By Annamaria San Antonio (Jai Kaur)
August is National Wellness Month, but what is the point of celebrating wellness nationally if we ignore the root of the word “national”? A nation is fundamentally the land — our shared outer terrain, which directly mirrors our inner bodily terrain. True wellness requires us to care for both, yet a growing cultural paranoia is driving us to treat our environments as battlegrounds to be sterilized rather than ecosystems to be befriended. When we recognize that our internal vitality is deeply interconnected with the health of the earth, we shift our mindset from knee-jerk panic to mindful, proactive stewardship.
To underscore why it is critical to become aware of what is moving in and around this shared land, we can look at two events that recently occurred right outside my door at our historic Codman Estate in Lincoln.
Last month, I witnessed a contractor spraying pure glyphosate to kill poison ivy along our stone walls. It was a windy morning, setting up the perfect condition for chemical mist to drift toward our community organic farm, where local children play and neighbors walk their dogs. Pesticide and herbicide drift accounts for up to 25% of an applied chemical becoming airborne. Because I advocate for reducing our reliance on synthetic chemicals, I wrote a firm, fact-based email to management laying out the science of chemical drift, gut microbiome destruction, and soil biology. The very next day, management permanently banned chemical herbicide applications across the entire property.
Two days later, during a summer gathering, a bumblebee stung an elderly guest twice. Instead of panicking or running for a chemical spray can, I used ice packs to handle the external heat and an internal homeopathic remedy to soothe the swelling. By the end of the evening, she experienced no pain (or hard feelings!).
These two events highlight a major cultural dilemma: how proactive are you when it comes to reducing the hidden disruptors in your own environment? The hard truth is that man-made toxicants are monumentally harder to get out of our bodies than they are to get into them. While biological toxins like a bee sting can be mobilized out of your tissues through standard circulation, exercise, and massage, clearing synthetic toxicants out of your cells is a far more complex process.
Reacting in blind fear to nature leads to a broader, systemic poisoning of our soils, plant life, and waterways.
When towns panic and order widespread aerial spraying for non-endemic risks, those chemicals settle into the food we eat and the water we drink. Heavy metals and lipophilic — or fat-loving — chemical compounds cross the blood-brain barrier over time, triggering mitochondrial damage and chronic inflammation. We must look past what chemical corporations or regulating boards deem as baseline “safe” and consult independent advocacy groups like the Environmental Working Group to research what we allow into our homes.
The answer to environmental risk is absolutely not to retreat indoors, lock our windows, and hide from the world. In my practice, I notice a concerning trend of people pulling away from the natural world out of sheer anxiety. This hypervigilance has evolved past bugs into an avoidant fear of sweat, exercise, and even the sun. Complete sun avoidance leaves us severely Vitamin D-deprived, yet this vital hormone is monumentally beneficial for our immune systems.
Yes, being outside carries some risk. But the responsibility is on us to be educated and prepared, not to demand that nature be tamed so we feel secure. When we rush to use harsh chemical barriers in our yards, we try to kill a fly with a blowtorch, knocking out entire ecosystems in the process.
Mindful prevention is necessary, but sheer panic cuts us off from the exact nature medicine our nervous systems need. Step outside with confidence, arm yourself with a little natural education, and go enjoy the expansive peace that is waiting for you right outside your door.
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnians. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
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