended for use on broken skin. In rare cases, polyethylene glycol compounds can become contaminated with ethylene oxide—and that’s when it gets really concerning. Ethylene oxide, which is another harmful cosmetics ingredient, is a known carcinogen and can also cause developmental problems.

10. Petrolatum or petroleum jelly (Vaseline): It can keep skin hydrated, which is why it’s often added to skin-care and hair-care products. But these products can easily become contaminated with carcinogens.

11. Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS): They’re common foaming agents used in dish soaps and foamy beauty products such as cleansers, shampoos, and for bubble bath use. SLES can be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which can cause cancer and liver damage. It can also possibly become contaminated with the known carcinogen ethylene oxide. And it can be harmful to fish and other wildlife.

12. Triclosan: Triclosan, which is among the most popular toxins in cosmetics, is a very effective antibacterial chemical found in lots of common consumer products, including toothpaste, hand sanitizers, laundry detergent, and facial tissues. Research has shown that triclosan sticks around in the environment long after we’ve finished using it, killing helpful algae and even accumulating in the bodies of other organisms.

13. Retinyl palmitate and vitamin A: A popular ingredient in acne serums, anti-redness, and anti-aging creams, this ingredient smooths the skin at first, but under the sun it has been found to speed up the harmful effects of UV rays.

14. Palm oil: An edible oil used in processed foods and cosmetics, palm oil is considered as one of the makeup ingredients to avoid due to some major issues linked to it, which include deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty, and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it’s produced, as the land and forests must be cleared for the development of the oil palm plantations. According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area the equivalent size of three hundred football fields of the rain forest is cleared each hour to make way for palm oil production. This large-scale deforestation is pushing many species to extinction, and findings show that if nothing changes, species such as the orangutan could become extinct in the wild within the next five to ten years, and Sumatran tigers, in fewer than three years.

15. Oxybenzone (BP-3/ benzophenone) and octinoxate (octyl methoxycinnamate): These are two sunscreen chemicals that may disrupt our hormonal systems and that can trigger allergic reactions. Sunscreens containing zinc oxide, titanium oxide, and avobenzone are much safer.

At first, this amount of information may seem a little overwhelming, but there are many helpful tools to guide you on your journey toward incorporating sustainable, natural beauty products:

+ Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database: This is one of my favorite resources. They have compiled more than 64,536 products, so you can look up and learn about anything and everything in your bathroom or makeup bag. Just enter the product in question or even a single ingredient of concern, and the site will generate a full analysis along with a toxicity ranking between 1 and 10.

+ Lily Tse’s Think Dirty app: The app was born of Lily’s personal quest to understand the facts about products and labeling in light of her family history of cancer. In her research, Lily found that our overexposure to toxins from cosmetic and personal care products is linked to many forms of cancer. With Think Dirty, you can scan the bar code of a product or search for it by name. The app then provides you with a 1-to-10 toxicity ranking and up-to-date ingredient information as well as safer alternatives within each product category—and a direct link to Shop Clean.

The power is in our hands, as consumers, to demand more of this positive change—the more we move toward natural beauty products, with loving energy and with the greater good in mind, the more the industry will move away from conventional, harmful chemical formulas. True to the ECOrenaissance, we’re driving a movement that only continues to grow. We’re deeply connected to emerging beauty trends, and we have the power to redefine beauty for a better world. The industry is shifting—that much is clear from the explosion of holistic beauty brands that have emerged in recent years—and are lining the shelves of your neighborhood pharmacies. In addition to supporting more conscious and safe makeup brands, there are so many ways we can avoid the harmful effects of cosmetics on health.

The Skin-Gut Connection

In the ECOrenaissance spirit of interconnectivity, we know that looking good on the outside really does begin with your insides. Our external issues always have an internal root, and our skin is basically a mirror for our gut health. Figuring out what you can add to your diet and beauty routine—as well as figuring out what you may need to remove—is an exciting journey that begins with listening to the messages of your body, experimenting a little, and using the health of your skin as a road map. Favorite tips for radiant skin:

+ Support gut health by taking a daily probiotic supplement.

+ Eat more vitamin A-rich foods such as sweet potatoes, carrots, oranges, and peppers to help skin cells overturn more quickly, avoiding breakouts.

+ Eat more high-quality fats such as in avocados, flaxseeds or hempseeds, and coconut products.

+ Eliminate inflammatory foods such as dairy, which can be a major cause of acne.

+ Lay off the synthetic skin products, as their chemical makeup, aside from being a major health gamble, can really dry out your skin; even so-called moisturizers have this effect.

We’re never separate from the beauty of nature. The defining tenet of the ECOrenaissance is understanding ourselves and each aspect of our lives as essentially and intricately connected to the ecosystems we live in. Nature is the ultimate source of beauty. And when we give ourselves permission to just be, simply as we are, the beauty of the entire universe shines through us. Beauty is timeless because our light is endless.

DNA of ECOrenaissance Beauty: No Compromise in Function or Quality

+ Authentic beauty is within reach for us all. Connect to your inner being.

+ True beauty radiates from the inside out—healthy food, positive attitude, and wellness.

+ Food choices impact the overall health of your skin. Eat consciously.

+ Beauty regimens should contain no harmful chemicals and should include regular self-love and self-care.

+ No harmful ingredients such as synthetic fragrances, parabens, phthalates, lead, etc.

+ Cruelty-free and no animal testing.

+ Less is more.

+ Plant-based, organic ingredients, and made with love.

+ Share with your friends and family. The more they know, the better off they’ll be.

+ There are examples of beauty everywhere. Keep your eyes open to the abundance.

Excerpted from the book ECOrenaissance: A Lifestyle Guide for Cocreating a Stylish, Sexy, and Sustainable World by Marci Zaroff. Excerpt courtesy of Enliven/Atria Books.

About The Author Marci Zaroff coined the term and pioneered the market for “ECOfashion.” She is an internationally recognized ECOlifestyle entrepreneur, educator, and expert who keynotes globally on organic and sustainable textiles, strategic creative vision, social innovation, green business and design, and the rise of the millennial generation. Marci is the founder and CEO of MetaWear Organic, founder of Under the Canopy, producer of THREAD | Driving Fashion Forward, and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Good Catch Foods, and BeyondBrands. Learn more at marcizaroff.com.

photo: artem bali

The Importance of Voting with Your Dollar: How to Save the Planet as You Shop

Let’s cut right to the chase: Every time you buy a product or service, you are either voting for a sustainable, humanitarian, and ecologically sound future for all life or one filled with pollution, destruction, and inhumane treatment of workers, plants, and animals. This concept is called voting with your dollar, and it is one of the most powerful ways you can help make big, positive shifts in the direction of a healthy, sustainable future on this planet both locally and globally. Every time you support and shop with brands or stores that promote ethical, environmentally sound values, you direct money away from companies with harmful practices, forcing them to either change and stop their destructive practices or go out of business. Not only that, but the more people are buying organic, sustainable, fair trade, and natural products, the cheaper they get due to economies of scale. Due to this fact, it is now cheaper than ever to shop sustainably; and unlike years past, there are socially conscious options for virtually every product on the market, so you can powerfully vote with your wallet. Make no mistake about it, this is how we solve the planets biggest problems starting right now.

Where to Find the Best Eco-Friendly, Fair Trade Brands and Products

But all of these options present another set of issues: How do you know which brands to vote for that are actually doing good versus those that are just marketing themselves as sustainable when they are really not (aka greenwashing)? And beyond that: How do you know where to find these companies and products in the first place? Up until recently, to find and keep track of all the brands and companies doing good in this world, was basically a part-time job involving serious time spent researching and seeking out these products. But that’s all changing thanks to The Etho—an online marketplace founded to promote and expand fair and ethical trade practices by exclusively selling ethically sourced items.

The Biggest Challenge in Voting With Your Wallet Just Got Solved

The Etho saves you countless hours of endless searching and vetting by bringing all of the best sustainable, eco-conscious, transparent, and ethical brands all into one place, making it easy and convenient to live a life of positive environmental and social impact. This woman-owned and operated company, is like an online Amazon.com of only products and services that contribute to the life and planet-supporting future that we all want—without having to sacrifice comfort, luxury, style, quality, or any of the other things you love. In addition to highly fashionable clothing for men, women, and children, The Etho has everything from handmade jewelry, luxury vegan handbags, and biodegradable yoga mats; all kinds of beauty and self-care products; and even home goods like candles, artwork, and bedding. The Etho’s mission was inspired by the CEO’s time spent traveling abroad in which she regularly saw beautiful places filled with hard working people (and the unique things they made) who were almost always stuck in crippling poverty. As a result, they’re on a mission is to create a higher standard of living for marginalized communities around the world, by supporting trade relationships that reflect a higher ethical standard, and changing the way people think about and participate in commerce. They have spent thousands of hours vetting and sourcing brands and products from around the world that meet their stringent quality standards, so you don’t have to and can simply feel good about what you are buying, knowing that you are contributing to a better world with every purchase. Literally. The Etho is making it easier than ever to do the right thing. Every brand they sell must adhere to their 7 Core Principles of Ethical Production, which are adapted directly from the Fair Trade principles set by the WFTO. No matter what you are shopping for, whether clothes, coffee, beauty, or cleaning supplies, each purchase is supporting fair wages and safe working environments for workers across the globe. As you shop this holiday season and beyond, remember that you can play a major part in setting positive change into effect RIGHT NOW by making a commitment to voting with your wallet—by voting with your dollars. Every purchase counts. Every purchase matters because they collectively add up to a lot of money and can be the difference between perpetuating an environmentally and socially destructive enterprise or shutting it down forever in favor of a future that works for us all. To learn more about some of the eco-friendly, ethical, and innovative products and brands that The Etho supports, visit their website: The Etho This article is a sponsored post written in collaboration with The Etho, whose products and ethos complies with Conscious Lifestyle Magazine’s stringent quality and integrity guidelines.

About The Author Meghan McDonald is the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Conscious Lifestyle Magazine. She holds a master’s degree in social psychology from San Diego State University where she conducted award-winning research into the nature of human social behavior. She is an advocate for many environmental and social justice causes and a champion of social impact-focused brands and products that adhere to high sustainability and ethical standards. As a regular travel and lifestyle contributor to Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, Meghan funnels her extensive knowledge of natural products, organic living, and consumer behavior into researching and reviewing brands and products that promote health, wellbeing, sustainability, equality, and positive social change. She has traveled to over 25 countries and loves exploring diverse destinations worldwide while documenting the local artisans and businesses offering conscious, healthy alternatives.

photo: hal gatewood

Let’s take a trip back in time, and then do some fast-forwarding—to give you some idea of the way our technology has grown over the past fifty years and why we’re so overexposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and their potential dangers. If you’re forty or older, close your eyes and think back to your childhood home. If you’re under forty, think back to your grandparents’ house when you were a kid. Now take yourself on a mental tour of the house. As you walk from room to room, take a quick visual inventory in your mind of how many electric and electronic appliances and gadgets you see. If your family was typical, here’s what you’ll likely come up with:

+ Master bedroom: A clock-radio or alarm clock, unless it’s a windup clock

+ Bedroom #2: A clock-radio or alarm clock, unless it’s a windup clock

+ Bedroom #3: A clock-radio or alarm clock, unless it’s a windup clock

+ Bathrooms: No appliances, or maybe an electric razor

+ Family room: A TV, a stereo (maybe), phone

+ Living room: No appliances

+ Kitchen: Stove, refrigerator, dishwasher (maybe), blender, can opener, electric knife, toaster, phone

+ Total inventory: 15

And if you were to take a similar tour of your own home today?

+ Master bedroom: TV, TiVo, cable box, DVD player, remote control for TV, remote control for TiVo, remote control for cable box, remote control for DVD player, cell phone, cell phone charger, iPad, iPad charger, Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth headset charger, computer, monitor, wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, printer, scanner, air purifier, alarm clock, cordless phone

+ Bedroom #2: TV, TiVo, cable box, DVD player, remote control for TV, remote control for TiVo, remote control for cable box, remote control for DVD player, cell phone, cell phone charger, iPad, iPad charger, Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth headset charger, laptop, alarm clock, cordless phone

+ Bedroom #3: TV, TiVo, cable box, DVD player, remote control for TV, remote control for TiVo, remote control for cable box, remote control for DVD player, cell phone, cell phone charger, iPad, iPad charger, Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth headset charger, laptop, alarm clock, cordless phone

+ Bathrooms: Rechargeable electric toothbrush, rechargeable electric razor, curling iron, hair dryer, digital scale/body fat monitor

+ Family room: Home theater system (including monster-size flat-panel TV, TiVo, cable box, DVD player, surround-sound speaker system), remote control for TV, remote control for TiVo, remote control for cable box, remote control for DVD player, remote control for speaker system, computer, monitor, wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, printer, scanner, digital thermostat, cordless phone, wireless router

+ Living room: Digital picture frame, cordless phone, wireless security system

+ Kitchen: Stove, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, blender, toaster oven, food processor, wall-mounted security system panel, coffeemaker or espresso machine (or both), water filtration system, cordless phone, rechargeable flashlight, rechargeable mini-vac

+ Total inventory: Over 100

So what’s really going on here? We’re getting zapped. If you pay close attention to your activities for just one typical day, you’ll quickly realize that a new form of invisible pollution is all around you and, as you’ll learn, within you, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Granted, you probably don’t have all those electronic gizmos in your house, and not all of these modern-day wonders are emitting dangerous EMF radiation. Plus, let’s face it, how much time do you spend sitting in front of your electric coffeemaker anyway? How long you’re exposed to EMF dangers often means more to your health than the actual strength of the electrical, magnetic, or radio frequency (RF) field. But I used this long list to give you some idea of how much life has changed in the digital age—and how many more electromagnetic fields we’re exposed to than our grandparents were. Think about what you did today and what electromagnetic radiation dangers you may have been exposed to: Perhaps you woke to the smell of coffee brewed exactly the way you like it by your electric coffeemaker, which you set on a timer the night before. Maybe you went downstairs, flicked on the fluorescent lights in the kitchen, pulled a frozen breakfast out of the refrigerator, popped it into the microwave, and sipped your first cup of coffee while you waited for it to heat. If you couldn’t wait until you got to the office, you pulled your smartphone or cell phone out of its holster and checked your e-mail and then pulled up local traffic and weather reports. And after all of this, you took a hot shower and were thrilled that the new water heater let you take a long, luxurious one. You might have taken an electric train or subway to work. If you drove, you probably paid no attention to the power lines strung on the ubiquitous wooden poles that are as much a part of the landscape as trees, or the huge transmission poles lumbering across the countryside like sci-fi giants. If you happened to glance over at the car or passenger next to you, you likely saw someone else, like you, on a cell phone, starting the business day before it officially opens. At work, you might walk through an automatic door, take an elevator to your office, flick on the overhead lights, and boot up your computer. Then, at the end of the day, you reverse it all. Maybe you stop at the supermarket on your way home and buy a few things for dinner, which the checker whisks through a price scanner and tosses in a bag for you. If you’re cooking from scratch, you preheat your electric oven, defrost the chicken in the microwave, and put it in to bake. You’ll mash the potatoes you boiled on the range with your electric mixer and open the canned green beans with an electric can opener. Maybe you’ll sit in a comfortable automated massage chair before you finish up a report on your laptop computer, or huddle with your eight-year-old while he does his homework and then challenges you to an online game of Scrabble. You might watch a little satellite TV before climbing into bed, where you root around for the remote that controls the firmness or angle of your mattress. Everything you did, from making coffee to taking a shower to taking the train to buying groceries to going to bed, exposed you in some small or large way to the adverse health effects and dangers of EMFs, which are invisible force fields that surround all electrical devices. For many people, these invisible energy fields appear to be benign. They have no symptoms—at least, none that they recognize. But others seem acutely attuned to what others can’t see, touch, or feel.

From Electricity to Electropollution

The widespread use of the light bulb—one of the most life-changing events in the past ten thousand years—was how it all began. In October 1882, Thomas Edison built the first electrical plant that lit just thirteen hundred street lamps and homes in New York City. What followed was an unprecedented avalanche of inventions that harnessed electric power to make Americans more productive and prosperous, as well as safer and healthier, than ever before. In just the first half of the twentieth century, Americans were introduced to everything from conveyor belts, printing presses, electrocardiograms, and X-ray machines to radio, radar, television, and computers. In the last fifteen years alone, the latest modern electronic wonder—wireless technology—has expanded like a sponge in water, as have the potential health effects and dangers of electromagnetic radiation. Today, 84% of Americans own cell phones, and the wireless industry is expected to become a larger sector of the U.S. economy than agriculture and automobiles. About 89 million of us watch TV shows beamed to us by satellite—sports, music, comedy, and drama captured by a metal dish on the roof or outside a high-rise window. And you can’t have a cup of coffee at Starbucks without being subject to Wi-Fi, the wireless network that allows you to surf the Internet as you sip your latte. Yet we may not understand the potential EMF health effects and consequences of our latest discoveries any better than our earliest ancestors understood the perils of fire. For the last ten years in my clinical practice as a researcher, author, and educator, I have been seeing a strange constellation of EMF exposure symptoms in my clients that defy diagnosis and resist even the most tailor-made diet, evidence-based supplementation, state-of-the-art exercise, clinical testing, or even significant lifestyle changes. Consider these very different, but equally puzzling, case histories:

+ Fresh out of college, a newlywed moves with her husband to what ought to be the healthiest place in the world—a farm in America’s heartland. Yet within six months, this 23-year-old has become so weak, she can barely walk up the stairs. She has developed daily headaches, circulation problems, and hot flashes. She wakes up every morning feeling like she has been “hit by a Mack truck and then run over by a train.” Her doctor tells her she has chronic fatigue syndrome.

+ While on the job, an emergency room physician suffers from blinding headaches, dizziness, and muscle weakness that make it impossible for her to intubate a patient or even smile for a photo. At one point, her arms and legs turn blue, her vision begins to fade, and her heart begins to squeeze “as if it was empty.” One doctor diagnoses her as mentally ill.

+ Out of the blue, a high-powered editor, who has been commuting for years to her New York office by train, suddenly begins to feel nauseous during every morning and evening ride. She blames it on stress, but it’s becoming so debilitating, she considers quitting the job she loves.

+ The parents of a young Wall Street trader—who spends most of his working day with a cell phone stuck in each of his ears—are concerned as his health declines over a three-year period, during which he is diagnosed with a host of conditions including autoimmune disorder, parasites, and mercury toxicity.

+ A recent engineering school graduate working for the Canadian Navy experiences fatigue so severe, he needs to take naps on his lunch hours. As time goes on, he develops chronic respiratory infections, nausea, digestive distress, heart palpitations, and trouble focusing. His diagnosis: stress.

+ A normally well-behaved 13-year-old boy who is doing well in school suddenly develops a behavior problem. Oddly enough, he only acts out at a specific time each day, which mystifies his parents and doctors.

Unraveling the Mystery of EMF Health Effects

In the past decade, I have experienced some of these same baffling symptoms for which I too found no relief. In 2005, I was diagnosed with a (thankfully) benign tumor of the parotid, one of the salivary glands located just below the earlobe. Why I got it was a mystery that puzzled even my doctor. It’s a very rare tumor, most often caused by radiation exposure. I didn’t live near a nuclear plant, I hadn’t been exposed to an inordinate number of medical X-rays or other screening tests, and, except for a brief time I spent working as a nutritionist in a hospital, I hadn’t even been near a CAT scanner or MRI machine. But, on a hunch, I began my investigations with a theory: What if what these six people and I were suffering from was an environmental condition, one caused by something we’re exposed to every day but consider harmless? There are several historical connections that supported my suspicions of electromagnetic radiation dangers. Many well-respected historians believe that the Romans were the first society to be destroyed by environmental toxicity. Wealthy Romans painted their walls with lead-based paint. They used the heavy metal for everything: water pipes, toys, statues, cosmetics, coffins, and roofs. But in an article written for The New England Journal of Medicine, lead poisoning researcher Jerome Nriagu, Ph.D., D.Sc., an environmental chemist at the University of Michigan, says that it was their consumption of copious amounts of wine that may have given them their heaviest dose. The Romans flavored their wine by simmering the grape juice in lead pots or lead-lined copper kettles, which not only affected taste but made the wine last longer. Lead has a sweet taste, so it enhanced the sweetness of the wine—which earned the metal the reputation as the sweet poison. The acidic nature of the grapes extracted large amounts of lead from the utensils, and then the Romans quaffed the drink out of lead cups. They may have been taking in as much as 20mg of lead a day just from wine alone, enough to cause chronic lead poisoning, diminish fertility, and cause mental and emotional impairments. After more than a year of research, I’ve come to the conclusion that we, like the ancient Romans, are being exposed to an invisible type of “new” pollution that is making our life “sweeter”—certainly more convenient—but which comes with formidable and unforeseen side effects. It’s called electropollution. It’s odorless, colorless, and invisible, and it’s probably enveloping you right now. As writer Sara Shannon writes in her 1993 book, Technology’s Curse: Diet for the Atomic Age, about low-level electromagnetic radiation dangers: “It cannot be seen, felt or heard. It is tasteless and odorless. It is in our food and in the air; it is in our blood and in our bones and can remain in our ashes to go on to contaminate someone else.” Our “sweet poison” is the EMF dangers produced by our cell phones, wireless networks, cell and broadcast towers, power lines, fluorescent lights, even the electrical systems that power our appliances, TVs, computers, and bedside alarm clocks—all those technological devices that make our lives easier. We are affected 24/7 by an unprecedented number of frequencies and wavelengths. By some estimates, we’re exposed daily to as much as 100 million times more EMF radiation than our grandparents were. It flows around us, in us, and interferes with the body’s fundamental electric forces of life, including the communication between our cells that tells them how to grow, develop, divide, and even when to die. Remember those six people I just told you about? They ultimately unraveled the root cause of their mysterious ailments, as I did. They had been zapped.

