Scientist Dr. Michael Clarage’s recent post on voltage readings in nature inspired me to take my own voltage readings in a spot in the forest using a standard multi-meter. I got similar readings of -150 millivolts (mV) when I stuck the negative electrode (black, “the ground”) into the topsoil by the tree and the positive electrode (red) into the cambium layer of the nearby slightly damaged tree.
Interestingly, I also got similar readings of around -180 mV when I stuck the negative electrode (black, “the ground”) directly into the surface water of the wetlands and the positive electrode (red) into the slightly moist topsoil beside the tree roots (see picture below).
These measurements suggest to me that electrons (and negative electric charge) are flowing from the groundwater and surface waters of Earth up into the topsoil and then into all plants and animals touching the ground.
Engineer Arthur Ramthun measured voltage between different tree limbs and the ground and found that electrons were flowing up from the soil to the tips of most of the branches (see this video for more information on this topic). Considering the research done on the fourth phase of water, is exclusion-zone (EZ) water providing the excess electrons to the surface of the Earth (see Figure 1)? Are these excess electrons available for redox reactions in plants and animals?
The maximum voltage measurement that Gerald Pollack and colleagues got when measuring the voltage between EZ water and the neighboring bulk water in their experiments was about -200 mV (directly adjacent to a piece of Nafion).
Figure 1: Discussion of the redox characteristics of EZ water on the left, with scientists stating that EZ water is a major donor of electrons, and a slide from Arthur Ramthun’s presentation on the right, estimating the amount of electrons flowing to a tree branch tip.
The preceding discussion brings to mind the subject of earthing or grounding. Modern humans are almost always electrically insulated from the Earth by working inside of concrete buildings, wearing rubber and plastic shoes, and rarely walking barefoot on the Earth. If the excess electrons from the Earth are available for redox reactions in the body, and recent research suggests that they are, than this negative charge may be a missing master “nutrient” for our bodies. Also, it has been noted in the scientific literature that earthing reduces the negative health impacts of electrosmog on humans.
In addition, electrosmog (industrial EMF pollution) should be mentioned as the radiofrequency (RF) and microwave electromagnetic fields impinging on the branches and leaves of trees and shrubs is likely causing significant health effects in these organisms (as well as humans, of course), as evidenced in the series of pictures below. It makes intuitive sense that electromagnetic fields and induced electrical charges from industrial equipment would affect the natural flow of electrons in living things. The in-homogeneous damage on the trees suggests that the flows of electrons along certain branches are being affected by the RF and microwave radiation. For a much more detailed discussion on this tree damage topic, please take a look at this presentation by scientist Dr. Volker Schorpp and additional general information is located in my post on electrosmog from 2020.
Trees along the road and in the path of the main radiation beam show significant signs of damage and/or ill health including a thinned out canopy, dead limbs, and burnt edges of leaves. Red arrow denotes location of the RF/Microwave antennas on top of the chemical storage tanks. Image courtesy of Google Earth. Trees in the immediate vicinity of a large cell tower exhibit sings of damage/ill health. The three trees in the central portion of the photo were removed in late 2020. As these three trees peek above the building’s radiation shadow, they become damaged and cease to grow when in line-of-sight of the antennas on the large cell tower.This church steeple is a cell tower, not surprisingly the trees in the foreground show signs of damage/ill health and were removed in late 2021. Image courtesy of Google Earth. The tree in the center of the photo is located directly in front of a set of black RF/Microwave antennas and clearly show signs of dying. Note the trees in the background away from the antennas are doing relatively well despite the effects of drought, insects, and particulate pollution. Trees located over 2,000 feet from the nearest cell tower show signs of being relatively healthy despite effects from drought, insects, and general particulate pollution.
I do not necessarily think that the Earth is overpopulated with humans and obsessing about the overpopulation of Earth may result in immoral justifications for reducing populations. Some thinkers even believe a deliberate population reduction has already been happening for years by nefarious design, but I will not go into that subject here.
My view is that humans are analogous to being some of the most complex “stem cells” of Gaia, as we can be whoever we want, consciously choose whatever actions we want to take out in the world and choose what we want to grow. We could choose to grow a permaculture garden or practice silvopasture on a plot of land increasing wildlife and insect habitats while providing food for our family. On the other hand, we could instead choose to pave over that plot, put up a cell tower, dig a quarry, and sell unnecessary merchandise to our neighbors to make a lot of money to buy more stuff we don’t really need. It is up to us. Most of the environmental degradation happening on the planet is caused either directly or indirectly by conspicuous consumption of resources as detailed by many authors (including in one of my previous posts). However, notice that in a conversation about population many people usually mutter “too many people” under their breath, never “too many machines” or “too many things,” for example. The programming runs deep. Though, choosing to have small families does seem to be a wise choice given the state of the planetary ecosystem right now and would allow for a gentle stabilizing of the world population.
