Own Your Climate

As I'm sure many of you know already, it's BLOG ACTION DAY! The topic this year is Climate Change. I thought I'd take a moment to point out that we often think of climate and environtment as external phenomena. The environment is what we live in, not what we are part of or not what is part of us. I disagree with that notion. We are in the environment, we are part of the environment, we have the environment in us, we are our own environment.

We cannot separate our bodies from the world around us. What happens to the environment happens to us. When fish populations begin to die out, we begin to loose a precious source of food. Not only that but the food chain begins to break down in other ways too. Now I'm not a biologist but I know the basics. The food chain is intricate and delicate. When you remove any one part of it you affect the whole thing, including our bodies. When you take a deep breath of seemingly clean air you inhale all the toxins and chemicals we have put into the environment with factory farms and pesticides. Those toxins and chemicals are just as bad for our bodies as they are for the earth. Why do you think we have such a high rate of cancer?

My point is we act like polluting the earth affects the planet and not us. However, pollution is everywhere. I found this newsletter piece from Seventh Generation and it really draws attention to how intricately connected to the environment our bodies are, especially women's bodies. Take a look at the facts they've listed there and tell me if that doesn't drive you to take a big step forward for climate change. We need to clean up our act because if we don't then we all suffer. It's not just the planet that is suffering from pollution. It's not just the weather or the height of the oceans. It's us. It's in our bodies that things are changing.

So, take a minute and think about what you put in your body. Look up your favorite foods online if you have to and see what is actually in them. Find out what is going into your body and then tell me if you want those chemicals there. Try eating from the farmer's market for a week and see how much more energy you have and how much more healthy you feel. Reduce your footprint so that you can live happily into old age and the rest of us can too. Own your body, your environment, and your life.