+ The newlywed’s symptoms were finally traced to a current of electricity that was traveling along the ground and hitchhiked into her home via her own electrical system and water pipes.

+ The ER doctor, exposed to toxic mold in her home, had developed multiple sensitivities to common everyday chemicals an EMF sensitivity.

+ The editor discovered by accident that if she sat every morning in the train’s designated quiet car, away from the cell phones, BlackBerrys, and laptops of her fellow commuters, her EMF exposure symptoms disappeared.

+ After months of research, the 13-year-old’s mother found that his sudden behavioral changes coincided with a radar beam sweep of their home from a nearby naval station. The family moved away from the radar beam and the young man’s behavioral problems disappeared.

+ The Wall Street trader was forced to quit his lucrative job to get away from the buzzing hive of techno-gizmos on the trading floor. Today, he may make less money, but he’s also symptom-free.

+ The engineer was able to stay in his job because his employer—the Canadian government—provided him a shielded office to provide EMF protection for him from the radar and other devices that caused his chronic illness.

In my case, years tethered to a computer and cell phone while writing a myriad of books and promoting them on the road had sensitized me to the very tools I depended upon for my career. My parotid tumor turned out to be one of several kinds of tumors linked to cell phone use—and I developed it after several years of traveling constantly and literally living on my cell phone in cars, trains, and planes, unknowingly exposing myself to the dangers of EMFs. While I haven’t given up my cell phone or my computer, you won’t find me spending hours on either of them. I’ve learned to work around—and live well and happily with—modern-day technology.

Why Do I Feel This Way?

Perhaps you have strange symptoms, like the people I’ve described here, and wonder if they might be EMF or radiation symptoms. Perhaps you’ve wondered about the health effects of EMFs and radiation. Perhaps you’ve suspected all along that modern-day maladies like sleeplessness, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, and rising rates of cancers and brain tumors, particularly in young people, may have an underlying environmental cause. One eminent researcher has already made that connection. Samuel Milham, M.D., M.P.H., of the Washington State Department of Health, wrote in the journal Medical Hypotheses in 2009 that he traced the rise in degenerative disease, cardiovascular disease, and suicide in the United States to the spread of electrical power to urban and rural areas, which was completed around 1956. He compared government disease and mortality statistics before and after electrification and found what is, in essence, the tipping point. When agricultural areas became electrified, rates of these lifestyle diseases started to match that of urban areas, where electricity was introduced in the late 1800s. “I hypothesize that the 20th-century epidemic of the so-called diseases of civilization, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, and suicide was caused by electrification not by lifestyle,” writes Milham. “A large proportion of these diseases may therefore be preventable.” I agree that they are preventable. If you had enough curiosity to start reading this in the first place, then I’ll bet you have the courage to be proactive, powered by the knowledge to take the necessary steps to start and EMF protection protocol and become healthier, happier, and to regain your peace of mind.

Allergic to the Digital World

How have we become allergic to a force that has been with us since time began? Even if you could turn back the hands of time to before 1882 when Edison’s electric plant triggered a social, scientific, and industrial revolution, you would still have been exposed to electromagnetic energy but not necessarily to EMF dangers. We, and the universe we live in, produce and operate in a sea of both natural and unnatural electrical and magnetic fields. The earth, for example, pulses at about 10 Hz, like a small engine. Our bodies are really electromagnetic machines. We simply can’t move a muscle or produce a thought without an electrical impulse—and wherever there is electricity, a magnetic field is also produced, which is why we link the two together into one word: electromagnetic. Over eons, our bodies have grown accustomed to the low energy of those natural electromagnetic fields and the wavelengths and frequencies they produce. In fact, they play a positive and important role in all life on earth. Humans have lost most if not all of our awareness of it, but animals still dance to its silent orchestrations. You can see it in their behavior and their ability to foretell earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis—not through any supernatural power but by their acute sensitivity to the earth’s electromagnetic hum and electrostatic charges in the air. You can see it in the migratory patterns of birds and animals who seem to be innately directed with some unknown internal antenna. Many scientists now suspect the secret of their mysterious know-how may be magnetite, a mineral that is a million times more magnetic than iron and is found in the tissue of every living thing: in the eye area of birds, the lines on the bodies of fish, the teeth of sea mollusks, and the abdomens of bees. It links them to the electromagnetic fields of the earth, keeping them plugged in, so to speak, to the earth’s energy. And it’s in us too. Small amounts of this magnetic substance are also found in the brain tissue, blood-brain barrier, and the bone above the eyes and sinuses of humans. What effect this internal compass has in us is unknown. We do know that there is a very narrow range of electromagnetic frequencies to which the brain cells of animals and humans respond favorably, and it roughly matches the frequencies produced by the electromagnetic fields produced naturally by our world, but at what point do we need to consider electromagnetic radiation dangers? What we are also beginning to understand is the EMF health effects that the proliferation of technology, while it has taken us many strides in social and economic progress, may have finally created a toxic load that is too great for some bodies to handle, just as the rapid rise of toxic chemicals such as pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals in the environment has overwhelmed the ability of some bodies to neutralize them In fact, many experts believe, like I do, that these invisible fields are contributing to making us sick. I am totally convinced that they made me sick.

Coming to Terms

The language of electromagnetic fields, much of it from physics, is difficult to navigate, so I’ve tried to minimize my use of jargon. However, there are certain terms, particularly related to the measurement of electric, magnetic, and radio frequency fields, that are impossible to avoid. Here are a few simple definitions that you need to know:

Wave/Wavelength: Electricity is delivered to our homes in alternating current (AC), which means that the electrical charge that flows through the wires periodically reverses direction (cycle), and it’s usually shown as an undulating wave, called a sine wave. Wavelength is the measurement of the distance between two peaks of the wave.

Frequency: How many cycles a wave completes in a period of time is known as its frequency. If you live in North America, electrical currents flow to your wires at 60 cycles a second; in Europe, it’s 50 cycles a second. This is termed alternating current, or AC for short.

Gauss: This is the measurement unit for magnetic fields. Most prudent scientists today recommend that safe exposure for humans to an AC magnetic field is 1 milliGauss (mG) or less at any single exposure, though other agencies recommend 2 to 3 mG. The earth’s magnetic field measures about 0.5 mG.

Hertz: This is a newer term for cycles per second that was awarded to Heinrich Hertz, an early researcher in electromagnetism. The electricity that comes into U.S. homes is 60 Hertz (Hz). Our brainwaves can even be measured in Hertz. For instance, when you are asleep, your brain hums at 1 Hz, or one cycle per second. When you’re thinking, whether it is problem solving or being creative—it revs up to as much as 40 Hz.

Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF): These are the electromagnetic fields in the frequency range of 1 to 30 Hz. Our entire electrical power system and our appliances produce 60 Hz magnetic and electric fields. These fields are a form of non-ionizing radiation, which won’t detach electrons from atoms or molecules. Only ionizing radiation or energy from radioactive substances and cosmic rays are thought to do that: The X-ray you had at the dentist’s office and the CAT scan (which uses X-rays) that found your kidney stone both emit ionizing radiation.

Radio Frequency (RF) Field: Another form of non-ionizing radiation, these high frequency EMFs are generated by the equipment that transmits wireless signals, such as cell towers, broadcast towers at your local radio or TV stations, and the equipment that receive those signals—your cell or cordless phone. Wireless operates in the microwave band of radio frequency radiation.

Why We Get Zapped

Why are we so vulnerable to EMF dangers and health effects? The human body, which is 75% water, conducts electricity. It’s also an effective antenna that picks up energy from the surrounding environment. If you’ve ever adjusted TV rabbit ears, you know that just the touch of your hand can bring in a better picture. That’s because at that moment, the RF waves carrying the image are broadcasting them to you. For that moment, you are the antenna. In fact, humans are literally walking conversations, cells chattering to one another and interacting with the natural world using electrical charges and chemicals to make the connections. But when you add artificial electromagnetic forces to the mix, we are starting to learn, these quiet conversations suddenly become cacophony, as though a flash mob has arrived, shouting and screaming and with boom boxes blaring so loudly you can’t hear yourself think. And, in essence, that’s exactly what happens when you’re exposed to the ever-expanding web of electromagnetic forces of varying sizes and strengths that our bodies aren’t used to and lack EMF protection against. Humans have as little protection from this kind of pollution as we do for toxic chemicals, though we do have some. For example, the voltage from low-level electrical fields, a form of ELFs, produced by your appliances or overhead power lines, have a limited ability to penetrate the body. Your cell membranes block electrical fields, though not completely. But your body will pick up whatever electrical field you’re exposed to, even if it’s just the 60 Hz field of your electric shaver or hair dryer; the magnetic field that accompanies it is absorbed entirely and can sometimes pose electromagnetic radiation dangers. As New York Times writer B. Blake Levitt points out in her landmark book Electromagnetic Fields: A Consumer’s Guide to the Issues and How to Protect Ourselves, this may disrupt your internal electrical field as well as interact with magnetic metals like iron and copper and charged particles in your blood to affect your health in still little-known ways.

Cells, Interrupted

So what might happen when your own electromagnetic field encounters one outside your body, one that’s louder than the ambient levels with which we have evolved? For one thing, it may interfere with the messages your body’s cells send and receive—what the late scientist W. Ross Adey, M.D., of the Pettis Memorial Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda, California, referred to as “whispers between cells.” In his experiments, Adey, who chaired the National Council on Radiation Committee on Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, found that both very low frequency fields, such as those produced by our electrical system, as well as the higher radio frequencies utilized by cell phone and broadcast towers may interrupt that cellular chatter or drown out the electrical impulse that carries messages across the cell membranes. You’ve probably had the experience of losing a radio station or even picking up another when you drive under a high voltage line or near broadcast towers. Likewise, your cells, exposed to the same electromagnetic forces, may drop their conversation with one another or pick up outside interference that could muddle their messages. It’s one thing to miss the chorus of your favorite song, another to have an important thought—watch out for that car—get lost in translation because brain cells become confused.

Electromagnetic Science—What Happens in Your Body

Here’s a little bit of the science of what happens when you’re overexposed to EMFs (and a glimpse into potential EMF radiation health effects): Your cells get overwhelmed by messages from inside and outside your body. One way these artificial fields may disrupt normal electrochemical communication and pose an EMF danger is by increasing the number of what are called receptors on the surface of your cells. Receptors are often described as a keyhole into which the key—a chemical messenger called a neurotransmitter—fits perfectly to open the cell, allowing outside information from your brain or other parts of your body to get inside. These receptors and neurotransmitters help transfer those messages from one cell to the other, like a game of Whisper down the Lane, but without the garbled transmission. For example, if you’re sick or injured, you want your cells to send out an SOS to your immune system so healing starts right away. And if you’re otherwise healthy, that’s what happens. The number of receptors you have varies widely, and some cells have so many that they’re likely to attract more activity than those with fewer receptors. If overexposure to EMFs boosts receptor numbers, more of your cells become increasingly open to all kinds of messages from your body and from the environment outside. Suddenly, while trying to send its vital 911 call to your immune system, your cells start listening to and responding to other voices and directions. It’s like an old-fashioned party line—too many callers talking so the wrong messages—or no messages at all—get through. Your cells become unglued. Provocative new research has uncovered another health effect of EMFs involving the way cellular transmission is interrupted. Studies have found that even low-level EMFs may rupture delicate cell membranes, releasing calcium from cells as well as changing the way calcium ions—electrically charged calcium atoms—bind to the surface of the membrane. For example, Adey and his colleagues found that exposing newly hatched chicks to a 16 Hz frequency caused their brain cells to leak calcium ions. Since calcium ions are the glue that holds together cell membranes, which are only two molecules thick, the membranes are likely to weaken and tear, allowing toxins to enter and contents to spill out. They literally become unglued. Obviously your cells need some calcium. There’s even a natural system in place to make sure they get the right dose. But what happens when there’s a flood of calcium ions from a torn membrane in the main part of the cell? It depends on what your cells are doing at the time. If you’re sick or injured, your cells are in the process of healing you, so these extra calcium ions help speed the process. When calcium ions pour into one or more of your one hundred billion brain cells, which use calcium in small doses to make neurotransmitters, they may release those chemical messengers too soon, too often, or at the wrong time, creating false messages that tell you that you’re in pain or bring on neurological symptoms, such as headaches, an altered sense of taste or smell, tingling, or numbness. Those are just a few of the EMF exposure symptoms experienced by the people we just met and part of a collection of problems experienced by people who are hypersensitive to EMFs. Too many calcium ions in your brain cells may also impair your lifesaving ability to assess a situation correctly—like when you’re at the wheel of a car. Noted British scientist Andrew Goldsworthy, Ph.D., honorary lecturer at Imperial College of London, suspects that the increase in accidents among cell phone users (in one in four crashes, a driver is on a call) has less to do with distraction than with delayed response caused by the flood of calcium ions into brain cells. This flood creates what he calls “a mental fog” of false information, obscuring the ability to react to, say, a child on a bike pulling out between two cars or a deer bounding from the woods at twilight. After all, we’re often distracted at the wheel when we’re talking with a passenger, listening to a radio talk show, or engrossed in an audio book, none of which have been linked to increased accident risk. There’s obviously something more, something physical related to phone use. And, in fact, a study of young adults aged 12 to 14 in Australia found that those who used their cell phones the most suffered from poor memory and delayed reaction time—yes, even when they weren’t on the phone, raising awareness and concern for the dangers of EMFs on youth. Chemicals pouring from your ruptured cells damage your cellular DNA. Our bodies have an amazing defense system. Just as cell membranes offer some EMF protection (though not enough), a healthy cell membrane will also self-heal. But, before it repairs the tear, it may release a digestive enzyme called DNAase, which can destroy or damage DNA, potentially turning your genetic material into a precursor to disease by altering its important directions on how and when to grow, divide, and die. Studies using cell phone signals have found evidence of just that effect. For instance, in one Greek study of EMF dangers on fruit flies, whose short life span makes them the perfect subject for basic genetic research, researchers found that exposure to mobile phone signals for only six minutes a day for six days actually fragmented the genetic material in the cells that produced the flies’ eggs, and half of the eggs died. EMFs may disrupt normal cell division. Electromagnetic fields may strike danger at cellular DNA in other ways too. Scientific research has found that exposure to ELFs, for example, speeds up cell division and reproduction. During the cell division process, known as mitosis, DNA is reproduced, chromosomes line up in pairs, and then pull apart to create a daughter cell that should be the spitting image of its mother. Exposing cells to ELF disrupts that orderly process of chromosome matching and detaching, so that the two new cells don’t get equal amounts of the genetic information. This can result in scrambled messages. The consequence? Damage to fertility or a developing fetus. EMFs create oxidative stress that further damages DNA and other physical processes. Evidence from animal studies suggests that exposure to the level of electromagnetic force that’s produced by something as mundane as your refrigerator may create free radicals, unpredictable molecules whose unpaired electrons seek to attach themselves to electrons in other molecules. Those most fundamental things we do—breathing and eating—cause our body to react with oxygen. It’s perfectly normal. But it’s a process that can go awry. When metal becomes oxidized, for example, it develops rust. When you slice open an apple and leave it in the air, it turns brown. Oxidation can turn fats rancid, which is why you’re advised to keep oils tightly sealed and in a cool, dark place. The same thing happens in your body. Fat becomes rancid—scientists call it lipid peroxidation, and it sets your cardiovascular system up for the buildup of hardened lumps of fat and other debris on your arteries. Those clogs can cause heart attacks and strokes. Free radicals contribute to arthritis by oxidizing joint fluid, making it less lubricating. They can cause DNA damage to your cells, making cell membranes so rigid that nutrients can’t get in and ultimately make the cell so fragile it breaks, allowing toxins to come in and fluid to drain out before it finally collapses. This process is considered the root cause of aging and disease, from cancer to Alzheimer’s. At the University of Washington, scientists Henry Lai and Narendra P. Singh found that free radical creation at a 60 Hz alternating current—typically found in homes that have no wiring problems and are not located near power lines—caused breaks in the DNA of brain cells of rats exposed for only 24 to 48 hours. The rest of us are exposed 24/7.

Science Takes Notice

The evidence is accumulating regarding the dangers and health effects of EMFs. One of the first studies linking magnetic fields from power lines to adverse effects on human health was published in 1979 by two Denver researchers, the late Nancy Wertheimer, Ph.D., and physicist Ed Leeper. Based on Wertheimer’s field studies of childhood cancers in the Denver-Boulder area, the two reported that children who lived one or two houses from what are called step-down transformers (the barrel-shaped devices mounted on the power poles in your neighborhood) had a two-to-three-fold increase in childhood cancers, specifically leukemia and brain tumors. In 1986, a similar study conducted at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, confirmed their findings. Although a number of studies regarding EMF radiation and health effects since have disputed the leukemia-EMF link, there have been at least 30 studies not only confirming the original 1979 work, but expanding on it to associate transmission power lines, hair dryers, common household appliances, video games, and microwave ovens to children’s cancers. In fact, David Carpenter, M.D., dean of the School of Public Health at the State University of New York, has been quoted as saying that he believes up to 30% of childhood cancers stem from EMF exposure. And it doesn’t take much EMF radiation. In several of these studies, the risk was elevated when children lived near magnetic fields that were 1,000 times lower than the existing safe exposure limit established by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. Since the Leeper-Wertheimer study, hundreds of studies have found that exposure to magnetic fields (EMFs) may be associated with a variety of conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), heart disease, miscarriage, birth defects, infertility, and mood disturbances such as depression. To add to this, some experts are now saying that proliferating technology is overburdening our aging electrical infrastructure, exposing us to high frequency EMFs in our homes, offices, and schools. Surges of high frequency voltage or electromagnetic radiation from radio waves, currents that run along grounded lines or water pipes, or high frequency spikes and harmonics (distortions in the current or wave) from our appliances and other electronic sources are contaminating the low frequency lines, creating a hybrid now being called “dirty” electricity. Studies suggest these “freaky” frequencies may be the cause of sick building syndrome—a constellation of EMF exposure symptoms including headaches, allergies, fatigue, skin irritation, depressed mood, and disruptive behavior in children—and some cases of attention deficit disorder (ADD). There’s also evidence that it may raise blood sugar in diabetics and increase symptoms in those with multiple sclerosis.

The List Goes On

In just the past five years, new research has painted a more detailed picture of the health and environmental effects of electromagnetic pollution. Here are just a few highlights from the hundreds of studies I’ve reviewed regarding EMF radiation health effects:

+ In 2006, a study of the cell phone habits of 900 people with brain tumors, conducted by the Swedish National Institute for Working Life, found that those who used cell phones for 2,000 cumulative hours had a 240% increased risk for a malignant tumor on the side of the head where they usually held the phone. Two years later, Israeli researchers found that those people who kept their cell phone against one side of their head for several hours a day were 50% more likely to develop a rare salivary gland tumor on that side (just like mine).

+ A study published in the journal Epidemiology in July 2008 reported that children born to mothers who used cell phones while pregnant and whose children used cell phones by age seven were 80% more likely to be hyperactive and to have emotional and behavioral problems.

