Just warning you, this information is upsetting & uncomfortable. At the end of this blog post there is support to help manage feelings of despair this information may stir up.
Toxic body burdens
One legacy of living in the post industrialisation era is that we all carry toxins in our bodies. The individual culmination of the toxins from manufacturing, mining, defense and agriculture is referred to as a “toxic body burden”. Every living being on the planet has a toxic body burden, and there is much we don’t know about what that actually means.
Seven things we DO know about the toxic burden
1. Between 80,000-120,000 different, man-made chemicals have entered our earth’s atmosphere since the end of World War 2. This is partly due to the re-purposing of chemical weaponry and the “Green Revolution” of commercial agriculture.
2. Some of these chemicals are persistent – that is, they take a long, long time to break down. These chemicals include DDT, other pesticides, flame-retardants and dioxins. They are called POPs, short for Persistent Organo-Phosphates. More info on them here.
3. Persistent organo-phosphate chemicals (POPs) bio-accumulate up the food chain. This means they are removed from the earth’s water, soil and airways and stored it into living organisms. As these toxins are passed up the food chain, they become more concentrated. The example Rachel Carson put forward in 1962 was how pesticides taken up by a blade of seaweed, eaten by a small fish, eaten by a big fish, eaten by a grouse (a bird), results in the highest concentration of the pesticide in the grouse.
This is why whales get cancer when they live in polluted waters, and why dead whales must be treated as ‘toxic waste’. Maybe this sequestering of toxins into living organisms, and their bioaccumulation and concentration up the food chain, is so that when that organism dies, it’s decomposition by bacteria and funghi can better breakdown the POPs to render them less toxic to the planet’s eco-system. This method also removes the toxicant from the water, air and soil somewhat, essentially cleansing Earth’s living tissues.
4. 99% of the time breast tissues from women with breast cancer, contain parabens. Parabens are chemicals regularly found in personal care products like deodorants and make up. Parabens disrupt hormone function.
5. When we stop being exposed to these toxins, our toxin levels immediately start to drop. The toxins found in human milk samples has dropped since DDT was banned according to the book, Toxin Toxout
6. When we stop eating pesticides, they are no longer found in the blood stream
7. Whilst it is still better to breast feed babies than feed them a ‘formula’, babies’ exposure to the chemicals in breast milk, may lead to immune and nervous system issues. Just to repeat though, it is still considered better to breast feed than not, for a huge range of reasons.
so…
How are you feeling right now?
You might be experiencing some uncomfortable feelings of dullness, despair, anger, helplessness or sadness after reading this.
If so, GOOD.
In fact, that’s FANTASTIC!!
Having an emotion reaction to this indicates THAT YOU GIVE A SHIT. These emotions mean that you CARE.
Thank you. Thank you for being courageous enough to care (BTW Care and cure come from the same word root…)
These emotions are indicators to you that SOMETHING IS WRONG and needs to be remedied. When acknowledged and respected, these emotional forces can be channeled into constructive actions.
Here’s a 3 minute video of Joanna Macy providing a Buddhist perspective on pain, and how to use our suffering to manage the crises we’re facing.
Or as Deep Ecologist John Seed suggests here, if we focus our minds on the 6th extinction process we are currently entwined in, then we might pressure our minds into uncovering real solutions and ways of living that are aligned with life on Earth.
We’re all here together at this exciting time on the planet. There is a growing consciousness about the interconnection of Earth’s systems, and we’re waking up to urgent need to change our way of living, where we are heading and how we are impacting the environment.
Compassion and the insight into inter-connectedness when used together, contain the power to shift everything. Check out the Shambala Warrior tale here.
The Earth (and you) possesses phenomenal powers of rejuvenation. There is continual renewal going on. Change is a universal constant. Both the Earth and the human body have sophisticated detoxification systems. Given the right conditions (which you will create in Sparkle Detox Phase Two) we can freshly regenerate. We can find refreshment in each moment through connecting our consciousness to what Taoists call “the way”.
Let’s use our capacity of compassionate observations and conscious actions, rather than dramatically engaging with things in habitual (and violent) ways.
Consider these wise words:
“Act always as if the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference.
It is this serious playfulness, this combination of concern and humility, that makes it possible to be both engaged and carefree at the same time.
With this attitude, one does not need to win to feel content. Helping to maintain order in the universe is its own reward, regardless of consequences.
Then it is possible to find joy, even when fighting a loosing battle in a good cause.”
– by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Two things I don’t understand:
Firstly, when these chemicals were first introduced, we didn’t know they would have such devastating consequences for life on Earth. However, why were treaties detailing evidence of the devastation they caused, such as A Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) and Our Stolen Future by Theo Colburn et al (1996) were not considered by legislators, when the effects were so potentially devastating.. including devastating to the legislators children, and their children’s children.
What is the nature of the delusion that overtakes humans’ minds that we are somehow separate from the earth?
Secondly, why is toxicity not in the mainstream news in relation to the chronic health epidemics (particularly cancer, obesity and cardiovascular disease) as well as the fertility problems humanity is currently facing? And what about the radically fast extinction process that so many species are undergoing?
One thing I DO understand:
That every individual on earth co-creates what happens on Earth now, and whatever is happening now, is how it will be in the future. It’s up to each one of us to become authentically whole, and contribute our individual gifts. We can’t wait until tomorrow to start, because tomorrow will be just like today (and we might not have many of them left)
Depending on our attitude, our co-creation can be a fun and joyful thing. And very creative. And loving. And compassionate.
This is one element of Sparkle Detox Course – a step-by-step, effective and safe, body tissue cleansing process designed by Naturopath Sally Mathrick. If you haven’t already, join Sparkle Detox. You’ll have life-time access to wholistic, doable, ‘delicious-with-benefits’ practices to keep your precious body-mind healthy, fresh and vital. JOIN NOW