Despite what we see going on environmentally around the world, it seems a bit ridiculous to automatically assume that humans are born inherently greedy and thus become selfish destroyers of nature. Another possibility is that in modern societies many humans are starved of meaningful relationships, nutritious food, and high quality air/water, in a similar vein to how cancer cells are previously healthy cells that are starved of oxygen and proper voltage. Thus these cells must resort to anaerobic respiration to maintain growth at the expense of the larger system (the body of the organism in this case). It seems that many of us humans resort to “anaerobic” activities in a feeble attempt to fill the inner void of our psyches and bodies. Cut off from real community, intimacy, authentic relationships, nutrient dense food, good quality air and high quality water (all examples of real wealth), people will fall into many different addictions in an attempt to make up for these losses. Buying a mansion, multiple cars, excessive electronic gadgets, overindulging on high fat, high sugar foods, taking various drugs, watching pornography, random hook-ups, these actions seem to all be desperate attempts to fill unmet needs with environmentally and/or psychologically damaging consumption, and I have even taken some of these actions myself trying to create an environmentally-conscious life here, they are not easy to avoid.
Top: USGS map depicting urban and suburban areas (purple and red coloring) spread over the interior northeast of the USA despite little population growth in this area over the past 50 years. Bottom: Aerial photos depicting an area north of Houston, TX in 1944 on the left and in 2021 on the right, an extreme example of suburban sprawl.
It does not necessarily have to be this way however, many people are finding ways to escape the socioeconomic matrix by building organic farms, homesteads, environmental non-profits and other things. The matrix is very difficult to escape from as I can personally attest, so I am making due at the moment by just trying to focus my attention on alternative environmental science subjects and volunteering. I agree with the notion that a universal basic income would allow more people to take more financial risk in building environmentally sustainable systems. Many of my own environmentally destructive decisions (such as agreeing to work on questionable ‘environmental’ projects in corporate America) have been made due to financial woes. Though, I would obviously like to see the UBI provided without government stipulations such as vaccine passports or carbon credits, for example. Good luck to anyone else wanting to make the journey on creating a more green world!
Small organic farm with sustainable forest management.
A quote from Richard Reese’s book What is Sustainable also speaks to this topic:
“A while back, a friend spent time with the MicMac teacher, Albert Ward. She was furious and frustrated about how we civilized humans were destroying the planet. Albert told her that if she wanted to heal Mother Earth – which he really felt didn’t need our help – the first step was to heal herself. She needed to discover who she was, and then she needed to be herself.”
Even after centuries of in-depth scientific investigation of electricity and meteorology, weather is still commonly explained as a phenomenon solely dependent on temperature, pressure and concentrations of water vapor (i.e. relative humidity). Discussion of the effects that separated electric charges (electric fields) have on the atmosphere, on the formation of clouds, and on water droplets/vesicles, is not really a part of common knowledge when it comes to weather and climate issues, with the exception of lightning. However, recent scientific discoveries about water have made it increasingly clear that the parameters of temperature, pressure, relative humidity and the dew point are dependent on differences in electric charges and the levels of electromagnetic energy absorbed and reflected in the atmosphere.
In previous posts I’ve mentioned the fourth phase of water topic, and in this longer talk, Dr. Gerald Pollack discusses the potential role that exclusion zone or “EZ” water has on various weather phenomena. While it is known to conventional science that the atmosphere carries a net positive charge and that the surface of the Earth carries a net negative charge, most scientists cannot clearly explain why these things have these charges and what the implications of these charges are for weather and climatic processes. Dr. Gerald Pollack and other courageous scientists go a step further in an attempt to explain and integrate these varied phenomena.
Clouds – Still Much to Investigate
The implications of the fourth phase of water discovery for weather and climate processes are enormous and are possibly one of the reasons why the discovery isn’t widely discussed among the mainstream science community. To investigate these implications, consider the following questions about cloud formation that are not easily explained by the conventional atmospheric physics paradigm.
How do different cloud types (e.g. cumulus, cumulonimbus or cirrus, etc.) suspend themselves above the ground surface at vastly different heights throughout the troposphere when each of them contains thousands to hundreds of thousands of tons of water droplets that are denser than the surrounding air?
Fair weather cumulus clouds in the center of the photo with characteristic dark, flat bases.
Why are the bases of many cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds almost completely flat and most of the clouds are around the same height above the ground surface, despite strong updrafts and downdrafts of wind including the updrafts that are presumed in the conventional atmospheric physics model to keep the clouds afloat?
Cumulus clouds over the Hudson River Valley. Note the long, dark, flat bases of the cumulus clouds in the distance over the Hudson River.Fair weather cumulus clouds during mid-day with their characteristic dark, flat bases in the distance.
Why do the different types of clouds (e.g. cumulus, cirrus, etc.) stay in a relatively thin layer with other clouds of their type at vastly different heights throughout the troposphere despite the strong updrafts and downdrafts of wind?
A thin layer of cumulus clouds relatively close to the ground over Massachusetts.Thunderstorm build up to the west, note the layers of different clouds: the cumulus clouds near the surface, the dark, towering cumulonimbus clouds in the middle and the very high cirrus clouds near the top of the image.
If clouds have net negative charge and the earth’s surface has a net negative charge, then does the repulsion between these like charges explain the ability for clouds full of electrically connected water droplets to stay suspended thousands of feet above the surface? This may explain why the base of these clouds remain relatively flat as the water droplets would be strongly repelled from moving below a certain height despite strong updrafts and downdrafts that would presumably make the base of the cloud very irregular in shape (which is certainly seen in cumulus clouds at heights higher than the regular base height). It is accepted even in the conventional paradigm that the bases of clouds are net negative and the tops are net positive so these speculations are not totally at odds with conventional understanding.
Top figure, a slide from Dr. Gerald Pollack’s presentation and the bottom figure is a slide taken from a thunderbolts project presentation. The Earth’s surface has a net negative charge and the atmosphere has a net positive charge, leading to an electric field of about +100 volts per meter near the surface.
Weather Characteristics – What is Fundamental?
The parameters that describe atmospheric conditions including temperature, air pressure and the dew point may be affected by the changing charge densities in the atmosphere and the changes in the Earth’s electric field. Many atmospheric physics papers suggest that changes in temperature, pressure and water vapor affect the Earth’s electric field, but given the implications of the forth phase of water discovery, it may be more of the other way around. Consider how on a fair weather day, the common fair weather cumulus clouds do not form in earnest until late morning. This is exactly when the electric field strength (voltage) is ramping up, positive charges in the atmosphere increase, now available to connect water droplets in air together by the like-likes-like mechanism. As the sun sets, the electric field dies down and then these numerous cumulus clouds all dissipate (see graphs below, note how the rapid ramping up of the electric field occurs with the slower temperature rise in the morning). As more scientists are becoming aware that the water droplets/vesicles in the air have net electric charge instead of being more or less electrically neutral as they are assumed to be in the mechanical model of the current atmospheric physics paradigm, the direction of research will move towards investigating the electrical side of these meteorological enigmas.
The Earth’s electric field, temperature and relative humidity over the course of 24 hours in India, figure taken from Valeo, V., and P. V. Koparkar. “A Preliminary Study of Fair-Weather Atmospheric Electric Field at a High Altitude Station (Shillong) 25 N, 91 E.” International Journal of Applied Engineering Research 14.7 (2019): 1652-1657.
Climate Change – Misguided Focus on Greenhouse Gases
In this short talk by former electrical engineering professor Dr. Donald Scott, he explains how high level winds in the upper atmosphere above the Earth’s north and south poles are being affected by Birkeland currents (long currents emanating from the Sun carrying electric charges through space). This process is evidenced by satellite data collected over the years and currently displayed on the earth.nullschool.net website and of course by the magnificent auroral displays at both poles.
High level winds at a height of approximately 35 kilometers (depicted with the magenta color) over Antarctica on July 8, 2022, a few weeks after the summer solstice. Image courtesy of the earth.nullschool.net website.
Birkeland currents are carrying positive and negative charges both into and out of the Earth’s poles depending on the time of year, as explained in detail in the talk. These currents imply that large amounts of energy are entering and leaving the poles at certain times of the year. Anything that would interfere with these Birkeland currents, say manipulation of the ionosphere or magnetosphere either unintentionally or intentionally, for example, would then in turn affect the high level polar winds and then the jet streams below them, the very jet streams that steer large amounts of moisture to different areas of Earth.