+ Many studies have found that EMFs can interfere in the body’s nighttime production of the hormone melatonin, which is vitally important for sleep and the lack of which can impair immunity.

+ Other studies and personal reports of the dangers and health effects of EMFs link even minimal EMF exposure to sleep disturbances, immune-system suppression, brain wave changes, headaches, light sensitivity, heart arrhythmias, chronic fatigue, memory problems, ringing in the ears, depression—associated with a new problem, called electrosensitivity.

+ There has also been some evidence that EMFs may contribute to some of the leading environmental issues of our time. German studies suggest that the destruction of forests (in Germany and in the western United States) once blamed on acid rain may actually be the result of constant bombardment from 60 Hz power lines and the RF waves from communications equipment. And some researchers suspect that electropollution may be in part responsible for the changing weather patterns now blamed on global warming.

The Exception that Proves the Rule

To be perfectly honest, many scientists still regard the low-level fields and the high-level radio waves to which we’re exposed to be entirely benign. They argue that these are fairly weak fields that diminish rapidly the farther away you get from them. And many studies have looked at the same data and have not shown the same effects. A group of top international scientists, writing in the 2007 BioInitiative Report, which called for further examination of EMFs and their effect on public health, were clear: conflicting studies should not be taken as an “all clear.” In fact, they note, “there should be no effect at all if it were true that EMF is too weak to cause damage.” And if EMFs had no substantial effect on the human body, the report says, then their use as therapeutic tools would be little more than quackery. It’s true. Mainstream medicine harnesses the power of EMFs to heal. It seems like the ultimate paradox. Broken bones are mended and wounds healed by pulsed EMF stimulation; pain is eased by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), the application of electricity that appears to activate the body’s own pain-relieving (opioid) system; and depression is lifted by transcranial magnetic stimulation, which uses weak electrical currents and rapidly varying magnetic fields to excite brain nerve cells. Currently being tested on humans is the use of low-intensity EMFs to literally jiggle the electrically charged particles in cells hundreds of thousands of times per second, which can disrupt the division of cancer cells, preventing them from spreading. Israeli researchers studied ten people with glioblastoma multiforme—the same deadly form of brain cancer that killed Senator Edward Kennedy. Those who received the low-intensity EMF therapy lived longer—median survival rate: 62 weeks—than most people with the disease, which usually results in death within 12 months of diagnosis. And yet, in the midst of all this gloom and doom, there are real glimmers of hope and true healing, as you will find out shortly. There are positive ways to reduce the negative influences and health effects of EMFs without giving up the comfort and conveniences of modern-day living.

Living with Technology

At this point, you may be doing what I did while researching this—making a mental list of every electronic device you own and assessing which ones you could live without, or maybe you’re planning your move to a relatively remote part of the globe. The truth is that some technologies do present a clear and present danger. There are hundreds of reliable independent studies that say so. But there are also ways of mitigating their effects safely and practically—which is what my book Zapped is all about. We may not know the exact extent to which EMFs pose a threat, but we do know the ways in which the technologies that generate them benefit us. So living safely with technology is definitely a balancing act. You will have to intervene in your own living situation. You don’t have to do without electric lights, satellite TV, your microwave, or cell phone, as long as you are reducing exposure, prudently avoiding overuse, and implementing some of the cutting-edge and grounding lifestyle therapies. After all, even if you get rid of every single electric gizmo and appliance in your house, you will still be surrounded by them for hours every day as you spend time at work, in your car, and in public places like restaurants, theaters, and malls. The purpose of the EMF radiation protection strategies below is to show you the best way to live with technology so you can prevent and even reverse its negative side effects. Zap-Proof Your Home and Sleep To zap-proof your home, you can choose to do as little or as much as you want, but I would recommend that you focus your energy on the rooms where you spend most of your time: your bedroom, your living room, your family room, and your home office. Here’s what you can do:

+ Clean up your bedroom. Not the clutter, the electronics. Since the greatest healing occurs during sleep, and you spend nearly one-third of your life in your bed, the bedroom is the most important room of the house to zap-proof. That includes TVs, radios, clock radios, alarm clocks (except the battery-operated kind), cordless phones, mobile phones, heating pads, and older electric blankets. They need to be out of the bedroom or at least as far from you as possible. Some people even turn off the electric power to their bedrooms at night as a form of EMF radiation protection.

+ Move the bed. If you can’t cut power to your bedroom at night (if your smoke or carbon monoxide detector is hardwired to the circuit, you don’t want to do that), make sure your bed is positioned so that your head isn’t near a power outlet and be aware of any AC magnetic fields that might emanate from below or next to you. If it’s possible and your room is large enough, move the bed away from the wall because that’s where the electrical wiring of your house lives. You want to keep your body as far away (a minimum of three feet) from the fields as possible while you’re sleeping. The same goes for your living room furniture and workspace too!

+ Don’t cradle your laptop. It may be called a laptop, but don’t use it in your lap at any time. It radiates harmful EMFs whether it’s connected to the AC power adaptor or not.

+ Connect yourself to Mother Earth. Personal grounding, or earthing, promotes better sleep, more energy, quicker healing, and reduced inflammation and pain, and it normalizes production of the stress hormone cortisol. A dozen studies confirm the theory that people, like cable TV and all electrical systems, need to be grounded (that is, to maintain barefoot or bareskin contact with the earth). The findings support the pioneering work of Dr. Ross Adey, who believed that EMFs interfered with the natural, normal electrical communications between cells. As a form of EMF radiation protection, personal grounding prevents the interference of outside noise in normal cellular “whispering,” which can lead to the kinds of signaling errors that can cause cancer and damage the immune system. The research demonstrates that earthing maintains the human body at the same voltage of the earth. The body receives a stabilizing electrical influence for all its many bioelectrical circuits.

Zap-Proof Your Phone The closer you are to any cell phone—in an elevator, on a crowded bus, or with your own cell phone held up to your ear or tucked into your pants pocket—the stronger the signal that reaches your brain or other organs. Here’s what you can do:

+ Buy low. Choose a cell phone with a low SAR rating. SAR stands for specific absorption rate, which measures the strength of a magnetic field absorbed by the body.

+ Put them on speaker. Anything you can do to keep the cell phone as far away from your head as possible will reduce the energy or power level because the farther away you are from the antenna, the lower the signal.

+ Type your words. Text whenever you can—it limits the duration of your exposure and keeps the phone farther away from your head and body.

+ Go offline. Make it a habit to turn the phone off when it’s not in use or to switch it into offline, standalone, or flight modes, which turn off the wireless transmitter but still allow you to use the phone for everything except making and taking calls, texting, e-mailing, or browsing the web.

+ Make the switch. If you absolutely must place the phone against your head (and I definitely do not recommend this) switch ears regularly while chatting to limit prolonged exposure on one side, which has been linked to increased risk of brain tumors and salivary cancers on the side of the head where the phone is usually held.

+ Avoid tight spaces. Don’t make or take calls in the car—which thankfully is becoming increasingly against the law because it creates distractions—in elevators, trains, buses, or underground.

+ Keep an eye on the bars. Don’t use your phone when the signal is weak or when you’re traveling at higher speeds in a car or train because this automatically boosts power to maximum as the phone attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.

+ Get it out of your pocket. A recent study found that men who carried their cells in their pockets had 25% lower sperm counts when compared to another group that didn’t carry a cell.

+ Keep the cell out of the bedroom. Specifically, don’t sleep with your cell near your head.

This article is excerpted from Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution by Ann Louise Gittleman.

About The Author Ann Louise Gittleman is a New York Times bestselling author of over 30 books on diet, detox, the environment, and women’s health. Beloved by many, she is regarded as a nutritional visionary and health pioneer who has fearlessly stood on the front lines of holistic and integrative medicine. A Columbia University graduate, Gittleman has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Nutritionists in the U.S. by Self Magazine and has received the American Medical Writers Association award for excellence and the Humanitarian Award from the Cancer Control Society. Learn more at annlouise.com

photo: pepe reyes

Editor’s Note: In the following piece Frances Moore Lappé presents several widely held ideas and beliefs about the environment, presenting a challenge to the notions and premises that underlie each of these thought traps. Backed by science and research, she shows how we can reframe these ideas and use them to create the world and future we really want.

We’ve Hit the Limits of a Finite Earth

We’ve had it too good! We must “power down” and learn to live within the limits of a finite planet. “We’ve been living beyond our means for a long time and now it’s all blown up in our faces,” scolds Sir Jonathon Porritt, recent head of Britain’s Sustainable Development Commission. Over the last sixty years or so, we’ve all binged at a big fossil fuel party, we’re told. Now that party’s over and, well, too bad, we must pull back. Conveying the “power down” message quite vividly is Earth Hour. In 2008, from Sydney to San Francisco, people worldwide were encouraged to turn out lights during the same hour. More than 50 million people joined in. Since then, Earth Hour has gained enthusiasts, with people in 135 countries participating in 2011. Wonderfully, such massive involvement is yet more proof of people’s longing to be part of the solution. But does Earth Hour signal that the climate crisis and the end of cheap oil mean more darkness, so let’s all start getting used to it? True, fear can motivate action, but it can also backfire. It’s a “fundamental truth,” says psychology professor Tim Kasser, that “when sustenance and survival are threatened, people search for material resources to help them feel safe and secure.” Insecurity can heighten fixation on material acquisition. “We have a problem with Earth Hour,” said student Victoria Miller at the University of Michigan, “because it suggests that the proper route to progress for humanity is shutting down and moving backward toward the Middle Ages.” So Miller organized “Edison Hour,” encouraging everyone to turn on lights to celebrate technology’s contributions to progress. The students’ response suggests that, at least in a culture like ours, where we’re encouraged to go it alone, “shutting down,” as Miller calls it, can feel scary. By the way, choosing the incandescent bulb, Thomas Edison’s baby, as a symbol of progress is ironic, as it turns into light only 5 percent of the electricity it uses. Edison himself saw a lot of room for improvement.

The Limits of Limits Thinking

“Fossil fuels made the modern economy and all of its material accomplishments possible,” writes the Worldwatch Institute, which I greatly admire, in its State of the World 2008. And in their green economics textbook, Ecological Economics, environmental leaders and professors Herman Daly and Joshua Farley tell us that “fossil fuels freed us from the fixed flow of energy from the sun.” Hearing these assessments, it is easy to assume, Whoa! Without fossil fuel, human ingenuity would never have come up with other ways to power our lives. The end of oil will mean giving up all the wonderful, modern “material accomplishments” that fossil fuel has made possible, as we get used to living constrained, once again, by the sun’s “fixed flow.” But wait. Each day the sun provides the earth with a daily dose of energy 15,000 times greater than the energy humans currently use. The sun is in fact the only energy that is not fixed in any practical sense. The energy of the sun is not even renewable. Rather, it is continually renewing. We can’t stop it! But the biggest drawback of the “we’ve-hit-the-limits-of-a-finite-earth” idea is this: It frames the problem out there—in the fixed quantity that is earth. Its limits are the problem. This frame is carried, for example, in British environmental leader Tim Jackson’s phrase “our ecologically constrained world.” But, more accurately and usefully, the limit we’ve hit is that of the disruption of nature we humans can cause without catastrophic consequences for life. The first frame conjures up the notion of quantity, as in a fixed but overdrawn bank account. The problem is the darn limit of the account, and the solution is to cut back what we withdraw. The second frame keeps attention focused on us—on human disruptions of the flows of energy in nature, which, if considered as systems, are renewing and evolving. Oil and coal, for example, are limited, certainly, but, as just noted, energy from the sun, for all practical purposes, is not. So, attention in this second frame is not on narrowly cutting back but on aligning with the laws of nature to sustain and enhance life.

Beyond Limits to Alignment

If we conceive of our challenge as accepting the limits of a finite planet, our imagination remains locked inside an inherited, unecological worldview, one of separateness and lack. Precisely the thinking that got us into this mess. It’s true, of course, that for all practical purposes our planet and atmosphere are made up of a limited number of atoms. But their configurations are essentially infinite. By conjuring up a fixed and static reality, the finite-limits frame draws us away from the deeper reality of our world—that of dynamism, which can offer stunning possibility if we learn to align with nature’s rules. Think of music. Yes, there are just eighty-eight keys on the piano. But if we instruct ourselves to focus primarily on this limit, we won’t get very far in creating beautiful sound. It is the possible variations on these eighty-eight keys that are important. And they are virtually endless; some are gloriously harmonious, others harshly discordant. Such quality is what must command our attention. A limits frame asks us to focus on the number of keys we use, but creating beautiful music requires deep learning of the principles of harmony. It requires both discipline and invention. Only by focusing on harmony can we know whether more or fewer keys are needed. Making this core shift, we learn that, yes, we do uncover real limits on what we can do without disrupting nature’s regenerative flows. But our sights remain clear: We make these discoveries as we focus on how our actions touch and are touched by all other life and as we continue to uncover and take inspiration from the laws of biology and physics. We can learn, for example, how to cool our homes from a zebra’s stripes. Really. A zebra reduces its surface temperature by more than seventeen degrees Fahrenheit with microscopic air currents produced by the different heat absorption rates of its black and white stripes. In similar fashion, in Sendai, Japan, the Daiwa House office building uses alternating dark and light surfaces to create tiny air currents that control the building’s exterior temperature. So indoor summer temperatures are lowered enough to save around 20 percent in energy use.

Waste Not

Plus, once we see ourselves living within ever-evolving systems, our understanding of waste changes forever. We see that waste is not waste if it feeds an ecological process. This holistic approach was dubbed “cradle to cradle” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book by that name. The term stuck. Cradle to cradle is the notion that, from buildings to upholstery to utilities, we can design productive processes so that their “waste products” feed other living processes rather than harm them. And it’s spreading fast, in part through efforts of the Geneva-based Zero Emissions Research Institute (ZERI) founded by green innovator Gunter Pauli. ZERI’s motto: “Follow nature’s example, realize waste’s potential.” A few years ago, in beautiful, mountain-ringed Manizales, Colombia, I got to see ZERI’s vision coming to life when formerly jobless women showed me how they were earning a good income by using waste from local coffee processing as the substrate in which to grow highly nutritious mushrooms. The waste from the mushrooms then became feed for animals. This coffee-waste-to-mushrooms-to-feed connection has created 10,000 jobs in Colombia. Imagine if the 16 million tons of waste now left rotting, and emitting greenhouse gases, on coffee farms around the world were instead feeding mushroom cultivation. Plus, if each of the roughly 25 million coffee farms in the world generated only two jobs growing mushrooms, says Pauli, coffee waste could provide 50 million protein-producing jobs globally. And tea farms could do the same with their waste, he adds. ZERI has spread this “pulp-to-protein” strategy to eight African countries. In Kenya, for example, water hyacinth—a vexing, foreign invader— has found an honorable calling as substrate that villagers now use to grow nutritious mushrooms, long part of local culture. To me, mushrooms have become almost magical in their powers: Scientist Paul Stamets, the mushroom magician, is showing the world that fungi can accomplish everything from killing termites to filtering toxins from farm waste to cleaning up oil spills—all by using nature’s genius. Industrial ecology—one industry directly feeding another—is a step toward leaving behind the notion of waste. Another simple but powerful story comes from Japan, which in seven years cut municipal waste 40 percent: Professor Yoshihito Shirai of the Kyushu Institute of Technology became so distressed by the vast amount of food waste from the restaurant industry being carted off to landfills that he and his team of students and colleagues went to work. They came up with a way to use the discarded food—with help from a fungus (of course!)—to produce polylactic acid for bioplastic. It’s done at nearly room temperature, saving energy, and the residue feeds animals. Growing rapidly, bioplastics are mainly produced with fossil fuel-intensive corn, displacing food crops. Professor Shirai’s approach makes a lot more sense.

Garbage Heat

Far from Japan, the 80,000 citizens of Kristianstad in a farming region of southern Sweden now use essentially no oil, natural gas, or coal at all to heat their homes and businesses—even through Sweden’s long, cold winters. Two decades ago, fossil fuels supplied all their heat, but citizens of Kristianstad started to see farm waste—from potato peels to pig guts—with new eyes. Through a fermentation process, the city now generates methane gas, which then creates heat and electricity and even gets refined into car fuel. “Once the city fathers got into the habit of harnessing power locally, they saw fuel everywhere,” noted a New York Times account of Kristianstad’s turnaround. So the city soon began taking advantage of waste wood from flooring factories and tree prunings to generate methane, as well as putting to use methane that was before being emitted into the atmosphere by an old landfill and sewage ponds. (And because methane has even more potent greenhouse effects than does carbon, putting it to use is critical.) “Waste to energy” is huge in Europe, with four hundred plants. Denmark is near the top, with twenty-nine. By 2016 Denmark will be the “top” in a very different way. A futuristic, waste-to-energy plant in downtown Copenhagen, serving five municipalities, will generate heat and electricity for 140,000 homes, while doubling as a ski resort. In this flat city, skiers will be able to ride an elevator to the plant’s “peak,” then ski down its three encircling “slopes.” Built into the design is a sobering lesson as well: The release of a visible smoke ring will be timed precisely so that onlookers can count five rings and know a ton of carbon dioxide has been released into the environment. The ring is intended as a startling way to make carbon dioxide real, motivating citizens to produce less waste to begin with. In the US, only a quarter of landfills capture methane from decaying garbage to make electricity, and even these emit over 50 percent more in carbon dioxide equivalents than waste-to-energy plants. But imagine the positive potential: In the US, more than half of municipal solid waste—almost a couple of pounds for each of us each day—is just the kind of stuff used to heat Kristianstad. However, our waste is simply wasted, supplying 0.2 percent of our total energy demand. Over half of our municipal waste goes to landfills—including 10,500 tons of residential waste leaving New York City every single day for landfills as far away as Ohio and South Carolina—a big contrast to Germany and the Netherlands, where roughly two-thirds of urban waste is recycled or composted, while only 1 to 2 percent goes into landfills.

Edison’s Other Idea

Then there’s wasted fuel itself. Two-thirds of the potential energy in fuel that goes into a typical power plant is released as waste heat. Thomas Edison realized it didn’t have to be this way and designed the world’s first cogeneration plant on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan. That was 1882. In cogeneration, a power plant’s “waste” heat is captured and piped to heat or cool buildings or to power industry. Then, instead of two-thirds only 15 percent of the energy is typically wasted. Notwithstanding Con Edison’s thirty cogeneration plants now serving 100,000 Manhattan homes and buildings, this Edison invention hasn’t taken off in the US… yet. Its potential is huge. Cogeneration by itself could cut carbon emissions globally by 10 percent in twenty years, estimates the International Energy Agency. In Denmark it already provides over half of the electricity. These stories are a mere suggestion of the ways in which we’re learning less about how to limit ourselves to stay within the earth’s limits and more about how to harmonize our human systems with nature’s ways. As we become students of nature’s laws, we find endless ways we can mimic the strategies of other creatures and plants to solve human challenges. In fact, what science writer and innovation consultant Janine Benyus has dubbed “biomimicry”—mimicking nature—is emerging as a new field of science. Engineers and architects are finding that even our most prized inventions are modest imitations of nature’s feats: Lily pads and bamboo stalks mastered impressive structural supports long before human architects caught on. And the ability of termites to keep their towers at precisely eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit outperforms even our most powerful modern heating and cooling systems.

