This is Not Normal
Tags: Covid 19 Crisis, Health, Nutrition, Regenerative Agriculture, Future Technology

This is Not Normal

Like the proverbial frog in the pot, we now accept as normal, things that ain’t. Field2Plate Sep 5·7 min read

What’s worse, we are the architects of our own crisis. We’re not only cooking in the pot, we actually made the pot, stacked up the firewood and lit the flame.

We created this pandemic, and what’s worse, we’ve created the conditions where the new virus is actually more dangerous than it would otherwise have been.

Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?

We created this pandemic

The last 20 years of science have shattered our old ideas about biology and health.

In the same way that the invention of the telescope revealed (shock, horror) that the earth is not at the centre of the universe — genetic research has given us unprecedented new insight into life on earth, which has literally revolutionised our understanding.

One thing that has changed is how we “see” viruses.

Viruses are not the enemy, as it turns out. They are simply a data transfer mechanism that allows us, and all life forms, to evolve. They are tiny packets of genetic material that act as messages, or “updates” that allow all living cells to “pivot” — to adapt quickly and perform better.

There are billions of billions of viruses all around us and within us — all the time. A huge percentage of our own human DNA has actually been inserted from viruses, and has helped in the evolution of things like stem cells and the placenta.

Yes, we have evolved alongside viruses over millions of years, they are an intrinsic part of our world, our history on earth, our DNA and every breath we take. Without viruses, we would not exist.

I know… it was way easier thinking of viruses as the nasty little enemy.

It’s called evolution

Evolution is about plasticity and communication, about constantly searching for tiny advantages to respond to stress, to out-compete and to make life better.

Viruses are one of the primary manifestations of this; an expression of biological plasticity operating at a scale that is simultaneously too small for us to see, and way too big and sophisticated for our pathetic (but very earnest) little minds to comprehend.

So… how is this new virus a mechanism of evolution, and how did we create it?

How to make a virus: 101

The emergence of new viruses always happens when there is environmental stress.

That’s actually the whole point:

Stress makes life difficult

So life looks for options

It is no surprise that the COVID19 virus emerged in Wuhan — it is the epicentre of industrial pig-farming and of glyphosate use in the world, in addition to having some of the worst air pollution internationally.

The pig farming is on an unimaginable scale, and involves systemic anti-biotic use and the storage of millions of litres of toxic stool in enormous holding ponds.

The glyphosate, an organo-phosphate, is a potent herbicide, fungicide, anti-microbial ubercide and a powerful endocrine disruptor—that is being applied to the world’s crops in the millions of litres every year. Production has exploded in Wuhan, as it has around the world since it went off patent in the year 2000.

This is a textbook definition of “environmental stress”—and this new virus is a perfect expression of nature’s own balancing mechanics.

By the way, this is not a critique of Wuhan. They are just practising there, exactly the same intense industrialised farming that is being promoted and practised all around the world—just more than anyone else.

Now, the twist…

In addition to creating the conditions for the evolution of this virus, we’ve also created the conditions that make this particular virus more dangerous.

Failing health and PM2.5

The reason this virus is so harmful is also something that we’ve created — a combination of man-made factors including:

Failing health: Chemical farming has poisoned the last 2 generations to the point that we are seeing astronomical increases in many chronic diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, ADHD, Auto-immune diseases etc.

Chemical farming has poisoned the last 2 generations to the point that we are seeing astronomical increases in many chronic diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, ADHD, Auto-immune diseases etc. Pharmaceutical dependence: Most people over the age of 50 are propped up by a regime of pills that only builds as the years go by, making this age group more and more fragile.

Most people over the age of 50 are propped up by a regime of pills that only builds as the years go by, making this age group more and more fragile. Carbon pollution: The amount of small carbon particulates in the air (PM2.5) actually predicts the level of fatalities in any given location — the heavier the pollution, the higher the fatality rate.

The amount of small carbon particulates in the air (PM2.5) actually predicts the level of fatalities in any given location — the heavier the pollution, the higher the fatality rate. Failing soil: Soil is responsible for a huge amount of carbon “draw-down” — removing carbon from the air — which is one reason we see COVID spiking in winter, when the plant life is resting. Our soil has been progressively poisoned and broken up over the past 50 years, and no longer performs this vital role as much as it should.