Regarding the unintentional manipulation of the ionosphere, near the end of Dr. Robert Becker’s book, The Body Electric, he mentioned that in the early 1980s two weather satellites, Ariel 3 and 4, observed that an enormous amount of power line harmonic resonance (a form of electrosmog from the power grid) over North America had created a permanent duct from the magnetosphere down into the upper atmosphere, resulting in a continuous release of ions and energy over the whole continent. This additional energy was speculated to have caused an increase in severe weather (e.g. thunderstorms, tornadoes) over the Midwest of the USA over the course of the 20th century. In addition, I bring up the intentional manipulation of the ionosphere because it is plausible that the various militaries of the world are actually experimenting with technologies that do exactly this as evidenced by patent US5041834A titled, “Artificial ionospheric mirror composed of a plasma layer which can be tilted” and patent US4686605A titled “Method and apparatus for altering a region in the earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and/or magnetosphere.” Indeed, even a USA Air Force administrator for science admitted that the Air Force had “moved on to other ways of managing the ionosphere” after ending the High Frequency Auroral Research Project (HAARP) program in the early 2010s (see this government commission video at the 3:10 mark).
Considering the problems with the current atmospheric physics paradigm discussed above, it seems misguided for governments and the public in general to focus solely on cutting greenhouse gas emissions while ignoring the fourth phase of water discovery, electric charges, electrosmog and the possible intentional manipulation of the atmosphere by the military-industrial complex. I’ll finish my discussion here as many other websites speculate about potential or ongoing geoengineering programs. All in all, the focus of the climate issue should focus to restoring the severely disrupted water cycle and regenerating ecosystems as water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas and some misguided carbon emission cutting policies are leading to ecosystem destruction.
Approaching thunderstorm from the southwest at sunset.
I was recently reading through Dr. Gerald Pollack’s book, The Fourth Phase of Water, and the section on exclusion zone water (named for excluding most solutes) forming around charged hydrophilic particles caught my attention. It reminded me of surprising observations I had made working at an environmental remediation site some years ago. At this site, shown in Figure 1, three or so feet of light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) oil was sitting on top of the water table in well MW104 in auto bay 1, but MW101 located just 15 feet down-gradient of this well had non-detectconcentrations of dissolved petroleum compounds, which was surprising (see Table 1 for the data, and Figure 2 for a water table map). MW101 is also just 5 feet down gradient of a well, MW202 in auto bay 2, that contained half of a foot of LNAPL. Amazingly, the down-gradient groundwater was able to remain clean despite the LNAPL oil sitting on top of the water table just 5-15 feet away for several decades, as the release occurred from old hydraulic lifts in the 1970s or early 1980s.
At certain points in the site investigation, dissolved petroleum compounds in groundwater were detected in wells TW101, MW203, and MW205 within the auto bays of the building, so there must be something preventing the movement of this petroleum mass down gradient into the groundwater underneath the site parking area. Here is a link to the final report for this site for fellow environmental scientists who want to look at the details: final report.
Figure 1. Site Plan snapshot from a previous report.Figure 2: Water table elevation contour map. During the high water seasons, the groundwater flow direction is almost directly east towards the site parking area.Table 1. Dissolved petroleum compound concentrations in groundwater. Note, all downgradient wells in the site parking area have no detections of dissolved petroleum compounds. BRL = Below Reporting Limit.
Most petroleum-contaminated sites have a dissolved hydrocarbon phase plume stretching from the source and/or LNAPL area to dozens of feet to possibly even hundreds of feet down gradient, as shown Figure 3. The plume is especially long if the original release occurred many years ago, so why didn’t we see it at this site where the release occurred in the 1970s or early 1980s?
Figure 3. Simple diagram depicting a LNAPL release and contamination of an aquifer. The small “q” is groundwater discharge and the arrows represent groundwater flow direction. Figure from “Modelling LNAPL Plume Breakthrough and Saltwater Intrusion, for a coastal site in the South-western Nigeria.” Oct. 2010.
Obviously, the geologic materials comprising the aquifer at any given site will have a huge impact on the vertical and horizontal extent of the petroleum plume. At this particular site I am discussing, a layer of silty clay a foot or two thick right around or below the average water table depth may have facilitated the creation of exclusion zone water around the silt and clay particles, each of which carry a net negative charge (see Figure 4 and Figure 5). This silty clay layer in the sand and gravel aquifer would then keep out virtually all of the large petroleum molecules dissolved in the groundwater right below the LNAPL mass. Even though a silty clay layer may have a low hydraulic conductivity of around 10^-6 cm/sec (compared to 10^-2 to 10^-3 cm/sec for sands), after 40 or so years, groundwater with dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons should have had plenty of time to traverse a short distance of 0.5 to 1 meter through the thin silty clay layer and into the more transmissive sand and gravel layers, but at this site there are no dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons in downgradient wells in the site parking area. Most other releases happen at sites with only sand and gravel layers in the subsurface which result in long plumes of contaminants. This is possibly due to less exclusion zone water filling up the pore spaces between the sand and gravel particles, allowing for dissolved petroleum molecules to travel through the aquifer more easily and obviously due to the higher hydraulic conductivity of these materials.