Righting the Balance

Another downside of narrowly focusing on reductions to stay within “limits” is that we’re apt to miss a huge, crucial piece of the solution to the climate challenge. Big mistake. In the minds of most of us worried about climate change, averting catastrophe means cutting greenhouse gas emissions as fast as we can, mainly from their biggest current source—burning fossil fuel. That’s essential. But, more accurately and usefully, we can frame our challenge as restoring a balancing cycle in nature. “Carbon moves from the atmosphere to the land and back, and in this process it drives life on the planet,” observes a 2009 Worldwatch Institute report. But we’ve been emitting much more carbon than our earth can reabsorb, throwing the cycle seriously out of whack. Our task now is restoring the “harmonious movement of carbon,” the report concludes. It’s an example of what I mean by aligning with nature. Greenhouse gas emissions now total roughly 47 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, and our earth has been absorbing about half, or about 25 billion metric tons. Way out of balance! To close the 22-billion-metric-ton gap, re-establishing a balancing cycle of carbon as quickly as possible, we therefore need both to reduce emissions and to increase absorption of carbon each year. Efficiencies, renewable-energy breakthroughs, and halting deforestation, along with shifts in our own perception of what makes us happy, can reduce carbon emissions. But how do we also enhance the equally critical carbon-absorption side of the cycle? To get a grip on why this question matters so much, consider what, for many, is a big surprise. It’s possible that deforestation, farming, grazing, and other people-caused soil disturbance during prehistoric times put more carbon into the atmosphere than has fossil fuel since 1850. And even during the fossil fuel-intensive, post-1850 era, soil and plant disruption has released over one-third as much carbon as has fossil fuel. So, in righting the carbon balance, soil and plants have a big role to play. It requires both a “stop” and a “start”: We stop misusing rangeland and tearing down and burning forests. (The net loss of forests globally each year equals an area the size of Costa Rica, although the rate, still horrendous, has begun to slow.)  And we start caring for soil, plants, and trees in ways that increase their carbon storing—some new ways, some very old. And some pretty simple: Lengthening the time between “harvesting” trees, for example, in “forests of the Pacific Northwest and Southeast could double their storage of carbon,” notes the Union of Concerned Scientists. Better farming practices are just as central to our successfully rebalancing the carbon cycle. Today in the US, the food system contributes nearly a fifth of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Answers start with the dirt—no surprise once one learns that, overall, soil itself holds twice as much carbon as plants in the soil do. Since both exposed and disturbed soils release carbon, the answer is farming in ways that avoid both as much as possible. When using annual crops, that means not letting soil lie bare and instead planting cover crops, such as soil-enriching clover, in the gap between plantings of the annual crop. Better yet, it means relying more on perennials, including food-bearing trees as well as certain root crops and beans, so farmers don’t have to disrupt the soil. Dr. Wes Jackson, the determined plant geneticist, and his team at the Land Institute in Kansas have strived for decades to develop perennial grains. They’re getting closer, and their success could radically transform agriculture’s negative eco-impacts. Climate-friendly farming also means forgoing chemical pesticides, as well as rotating crops and using compost, manure, and plants whose roots fix nitrogen, rather than applying manufactured fertilizers, to enhance fertility. Agriculture contributing to a balanced carbon cycle also requires phasing out feedlots—now encouraged by tax subsidies—and moving livestock to well-managed range and pasture. Until recently most worriers about carbon overload, including me, saw livestock as climate criminals, in fact among the worst offenders—now blamed for 9 percent of carbon emissions and 18 percent of all greenhouse gases measured in CO2 equivalents. But here, too, some serious reframing is going on: It’s not the animals that deserve all the blame, even though the livestock sector emits 37 percent of all methane, and methane packs a climate punch twenty-three times that of carbon dioxide. A big part of the problem is the way humans mismanage them: The largest share of carbon that livestock “cause” results from humans tearing down forests to create pasture and grow feed for them. And add to that the climate costs of growing more than a third of the world’s grain and about 90 percent of our soybeans—using vast amounts of fossil fuel—just to feed them. But livestock didn’t ask to be penned up and stuffed with grain. Proof is trampling in from Australia and Africa that carefully managed grazing animals can help the earth absorb carbon. Despite widespread overgrazing, speeding desertification and releasing carbon worldwide, livestock could actually help reverse the process: They can break up hard-packed earth, deposit manure, enable seeds to take hold and water to penetrate, and, without even trying, regenerate healthier grassland and waterways—absorbing significant amounts of carbon. But for that to happen, humans would have to learn to herd the way nature used to: From time immemorial, natural predators have forced animals into groups and kept them moving often, and now herdsmen are learning to mimic the approach. They bunch animals together and leave them no longer than three days on one piece of land. While school kids now know that forest vegetation stores carbon, it turns out that the grassland stores as much, mainly in the soil, so the potential impact of this breakthrough—what renowned innovator Allan Savory calls “holistic, planned grazing”—is big. Worldwide, grazing land covers more than a quarter of all ice-free terrain, 8 billion acres or more. But so far this low-cost, holistic, carbon-absorbing path to grassland restoration has only reached 30 million. Imagine the possibilities if we shifted public support to such efforts: Even without counting what this grazing breakthrough could mean, experts report that these very doable farming practices cooperating with nature to grow our food—called agroecology—have the “technical potential” to absorb up to 6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year by 2030, or roughly a quarter of what’s needed to achieve carbon balance. And some experts say the potential is much greater. We certainly don’t want to miss that. One reason agriculture can become such a big piece of the climate-stabilizing puzzle is that growing trees and shrubs among food crops is not a problem. It’s a really good thing. Called “agroforestry,” the practice can improve productivity not only because the trees help keep soil from being washed or blown away but because the roots help water penetrate the soil. Plus, some tree varieties “fix” atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, effectively producing their own fertilizer. Farms with these “fertilizer trees” mixed in among field crops double or triple crop yields, reports the World Agroforestry Centre, while at the same time cutting the use of climate-disrupting commercial nitrogen fertilizer by up to 75 percent.

“We Stopped the Desert”

Consider the impact in West Africa, where in many minds climate change and deep poverty meld into heartbreaking images of destitution on increasingly scorched earth. Indeed, three-fourths of Niger is now desert, and the only news we heard from the country in mid-2010 is that famine threatened half of its people. Grim… yes? But there’s another story. Over two decades, poor farmers in the country’s south have “regreened” 12.5 million desolate acres, a momentous achievement not of planting trees but abetting their “natural regeneration.” There, a farmer-managed strategy has revived a centuries-old practice of leaving selected tree stumps in fields and protecting their strongest stems as they grow. The renewed trees then help protect the soil, bringing big increases in crop yields, and they provide fruit, nutritious leaves, fodder, and firewood. In all, Niger farmers have nurtured the growth of some 200 million trees. In the mid-1980s, it looked to some as though Niger would be “blown from the map,” writes Chris Reij, a Dutch specialist in sustainable land management, but farmer regreening has since brought enhanced food security for 2.5 million people. So, in late 2010, even as many in Niger were facing shortages, village chief Moussa Sambo described his village near the capital as experiencing the greatest prosperity ever, with young men returning. “We stopped the desert,” he said, “and everything changed.” And why hadn’t hungry farmers in Niger figured this all out long ago? Well, they had. But in the early twentieth century, French colonial rulers turned trees into state property and punished anyone messing with them. So farmers began to see trees as a risk to be avoided and just got rid of them. But Niger gained its independence in 1960, and over time, Reij says, farmers’ perceptions changed. They feel now they own the trees in their fields. And why haven’t we all heard about their extraordinary achievement? The whole of southern Niger “was assumed to be highly degraded. Few thought to look for positive changes at a regional scale,” Reij notes. And “if people don’t know to look for it, they don’t see it.” Could this be yet more evidence of our mental map’s filter working against us? Now aware, though, we can take heart from African farmers’ creativity in the face of a deteriorating environment, and they’re hardly alone. If proven agroforestry practices, like those in Niger, were used on the over 2 billion acres worldwide where they’re suitable, in thirty years agroforestry could have a striking impact—accounting for perhaps a third of agriculture’s overall potential contribution to righting the carbon balance. Beyond agriculture is the larger potential of forests. Reducing our current forest destruction, planting new forests, and improving how we manage forests could sequester almost 14 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. So, adding this 14 billion potential contribution of forests to agriculture’s 6 billion potential, we’re approaching the brass ring: closing that 22-billion-metric-ton gap between the carbon dioxide equivalents we’re now emitting and what earth must absorb to avoid catastrophe.

From Ancient Farmers, a Soil Secret

Another dramatic climate-helping, soil-enhancing breakthrough is nothing new at all: It’s an ancient Amazonian practice of smoldering organic waste to create a form of charcoal that’s added to the topsoil. Now called “biochar,” its secret is its porous structure, which is welcoming to the bacteria and fungi that help plants absorb soil nutrients. So, biochar added to soils typically increases crop yields, sometimes even doubling them. And it is great for poor farmers because it can be made from material that otherwise would be discarded—in Africa, for example, cassava stems, oil palm branches, and common weeds. The controlled smoldering required to make biochar can also generate clean energy, obviating the need to cut down the forest for firewood. Plus, producing biochar removes carbon from the atmosphere and can lock it away for centuries. Biochar’s promise is being explored in test fields from Iowa State University to villages in the Congo. It’s a breakthrough worth following with an eco-mind that knows context is crucial: Even biochar could harm those less powerful, if agribusiness is allowed to create huge biochar operations displacing them. An eco-mind sees that balancing the carbon cycle, while enhancing fertility and yields, is largely about spreading proven practices available to almost all farmers, not new purchases available only to a minority. It focuses on empowering relationships—resisting technologies, including genetically modified and other patented seeds, that make farmers dependent on distant suppliers. What’s great is that balancing the carbon cycle and helping the poorest farmers calls for the same public actions: We shift support from fossil-fuel intensive farming toward agroecological practices. We take strong action against deforestation while supporting massive tree-planting initiatives, as in Ethiopia, and fostering trees’ “natural regeneration,” as in Niger. With an eco-mind, these steps—both cutting carbon and storing more—are urgent and satisfying.

Hunger as Teacher of the Eco-mind

The danger within the “limits frame” first hit me when I began asking, How do we end hunger? I realized that humanity has long seen the solution as getting the quantities right—making sure the quantity of food can feed the “quantity” of people. And we’ve done it. We’ve succeeded in both growing more food and slowing population growth. But, still, 868 million people go hungry. And this “official” count needs a hard look. To be counted “hungry,” a person has to survive for more than a year on less than the minimum calories required for a “sedentary lifestyle.” I was shocked. Poor people in developing countries are likely among the world’s least sedentary. So what if the UN hungry-people counters had instead used their definition of “normal activity”? Hungry people would almost double, to1.5 billion. And because we humans tend to see what we expect to see, it’s easy for us to see so much hunger and blame “too little food and too many people,” whether true or not. In the summer of 2009, a National Geographic’s cover story “The End of Plenty” stated flatly: “For most of the past decade, the world has been consuming more food than it has been producing.” Even the brilliant environmental leader Bill McKibben suggests that climate change is already denying us the quantity of food needed. So of course we’d assume humanity has overrun Earth’s finite capacity and our only hope is fewer people. But we’d be wrong. Yes, of course, our birth rates must come into harmony with the earth, and that can happen as we tackle the root cause of population growth—the same power imbalances in human relationships that create hunger. Note that 95 percent of population growth is in poor countries, where the majority, especially women, lack sufficient power over their lives. But a “not enough” diagnosis ignores this even more obvious fact: Even though the world’s population has nearly doubled since the late 1960s, today there’s significantly more food for each of us, reports the UN’s agricultural arm: now almost 3,000 calories per day. That’s plenty—and, remember, it’s only with the leftovers: what’s left over after we feed more than a third of our grain and most of our soy to livestock. Over the last decade, even the fifty “least-developed countries” as a group have experienced per-person food production gains. So National Geographic’s scary declaration belies the facts. Hunger isn’t the result of a lack of food. And thus a simple frame of “hitting the limits” can’t help us understand what’s going on. We need an eco-mind that never stops asking why. “Since the early 1990s, food[-import] bills of the developing countries have increased by five-or six-fold,” notes Olivier De Schutter. And he should know, for De Schutter is the UN Special Rapporteur on the “right to food.” He emphasizes, though, that this deepening dependency reflects powerful human-made forces, including foreign aid and local governments’ defunding agricultural development, including agriculture extension agents. One reason is that foreign aid to poor countries was often tied to their governments’ opening doors to imported food and cutting public supports. Sound familiar? So agriculture in many poor countries faltered, and millions of farmers abandoned the land for urban centers. Cities grew, and poor city folk couldn’t find decent work, so their lives depended on cheap food. Feeling that pressure, governments have tried to keep food in cities cheap, which depends on further undercutting profits farmers need to invest in producing more. Desperate governments opening their doors to cheaper imported food only made it harder for their own farming to flourish. Speeding the cycle, governments in the Global North didn’t follow their own advice, and continued to subsidize their farmers big-time. So their artificially cheap grain exports also encouraged import dependence in poor countries. At the same time, corporate control over seeds and farming supplies has been tightening, leaving farmers with a shrinking share of the return from farming. And, as if these extreme power imbalances weren’t bad enough, there’s Wall Street’s entry. Over just three years, from 2005 to 2008, the price of hard red wheat, to pick one example, jumped fivefold—even though wheat was plentiful. What had happened? In 1991, Goldman Sachs, followed by other banks, started putting investor money into their new commodity indexes—where dollars invested have ballooned fifty-fold since 2000, explains Frederick Kaufman in Foreign Policy. In what he calls a “casino of food derivatives,” speculative dollars overwhelmed actual supply, and in just three years, 2005 to 2008, “the worldwide price of food rose 80 percent.” And it’s only gotten worse. During much of the last few years, the UN Food Price Index has been roughly twice as high as a decade ago, unleashing a long-term, hunger-making force: In an era of rising food prices, speculators and governments worried about their populations’ future food supply—including the Gulf States, South Korea and China—are seizing cheap land. In 2009, land purchased by speculators and foreign governments, especially in Africa, jumped more than tenfold (to about the size of France) compared to previous years, reports the World Bank. They’re buying especially where governance is “weak,” the Bank notes; thus making it easier to get land “essentially for free and in neglect of local rights.” Imagine our feelings of vulnerability if this loss of control were happening to us. Other factors have played, and continue to play, a role in both food-price escalation and price swings, including worsening climate-change-related flood and drought, the rising price of oil, world food reserves allowed to sink too low, along with government-mandated diversion of grain into making fuel—which in the US is enough in sheer calories to feed a population larger than ours. Thus, the continuing tragedy of hunger, during an extended period of largely excellent world harvests, stems overwhelmingly from concentrated economic power. My point is that fixation on quantities and limits makes us eco-blind, unable to see, and therefore not driven to explore, key human relationships—in this case, from those setting off food-price escalation to those enabling people to choose the size of their families. All make up our social ecology, determining who has the power to eat. The mechanical, quantitative view keeps us from seeing that in both human and nonhuman realms, relationships have become so mal-aligned, so unharmonious, as to generate vast hunger—even amid unprecedented food abundance. So, the useful questions are about the re-alignment of our most basic relationships. They are as follows:

+ Do our methods of production enhance ecological relationships that restore and maintain food-producing capacity as they help to rebalance the carbon cycle?

+ And do our human relationships enable all people to gain access to what is produced?

Diverted from these questions by thinking within a simple, mechanical frame of “more or less,” we can’t see that the very strategies we’ve used to grow more have ended up so concentrating power over food that hundreds of millions go without. The frame has kept us blind to an entirely different approach already flourishing in diverse settings—an approach focusing on dispersion of social power as we cooperate with nature, one through which all of us can eat well while enhancing soil and water quality. Think back, for example, to the farmers’ breakthroughs in Andhra Pradesh, India, or in Niger. Not by focusing narrowly on “more” but by radically and positively remaking their relationships to the land and each other, they’re gaining ground both in meeting food needs and in creating healthier communities.

Flourishing as, or Even Because, We Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Given all we now know, why, I often ponder, aren’t we in the midst of exciting national discussion about how quickly we can leave fossil fuel behind? One obstacle might be an unspoken notion that if we’re not doing something we “should be,” the reason has to be that it costs too much. Since we’re not responding to the threat of climate chaos, it must be that the price tag is too high. So we can‘t see that what’s hugely expensive is inaction, whereas action will save us vast sums. Or maybe our country’s Puritan heritage is still whispering to us that doing what’s right has got to hurt. And we don’t want to hurt; we’re already hurting too much. This “the-party’s-over” thought trap might reinforce these perhaps less-than-conscious assumptions, blocking us from realizing that cutting greenhouse gases can enrich many aspects of our lives. Here are just some of the ways: We’d certainly save money. The Union of Concerned Scientists “blueprint” shows how in two decades, primarily via renewable energy and advances in efficiency, we could cut carbon significantly and at the same time end up saving the average US household $900 on electricity and transportation a year. By 2030, overall, Americans would experience a net gain of $464 billion annually. Buildings offer huge potential for energy savings, since they account for more than a third of US energy use. Consider the Empire State Building, where investing in efficiencies is projected to reduce by 40 percent its $11 million yearly energy outlay, reports Amory Lovins’s Rocky Mountain Institute. Strategies include super windows six times more efficient than regular double-paned windows and insulated barriers placed behind radiators to reflect heat. In similar redesigns across a wide range of industries, Lovins’s team consistently finds energy savings of 30 to 60 percent in old plants, paying back the investment in two to three years, and 40 to 90 percent in new plants. A sixth grader could grasp some of the money-saving energy efficiency schemes. Lovins notes, for example, that 60 percent of the world’s electricity runs motors, and the biggest use of motors is for pumping. Out of pumps come pipes, and Lovins finds that cheaper, low-friction pipes can save as much as 92 percent of the pump’s energy. The trick? Replace “skinny, long, crooked pipes” with “fat, short, straight pipes…. This is not rocket science,” says Lovins. Such is a taste of the kinds of savings within reach. And if one still doubts the big efficiency gains available to us, take note: Other countries are already far down the road. Ireland and Switzerland generate twice as much production as we do for every unit of energy used. And meeting the challenge of up-front investment required? In 2008, the research arm of eighty-two-year-old management consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that, globally, “the costs of transitioning to a low-carbon economy are not [economically] all that daunting.” The study estimates that the US could fund a low-carbon economy mostly “from investments that would otherwise have been made in traditional capital.” Globally, investing $170 billion each year in energy efficiency would bring an “energy savings ramping up to $900 billion annually by 2020,” concludes another McKinsey report. And investors would get a 17 percent rate of return. Not bad. And jobs? Moving toward electricity from wind, solar, and biomass could provide three times the number of jobs compared to continuing dependence on coal and gas, finds the National Council for Science and the Environment. And health? One measure of the vast health dividend we can enjoy as we move away from fossil fuel is captured in part within estimates of the hidden costs of coal, reported in the major new study cited earlier. In illness, lost productivity, and more, these costs come to $269 billion each year. Imagine being free of that burden. Food offers another enticement to embracing the sun’s energy. Here the alignment between what’s good for our bodies and what’s good for the earth—plus other creatures on it—is stunning. My daughter, Anna Lappé, brings to life in her 2010 Diet for a Hot Planet how earth-friendly, family-scale farming captures all the “efficiencies of scale” while creating healthy soil, water, more and better jobs, and healthier food. Not only does eating food produced organically, especially fresh and whole food, encourage modes of production that reduce climate impacts, but we eaters avoid toxic chemicals and highly processed products—saving ourselves from a diet that’s become a major health hazard (with costs rivaling that of tobacco-related disease). Plus, we get on average a quarter more nutrients per bite than if eating produce grown using farm chemicals. Now there’s a win-win. And, to help us see these gains, Hollywood is pitching in too: “You don’t even have to believe in the existence of climate change to understand that an energy revolution may be the very thing we need,” says TV and movie producer Marshall Herskovitz, who’s leading an entertainment industry initiative to open Americans’ eyes to the benefits of moving beyond fossil fuel. “We are in a very rare moment in history where the solving of one problem would actually solve four or five or six other intractable societal problems we have in the United States—unemployment, the deficit, our trade deficit, health, national security.”

Have Fossil Fuels Freed or Enslaved Us?

Yet, within the limits frame, the opposite seems to be assumed—that fossil fuel temporarily removed constraints so we could indulge ourselves. We’re told that we are “addicted to oil,” as if on a drug high from which we now must descend. In fact, many people promoting a post-fossil fuel world use the term carbon “descent” to capture what’s now required of us. So, here’s the snag: When economists write that “fossil fuel freed us,” they make it easy to forget that fossil fuel has also entrapped us. Because it exists in concentrations, fossil fuel has inexorably fed the concentration of social power in the hands of the few with the resources to extract it and to make the rest of us their dependent customers. That power means profits. Exxon’s almost doubled in just four years, to more than $45 billion in 2008, even as much of the world was devastated by the financial crisis. That’s $1,434 a second! Such highly concentrated power, as we’ve long known, typically leads to really bad things—cruelty and suffering among them. Consider Nigeria. “Everything looked possible” for Nigeria, writes Tom O’Neill in National Geographic. Then oil was discovered in 1956, and “everything went wrong,” as he captures in these scenes of Nigeria today: “Dense, garbage-heaped slums stretch for miles. Choking black smoke from an open-air slaughterhouse rolls over housetops. Streets are cratered with potholes and ruts. Vicious gangs roam school grounds. Peddlers and beggars rush up to vehicles stalled in gas lines. This is Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil hub…. Beyond the city… exists a netherworld…. Groups of hungry, half-naked children and sullen, idle adults wander dirt paths. There is no electricity, no clean water, no medicine, no schools. Fishing nets hang dry; dugout canoes sit unused on muddy banks. Decades of oil spills [by one estimate, equal to an Exxon Valdez spill each year for over fifty years], acid rain from gas flares, and the stripping away of mangroves for pipelines have killed off fish.” Nigeria is the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter, earning the country nearly $60 billion a year, yet it so lacks refining capacity that it must import fuel, and its annual per capita income is less than that of nearby Senegal, which exports not oil but fish and nuts. Nigeria’s poverty is so great that life expectancy there, forty-seven years, is among the world’s worst. Oil wealth breeds a deadly antidemocratic unity of foreign corporate power interested only in protecting its profits and local government corrupted by the huge sums it can pocket by cooperating with the oil companies. Royal Dutch Shell, for example, has dominated oil extraction in Nigeria since the late 1950s. Recently, the company agreed to settle out of court a lawsuit by victims’ families and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which accused Shell of colluding with the Nigerian government to abuse human rights. Denying any guilt, the company paid out $15.5 million—or about four hours’ worth of its 2008 profits. In countries where oil is concentrated, “freedom” and “oil” operate in “an inverse correlation,” notes New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

And How Else Has Oil Enslaved?

