Nature woo

[[File:Nature Woo Kale.png|thumb|upright|right|Get the "artificial junk" out of ''my'' ground-up sweetened kale smoothie!]]
{{newage}}
{{cquote|The word 'natural' is completely meaningless! Everything is natural! Nature includes everything! It's not just trees and flowers! It's everything! A chemical company's toxic waste is completely natural! It's part of the nature! We're all part of nature! Everything is natural! Dog shit is natural! It's just not real good food!|||[[George Carlin]]}}
'''"Nature woo"''' refers to the irrational belief in the [[Appeal to nature|goodness of all things deemed "natural."]] Although such beliefs sometimes have a faint basis in [[science]], any [[kernel of truth]] is usually blown way out of proportion and then coated in [[woo]], all in the name of a campaign by the crunchier-than-thou to prove that Mother Earth loves them more than you. 

This explains why marketing managers love the meaningless word "natural" in phrases along the lines of "full of natural goodness" as they assume that customers will believe that anything that is "natural" is good for them.

==Naturally lethal==

Of course, nature woo ignores the fact that a vast range of perfectly natural things are dangerous or deadly. Plants such as {{wpl|belladonna||,}} [[tobacco]], and {{wpl|Narcissus (plant)#Toxicity|daffodils}}; mushrooms such as the {{wpl|Amanita phalloides|death cap|,}} the {{wpl|destroying angel||,}} and the {{wpl|Galerina marginata|autumn skullcap|;}} chemicals such as {{wpl|Almond#Amygdalin and cyanide|cyanide|,}} {{wpl|sulfuric acid||,}} and {{wpl|Ricinus#Toxicity|ricin|;}} minerals such as [[asbestos]], {{wpl|chalcanthite||,}} and {{wpl|torbernite||;}} diseases such as [[rabies]], [[AIDS]], and [[leprosy]]; creatures such as crocodiles, sewer rats and mosquitoes; mold; natural disasters; excessive [[UV|ultraviolet radiation]]; and {{wpl|corpse decomposition|decomposing corpses}} are all perfectly "natural" but are in no sense good for you. In fact, the only way you might be able to survive some of these natural hazards is through the "unnatural" (artificial) intervention of science and technology; including hospitals, modern medicine, engineering and architecture.

Nature woo relies on maintaining false dichotomies between Nature, humankind and human products, as if ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' does not form a part of dear old {{wpl | Mother Nature | "Mother Nature"}}, and as if once ''Homo sapiens'' has generated something it ceases to be "natural". In finer terms, the distinction made seems to be between the spontaneous and instinctive on the one hand, and the "unnatural" intellectual and reasoning (i.e. ''not'' spontaneous, and thus not with obvious time-proved antecedents) on the other. In other words, [[appeal to nature]] here is effectively a chthonic version of [[Appeal to tradition|an appeal to tradition]].

==Examples==
*[[Alternative medicine]]
**[[Crystal healing]]
**[[Herbal supplement|Herbalism]]
**[[Homeopathy]]
*Natural parenting woo:
**[[Lactivism]]
**[[Natural childbirth|Natural childbirth and home birth]], which may or may not be better for mother and child (should be cheaper, at least), but are not necessarily better just by virtue of being "natural."
*[[Vaccine hysteria]]
*[[Organic food]]
*[[Aspartame|Aspartame controversy]]
*[[Chemophobia]]
*[[E number]] phobia

==See also==
*[[List of medicinal plants]] (includes side effects)
*[[Noble savage]], a stereotype of native peoples used to hawk "natural" products
*[[Folk science]]

[[Category:Nature woo| ]]

Categories: Nature woo