Figure 4: Boring Log for MW-101, note the description of a layer of organic silt/clay at a depth of approximately 7-10 feet.Figure 5: Diagram of exclusion zone water (darker blue color) around silt particles (around 16 microns across), this water carries a net negative charge, while the bulk water beyond carries a net positive charge. Notice that a large petroleum hydrocarbon molecule will have almost no chance of being transported across this area as it will not pass through the exclusion zone water even though water can still flow, albeit very slowly.
The implications of the fourth phase of water discoveries may lead to new ways of remediating groundwater. New hydrophilic materials could be used for reactive barrier walls across a section of an aquifer to prevent contaminants from moving downgradient of the release area. In a future post I will build off this discussion and cover other alternative soil and groundwater remediation methods including enhanced bioremediation, mycoremediation and microbial remediation.
In virtually every sphere of life including the physical, biological, and social, technological devices are displacing and replacing natural systems and the innate abilities of human beings. Why is that? Why don’t we focus on restoring our natural environmental systems and developing our innate physical, mental and social abilities to their fullest potential? For centuries humans have been embarking on a process of mechanization and utilization of increasing amounts of technology, culminating here in the early 21st century with the rollout of a worldwide 5G wireless network over the landscape and the launching of a literal “skynet” of satellites into low-earth orbit. Yet, mental illness is at an all-time high, pollution of our air, water, and food is still widespread, and the entire enterprise is obviously unsustainable on any number of environmental, ecological, and even psycho-spiritual fronts.
Many technologies have their uses and their places, as obviously this blog would not exist without the internet, but the extreme focus on mechanizing, controlling and manipulating every life and planetary process with complex technology leaves something else to be desired for many. A new renaissance is sorely needed at this time, right? The following is a short list of examples of where technology has usurped natural processes and following that is a list of ecological alternatives to those technologies.
Immune Systems and Pharmaceuticals
Regarding our overall health, our natural immune systems are being disrupted and degraded by different types of environmental pollution, as I have discussed at length in previous posts on environmental health. Consequently, our innate immune system capabilities are systematically being replaced with an ever increasing number of vaccines and other kinds of pharmaceuticals, many of which have significant side effects, including the over-stimulation of our immune systems and their contribution to the development of autoimmune disorders. In addition, think of the immensely complicated industrial supply chain that has to exist in order to mass produce a vaccine or other pharmaceutical that is delivered from a research lab all the way to being directly injected into your body. The different biochemical laboratory facilities, the large factories for constructing glass vials or plastic containers, all of the delivery trucks along the supply chain, the refrigeration systems and many more technological systems just to keep the vaccine/pharmaceutical supply chain going. This entire supply chain requires the consumption of vast amounts of natural resources and human labor in order to perform a natural function (immunity to pathogens) that our bodies could easily do well if we actually took good care of them (our “terrain”) and the environments we live in.
Human Breast Milk and Cow Milk/Formulated Milk
In the 20th century, some scientists and doctors decided that breast milk from a human mother could be replaced with cow’s milk or other formulated milks to improve a baby’s nutrition. The problem is that milk from the mother has just the precise balance of nutrients for satisfying the needs of a human baby. As Edward Goldsmith notes in The Way: An Ecological World View, human milk has a higher calcium to phosphorous ratio than other milks which is important for the growth of a baby’s musculoskeletal system. In addition, the level of sodium in cows milk is too high, leading to potential blood pressure issues in babies and toddlers. The level of copper in cows milk is also too low, leading to iron/hemoglobin transport issues and the development of anemia, which was common in North American infants a few decades ago.
Physical Tolerance Limits and Heating/Air Conditioning
After heating fuels and air conditioning became economical in the beginning of the 20th century many people have let their physical tolerance limits atrophy. They do not feel comfortable with temperatures below 65 degrees Fahrenheit inside of buildings in the winter, and temperatures above 72 degrees Fahrenheit inside of buildings in the summer. This is an extremely narrow range of comfortable temperatures and the consumption of vast amounts of fuels and electricity is required to maintain this narrow range inside of the built environment.
Innate Cognitive Capacity and IT Devices
Regarding memory and cognitive capacity, our innate memory skills are being degraded by increased reliance on information technology devices like GPS for navigating, for example. A study was done around a decade ago showing that old-school taxi drivers who had memorized the streets of London had a larger hippocampus compared to citizens who used GPS devices to get to their destinations. The citizens’ ability to create a mental map of London had atrophied, and a part of their brain literally became smaller after increased reliance on the new technology. Regarding cognitive capacity, calculators replace our ability to do simple arithmetic in our heads, emails cause our ability to compose hand-written letters with legible handwriting to atrophy… the list goes on, it is the the literal outsourcing of our cognition and memory to the technosphere.
Natural Waste Recycling Processes and Sewage/Wastewater Treatment Plants
Historically, human waste was delivered by wagon and wheelbarrow back to the agricultural fields surrounding the village for use as humanure commonly referred to as “night soil.” In modern societies, gigantic wastewater treatment facilities are built next to natural water bodies and dump large amounts of treated wastewater, which then still heavily pollutes natural water bodies with excess nutrients, trace pharmaceutical residues that are not filtered out by the treatment process, and some heavy metals. Other areas use cesspools and septic tanks, which when they fail, cause drinking water aquifers to be contaminated with excess nitrogen and traces of pharmaceuticals.
Traditional Social Networks and Social Media/Dating Websites
The vast majority of people desire to be accepted as part of a group and to find a loving partner, and historically this goal was accomplished by living in a small band of people with whom you were intimately familiar with. In modern anonymous mass societies people are now strewn across the country in urban sprawl conurbations with weak social connections to the people around them due to people continuously moving away for jobs and other reasons. The social connections, that often had a large physical component (e.g. handshakes, hugs, sex, etc.), between people in historic social networks have now been largely digitized by social media websites, dating websites, and email. For example, a few extroverted people in historic social networks used to be great matchmakers, introducing potential mates to each other and helping to form couples. This formerly organic process has now been largely relegated to social media, dating websites, and professional matchmaking services with mixed results, not to mention the large amount of resources including the electricity it takes to run the servers that host these websites.
A comparison of a formerly heavily forested area north of Houston, TX in 1944 on the left and the same area in 2021 on the right, an extreme example of urban sprawl.
The Eco-logic Renaissance
With the increasing creep of the technosphere into every aspect of life over the past decades and especially over the past two years, it is uplifting to see a growing interest among the public in ecological living topics including composting, organic gardening, composting toilets and humanure, small-scale renewable energy systems, simple water filtration, holistic health modalities, and other appropriate or “nature-like” technologies.
Natural Healing Modalities as Immune System Enhancers
Instead of relying solely on vaccines and other pharmaceutical agents for solving every health problem or curing an infection, many people are turning to alternative healing modalities for solutions to their health problems that have not been adequately addressed by mainstream medicine. The following table is a brief list of simple holistic health tips to improve immune system function naturally, as an example. Tomes of more information on alternative health can be found online or in an alternative book store.
Drink pure, unpolluted water
Improve sleeping conditions
Improve nutrient intake including Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, etc.
Decrease exposure to chemical pollutants and electrosmog (non-native EMFs)
Increase time in nature including grounding with the Earth
Natural breastfeeding for babies
Herbal remedies
Wetlands as Natural Wastewater Treatment Systems
A growing number of communities around the world are turning to restoring wetlands in order to process large amounts of wastewater. Healthy wetlands contain large amounts of peat with brown lignin compounds that can absorb large amounts of organic wastes and sequester heavy metals, thereby filtering the water as it flows downstream to other water bodies. At the scale of a home or small business, many are turning to composting toilet technologies or greener septic systems to reduce the amount of wastewater that is generated and discharged to the environment.
Developing Natural Human Abilities Instead of Overreliance on Technologies
When the power goes out, the GPS signal is lost, the water stops running, and the delivery trucks run out of fuel, people in modern societies are often left helpless as we have lost ancient skills that our ancestors used to survive in natural environments. We can learn or relearn old skills and even marry new ways of thinking to old skills and technologies (e.g. developing new passive solar water heater designs). We can develop mental maps of the towns and cities we live in instead of relying on GPS all of the time. We can practice hormesis (improve our physical tolerance limits) and maintain a comfortable body temperature throughout the year without resorting to excessive use of heating fuels in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. This seems to be a wiser choice than choosing to rely on the fossil-fueled technosphere that is showing increasing signs of incoherence, disruption and outright collapse (especially obvious in the last two years). Explore Arthur Haines’s website on rewilding and relearning ancient survival techniques for more information on this.
Ecovillages as Cohesive Social Networks
Many people are fed up with the social and mental illness that results from living in anonymous mass societies, and ecovillages are one antidote to the increasing social alienation and mental illness observed in modern societies. Ecovillages and ecocentric communities can allow people to form more permanent connections with those around them and possibly lighten the load of anxiety and stress so prevalent in modern mass societies. Regarding love, Tamara ecovillage in Portugal, for example, has a radical take on love and sexual relationships and creates a space for people to freely explore alternative ways to express their romantic desires and form partnerships that are difficult to implement in anonymous and alienating mass societies.
Conclusion
All in all, the wholesale replacement of the basic functions of the biosphere (Gaia) has been going on for centuries, but we still have time to change course if we want to. It is becoming increasingly apparent to a growing number of people that attempting to solve the problems created by technology with ever more complex technologies is maybe not the best way to go about the issue.
Instead of relying on and looking to “tech-no-logic” solutions for all of our problems, maybe a shift to focusing on “eco-logic” techniques and solutions would help? Why develop a Rube-Goldberg type of device to suck carbon out of the atmosphere but breaks down every few months, for example, when you can simply plant and maintain an edible forest garden, instead?
Currently, it appears that the entire physiology of Gaia is being systematically disrupted, degraded and replaced by a technologic mechanical system for whatever host of reasons (there are different theories floating around). However, whatever the reason is, a growing minority of people are fed up with this enterprise of attempting to conquer and control nature and are seeking ways to work with and make peace with her instead.
Further Reading:
The Ascent of Humanity Charles Eisenstein (free to read on his website)
As of 2021, the cumulative effect of many different types of pollution is really showing itself on many different species of trees. The photographs below, taken in New England over the past year, demonstrate a significant decline in tree health in certain areas. A similar decline in tree health is evident in many other parts of the world as well. Thinning crowns, smaller leaves, less dense forest canopies, and dead trees (many of which were not that old) have been observed, especially along major roadways and highways. Decades of road salt application, excessive microwave and radiofrequency radiation, particulate pollution, natural gas leaks, and drought are probably all synergistic culprits in causing this decline.
In this post I lay out some striking similarities between Earth processes and the physiological processes within organisms, just as some food for thought. It is interesting to note that prior to the nineteenth century many scientists were quite comfortable with thinking of the Earth as a living being. James Lovelock (originator of the modern Gaia theory, along with Lynn Margulis) noted that James Hutton, considered to be father of modern geology, actually recommended physiology as the science that would best explain Earth processes. Many interesting discoveries in physiology were being found at that time and several Earth scientists, including Hutton applied these ideas to the hydrologic cycle and biogeochemical cycles of Earth.
Rivers/Riparian Ecosystems and Blood/Circulatory Systems
The similarities between blood vessels/circulatory system and rivers/streams and watersheds are quite numerous. For example, blood vessels transport glucose and hemoglobin throughout the body to cells requiring much needed energy and oxygen. Likewise, a river with suspended sediment carries nutrients downstream to the lower parts of its watershed expanding out in a fan shape reminiscent of blood vessel networks (see the picture below of two deltas in Louisiana, USA). These nutrients create the extremely diverse and lush delta ecosystems found all around the planet. Constructing a dam and/or polluting a river with garbage or toxic wastes is analogous to an artery becoming clogged with cholesterol and plaque; it’s obviously not a healthy situation for either the riparian ecosystem or the organism with clogged arteries.
Two deltas in Louisiana. The field of view is approximately 25 miles across. Photo taken from Google Earth.
Also, the organisms living in the river including fish, turtles, crayfish, etc., can be thought of as “cells” doing work along the river the same way that red blood cells and white blood cells do important work in maintaining the health of the circulatory system of an organism. Killing the organisms of the river with pollution or over-fishing results in a degraded ecosystem in much the same way an organism with a disease may have too low or too high blood cell counts.
Wetlands/Salt Marshes/Deltas and Liver/Kidneys
Another analogous system is a wetland/salt marsh/delta ecosystem that has the ability to process and filtrate wastewater (e.g. sewage), processing the toxins in the waste into harmless forms or sequestering them in sediment. This is comparable to the physiology of the liver/kidneys system processing and eliminating waste products from the body of an organism.
