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Earth Day 2022
Ernest Hemingway said, “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” Today, on Earth Day, we are reminded of our responsibility to make choices to protect Mother Earth, not only for ourselves, but for generations to come.
While it’s easy to agree with Hemingway’s sentiment, our actions as individuals and as a society often demonstrate the opposite. To shed light on our potential to reverse rampant environmental degradation, Price-Pottenger has shared stories over the past year about hopeful regenerative agricultural initiatives, many of which echo practices of the Indigenous Peoples who inhabited this land for millennia. As these ancestors knew, when Mother Earth thrives, we have a much better chance of thriving with her.
Associating our personal health with that of the planet may be a stretch for many, and improbable for those struggling day to day to make ends meet. Nevertheless, our connection with the land and the seas that support us does have consequences that directly affect our well-being. By investing in our planet, we can slow the progress of modern disease and make a positive difference in human lives.
At the EarthDay.org Take Action page, you can choose from many simple and doable initiatives to support Mother Earth, and we hope you will participate today and every day. But, we would like to provide one caveat: please steer clear of their action, “Make your next meal plant-based.” It seems that even organizations as recognized as EarthDay have adopted the industrial-agriculture and media-supported mantra that avoiding animal products is a solution to our climate crisis. For human and planet health, a shift to plant-based meat perpetuates a false promise.
To learn about the human and environmental health dangers associated with meat imposters, please read “What You Need to Know about Plant-Based Meats,” an interview with Sara Keough, MS, CNS, LDN in the summer 2021 issue of our Journal of Health and Healing. Sara reports that current unsustainable and inhumane industrial methods of raising beef are a major cause of its carbon footprint and advocates for a return to regenerative practices to reduce emissions and counter threats facing farming communities. Despite its frequent vilification, real meat is a high-quality, affordable protein, contains all essential amino acids, and supports a healthy diet.
If you’re looking for organizations that practice regenerative agriculture every day, have a look at the Audubon Society. There’s much to appreciate in their Audubon Certified Bird Friendly Land initiative, which helps farmers implement carbon-sequestering, ancestral grazing methods and native plant seeding, all in support of bird conservation practices. And, get to know National Latino Farm and Ranchers, an organization supporting multiethnic, historically discriminated-against farmers by helping them transition to indigenous, regenerative, and sustainable farming and ranching operations.
Beyond regenerative agriculture, another earth-centric program is Fairtrade, a movement and certification process designed to ensure fair terms of trade between farmers and buyers, protect workers’ rights, and advance farming practices that produce healthy products and protect the environment. It’s important to support these small, regenerative-agriculture-minded farmers in developing countries by choosing products with the Fairtrade label. To learn more, read “Shifting the Dialogue on Fair Trade: An Interview with Dana Geffner, Executive Director of the Fair World Project,” in the spring 2021 issue of the Journal of Health and Healing.
In addition to these grassroots movements, there is tremendous potential in commercial settings to make a difference. In March, I attended Natural Products Expo West, a 50,000-attendee trade show in Anaheim featuring thousands of product manufacturers in the natural foods, wellness, personal care, and supplements business. I met innumerable professionals committed to developing and selling products to satisfy our urges for tasty, healthful food and to improve our well-being in other ways.
While it was easy to be impressed with the storytelling, science, packaging, and innovation, and the motivation to do right environmentally by so many of these companies, I was disappointed that there was little talk of collective action focused on improving human health.
The natural products industry is valued at $65 billion per annum. I asked around at the conference if anyone could recall a time when these businesses banded together to change policy to improve society. I was told how Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican and now retired, once championed the organics movement on Capitol Hill, but no one knew of any similar champions today.
With that in mind, at Price-Pottenger we intend to redouble our efforts first championed by Dr. Price, to inspire dialogue and collaboration of industries to improve health outcomes for everyone. This isn’t an EarthDay pledge; it has been the mission of our organization since our founding in 1949. Our original commitment to informing the public about the wisdom of ancestral nutrition and the scourge of processed flour and sugar on the so-called civilized world is strengthened when we support and amplify the work of like-minded leaders and organizations.
In seeking partnerships that support our mission, organizations like the Rodale Institute come to mind. Not only has this non-profit organization played a significant role in developing the science to inform us of the benefits of organic farming and continues to advance regenerative farming practices today, our histories are intertwined. Shortly after Dr. Price published Nutrition and Physical Degeneration in 1939, J.I. Rodale, the then-President of Rodale Press, corresponded with Dr. Price about the dangers of wheat products, particularly bread, as contributors to modern disease. They were both right. Today, we need leaders like Dr. Price, J.I. Rodale, and others unafraid to question and challenge the status quo in farming, food manufacturing, food preparation, and retailing to create better outcomes for people and the planet.
What Dr. Price warned us of more than 80 years ago remains society’s biggest challenge today. Our personal health is inextricably linked to the foods we eat, and the quality of those foods are directly associated with the health of the environments from which they have come. EarthDay reminds us that how we treat our planet matters and encourages us to take action to protect the health of Mother Earth for our own sakes and for those of generations to come.
The earth is a fine place, indeed. And, together, we can keep it that way.
With gratitude,
Steven Schindler
Executive Director
Please help the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation in its efforts to improve the understanding of the importance of nutrient-dense foods and regenerative farming practices through education, research, and advocacy, by donating here.