Here at home, whether or not you believe that the drive to control oil lies at the heart of the $1 to $3 trillion US-initiated war in Iraq, it is unarguable that a fear of losing control of oil drives key aspects of US foreign policy. How could it not? The thirteen-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries—half of which are in the Middle East—controls about half of the world’s oil, and we depend on this cartel for 40 percent of our crude oil. How can any nation feel free and confidently plan for its wellbeing if dependent on imports for essential energy? Concentrated social power—flowing inexorably from the physical concentration of fossil fuel and the concentrated wealth it takes to extract it— undercuts democracy in yet another way: As long as we allow private wealth to influence campaign outcomes and infuse itself into public policy making, Big Oil will continue to throw its gargantuan resources behind policies favoring it at the expense of the planet. Just one galling example: Despite our climate crisis, $300 billion in annual global energy subsidies continue mostly to promote planet-heating fuels. For years, US oil and gas companies have wrangled major exemptions from laws, including the key Clean Water Act, that might have protected our water from the toxins they use in drilling. Perhaps with BP’s recklessness—abetted by lax government oversight—now exposed in the tragic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil gusher, more Americans will awaken to the downside of oil dependency—if we can make clear that a safer alternative path is truly viable. The concentrated power flowing from fossil fuel also gives those who control it so much wealth that they have plenty to put toward confusing us—for example, by purchasing $50,000 ads in the New York Times on the opinion page, which readers associate with ideas, not advertising. There, in June of 2009, for example, ExxonMobil bragged that it had invested $1.5 billion over the previous five years to decrease emissions and increase energy efficiency. What readers weren’t told was that in 2008 alone, the company spent $26 billion—seventeen times more—on oil and gas development. And Exxon’s research on renewable energy? In 2008, Exxon spent $4 million (that’s an m, not a b) on renewable-energy research. From their claims, we’d never guess that during the last fifteen years the top five oil giants, with roughly $80 billion in combined profits in 2008 alone, provided only about a tenth as much capital for clean energy as have venture capitalists and other corporate investors. At the same time, they’ve helped to confuse citizens about climate change and spread the “government-is-our-problem” philosophy to disempower our democracy. The oil giants are in the way of, not part of the way toward, life. Finally, since security is foundational to democracy, fossil fuel dependency undermines democracy in yet another way. Former director of the Central Intelligence Agency James Woolsey nailed it when he noted that in the US “our focus on utility scale power plants instead of distributed generation” makes our energy grid “vulnerable to cyber and physical attacks.” He called on us to boost distributed power generation from wind and solar. Considering all this, might our descendants look back at this era of The End of Oil and conclude that it marked the beginning of real freedom? With hindsight, will they see that as humanity moved to rely on the sun’s distributed energy, social power became more distributed too—and that this shift was a necessary antecedent of real democracy?

Distributing Social Power as We Generate New and Clean Energy

Unlike fossil fuel, solar energy in all its forms gives most humans the chance to be cogenerators. For the biggest “waste” in today’s world is that of the sun’s rays. Less than five days of the sun’s energy is greater than all proven reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas. Consider Denmark. Its early experience with wind energy—a form of solar power itself, since wind results from the sun heating the air—offers a taste of how humans can use the sun’s distributed energy and keep social power distributed as well. In 1980, Denmark introduced a 30 percent subsidy for investing in wind power. Partly as a result, cooperatives, made up of a few individuals or a whole village, helped turn Denmark into a world leader in wind energy. Cooperatives now own about a fifth of Danish wind power. Denmark’s policies ended up encouraging 175,000 households to become producers, not just consumers, of energy—either through individual or cooperative ownership. This direct citizen involvement changed Danes’ perceptions. With a stake in the wind installations themselves, producer families accepted their altered landscapes. But when government support for distributed production waned and “larger, purely business investments” came in, the “public became less willing to look at wind turbines.” The shift in perception highlights a common human experience: that what we ourselves choose and create we see through different eyes than if the very same thing had been imposed on us. This insight seems key to transforming resistance in the US, where big wind projects, most notoriously Massachusetts’s offshore Cape Wind, have met mighty opposition. And how has Denmark become a world leader in renewable energy? Jane Kruse says it started with regular citizens. Jane directs a center for renewable energy in one of her country’s poorest areas and credits “young people and women [who] were very vocal against nuclear energy.” Momentum grew steadily through the 1970s and early 1980s, she says, until in 1985 the Danish parliament decided to build no more nuclear reactors. In an interview at Wind-Works.org, Jane adds, “But, we were not only struggling against nuclear, we also wanted to work for positive alternatives.” So women politicians (now more than a third of the parliament) joined to oppose nuclear energy and “cooperated across parties to pass legislation supportive of renewable energy.” In Germany, too, everyday citizens stepped up. In the Black Forest community of Schönau, Ursula Sladek, a mother of five, was shaken up by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. She, like Jane, decided not just to fight nuclear power but to create an alternative. By 1997, she and neighbors had raised the millions of euros needed to buy out the area’s private power grid and turn it into a co-op. Now owned by more than 1,000 people, it uses and supports decentralized renewable power, including solar and wind, to serve 100,000 customers, including both households and factories. It all got started because one woman said “no”—and “yes.” Now all Germany is with Ursula, rejecting nuclear power.” In the early 1990s, Germany had virtually no renewable energy, but now the country gets 16 percent of its electricity from renewables and is on track to achieve 35 percent within ten years. Germany’s policy, now spreading worldwide, is called the Feed-In Tariff because producers receive a payment (“tariff”) for feeding clean energy into the energy grid. The law obligates utilities to buy electricity from renewable installations, like a solar panel or small windmill, at a price that guarantees a good return. German households seized the opportunity and now own roughly 80 percent of the country’s solar installations as well as most of its small hydroelectric power plants. The cost of the whole program is spread across all ratepayers, coming to less than $5 a month per household—all while stimulating 370,000 jobs in the renewables industry. This practical scheme for distributed power generation is now working in dozens of countries on six continents. Yes, experts tell us, to fully embrace the dispersed sun, wind, and other clean-energy possibilities, we’ll also need to invest in what’s called a “supergrid,” connecting and balancing demand through dispersed green power generators. If we let it happen, concentrated social power—those companies wealthy enough to invest in grids—could gain ground in a new form. But it’s not a given. As more of us become energy generators ourselves—picking up the spirit of Jane and Ursula, in ways impossible with fossil fuel—isn’t it likely that we’d resist a return to dependency?

A Different Pathway, a Different Message

Of course, only a portion of the vast potential suggested here, in everything from “natural regeneration” of trees, to biochar enhancing of the soil, to impressive energy efficiencies and distributed energy generation, is practically achievable any time soon. But their potential is so far beyond what’s required that a “portion” would be terrific. My concern, however, is that a frame of “limits” can limit our view—keeping us from seeing the many positive steps we can take right now to balance the carbon cycle. The 2009 Union of Concerned Scientists peer-reviewed study Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy would put us on the path to cut climate-disrupting emissions by 2050 to 80 percent below their level in 2005. Is it enough? The Copenhagen Accord, signed by 167 countries, says that to avoid catastrophe we must keep planet-heating below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit). But even if we stopped carbon emissions now, reports climate-change fighter Bill McKibben, our prior actions mean we can’t avoid a planetary temperature rise approaching 2 degrees. Worse, burning remaining fossil fuel could release carbon propelling us five times beyond the 2 degrees. It’s “terrifying math,” says McKibben. And it is. Our response can be to freeze in fear or to use this new knowledge to motivate us to implement with even-greater vigor the many known strategies for reducing emissions and holding more carbon in the soil and plant life. To do so, though, we need very different messages. “The-party’s-over” framing of our challenge is a big nonstarter for many. In 2008, British prime minister Gordon Brown dubbed what we’ve been living the “age of global prosperity.” Oh yeah? Most people didn’t feel they’d been invited to that party, even before the Great Recession. The financial stress many Americans feel well predates the most recent crisis: The bottom 90 percent of us, were already earning less in real dollars than in 1973. We defeat our ends if environmental messages make already-stretched families fear that protecting the environment means losing further ground. An understandable response might be to grab everything in sight, now, before it’s all gone. So, let’s strive for a vision of less pressure and more security. “The place we could finish up could be so much nicer than the one we’ve got now,” says Tony Juniper, once director of Friends of the Earth, UK, and now a leader in an international movement called “Transition Towns.” “We’re not headed back to a new Stone Age or Dark Age, we’re headed toward a much brighter, secure future, where communities are rebuilt, pollution is a thing of the past, we’ve got food security, biodiversity, people have long comfortable lives, energy is secure forever.” No doubt this spirit is a key to why the Transition Towns initiative is taking off. It was launched only six years ago in Kinsale, Ireland, by eco-farming and gardening educator Rob Hopkins. Rather than as threatening a scary time ahead, Hopkins sees the climate challenge as an “extraordinary opportunity to reinvent, rethink and rebuild.” It’s an “experiment in engaged optimism,” he says. The movement has become a network of communities pledging and plotting to transition to renewable energy, while re-creating local economies and other aspects of community well-being. In addition to the almost four hundred “official” Transition Towns already participating in fourteen countries, many hundreds of other communities have expressed strong interest. And thousands of communities see themselves as part of the movement, says its founder. A couple of Transition Towns in the UK have even created their own green energy utility companies, and the Scottish government is helping fund local Transition Movement initiatives as part of its official response to climate change. The Transition Towns movement’s slogan of “carbon descent” might more appropriately be “carbon freedom,” for Hopkins’s message and the movement’s spirit capture a way of seeing that ignites human imagination and invention. Who wouldn’t want to be part of his “experiment in engaged optimism”? Because most people know they weren’t invited to the “Too Good Party,” the message of limits falls flat. An effective and ecologically attuned goal is not about more or less. Moving from fixation on quantities, our focus shifts to what brings health, ease, joy, creativity—more life. These qualities arise as we align with the rules of nature so that our real needs are met as the planet flourishes. This article on limitless living is excerpted from EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want by Frances Moore Lappé.

About The Author Frances Moore Lappé has authored, or co-authored, 19 books on social justice, sustainability and humanitarianism, including the legendary bestseller Diet for a Small Planet and her newest book, Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want, which focuses on the roots of the U.S. democracy crisis and how Americans are creatively responding to the challenge. Frances is co-founder of Food First and Small Planet Institute, which she leads with her daughter Anna Lappé. She has received eighteen honorary degrees and many prestigious awards for her humanitarian work, including the James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award. Visit her website: smallplanet.org

photo: bench accounting

Your Home Is a Mirror: What Are You Projecting?

In my previous book, Mind, Body, Home, each part of the house is broken down into the correlating mental, emotional, and physical counterpart of ourselves. Even the fascia of a house takes on a form similar to the human face with the front door as the mouth, the windows as the eyes, and the roof as the head. It’s no coincidence that the home has been used as a metaphor for our mind or body in religions, mythologies, and dream symbols for thousands of years. Our home is an energetic extension of ourselves with every aspect reflected somewhere in it. This is made even more exact by the stuff we possess. Every item is an expression or extension of our mental and emotional selves. This is why decluttering your life and home can be such an arduous process. You are literally letting go of mental and emotional aspects of yourself. The only variable is how active your emotional connection to a particular item is. Has it passed its expiration date in your life? Is it supporting you or keeping you stuck? These questions may seem like a weighted conversation for a broken toaster tucked away in your kitchen cabinet or an old art project stored in the guest room closet. But not so when you consider that every item is taking up physical space in your home and energetic space in your mind. Even if it seems out of sight, your clutter is projecting this energy out into your life just like an outdated outfit or a broken car would. Decluttering and organizing your house is serious energy work, not unlike going to an energy healer, acupuncturist, yoga class, therapist, or any other healing modality. This is why letting go of clutter is so powerful and life changing. In all my work in the holistic arts, I have found decluttering your life to be the quickest way to make profound changes. You are literally removing old, stagnant energy to make space for new, fresh energy. For example, if you’ve been sending out résumés and going to job interviews, decluttering your home office space will expedite the process. After creating space, new energy in the form of phone calls and job offers can now come in. Clutter is the physical representation of our emotional and mental blocks, and once it is removed, change can happen fast. We ultimately manifest our life from our mental and emotional bodies. The act of organizing and decluttering your home literally frees those areas of our psyche like removing the wall of a dam to allow water to flow through once again. As you become more aware of what items are blocking your energy, you can begin to use your home organization as a manifesting tool to attract more of what you want in your life.

Using Your Home to Manifest Your Life

The law of attraction has become the predominant concept for manifestation among spiritual and self-help communities. Manifestation is the process of turning ideas and thoughts into physical form. As spiritual beings having a physical experience, we are all alchemists turning non-physical concepts into physical objects for survival and enjoyment on earth. It is through the law of attraction that we create our own reality—from the home we live in, to the car we drive, to the relationships we attract into our life. At the root of the law of attraction is energy, or vibration. Like energy attracts like energy. If you are a vibrational match to a Mercedes, then you will attract a Mercedes to you. This also works on the emotional level. For example, if you are a vibrational match to abandonment as a result of childhood wounding, then you will attract more abandonment into your life through relationships. This will continue until the contrast becomes so stark that you consciously desire for something different. Once that desire becomes conscious, you will then attract the right people and situations to heal the past wounds. So how does this relate to decluttering your life? When it comes to organizing your life and decluttering your home, you have manifested everything in your home with your thoughts and emotions. You wanted a comfy tan couch and made it happen by shopping, ordering, purchasing, and having it delivered. Everything in your home was a vibrational match to you at some point, and you attracted it to you. Yes, even your spouse or roommate. Your home, and your home organization, is a giant composite of you. It’s also a giant emitter of your energy. Think of it as a living vision board. A vision board is a commonly used tool for activating or expediting the law of attraction. You can create a vision board by placing images or key words of what you want in your life onto a two-dimensional poster or mat board. In addition to consciously determining what you want, the subconscious mind responds well to the imagery on the board, similar to subliminal messages. Your home has the same effect. If you want to know what you’re manifesting, look no further than your home. Imagine pasting your home and all its contents on a flat board. Spread it out like a map of the world. Artwork, pictures, books, closets, cabinets, bedroom, garage, office, living room—they’re all tangible representations of the energy you’re beaming out into the world. Our world is a hologram that reflects back to us what we emit out. That which you put out comes back to you, and this is true for your home as well. Look at your home objectively, not just the pretty parts, but the closets, cupboards, and clutter too. How is your home not in alignment with what you want? What needs to go? What is stuffed, cramped, outdated? Where can you provide better home organization? What would be a better representation of you? Inspirational artwork, curtains you love instead of tolerate, current books, functional rooms? Are you in a transitional space that is currently serving you during a transitional time, or do you desire more permanence? Is it time to change some things on your virtual vision board? If you’ve worked with a vision board or other law of attraction methods, you may have wondered why you manifest some things but not others. Either the desire wasn’t truly there or, in most cases, there’s an underlying subconscious block that is stronger. Our subconscious thoughts and beliefs that lie beneath the surface are as important as our conscious thoughts—actually, more so. Our subconscious thoughts make up approximately 95% to 99% of our thoughts and behaviors, and yet we have little awareness of them. They consist of past programming, influences from the collective conscious, and our shadow sides. These are sometimes referred to as our blind spots or shadows because they are below our conscious awareness. The more we can become aware of and integrate our shadows, the more whole we will feel and the more precise our manifestations will become. The question is, how do we see what we can’t see? This is the power of working with our home, which is a three-dimensional projection of ourselves. All your shadows are in your home. Are you wondering what yours are? The better question is, where in your home have you hidden them? And are you ready to declutter your life and home?

Shadow Work through Space

Each room of the home represents a correlating aspect of ourselves, with the closet symbolizing what we would rather keep hidden. It’s where we hide our shadows, and is an area where home organization and decluttering is often needed. It’s no wonder we use the phrase “skeletons in the closet” to refer to things we keep hidden. And, of course, there is the common phrase “coming out of the closet,” which refers to expressing an aspect of ourselves that we have kept hidden from the world. We all have shadows or shadow sides. These are aspects of our personality that we have disassociated from or denied because at some point in childhood it was not safe for them to be seen. These aspects have been termed shadows or shadow sides because of our inability to see them. You can also think of it as a blind spot, your dark side, or the unconscious. The collective consciousness has a shadow side as well, commonly termed dark forces, dark energy, or even the devil. In Taoist philosophy, the duality of light and dark, or yin and yang, is prevalent in everything. It only becomes a problem when we deem it bad or wrong and hide these aspects of ourselves, which then become shame. The more we hide them, the darker they become. This causes a division within the self. This is what leads to feeling inauthentic and generally dissatisfied with life. Instead of whole, we are fragmented. Psychologist Carl Jung was the first to bring to light the impact of our shadow sides in the field of psychology. Many spiritual and self-help teachers have since integrated shadow work into spirituality, including Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, and Teal Swan; and soon we’ll talk about how decluttering your life and home, can be a form of this work. Becoming your whole self, in alignment with your soul, is at the crux of spirituality. To do so, your shadows must be integrated. Our shadows are also where our best gifts lie dormant. Carl Jung has been credited in calling our shadows the “seat of our creativity.” It’s usually those shadow aspects that make us unique, and it is our uniqueness that the world wants to see. How do we work with something we can’t see? Jung is also quoted as saying, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Our shadows show up in our home and life organization and in everyday life, including our projections onto other people. Those traits you most dislike in others are a good sign of your own shadows. For example, if someone with a boisterous personality annoys you, then you’ve most likely hidden a more outgoing aspect of yourself. You may have received punishment at a young age for acting out and this side of you was deemed bad. Being more outgoing and energetic is now a trait that not only would benefit you in some way, but would also bring more joy into your everyday life. Unconscious shadows also show up in the home. We can bring our shadows into the light by organizing and decluttering our home, specifically with stuff we’ve stored in our closet or other storage areas. The closet is where we store items so that others can’t see them, nor do we have to look at them ourselves. For those with limited closet space, it could be other storage spaces, such as the basement, garage, storage shed, or even an off-site storage unit. I recently discovered shadow aspects of myself in the closet of my childhood bedroom.

Out of the Closet and into the Light

Before I share my experience, keep in mind that there’s nothing wrong with storing items. Storage serves a really good purpose. We don’t want to see our clothes strewn around the bedroom or extra towels and toilet paper sitting out. Closets are great for keeping rooms clear of clutter, and off-site storage facilities are sometimes necessary during transitional times. But when storage becomes a permanent mausoleum for stuff from our past, then it’s a red flag that we are storing things we don’t want to deal with and that we’re in need of decluttering our life. The phrase “coming out of the closet” is usually used in terms of announcing one’s sexuality in terms of it being different from what’s “normal.” But there’s more to “coming out” than an announcement to the world. It’s an acknowledgment of oneself. At its core, it’s self-acceptance. Imagine how amazing it would be if we all came out of the closet and accepted ourselves for who we really are.

+ I’m super short and love myself. + I am a big mouth and think I’m awesome. + I sing show tunes in the shower and think I sound pretty good. + I dress up in women’s clothes and look stunning. + I didn’t go to college and know I’m smart. + I can juggle while playing the harmonica and think I’m totally cool.