Draining wetlands and salt marshes of a river delta and paving them over for coastal development causes serious damage to this organ of Gaia in a similar way that an increasing load of toxic substances causes damage to an organism’s liver or kidneys.
The construction of a wastewater treatment plant to treat the sewage of a city (a human ecosystem) is analogous to a person going on dialysis; the person now requires a machine in order to process the body’s toxins to continue living and a densely populated urbanized area now requires a machine to process its waste or else it will literally drown in sewage. A traditional village or modern intentional community can take care of its sewage without the need of a wastewater treatment plant by using humanure methods.
Forests and the Cardiopulmonary System
The enormous forests of the world act as “lungs” for the planet, pumping vast amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide throughout the atmosphere. The forests intake carbon dioxide and respire oxygen. Take a look at this graph of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere over time and you can see the see-saw pattern of the “breathing” of Gaia, as the vast temperate deciduous forests of the northern hemisphere go into hibernation in late fall to early winter (the enormous amount of plankton in the oceans also plays a role here as well):
In addition, forests also act as a “heart” for the planet, by creating and maintaining areas of low pressure over continental landmasses that pump water from the ocean to clouds that then move over landmasses and drop much needed rain. Take a look at this video on the water cycle and the “Biotic Pump” from the alternative thinker, Charles Eisenstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L68ZHYzeZoI.
Mountains/Bedrock and the Skeleton
Mountain ranges and bedrock outcrops form the “skeleton” of Gaia by structurally supporting the other organs and providing sediments and mineral nutrients that are to be used downstream in the rest of the organs of Gaia. This is analogous to how an organism’s skeleton provides structural support for the rest of the organs and tissues and how the bones contain bone marrow and produce red blood cells needed to carry oxygen throughout the body.
Soil/Grasses and Skin
The soils, grasses, and other ground-cover vegetation of Earth acts as a “skin” protecting the other organs and allowing them to thrive. Surficial soil, grasses and other vegetation protect the underlying soil layers from erosion and oxidation. Also soils act as a permeable membrane between the hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere and enables the continued progression of biogeochemical cycles (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, etc.) all over the planet.
Mining makes up a small percentage of world GDP and an even smaller percentage of the labor force, so it is mostly “out of sight, out of mind” as an industry. Look at the pictures below, however, and it will no longer be out of sight!
Click on the pictures to view them or right-click them and open them up in a new tab. All pictures were taken from Google Earth.
Below is the Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah, USA, and the downtown portion of Boston, MA, USA for size comparisons. If you look carefully you can make out a landslide in the pit. The landslide is almost as big as the financial district of Boston!
Below is the Mission copper mine in Arizona, USA and downtown Boston.
Below is the Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile. It looks like downtown Boston can fit right into the pit, with room to spare!
Below is an entire copper mining complex consisting of the Chuquicamata mine and the Radomiro Tomic mine in Chile. The complex includes leach pads, smelters, equipment storage areas, and waste rock piles. The entire complex is as long as Manhattan. The waste rock pile or leach pad (looks like a hand fan) in the top of the image covers a larger area than does downtown Boston. That’s a big pile of rocks!
Below is the Yanacocha gold mining complex in Peru. It is almost as long as Manhattan, and definitely wider.
Below is an iron ore mining complex near Hibbing, Minnesota, USA. It is also almost as long as Manhattan. I have little doubt that some of the iron from this mine made it into the infrastructure of Manhattan. In fact, it looks as if they are mirror images of each other: flip the mine over and out pops a city.
Finally, here is an industrial agriculture mining complex in a northern section of Texas, USA. You may not think of this place as a mining complex, but here, industrial agriculture is “mining” topsoil and fossil groundwater. In other words, these farms are eroding topsoil faster than it can be replenished and pumping out groundwater much faster than the aquifer below is recharged, and let’s not even get into fossil fuel and fertilizer use. The state of Rhode island is given as a size comparison to this particular industrial process. Manhattan and downtown Boston are also included, but they are obviously dwarfed by industrial agriculture. Agriculture can be done sustainably (and a good amount of it already is) but as long as energy and water are considered “cheap” it will also be done unsustainably in marginally arable places like the one pictured below.
Even though mining is a small part of the world economy its environmental impacts are obviously enormous. Also, the rest of the industrial economy can’t operate without mining so it is ignorant to think that just because it is a small part of the world GDP, it is relatively unimportant. It is easy to think of the economy just in financial terms, but, as these pictures show, there is a physical economy hidden beneath the cloak of finance.
The Soeller Panel 