Yes, we created both the virus and the context that makes it so dangerous.

Our new “normal”

Unfortunately, we are destined to see more and more of these pandemics, so in a way, this will become more normal.

We will also see male fertility continue to plummet and Autism rates continue to grow. We will see temperatures continue to rise and farming land collapse.

Then, it gets worse—the rate of change will increase rapidly, as the many different factors amplify each other. Which brings us to the greatest tragedy — as environments and economies collapse, political unrest will lead us into war and chaos.

Sounds a little extreme right? But it’s clearly, and logically our future if we continue on the destructive path we’re on.

We have created this new normal — but it’s not how it needs to be.

Redefining “normal”

Unlike the frogs in the pot, we have a chance to rewrite what’s on the menu.

And it begins, like most revolutions, by changing the way we think… we need to stop seeing nature as the enemy, or as an asset to be exploited.

Nature is a gazillion times more intelligent than we are — and we are part of nature — not above it, or apart from it. If we learn to work with this incredible intelligence, not against it, we stand a chance.

A wonderful new normal will emerge when we learn to use our human intelligence & creativity—to work WITH mother nature’s intelligence & creativity—not against it.

Over the last hundred years we have been exploiting nature and leveraging our intelligence and creativity to extract as much as we could.

Rising temperatures are just one sign of the devastation we have wrought.

Pandemics are another.

The way forward to is stop extracting and dominating—and to co-create with this magnificent natural intelligence that we have evolved with. We really, really need a new “normal”.

It starts with the soil

Our pathway forward is very clear to me, and it’s achievable — if we want it enough. It starts with the soil—our farming and food production practices.

That’s right, while reducing air pollution is critical, we will see far more CO2 reduction, far more quickly, by increasing carbon draw-down—by regenerating our soil and water. Nature can sequester far more carbon than we can produce, if we allow the soil and water to breathe.

In addition to reducing CO2, good farming will remove the environmental stressors that both create the pandemics—and the conditions that make the pandemics so dangerous (e.g. poor health).

Clean up: We need to remove all the poisons we spray into our soil and food. This will immediately start to address decades of damage to the soil, water and human health.

We need to we spray into our soil and food. This will immediately start to address decades of damage to the soil, water and human health. Regenerate : We then need to proactively regenerate the soil by the way we farm. As well as being unequivocally “good”, it is also, perhaps counter-intuitively, proven to be a better commercial proposition.

: We then need to proactively the soil by the way we farm. As well as being unequivocally “good”, it is also, perhaps counter-intuitively, proven to be a better commercial proposition. Localise: To make the above possible, we need to leverage our technology to decentralise and localise — and get more people back on the land. We need to support small, local farmers producing organic food (fruit, veg, grain, eggs, fish and meat etc) regeneratively. We need to withdraw support for huge-scale industrial farming.

There are many things we need to fix in our insanely industrialised brave new world, and many potential solutions—but buying an electric car is not top of that list (sorry).

Changing our farming will deliver the most value, across the broadest spectrum, in the shortest time.

It ends with us

We have subjected our planet to a devastating, relentless assault fuelled by a rapacious, insatiable desire for more. We have poisoned our soil, water and air carelessly and clumsily—to the point of systemic collapse.

We have created a whole infrastructure around this model, and now live in a world that is defined by it—and which is being destroyed by it.

How do we change this? Buckminster Fuller gives us a clue:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

If we, the people, choose to buy food that has no poisons, we will make the agro-chemical companies obsolete.

If we, the people, choose to buy meat that has not been raised in a feed-lot, we will make those inhumane monstrosities obsolete.

If we, the people, start to imagine a world where we co-create with nature, leveraging all our intelligence and imagination to create beauty and balance—we will make the old, mechanistic, industrialised model obsolete.

Big dreams, right?

Well… all revolutions start as dreams and are, by definition, “impossible” because they intrinsically challenge what is seen as “normal”.

We desperately need to change what is seen as “normal”…

… and get out of this damned pot.

No frogs were harmed during the writing of this article. Image of frog taken from photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels.