Saving the Planet, One Bite at a Time

What we put into our mouths is as much about nourishing our bodies as it is about nourishing our souls. There is plenty of research out there to tell us that eating and our mental health are directly linked, and that stuffing ourselves with feel good foods is not about what our body requires, but it's about trying to fill an emptiness within. What we eat is connected to our spirituality.

Our planet is in dire need of our attention and care. We have used it up, and she is rebelling. Climate change and global warming are real, and we are feeling its effects in some dramatic ways. We are facing a global crisis like none ever seen before. I would suggest that this may be the deepest spiritual crisis humanity has had to face. Sadly, it's a crisis that comes out of our disconnectedness from the very ground and environment that supports us and gives us life. It's a disconnectedness that leads to apathy, grief, feelings of loss and emptiness. And so we try to fend it off with food. Just like those blue days when all we want to do is lay in front of the TV and eat chips and drink beer and hope it will make us feel all better. Just anesthetize ourselves to the pain, the feelings of emptiness, and it will all go away. But the truth is, and we all know this but don't know what else to do, it won't.

Despair is not a good answer to this kind of problem because it just contributes to the deepening of the crisis. I know this, because I have been despairing over the global situation for a couple of decades now, and it hasn't gotten any better. So I decided to haul my fat butt off the couch, and see if there is anything that might might possibly give us some hope. Something that can be done by any and all of us that goes beyond reducing, reusing and recycling. It occurred to me that perhaps what we are eating may be one place to start.

After watching What the Health, Cowspiracy (both on Netflix) a bunch of TED talks and You Tube videos, and some long rounds of internet research on the ways in which food is produced, and especially here in North America, I was forced to face the reality that our food production system is a huge factor in climate change and global warming. And how did we get here? Through our disconnection with where food comes from: the planet Earth. From this finite place we call home. And this disconnection is, in my view, a spiritual problem.

I’m hoping there are some of you out there who might like to engage in a discussion about this, to share ideas, resources and maybe even things you are doing to reconnect to your own spirituality (not necessarily religion). Or maybe just some new vegan recipes! Lets see if there are some things we can do to turn this ship around, one bite at a time!!

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