We hide aspects of ourselves not just from the world, but also from ourselves. What if these were, in fact, the more interesting parts of you? Most likely they are. However, we tend to believe our idiosyncrasies make it harder or impossible for us to fit in. As a result, we overcompensate for them and perhaps even have shame about them. When I went back to Nashville due to my mother’s passing, I spent a lot more time than usual at my family’s home. It seemed like the perfect time to go through the few remaining belongings I had stored at their house. I was surprised during the process of decluttering my parent’s house when I stepped into the closet and sitting neatly on the shelf was a box labeled “Tisha crystal.” How had I overlooked this box? It was the never-used crystal from my wedding in 1998, a marriage that ended shortly thereafter in 2001. I’d moved more than a dozen times since then and released so many items from that relationship and many others. Somehow through all my purges, online sales, and moves, that box hadn’t budged in fifteen years. The better question was, why were these items still in my childhood closet—never to have left? I opened the lid of this Pandora’s box. It was full of crystal wine glasses, still in original wrapping, with a few notecards still tucked in. They were relics from a time I thought I had fully dealt with, but the “Tisha crystal” box told a different story: Guilt. Shame. Failure. The gifts. The failed marriage. The witnesses. The celebration. The disappointment. Disappointing my family. The hiding. The shame. Self-acceptance. Coming out. The rejection. Disgrace. Shame. Tolerance. Rejection. The trying. The nonconformist. Self-acceptance. Self-love. More self-love. Unconditional love. Sitting on that shelf was the last shred of evidence of an old identity. It was liberating to finally get rid of that box—one that I could never fit into. It’s a perfect example of believing that we’ve worked through issues only to find remnants or new layers we’ve not completely worked through. I share this story of decluttering a home as an example of how our stuff can represent that last remaining percent of emotional energy that is awaiting completion and integration. Instead of the whole package, sometimes decluttering your life and organizing your house represents the red bow that needs to be tied up and finally handed off. In order to transform anything, we have to bring it into the light—into our conscious awareness. We have to see it, acknowledge it, and accept it. This is exactly why our ego shoves our shadows in the dark of our closets or other unseen storage areas and not our living rooms. The farther back, the better. And then we can remain in denial about emotions we don’t want to deal with. When these shadow aspects are kept hidden over time, they fester and become regret, resentment, remorse, and rejection. These toxic emotions are the stepchildren of guilt and shame.

The Fear of Empty Space

In addition to storing emotions in our closets, we also tend to fill just about any space we can find with our stuff. The predominant emotion in today’s culture is feeling overwhelmed, and unless we declutter our life, our homes generally mirror this trend. Most people complain about not having enough time in their day or space in their home. Our life is cluttered with time clocks, technology, and trying to maintain it all with our home reflecting this back to us. We are undergoing a cultural clutter epidemic on all levels. But it’s not really about our stuff. It’s about what our stuff is covering up. While we complain about not having enough time or space, we stay busy trying to fill up both. Most of us feel a need to fill any bit of empty space we find—silence in conversation, an empty wall, a painting with just a brush stroke, an empty calendar. Empty space is uncomfortable for most people. In art, empty space is called the negative space. In music, it’s the pause just prior to a crescendo. In homes, it’s the area where the space breathes. In meditation, it’s the pause between the inhale and exhale. In Japanese art (one of the few cultures that value empty space), the void is called ma and is highly revered. In all art forms, the beauty lies in the empty space. Why then are we so uncomfortable with it while also craving it? Fear breeds in empty space. It’s where we can hear our thoughts. It forces us to look at our life. We have to witness the choices we’ve made. We have to remember the ungrieved past. To avoid this, we fill our homes and lives with stuff, rather than consciously organizing our home. We fill our calendar. We put a console along an empty wall. We fill quietness with idle chatter or TV noise. Before long, our lives become cluttered all in an unconscious attempt to avoid the emptiness. Other words for empty space are the gap, the void, the liminal, or nothingness. This scares the hell out of us. In this state, the ego clamors for reassurance that it exists. There is a rush to fill the space with anything, even if it’s not soul fulfilling. Anything not to have a black hole reflected at us. It’s like walking down a dark hallway with no end. And so we fill our calendar and home with people, places, and things. Before long, our life is cluttered, our home is unorganized, our life is unorganized and we feel overwhelmed with stuff with little or no meaning. The ego is validated, but at a high price. I’m overwhelmed and therefore I exist. The void is also where creation is born. The same place we find our fears is the place we find our soul. Follow the fear and you will find your authentic self. This is what we’re truly afraid of. Finding our true self comes with moving out of our comfort zone, changing family beliefs, taking risks, being seen, and feeling vulnerable. The more these words scare you, the deeper your piles of clutter. Clutter is shallow; space is deep. Filling empty space is like filling the lungs with black balloons. What I don’t see, I don’t have to deal with. The more I distract myself, the less likely I will have to see the truth. Another common problem related to letting go of clutter and organizing your home is when people allow others to fill their spaces. In an attempt to avoid emptiness or when we are unable to embody our own energy in the form of our own sense of power, we allow others to take our energy. This can show up in the form of other people’s stuff stored in the home, burglars, or even rodents. If you are allowing unwanted energy in your home, then you are allowing unwanted energy in your life. This is a telltale sign of boundary issues that can show up in personal relationships or even with strangers. Are you allowing others to take up your space, your energy, your boundaries, and your preferences? Most people struggle with either having too much space or not enough space. The amount of space that feels best is personal with no one-size-fits-all rule. The best barometer is to ask yourself questions: Do I feel stuck, scared, or free? Is my vision clear or clouded? Am I filling space out of fear or joy? From ego or soul? Out of anxiety or creativity? What am I really covering up? Whatever it is, there also lies a portal of beauty underneath. We all have a different standard of how much stuff we desire—in our home and on our calendar.

How Much Stuff Is Too Much?

It’s common to think that letting go of clutter is dealing with an overabundance of stuff. However, that’s not always the case. The real problem could be a few items that are hidden away in a closet like a time capsule. In this case, the problem is harder to spot because it’s been buried so deep in the psyche and therefore hidden or disguised in the home. The further away something is stored, the more we don’t want to deal with it. This is often the location of the diamond in the rough that holds the key to unlocking the past in order to move forward. Those who admit to having too much stuff with a desire to declutter their home and life are usually more conscious of their personal challenges. This allows for more self-growth and transformation, whereas the issues of those with organized clutter and the appearance of being clutter-free and in control of their life are more disguised and harder to consciously change. These people tend to store away their issues in drawers and closets in a neat and tidy manner. For people who simply have too much stuff with no desire to declutter their home and lives and address their discomfort, it’s usually a subconscious tactic for covering up or distracting from the past to the point of affecting one’s present level of happiness. When one’s living space is visually cluttered, the mind is cluttered. This strategically keeps people from having to look at their life. It’s like turning the TV volume up loud so that you don’t have to hear yourself think. We all have a different standard for what is too much and what we like in terms of home organization. Some people are minimalists and prefer sparser and clean-lined spaces, whereas others prefer more knick-knacks. What may seem cluttered to me may feel like a cozy haven to you. What may seem cold and stark to one person may feel liberating to another. There are also cultural differences that can influence the amount of stuff we like to have in our living spaces. For example, living rooms and kitchens in England tend to be cozy and homey and could be considered cluttered to a minimalist. This is, of course, a generalization. It’s no coincidence that the Victorian style of decorating, known for its bric-a-brac, began in England. Japanese culture, on the other hand, is known for its calm and minimalist spaces. For some, these spaces could feel barren and impersonal. Even within the United States home organization and decorating styles vary, with climate being a major factor. It’s important to recognize your particular style, which is a byproduct of your culture, familial environment, and personality type. When you know what feels good, you then know what doesn’t feel good. And vice versa. The key to decluttering and organizing your life and house is to know when too much is too much for you. When I work with clients with too much stuff, they are usually aware of it because they don’t feel good in their home. They often comment that it feels like the walls are collapsing in on them. This is always a sign of what’s showing up on the mental and emotional levels in the form of stagnation, confusion, emotional claustrophobia, regret, lack of direction, weight gain, or depression. Your home should feel safe and comfortable and also expansive and liberating. Finding this balance isn’t always easy and requires an ongoing consciousness of your space and how you feel about it. This is the beauty of using feng shui principles for decluttering and organizing your home, not as a one-time application but as an ongoing practice of home organization. If you’re not conscious of your space, then what are you conscious of? Aside from your mind and body, it is the only space you have any control over and is always a direct reflection of yourself. When it comes to decluttering your life, look at your home through an objective lens. Everything in your home is from the past. Unless you purchased or were given something today, then everything you own was acquired prior to this moment. Our lives are a collection of experiences up to this moment, and our belongings represent this. Our stuff contains stories, memories, and associations, some good and some not so good. At any moment, we have a choice to make a different decision, tell a different story, or take a new path. By now you’re starting to see that your belongings are not just household items sitting around but a mosaic of you. What from your past do you want to take forward? Which items are still relevant to you now and to where you want to go? By making no decision and keeping what you currently own, you are in effect making a decision to continue on as things have been. This is fine if that’s what you want. But if you are tired of the old stories, the old patterns, the old thoughts, then it’s time to dump the past and declutter your life. When the past is more present than it should be in your life, that’s when you know too much is too much. That’s when it’s time to organize your home and declutter areas of your life. This is when memorabilia becomes a rogue force keeping you stuck instead of a supportive platform from which to move forward. When the past is so present that your vision for your future is cloudy, fuzzy, or overwhelming, that’s when you know too much is too much. That’s when you know you’ve clung to the past out of fear of the unknown future. That’s when it’s time for a clutter intervention. This article is excerpted from Clutter Intervention by Tisha Morris. © 2017. Used by permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., llewellyn.com

About The Author Tisha Morris is a best-selling author, feng shui expert, interior designer, and intuitive life coach. Prior to entering the healing arts, Tisha practiced law and obtained a fine arts degree in interior design. Tisha combines traditional feng shui techniques, design aesthetics, and intuition to turn challenging spaces into supportive environments to help improve the lives of all those who live and encounter the space. Tisha also works one-on-one to help people identify subconscious blocks and make desired changes in work and relationships. Visit her website: tishamorris.com

photo: lurm

Battling Environmental Enemies

Editor’s Note: As the modern Western lifestyle spreads around the globe, so too does metabolic syndrome—a cluster of symptoms that increases the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other conditions. The good news: metabolic syndrome can be tamed by a sensible program of exercise, natural foods, stress management, and quality sleep. In his new book Turbo Metabolism, Dr. Pankaj Vij, MD, distills a mass of medical research into a simple, effective program for vibrant health. Avoiding fads and gimmicks, he provides practical advice, case studies of ordinary people, and brief sections that debunk common medical myths. We hope you’ll enjoy this short excerpt from the book. Our increasingly synthetic world is immersed in unnatural chemicals. Many of these chemicals are ubiquitous environmental substances—toxins known to disrupt the normal functioning of the body’s natural systems. These toxins interfere with your quest to attain Turbo Metabolism. Did you know that we are exposed to over a hundred harmful chemicals every morning even before we leave the house? Women are exposed to more chemicals than men because they use more personal-care products, such as perfumes and cosmetics, though anyone in close proximity to these products is also affected. Environmental toxins are often endocrine disruptors; that is, they can block hormones or actually impair the production of hormones by the endocrine glands. In other cases, they are toxic to our “inner garden” of a hundred trillion gut bacteria, which are trying to help us by busily producing beneficial substances. Many toxins are poisonous for mitochondria, the energy-producing component of every cell and our best friends in the quest for Turbo Metabolism. In other words, these hazardous chemicals literally sap energy, short-circuit our power supply, and leave us tired, hungry, fat, and sick.

Environmental Toxins, Pollutants, and Preservatives

Here are a few of the main culprits of the 140 or so environmental pollutants to which most of us are exposed every day. They gain access to our bodies through food, water, our skin, and even the air we breathe. The good news is that many of them (such as BPA, phthalates, and parabens) are not persistent, meaning that if we can minimize our daily exposure, they will leave our bodies quickly. However, some, like persistent organic pollutants and dioxins, can linger in the body for a long time. Bisphenol A (BPA): Bisphenol A (BPA) has been linked to breast cancer, obesity, early puberty, and heart disease. About 93 percent of Americans have BPA in their bodies. BPA sources include plastics, canned goods, and heat-sensitive paper (used in gas station, grocery store, and restaurant receipts). BPA is also found in meat packaging. The good news? If you can avoid exposure to BPA, levels in the body drop rapidly. Phthalates: Plasticizers used to make plastics more soft and flexible, phthalates are commonly found in toys, hoses, toothbrushes, food packaging, shower curtains, synthetic fragrances (including most perfumes, and labeled as “added fragrance”), shampoos, hair spray, plastic spoons, and plastic wrap made from PVC with recycling label 3. These toxic substances can trigger cell death in testicular cells, leading to lower sperm counts, less mobile sperm, and birth defects. In addition to affecting the male reproductive system, they contribute to obesity, diabetes, and thyroid irregularities. It is ironic that we use perfumes to attract people to us, but they actually impair our sexual performance. The good news is that they are nonpersistent. They can wash out of the body relatively quickly when we discontinue exposure. Parabens: Parabens are commonly used as preservatives in skin products, such as shampoos, lotions, and creams (including many expensive “antiaging skin products”). They are also found in food, such as store-bought cinnamon rolls and cakes. An estrogen (female hormone) mimic, it has long been known for disrupting hormone function in animals.  Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley have linked parabens to breast cancer.  The good news is that these toxic chemicals do not persist in the body; the bad news is that we re-expose ourselves every day. Dioxins: Dioxins form during many industrial processes when chlorine or bromine are burned in the presence of carbon and oxygen. Dioxins interfere with both male and female sexual and reproductive function. Exposure in women early in life may permanently affect fertility.  In men, sperm quality and sperm count may be affected, causing infertility.  Dioxins are very long-lived and build up within the body and the food chain; in general, all toxins tend to become more prevalent as we move up the food chain. Dioxins are powerful carcinogens, and these harmful substances may affect the immune system. Dioxins are mainly found in products containing meat, fish, milk, and eggs. You can cut down your exposure to dioxins by eating fewer animal products, which means eating a plant-based diet.  Persistent organic pollutants (POPs): Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), atrazine, and organotins. PCBs are the most commonly used pesticides in commercial agriculture. The way most synthetic pesticides work is by harming the ability of living things to reproduce or by harming their nervous systems. PCBs are mainly found in soil and sediment and in fatty parts of fish, meat, and dairy products. Fish and shellfish usually contain the highest PCB levels of any food, especially fish that are fatty, that eat many other fish, and that are caught near industrial areas. Atrazine is widely used as an herbicide spray in corn crops in the United States, and it is commonly found in drinking water because it gets into groundwater. Researchers have found that a low level of atrazine can turn male frogs into females that produce completely viable eggs! Atrazine has been linked to breast tumors, delayed puberty, and prostate inflammation in animals. Organotins are organic and inorganic tin compounds, used as fungicides, as stabilizers in plastics, as molluscicides (to kill snails), and as miticides (to kill mites). They have also been used as insect killers and for other industrial uses. Many of these hazardous substances are unpalatable when mixed into diets and have been used as rodent repellent. Food chain accumulation and bioconcentration have been demonstrated in crabs, oysters, and salmon exposed to POPs. Not-so-fun fact: DDT is an example of a POP that was banned after it was found to be behind the shrinking population of bald eagles. Triclosan: Triclosan is a known endocrine disruptor that affects thyroid function as well as liver toxicity. It is commonly used in body washes, antibacterial soap, and antibacterial toothpaste. Though it is included in toothpaste to fight gum disease and bad breath and labeled as such, it also “carpet bombs” healthy gut bacteria, which influences food choices, appetite, and ultimately weight and metabolic diseases. Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs): Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are used to make nonstick cookware, an invention designed to get us to use less oil in cooking during the low-fat mania. They are so persistent that 99 percent of Americans are estimated to have these toxic chemicals in their bodies. PFCs are clearly linked with reproductive health, kidney disease, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, and many other health issues. Animal studies suggest that PFCs can affect thyroid and sex hormone levels. Medications: Ironically, common prescription medications for treating diabetes, high blood pressure, and other metabolic diseases actually slow down metabolism and can cause weight gain. For example, a five-day regimen of antibiotics can destroy 33 percent of friendly gut bacteria, which affects mood and food choices. We now know that having a higher count of Firmicutes bacteria than Bacteroidetes bacteria in the gut microbiome is associated with weight gain. This evidence is consistent with “feedlot efficiency”—the practice of giving antibiotics to feedlot cattle to increase weight gain by up to 30 percent. Plastic contaminants: The familiar “chasing arrows” symbol on plastic containers and other plastic products does not mean the product is recyclable. The little number inside the triangle tells the real story. Within each chasing arrows triangle is a number ranging from 1 to 7. The purpose of the number is to identify the type of plastic used for the product, and not all plastics are recyclable or even reusable. Numerous plastic-based products cannot be recycled. Products with recycling number 7 are the worst (think: unlucky 7). The number 7 category was designed as a catchall for polycarbonate (PC) and “other” plastics, so reuse and recycling protocols are not standardized within this category. Of primary concern with number 7 plastics, however, is the potential for chemical leaching into food or drink products packaged in polycarbonate containers made using BPA (see above). BPA is a xeno-estrogen (xeno means “foreign” or “other”), which is a known endocrine disruptor. Plastics with recycling numbers 2, 4, and 5 are better. Arsenic: This hazardous substance is a poison that lurks in your food and drinking water. If you ingest enough of it, arsenic will kill you outright. In smaller amounts, arsenic can cause skin, bladder, and lung cancer. It is less well known that arsenic messes with your hormones! Specifically, it can interfere with normal hormone functioning in the glucocorticoid system that regulates how our bodies process sugars and carbohydrates.

Environmental Working Group Produce Recommendations

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an excellent nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. The mission of the EWG is to empower people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Publishing breakthrough research and providing educational resources, the organization drives consumer choice and civic action. On its website, EWG publishes a ranking of common produce based on pesticide load. This ranking, as well as a database of potentially toxic household substances and personal-care products and other practical information, is available at EWG.org. One thing I learned on this website is that washing and peeling nonorganic, store-bought produce does not solve the problem because the pesticide is sprayed into the soil and absorbed into the plant. The USDA does not strictly define or regulate the use of the word “natural” except in the meat category. This means a tub of “all-natural yogurt” could legally contain synthetic pesticides, hazardous chemicals, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), antibiotics, and growth hormones. The label “organic,” however, requires that toxic, persistent synthetic pesticides and herbicides are not allowed, and neither are GMOs, antibiotics, growth hormones, or irradiation. The EWG has done a good job of listing produce in order of pesticide load (highest to lowest). Because buying everything organic can be cost-prohibitive, being aware of which items of produce are highest in pesticide load is very helpful. In the list below, buying organic forms of only the first twelve items (the “dirty dozen”) can reduce your pesticide exposure by up to 80 percent. For a grower to certify and sell produce as “organic,” the grower must undergo seven consecutive years of soil-testing for synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and petroleum-based (and sewage sludge–based) fertilizers. Also, organic certified crops cannot be genetically modified or irradiated. Genetic modification is often used to make corn and soy more pesticide tolerant (the crop lives but all the insects and weeds get killed), allowing it to be sprayed abundantly with these toxic chemicals. When these pesticides and herbicides (like Roundup) enter the body, they wreak havoc on the delicate ecosystem of gut bacteria. The way these synthetic pesticides and herbicides are designed to work is by disrupting the endocrine (hormone) systems of the bugs or poisoning their nervous systems (neuro-toxicity). This explains why we are seeing so much more infertility and neurodegenerative disorders in humans, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s, especially in farming communities where these hazardous substances are more ubiquitous. What is the main problem with petroleum-based fertilizers? Using nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) fertilizers creates shorter root systems, leading to lower micronutrient levels and compromised immunity to disease, requiring even higher levels of intervention. Using synthetic fertilizers, which are common in modern agriculture, is like providing a “junk food diet” to crops.

The 2017 EWG Ranking of Produce Based on Pesticide Load

Below is EWG’s 2017 ranking of produce based on most to least exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizer. The top twelve are called the “dirty dozen”; buy these organic whenever possible. EWG consistently ranks apples among the worst in terms of pesticide load. The average age of an apple in the grocery store is between four and eleven months, which may be why the soil around apple trees has to be so heavily saturated with pesticides. The industry term “birthday apples” is sometimes used because apples sold in supermarkets are often one year old! Washing and peeling does not help because the harmful chemicals are inside the fruit.

1. Strawberries (the worst) 2. Spinach 3. Nectarines 4. Apples 5. Peaches 6. Pears 7. Cherries 8. Grapes 9. Celery 10. Tomatoes 11. Sweet bell peppers 12. Potatoes 13. Cucumbers 14. Cherry tomatoes 15. Lettuce 16. Snap peas (imported) 17. Blueberries (domestic) 18. Hot peppers 19. Kale/collard greens 20. Blueberries (imported) 21. Green beans (domestic) 22. Plums 23. Tangerines 24. Raspberries 25. Carrots 26. Winter squash 27. Oranges 28. Summer squash 29. Green beans (imported) 30. Snap peas (domestic) 31. Bananas 32. Green onions 33. Watermelon 34. Mushrooms 35. Sweet potatoes 36. Broccoli 37. Grapefruit 38. Cauliflower 39. Cantaloupe 40. Kiwi 41. Honeydew melon 42. Eggplant 43. Mangoes 44. Asparagus 45. Papayas 46. Sweet peas (frozen) 47. Onions 48. Cabbage 49. Pineapples 50. Avocados 51. Sweet corn

Case Study: Andrew

Andrew, a sixty-seven-year-old retired business owner, underwent a quadruple bypass operation nine years ago. When he became my patient, he started eating “clean and green,” removing harmful substances and pesticides from his diet and choosing personal products that did not contain toxicants. He started to get lean and reclaim his energy, youth, and vitality that his old lifestyle and surgery had stolen from him. Andrew now walks ten thousand steps every day, eats plant-based foods, meditates every day, and sleeps like a baby. His new mission in life is to spread the message of health and wellness to everyone he meets.

Rules to Live By:

+ Environmental pollutants and toxins are everywhere, so avoidance is key.

+ When you enter your home, take off your shoes so that you do not bring in unwanted harmful chemicals. Change into dedicated indoor shoes or sandals.

+ Decrease or eliminate animal fats.

+ Check your public water source.

+ If your tap water is sub-optimal, use a water filtration system (I prefer reverse osmosis systems) or drink filtered spring water.

+ Wash your hands before you eat (but avoid harsh antibacterial soaps with chemicals like triclosan).

+ Avoid plastic utensils and Styrofoam plates, especially when heating food (contaminants are released when these are heated). Stainless steel or even bamboo are much better.

+ Throw away scratched nonstick pans, which release PFCs. Stainless-steel pans are probably the best.

+ Avoid printed receipts (most printers in commercial establishments use heat-sensitive paper loaded with BPA). Get electronic receipts, if possible.

+ Stop wearing synthetic fragrances, perfumes, and scents and try essential oils instead.

+ Insist on environmentally friendly dry-cleaning chemicals.

+ Buy organic produce when possible.

Excerpted from the book Turbo Metabolism. Copyright ©2018 by Pankaj Vij, MD. Printed with permission from New World Library newworldlibrary.com.

About The Author Pankaj Vij, MD, FACP, is the author of Turbo Metabolism: 8 Weeks to a New You: Preventing and Reversing Diabetes, Obesity, Heart Disease, and Other Metabolic Diseases by Treating the Causes. As a doctor of internal medicine, he has helped thousands of patients lose weight, manage chronic health conditions, and improve their physical fitness. Visit him online at doctorvij.com.

in order to develop a sustainable future that works for all life, we must build it on a foundation of higher consciousness and awareness.

The Challenge Of Planetary Civilization

The Earth’s biosphere is being severely wounded, even crippled, by humanity. Yet through humanity, the Earth is awakening as a conscious global organism. These two facts are intimately related: pushed by the harsh reality of an injured Earth, the human family is being challenged to realize to a new level of identity, responsibility, and purpose. The human family confronts a future of great opportunity and great peril. On the one hand, a communications revolution is sweeping the planet, providing humanity with the tools needed to achieve a dramatic new level of understanding and reconciliation that, in turn, can support a future of global sustainable development. On the other hand, powerful countervailing trends are also at work—climate change, overpopulation, dwindling reserves of oil, the ruin of rainforests, soil erosion, ozone depletion, and many more. In the next few decades these driving trends will either devastate or transform the economic, cultural, and political fabric of the planet. It is bewildering to see how quickly economic progress has turned into ecological devastation. Yet, with a deteriorating biosphere already stretched past the limits of its ability to carry the burden of humanity, the views and values that have served us so well in the past must now be reconsidered. If the Earth is to awaken in good health and a sustainable future, then we need to stand back, look at the larger sweep of human evolution, and ask ourselves basic questions: Who are we? What are we doing here? What is the nature and purpose of human evolution? Where do we go from here as a species? Are we destined to wander blindly into the future, or are there major stages along the way that we can anticipate? Is the universe coldly indifferent to our struggles, sufferings, and joys—or is it compassionately non-interfering? Although answers to these questions must be conjectural, there is a story of human evolution emerging from the enduring wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions as well as from new insights in science that suggests we are involved in a highly purposeful process of development. Just as there are recognizable stages in the movement of an individual from infancy to early adulthood, so, too, do there seem to be stages of learning that describe our maturation as a species. As told in this book, humanity’s story has seven distinct chapters that describe our evolution from awakening hunter-gatherers to our initial maturity as a planetary-scale civilization. In my view humanity is roughly halfway through seven stages of development that must be realized if we are to experience a sustainable future and become a planetary civilization that is able both to maintain itself and to surpass itself into the distant future. Discovering the story of our evolutionary journey is vital. Confronted with a global crisis and lacking a vision of a sustainable future, we can lose confidence in ourselves, our leaders, and our institutions. A disoriented world civilization faced with dwindling resources, mounting pollution, and growing population is a recipe for ecological collapse, social anarchy, religious fanaticism, and authoritarian domination. We need to get our bearings for the journey ahead if we are to move swiftly towards our early adulthood as a planetary civilization.

Sustainability—and Beyond

To be sustainable in its development, a civilization must maintain the integrity of the physical, social and spiritual foundations upon which it is established. To seek only to survive—to do no more than simply exist—is not a sufficient foundation for long-term sustainability. An insight from Simone de Beauvoir clarifies our challenge: “Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying.” If we do no more than work for a sustainable future, then we are in danger of creating a world in which living is little more than “only not dying.” To engage our enthusiasm for evolution, we must look beyond sheer survival—we need a compelling sense of purpose and potential for living together as a world civilization. If industrial societies are to turn away from materialism and commercialism as organizing values, then other values and purposes are needed that are at least as compelling. The survival and integrity of our biosphere, the quality of life for our children and friends, and the coevolution of culture and consciousness—these are life purposes that offer a sustainable future and a powerful alternative to those of the industrial era. There is growing evidence that a substantial majority of the human family would support this shift in life orientation. For example, a Gallup poll for the first “Earth Summit” in 1992 surveyed people in twenty-two diverse nations around the planet and found that in all but three, a majority is “increasingly worried about the global environment and gives its protection priority over economic growth.” For a majority of humans, representing a wide range of income levels, to place the well being of the Earth ahead of their personal economic concerns shows that a dramatic shift in values and priorities is taking place around the world—a shift that is concerned with creating a sustainable future. Although humanity is expressing growing concern for protecting the Earth’s environment, we do not yet have a shared vision of how to build an advanced, global civilization while simultaneously restoring the health of the biosphere. We do not have a vision of the future that is sufficiently realistic, comprehensive, and compelling to be able to coalesce the enthusiasm of the human family into a process of sustainable and surpassing development. We have economic forecasts, but these are bloodless projections that do not inspire civilizations to reach new heights. We have projections for single issues—the prospects for the rainforests, AIDS, education, health care, and so on—but we don’t have comprehensive visions of the whole planetary system that portray how humanity can live together successfully. We have technological forecasts— trends for computers, cars, air travel, nuclear technology, and so forth—but we have few integrative views that combine technology, psychology, spirituality and sociology into persuasive scenarios of a diverse, creative and sustainable future. When we can collectively envision a sustainable and satisfying pathway into the future, then can we begin to construct that future consciously. We need to draw upon our collective wisdom and discover images of the future that awaken our enthusiasm for evolution and mobilize our social energies. By drawing upon the world’s growing body of wisdom—in biology, anthropology, history, physics, systems theory, comparative religions, and so on—we can begin to discern the overall direction of human evolution that leads toward our maturity as a planetary civilization. With a clear vision of a positive sustainable future, we can proceed with confidence on our evolutionary journey. If humanity is successful in building an enduring civilization on the Earth, then it will come from the synergy of the collective experience and wisdom of the entire human family—the entire species. The world has become so interdependent that we must make it together, transcending differences of race, ethnicity, geography, religion, politics and gender. It is the human species that is devastating the planet, and it is the entire species that must learn to live together as a civilized and mutually supportive community. To focus on the development of civility among the human species is not to unduly inflate the importance of humanity within the ecosystem of life on Earth; rather, it is to recognize how dangerous humanity is to the viability of the Earth’s ecosystem. Humanity must begin consciously to develop a planetary-scale, species civilization that is able to live in a harmonious relationship with the rest of the web of life.

A New Paradigm for Evolution

Two views of evolution—materialism and transcendentalism—are dominant in the world today; but a third view is emerging that integrates them both into a co-evolutionary perspective. All three paradigms involve assumptions regarding not only our material and biological nature but also our consciousness and spiritual nature. 1. Materialist View—In this view, prominent in Western industrial societies, matter is considered the primary reality. Consciousness is secondary and is thought to emerge with high levels of complexity in the organization of brain matter. As the astronomer Carl Sagan writes, “My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings—what we sometimes call ‘mind’—are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology, and nothing more.” Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares human consciousness to a “virtual machine,” a sort of computer software program that shapes the activities of the hardware system, the brain. The materialistic paradigm views evolutionary progress in terms of material achievements in science, architecture, art, literature, and so on. 2. Transcendentalist View—In this view, prominent among many ancient Eastern religions and contemporary “new age” spiritual movements, consciousness is believed to be the primary reality and matter is secondary. The material world is seen as being constructed from consciousness, so undue attention to material things represents a distraction from, and a substitute for, the unfolding of consciousness. Evolutionary progress is a journey of transcendence that moves from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit. 3. Co-evolutionary View—In this emerging view, which integrates East and West, reality is seen as being comprised equally of matter and consciousness, which are in turn assumed to be continuously regenerated by the more fundamental reality—an infinitely deep life-force that is called here the “meta-universe.” The evolutionary journey involves the synergistic development and refinement of both the material and the consciousness aspects of life. With their co-evolution we ultimately discover that we are identical with the vast and subtle life-force from which everything continuously arises and can move toward a more sustainable future for all life. Each view of evolution has a dramatically different social expression. The materialistic paradigm emphasizes material growth, unsustainable development and growth, worldly expressions of significance, status, and power. The transcendentalist paradigm emphasizes rising above the material world with its seeming distractions and substitutions for the perfect peace of ultimate transcendence. The co-evolutionary paradigm integrates the material and consciousness aspects of life into a mutually supportive spiral of development that can produce a sustainable future, planetary civilization and a global “wisdom culture.” Basic to the co-evolutionary paradigm is the idea that, moment-by-moment, the entire cosmos is being regenerated by an infinite field of life-energy that is called here the meta-universe. The meta-universe is assumed to have been present before the big bang and is the generative ground out of which our universe (including the fabric of space-time) emerges in a flow of continuous creation. The meta-universe thus infuses, underlies and transcends our cosmos. As a further note of definition, I will use the term universe to refer to the still-expanding system that emerged roughly fifteen billion years ago with the Big Bang. Although I will use the term cosmos to refer to the same system as the “universe,” I often use that word to communicate an extra measure of appreciation for the aesthetic structure and purposeful harmony evident in the design of the universe. We need to return to these basics of definition because the old approaches are no longer working in isolation from one another. For the past several thousand years the materialistic view has been dominant in the West and the transcendentalist view has been dominant in the East. Our time of planetary crisis demonstrates that both views have exhausted their evolutionary potential in isolation from each other. We need to move into a new era of co-evolutionary sustainable development that integrates them both into an organic whole. The West has pursued external, material growth without a balanced regard for the interior human potentials and the result has too often been a life-denying and self-serving social order that is exhausting its vitality and sense of direction. The East has pursued the evolution of internal consciousness without a balanced regard for the exterior human potentials of material and social growth and the result is that the development of consciousness has too often become a spiritual escape for the few, leaving many locked in a struggle for sheer survival. Where the West has concentrated on the finite and the momentary, the East has concentrated on the infinite and the eternal. The Eastern approach has been world-denying in its excessively transcendental orientation, while the Western approach has been world-destroying in its excessively materialistic orientation. To achieve a balanced and sustainable future way of living, each perspective requires the participation of the other. Only if they are joined together can they reach beyond themselves to a new, unifying paradigm, involving neither the material passivity of the transcendentalist perspective nor the all-consuming worldly obsession of the materialist perspective. A co-evolutionary perspective fosters entirely new dimensions of sustainable development. If the human family rises to this integrative challenge, we will embark on a breathtaking evolutionary journey—one that would not have been possible, and could not have been imagined, by either perspective working in isolation. The energy and creativity released by combining a balanced concern for the material and consciousness aspects of life are not simply additive, they are synergistic. In the partnership of the material and consciousness dimensions are the seeds of a new era of human growth that we have only scarcely begun to envision and explore. A co-evolutionary perspective reveals an elevated pattern and purpose to human evolution that can guide us toward a future bursting with creative possibility.

“Knowing That We Know” or Humanity’s Double Wisdom

We can get a clearer sense of direction for humanity’s evolutionary journey to achieve a sustainable future by considering the scientific name we have given to ourselves as a species: Homo sapiens sapiens. We are accustomed to the phrase Homo sapiens, but our full designation is Homo sapiens sapiens. To be “sapient” is to be wise or knowing. We humans describe ourselves as being more than sapient or wise, we are sapient sapient and have the unique potential of becoming “doubly wise” or “doubly knowing.” Our highest potential as a species is our ability to achieve full self-reflective consciousness or “knowing that we know.” As humanity develops its capacity for reflexive consciousness, it enables the universe to achieve self-referencing knowing of itself. Through humanity’s awakening, the universe acquires the ability to look back and reflect upon itself—in wonder, awe and appreciation. Development of our capacity for reflective knowing is a complex and multifaceted process. We are moving through a series of stages, each of which draws out different aspects of this potential. As we develop our capacity for reflective knowing, we acquire new levels of mastery in our personal and social evolution; for example, an enhanced capacity for self-determination, reconciliation, cooperation and creativity. With reflective knowing comes a double registering of experience and the ability to assess the appropriateness of our actions against the guide of our own knowing. With reflective consciousness, we become self-directing agents of our own evolution who are more than capable of building a sustainable future. Reflective consciousness is basic to social as well as to personal evolution. For example, in a democracy, when we are informed as individual citizens, then we “know.” However, when we communicate among ourselves as citizens—publicly learning about and affirming our collective sentiments as an extended community—then we “know that we know.” In our dangerous and difficult time of transition into sustainable development, it is not sufficient for civilizations to be wise, we must become doubly wise through social communication that clearly reveals our collective knowing to ourselves. To do this, we need to consciously use our mass media for vigorous public learning and dialogue regarding the critical choices for our future. Developing our capacity for reflective consciousness, both personally and socially, is a paramount evolutionary challenge.

Steps to Our Initial Maturity as a Planetary Civilization: The 7 Stages of Development

It will be helpful to gain some perspective by summarizing the broad outlines of human history thus far. For roughly two million years our ancestors struggled in the twilight of self-recognition and self-discovery. Then, sometime during the rugged conditions of the last great ice age, roughly 35,000 years ago, physically modern humans broke free from the limited consciousness of the animal kingdom. With this initial awakening we entered an epoch of growth lasting nearly 25,000 years, during which time we developed sophisticated language, art, trading networks, musical instruments and new tools of stone, wood, and bone. Then, roughly 10,000 years ago, we began another momentous transition by gradually shifting from the nomadic life of gathering and hunting to a settled life in small villages that relied upon subsistence agriculture for survival. Sustainable development and a peaceful and simple village life endured for thousands of years when, with surprising abruptness, the world’s first large cities arose roughly 5,500 years ago. With the blossoming of agrarian-based civilizations, a new level of drive and dynamism entered the world. Humanity’s evolutionary journey moved out of immersion within nature began to take on a character that was uniquely human. Major civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia, India, China and the Americas. For nearly 5,000 years these agrarian-based civilizations matured, generating the bulk of recorded human history. The next momentous leap forward began roughly 300 years ago, when a revolution in science and technology propelled a portion of humanity into the urban-industrial era. The gradual pace of urbanization and material development was transformed into an explosion of technological progress, moving forward with such ferocity and speed that it now threatens to devastate the entire biosphere of the planet. If we stand back from these immensely complex historical dynamics, there seems to be a relatively simple process of development under way that involves three major phases in the evolution of culture and consciousness. The first phase lasts for several million years and is the time when our human-like ancestors lived without any appreciable degree of self-recognition or reflective consciousness. The second phase began roughly 35,000 years ago when humanity became decisively self-aware and we moved into an era of rapid and less sustainable development. Since then we have been working through a series of developmental stages, increasing our capacity for reflective consciousness and building corresponding forms of civilization. Looking ahead, when we develop the full spectrum of capacities associated with reflective consciousness, we will then move into a third phase of “post-reflective consciousness,” or integral awareness with the wisdom essential for creating a sustainable future into the distant future. Humanity appears to be working its way through a relatively brief but critical phase of development. Millions of years were required to get to this transitional phase of evolution, and if we are successful in realizing its potentials, millions of years of future sustainability can follow. Hopefully the intermediate phase will be little more than a scratch on humanity’s evolutionary calendar. To fully coevolve our capacity for self-referencing consciousness along with a supportive planetary culture, I believe that humanity must work through seven major stages of development. Described simply, these are as follows: + Era of Awakening Hunter-gatherers—Roughly 35,000 years ago humanity awakened with a distinct capacity for self-reflective consciousness. Nonetheless perceptions were extremely limited, social organization was on a tribal scale, and life was centered around a gathering and hunting existence. Nature was viewed as intensely alive and filled with mysterious forces. + Era of Agrarian-Based Civilizations—Roughly 10,000 years ago human perception expanded to include a new sense of time—a wheel of existence that embraced nature’s seasons and cycles—and a farming consciousness emerged. With the development of systematic agriculture and a food surplus, the world’s first great cities began to appear around 3,500 B.C. and developed all the basic arts of civilization (for example, writing, division of labor, a priestly class, religion, city state governments, and massive architecture). + Scientific-Industrial Era—By the 1700s in Europe nature’s mystery and magic were giving way to impersonal science and the analyzing intellect. A progressing time sense coupled with a materialistic view of reality fostered an unprecedented emphasis on material progress, which moved in the direction of an unstainable future. Technical innovation brought with it the rise of mass production, the extreme division of labor, the unsustainable development of massive urban centers, and the rise of strong nation-states. + Communications and Reconciliation Era—Given the pervasiveness of television, computers and satellite systems around the planet, people in both agrarian and industrial societies are being swept up in the communications revolution. The opportunity for global communication provided by these new technologies is arriving just in time to allow the human family to enter into serious dialogue about how to cope with the intertwined system of problems that threaten our collective future. With communication we can discover a shared vision of a sustainable future. With reconciliation we can build the trust and sense of human community that will be essential for creating a future of mutually supportive development. + Bonding and Building Era—After reconciliation comes rebuilding. In working together to translate the vision of a sustainable future into tangible reality, humanity will naturally develop a strong sense of community, compassion, and deep bonding. Cross-cultural learning and planetary celebration will flourish. People will also feel a new depth of connection with nature and will work to restore the integrity of the global environment. + Surpassing Era—With the sustainability of the planet assured, a new level of human creativity will be liberated. Planetary civilization will move beyond a concern for maintaining itself to a concern for surpassing itself. This will be an era of explosive growth as the creativity of billions of persons is set free. Given the creative tumult, the strong bonding achieved in the previous epoch will be essential to keep the world from swirling out of control and tearing itself apart. Humanity will learn to balance the drive for creative diversity with the need for sustainable unity and development. + Initial Maturity as Planetary Civilization—In reaching this stage, humanity will have acquired sufficient perspective, wisdom, creativity, and compassion necessary to sustain itself into the distant future. This stage represents both the completion of a long process of development and the foundation for a new beginning, perhaps to participate in a community of life of galactic scale. This is not a linear view of sustainable development; rather, it portrays a complex cycle of separation and return that leads to our initial maturity as a species: In the three beginning stages of awakening, we separate ourselves from nature, develop our sense of autonomy as a species, and discover of our abilities for rebuilding the world in accord with our designs. In the following three stages, we reintegrate ourselves with nature, explore our deep bonding with one another and with the cosmos, and develop our capacity to act in conscious harmony with the universe. Whether we are successful in filling out these evolutionary stages and developing a sustainable future or whether we get off track and move into a dark age of stagnation and collapse will depend on the choices we now make freely. Our evolution is similar to a seven-stage rocket: Each of the booster stages must work properly if we are to be successful in launching a sustainable species-civilization. If any one of the stages fails, the evolutionary dynamic can veer off into stagnation or collapse. Arnold Toynbee spent a lifetime examining the emergence and decline of civilizations throughout history and described civilization as “a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.” He also noted that the people and events that make good headlines tend to float on the surface of the stream of life, whereas it is the deeper changes, working below the surface of popular culture, that ultimately make history. Consistent with Toynbee’s insight, the seven stages of development described above are assumed to be the organizing paradigms that live beneath the surface of popular culture and whose potentials we are working to realize. While this approach bleaches out much of the complexity and richness found in the rise and fall of individual civilizations, it will reveal more clearly the step-by-step advance of culture and consciousness as we work to become a doubly-wise species-civilization. At the core of our history as a species is the story of our movement through a series of perceptual paradigms as we work to achieve our initial maturity as a self-reflective and self-organizing planetary civilization. 

Building a Sustainable Future: The 6 Key Needs

The sustainability crisis is now viewed largely in terms of dwindling resources, mounting pollution, population growth, and other physical indicators that measure the Earth’s ability to support the burden of humanity. Although these are of critical importance, they do not go to the heart of our situation. More basic is an invisible crisis in the consciousness and culture of humanity. Until we come to terms with the nonmaterial aspects of our crisis, we will not be able to make the many material changes required to build a sustainable future. Here are six priority needs for building a sustainable and satisfying future: + Breaking the Cultural Hypnosis of Consumerism—The mass media are aggressively promoting a consumerist mentality in developed nations. In the United States the average person sees more than 35,000 commercials a year, most of which are ads for a high-consumption lifestyle as well as a pitch for a product. We need a new social ethic that holds the mass media accountable for its programming of our civilization’s consciousness with antisustainability messages. We need to counter this cultural hypnosis with programming and advertising that foster a sustainability consciousness. From documentaries to dramas to “Earth commercials,” we need to use the mass media to awaken and sustain a new understanding and caring for the planet and for the future. + Ecological Ways of Living—We need actively to envision new ways of living that reflect our understanding that the Earth will be humanity’s home for countless generations into the future. We need to invent new patterns of ecological living that moderate our impact on the Earth—from the design of our homes and neighborhoods to the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the transportation we use, the work we do, and much more. To design our way into the future consciously offers an inspiring challenge—an exciting experiment in intentional living that can bring forth our most creative potentials. + Compelling Visions of a Sustainable Future—We cannot build a future consciously that we have not first imagined. Many people can visualize a future of worsening crisis—ecological destruction, famines, civil unrest, and material limitation—but few have a positive vision of the future. Without a hopeful future to work toward, people will tend to withdraw into a protected world for themselves and focus on the short run. We need to see that with new patterns of consumption, housing and community, work and livelihood, we can create a sustainable and a satisfying future. These visions of the future need to involve more than “only not dying”— we need to see how we can both maintain and surpass ourselves and thereby continue our evolution toward our initial maturity as a planetary civilization. + Conscious Democracy—To choose a sustainable future, we need a revitalized democracy that engages citizens in a whole new level of dialogue and decision making through innovative use of our tools of mass communication. We need to energize the conversation of democracy by developing regular electronic town meetings with effective forms of feedback from citizens. As citizens come to know their own minds on issues and priorities, representatives in government can work with greater confidence to develop policies for a sustainable future. With active communication we can achieve the level of mass consensus, cooperation, and coordination needed to adapt our patterns of living to the new global realities. + Nurturing a Reflective Perceptual Paradigm—We need to cultivate a witnessing consciousness that is able to stand back and directly experience the Earth as a tightly interconnected and living system that deserves great care and respect. In seeing the Earth as alive and worthy of reverence, we will cultivate a mind-set that naturally promotes the frugal and judicious use of resources and that safeguards all life on the planet. + Reconciliation—Humanity is profoundly divided between: the rich and the poor, racial groups, ethnic groups, religious groups, men and women, current and future generations, and many other polarities. We need to use face-to-face communication, as well as our tools of electronic communication, to achieve a new level of reconciliation as a human family that gives us a fresh start for moving ahead. The communications revolution will leave no place on the planet to hide from these realities. Nearly every dwelling will have an intelligent and interactive “picture window” that opens with stark clarity onto the world’s divisions and suffering billions. If humanity is to work together cooperatively, we must learn to accept our diversity—racial, ethnic, generational, religious, sexual, cultural, geographic, and more. Without reconciliation our efforts to achieve sustainability will be stalemated and stalled. When we have broken the cultural hypnosis of consumerism and can envision ecological ways of living, and when these modes of living connect with a clear vision of a sustainable future for the Earth that we co-create with other citizens through the ongoing conversation of a conscious democracy, and when we have the objectivity of a witnessing or reflective consciousness and can achieve reconciliation among the diverse members of the human family, then we have a realistic basis for making the technological and material changes required for building a sustainable future.

Final Thoughts: A Summary

Although the human family is only roughly halfway through the stages of growth required to move from pre-reflective consciousness to integrated awareness, our initial maturity as a species may be closer than we think. Summarizing our evolutionary journey thus far: Roughly 2.5 million years were required for our earliest ancestors to move from the first glimmerings of self-recognition to decisive awakening in the initial stage of reflective consciousness. It then took about 30,000 years for physically modern humans to move through the stage of awakening hunter-gatherers; approximately 5,000 years to move through the stage of agrarian-based civilizations; and then around 300 years for a number of nations to move through the stage of industrial civilization. Because the pace of evolution is accelerating enormously, the past is not an accurate guide to the future. If we do not veer off onto some evolutionary detour, then it is conceivable that within a very brief period of time (perhaps five hundred years, or a dozen generations or so) we could build a sustainable future and creative planetary civilization, that celebrates the many threads that make up the tapestry of its rich character. We are rapidly approaching one of the most momentous occasions in the evolution of life on any planet—the inevitable “evolutionary inflection” where an arduous process of withdrawing from nature makes a decisive shift toward an equally demanding journey of returning to live in harmony with nature. The inflection represents a unique pivot point in human history where evolution finally becomes decisively conscious of itself as a planetary-scale process, begins to intentionally direct itself, and begins to deliberately shift from a pathway of separation to a pathway of reconciliation. The period of inflection is reached when our material powers become so great that they progressively destroy the ecological foundations of life on the planet and make it essential for us to work together as a species in a common task of survival. By my reckoning, humanity will likely “hit the wall”—or run into unyielding limits to material growth and be forced to squarely confront the imperative for pervasive change—in roughly the decade of the 2020s. How humanity prepares for this unique evolutionary shift toward what I hope is a sustainable future will be a real and visible test of our evolutionary intelligence as well as our capacity for compassion and creativity. To move onto a pathway of sustaining and surpassing development will require the enthusiastic involvement of billions of people. Therefore the concerns raised in this broad review of human evolution are ultimately very personal. Who we become as a planetary civilization will depend directly upon our actions as a global community of individuals. We each have unique talents—and correspondingly unique responsibilities—for participating in the unfolding of life. The awakening of the Earth now depends directly upon the citizens of the Earth acting in concert with one another to build the foundations of a sustainable future. Each individual needs to tithe a significant portion of their time and talent to the healthy coevolution of the planet. Millions of years lie behind us, bringing us to this moment in human history; and millions of years could lie before us, unfolding a future whose nature may well pivot upon choices we make now. We do not need to belabor the stages of learning and growth that remain. With diligent efforts, a sustainable, compassionate, and creative world civilization could become established within perhaps half a millennium. However, before we reach that stage of dynamic stability, humanity’s mastery of the dimensional complexities of the evolutionary process will be challenged repeatedly. What an exciting, demanding, and rewarding journey stretches out before us. This article on developing a sustainable future is excerpted from Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness by Duane Elgin.

About The Author Duane Elgin, MBA, M.A. is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and social visionary who looks beneath the surface turbulence of our times to explore the deeper trends that are transforming our world. In 2006, Duane received the International Goi Peace Award in Japan in recognition of his contribution to a global “vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.” Visit his website duaneelgin.com

placing your bare feet on the earth daily, sometimes known as grounding or earthing, is a powerful way to improve health and wellness. photo: frances gunn

Getting Grounded

Since the beginning of time, humans have had a constant interaction with the earth. Our ancestors would come in contact with the earth’s surface on a daily basis: walking, hunting, gathering food and water, communing, playing, relaxing, and more. Nearly everything they did required a barefoot connection with the earth, which is now referred to by many as earthing or grounding. Today, in our industrialized world, many people go days, weeks, or even longer without coming in contact with the surface of the earth itself. We are cooped up in our homes or offices, spending more time indoors consuming technology and less time interacting with the source of all that technology. Sure, we may walk outside to get into our cars, but most of us wear nonconductive rubber-soled shoes that ensure our bodies never get that intimate grounding barefoot connection. We rarely experience earthing benefits… we rarely touch the ground, rarely touch a tree, and rarely touch the source that creates every cell in our bodies. Scientists are discovering that this lack of earthing is having a huge impact on our health. Overwhelming research is mounting that shows the impressive benefits the earth’s electromagnetic surface has on the human body, especially through a barefoot grounding connection with the earth. We may not realize this, but the human body is highly conductive. We, like the earth, are running on electromagnetic energy. Our nervous system is like internal wiring that’s transmitting information throughout our entire body. We’re also made of minerals, and our tissues hold water, so we are very much like a walking, talking, conductive battery. You’ve probably noticed that we can accumulate static electricity and “shock” someone who touches us. We all know not to stick a metal object into an outlet or we’ll “short out” our system. Even in scary movies, one of the worst ways to go is having an electric device tossed into your bathtub while you’re trying to exfoliate. Bottom line: You may not be able to see it, but you are highly conductive. When your body doesn’t interact with the electromagnetic force of the earth through grounding and earthing, it’s thrown off balance. You give off and receive energy every second of every day. The misuse and misunderstanding of your body’s electrical system is a catalyst for chronic health problems.

The Benefits of Earthing

So, how does this relate to you, the earth, your health, and your sleep? Currently, more than 90 percent of physician visits are for stress- and inflammatory-related issues. Stress and inflammation go hand in hand and are a huge undercurrent in the vast majority of diseases. Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta have also found that poor sleep quality is intimately related to inflammation. It may sound a little strange, but touching the earth (with our bare feet or hands through earthing) may be the biggest key to eliminating our issues with chronic inflammation.

Inflammation Nation

We now understand that the human body is conductive. Every tissue in the body carries a charge, and this is actually what allows many functions to happen. Inflammation, in particular, is a natural function facilitated by a type of white blood cell called a neutrophil. Neutrophils deliver reactive oxygen species (also known as free radicals) to the site of an injury or need. These free radicals carry a positive charge that will tear harmful bacteria apart and break apart damaged cells to create room for healthy cells to move in and repair tissues. Pretty cool, right? Inflammation is not supposed to be a catastrophic thing (and when our ancestors lived, they rarely experienced it, likely due to the fact that their lifestyles included a lot of earthing. The real problem arises when free radical activity goes unchecked and some of those free radicals leak into the surrounding tissue and damage healthy cells. This is the real cause of inflammation, and most people are dealing with this at chronic levels on a day-to-day basis. Every day you have cellular damage, simply by the nature of being alive. Damaged heart cells, liver cells, muscle cells, etc., all set off an oxidative burst of free radicals to address them. This is basic chemistry, featuring a positive charged event that needs to be neutralized, which earthing and grounding on a regular basis can do. All the rage in health and nutrition today has been centered on antioxidants, rather than earthing and it’s benefits. Antioxidants carry free electrons that neutralize free radicals and stop overly aggressive oxidation right in its tracks. Inflammation is reduced, and health is improved. The reality is that you can eat foods that are high in antioxidants until you’re blue in the face (from eating a lot of blueberries, of course), but this isn’t going to swing the battle of oxidation in your favor as much as you think. First of all, the antioxidants need to be in the right form, and conventional food processing techniques tend to strip the antioxidant potency from our food. Secondly, the dietary antioxidants have to withstand the digestive process, make their way through the gut lining, and hopefully find their way into your blood. Thirdly, dietary antioxidants have been found to pale in comparison to your body’s own endogenous antioxidant capabilities. The ability of your liver to support production of the antioxidant superoxide dismutase, for example, is more potent than any antioxidant you can consume. The key is using grounding techniques and earthing benefits getting your body into the right state so that your organs and tissues can do the great job they already know how to do. Lastly, it’s been discovered that the number one source of free electrons is actually the source where all of our food comes from: the earth itself. Scientists have discovered that the earth’s surface is brimming with free electrons that are readily absorbed by the human body when they come in contact with each other, whether by walking barefoot or some other form of direct connection. This is known as an electron transfer. The effects of this electron transfer are being researched rigorously, and the impact on sports performance, healing, and overall health is shocking. Researchers are calling this connection with the human body and the earth grounding or earthing. A study published in the 2013 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine showed that “grounding increases the surface charge on red blood cells and thereby reduces blood viscosity and clumping. Grounding appears to be one of the simplest and yet most profound interventions for helping reduce cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events.” Wait, hold up. . . Just getting in contact with the earth’s surface can improve my blood and lower my risk of a heart attack? Renowned cardiologist and bestselling author Stephen Sinatra, MD, had this to say about the benefits of earthing: “Reduction in inflammation as a result of earthing has been documented with infrared medical imaging and with measurements of blood chemistry and white blood cell counts. The logical explanation for the anti-inflammatory effects is that grounding the body allows negatively charged antioxidant electrons from the earth to enter the body and neutralize positively charged free radicals at sites of inflammation. Flow of electrons from the earth to the body has been documented.” As for stress, it’s been confirmed that grounding has a measurable impact on stress reduction by shifting the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic dominance, improving heart rate variability, and normalizing muscle tension. In a study on earthing benefits published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, researchers found that when test subjects were grounded, there was a “rapid activation of the parasympathetic nervous system and corresponding deactivation of the sympathetic nervous system.” As you know from previous chapters, the importance of being able to shift out of the constant barrage of fight-or-flight of the sympathetic nervous system and into the parasympathetic, rest-and-digest system is of the utmost importance for your sleep and health overall. I wouldn’t have thought that something as simple as coming in contact with the earth with your bare feet would be so powerful if the data weren’t so thick. For a comprehensive understanding of earthing benefits, be sure to check out the bonus resource guide at sleepsmarterbook.com/bonus. For now, just don’t be the last person to make this connection, and utilize the free, health-giving resource you have right outside your front door.

What about Sleep?

A study published in 2004 looked at the biological effects and benefits of earthing the human body during sleep as measured by cortisol levels and subjective reporting of sleep, pain, and stress. The study found that the patients who were grounded during sleep had reduced nighttime levels of cortisol and an overall normalization of cortisol secretion during the day. Remember, cortisol is the arch nemesis of sleep. If your cortisol levels are off, your sleep will be off. Subjective reporting by the study participants also indicated that grounding during sleep improved sleep quality, reduced pain, and lowered stress. For the study, Getting yourself grounded can have a life-changing impact on your sleep quality. Now, I’m not implying that you need to go camping outside every night just to get all these earthing benefits. Today you can utilize incredible earthing technology, like grounding mats grounding sheets, that bring the benefits of the earth’s energy right into your home. I’ve been using an earthing mat under my desk and sleeping on earthing sheets for about 7 years. These are well-designed products that can be connected to a grounding rod outside your home, or easily into the grounding plug you’ll find in most electrical outlets. They safely and effectively deliver the free electrons from the earth right to you (just like standing on the earth with bare feet), and all you need to do is touch them with any part of your body. The above sleep study utilized specific earthing products, including grounding mats and sheets, to connect the test subjects with the earth, which triggered all of the impressive results they received. I also had the opportunity to ask the incomparable Jeff Spencer, DC, about earthing with his patients. Dr. Spencer is an Olympic athlete and 8-time Tour de France–winning team doctor and has been directly involved in more than 40 Olympic, World, National, or Tour de France Championships. He told me that technologies, such as earthing mats and grounding sheets, played a vital role in the success of his athletes. He found very quickly that earthing accelerated tissue repair and wound healing from injuries that athletes encountered during practice and competition. Among the benefits he also observed and reported from his patients: better sleep, less pain, more energy, and faster recovery. The great news is that you don’t have to be a world-class athlete to enjoy these types of earthing benefits for yourself. Whether or not you decide to utilize these advancements in grounding technology, it’s absolutely critical to get your body in contact with the earth on a regular basis to displace the positive charge you’re carrying; to absorb free electrons to improve your recovery, heart health, and hormones; and, most important, to get a great night’s sleep.

Earthing Power Tip #1: Get Your Daily Vitamin G

Get your direct vitamin G. Make it a regular practice to get some quality time with your bare feet on the ground. This means conductive surfaces like soil, grass, sand (at the beach), and even living bodies of water like the ocean. There are other surfaces that are conductive, like concrete and brick, but their effectiveness depends on several factors. It’s best to get your vitamin G (your daily interaction with the earth) from the soil and grass itself. By the way, have you ever noticed that when you take a vacation and go to a beach, you tend to get really amazing sleep? A lot of people actually fall asleep at the beach before they can even make it back inside. Now you know it’s not a coincidence; it’s the natural response of someone who finally gets connected with the earth again. As for the amount of time to target, Dr. Sinatra says, “Grounding to the earth changes your physiology immediately. The more you ground, the more you can benefit because you are at your most natural electrical state when connected to the earth.” That said, even a minute is helpful, but the longer the better. I’d say to target a minimum of 10 minutes each day. And even if the allure of earthing isn’t compelling enough for you yet, kicking off your shoes and stepping on the ground is great for strengthening your feet, improving your proprioception (how your brain can sense your body, as well as its position and movement through space), and improving your range of motion by increasing the flexibility and mobility of your feet. Being barefoot more often is a great overall health practice for many reasons.

Earthing Power Tip #2: Get Grounding Sheets and Mats to Be Used Indoors

If you live in a climate where getting your quality vitamin G time isn’t always feasible, that’s when access to grounding sheets and a grounding mat can be so helpful. The earthing technology products also allow you to not shift your life around too much to get the benefits of earthing. You can simply continue doing things you normally do—work at your computer, sleep, etc.—and be connected to the earth the whole time. You can have one earthing product or multiple products everywhere—there are grounding mats, sheets, mattresses, mouse pads, and even bands you can put on specific pain points on your body that are used clinically to reduce pain and inflammation. I was cautious of using the earthing sheets in the beginning because I was working to eliminate EMFs and to remove any unnecessary electronics from my bedroom. However, I was blown away to find that numerous studies, including one published in European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics, demonstrate that earthing immediately reduces the electric fields that are generated within the human body. Authors of the study found that “grounding essentially eliminates the ambient voltage induced on the body from common electricity power sources.” Bottom line: Earthing can protect your cells from the issues associated with EMFs that we talked about in Chapter 12. Remember, nothing replaces getting in direct contact with the earth, but these items can be a great alternative to get the earthing benefits you need.

Earthing Power Tip #3: Use Grounding to Get Over Jet Lag When Traveling

Because grounding has been proven to sync your body’s circadian clock with the normal diurnal patterns of the earth, getting grounded after a flight is a smart thing to do. I’ve found that this practice virtually eliminates jet lag and helps me to adjust to a new time zone a lot faster. Humans were not designed to skip time zones in a few hours, so utilizing advances like this can really help to revitalize you. If at all possible, I get some direct vitamin G from the earth after travel. Plus, I bring my earthing sheets with me, and I always get a great night’s sleep just like when I’m at home. This article on the benefits of earthing and grounding is excerpted with permission from Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.

About The Author Shawn Stevenson is a bestselling author and creator of The Model Health Show, featured as the #1 Health podcast on iTunes with millions of listener downloads each year. A graduate of The University of Missouri – St. Louis, Shawn studied business, biology, and kinesiology, and went on to be the founder of Advanced Integrative Health Alliance, a company that provides wellness services for individuals and organizations worldwide. Shawn has been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, Men’s Health magazine, ESPN, FOX News, and many other major media outlets. He is also a frequent keynote speaker for numerous organizations, universities, and conferences. To learn more about Shawn visit TheModelHealthShow.com