| We measure our world by the limits of our | | | | This is only a small representation of the dramatic |
| knowledge and experience. If the only tool you | | | | changes our modern world has produced related |
| have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything | | | | just to food. On a broader environmental scale, |
| like nails. Bigotry, bias, and prejudice are all words | | | | human activity rivals the natural processes that |
| that describe this limited view (hammer) each of | | | | have built the biosphere. About 40% of the |
| us tends to embrace and apply. | | | | earth's photosynthetic capacity (plant growth) is |
| A dog does not comprehend poetry, nor does an | | | | now appropriated for human use. The biologically |
| infant calculus. The worlds of the dog and of the | | | | available nitrogen and phosphorus used by humans |
| child are extremely limited in scope. For the dog it | | | | for fertilizer and chemicals about equals the |
| is predominantly genetically determined. Even if a | | | | amount produced by nature. We apparently can |
| dog would like to understand poetry, it couldn't | | | | alter our atmosphere on a global scale (ozone, |
| and will never grow into it either. On the other | | | | Chernobyl, greenhouse gases). Huge numbers of |
| hand, a child's view of the world can expand | | | | species stand on the curling tip of a wave of |
| continually throughout life. Unfortunately, as we | | | | extinction - and the list goes on. |
| get into our teenage years and become certain | | | | Though it seems presumptuous to suggest that |
| that our knowledge encompasses just about all | | | | we, here, now in this generation are unique in all |
| that could be known - certainly more than both | | | | of history, the evidence supports that we are. |
| parents combined - we become increasingly | | | | We are a pivotal generation that can either turn |
| arrogant, and with this arrogance, closed minded. | | | | things around or continue to fuel a degrading |
| Intellectual growth can actually stop by about the | | | | environmental/health spiral that soon, if unaltered |
| age of 13, with vocabulary serving as an index of | | | | by us, will continue in spite of any efforts we |
| this growth and not increasing significantly for | | | | make later to change things. |
| most people after this age. | | | | Scary? Yes, indeed. But we need to get scared if |
| With that as a preface, let me say that it is easy | | | | that's what it takes to wake up. We are, without |
| for us to believe that the world we were born | | | | a doubt, a very special generation with the weight |
| into is the only real world. Fluorescent lights, | | | | of the world's future literally on our shoulders. |
| conditioned air, automobiles, pop, French fries, | | | | Don't despair. You, yes little ole puny you, can do |
| television, and polyester may seem like the only | | | | much. Everything ever done always began with |
| real and natural world for humans. Without the | | | | one. Act on the things you know to be right, |
| perspective of history, there would be no way of | | | | healthy, socially responsible, and environmentally |
| knowing any differently. | | | | sensitive. |
| But we do have history. Prior to the Industrial | | | | Yes, you. Yes, now. Yes, there is no downside in |
| Revolution, which occurred about 200 years ago, | | | | doing so. |
| we were by and large in an entirely different | | | | *Further Reading: |
| setting. We spent the majority of our time | | | | [The Wysong Optimal Health Program (TM) ] |
| outside and without any of the modern | | | | [What Does Our Genetic Program Say We Should |
| conveniences and technologies we have come to | | | | Eat?] |
| believe to be as natural and automatic as a tree | | | | [Genetic Context The Fundamental Key to Health] |
| or the wind. | | | | [Look at the Big Picture] |
| Our genes, however, are not equally convinced. | | | | [Be a Thinking Person] |
| They remain encoded for the natural world. They | | | | [Do Not Let Technology Think for You] |
| are, in fact, an inward definition of the external | | | | [Stay Open to Learning Every Day] |
| natural, pre-Industrial, more pristine world. | | | | [Man The Apex Predator] |
| In this new modern synthetic world we are | | | | [Humans Are Not Too Puny to Remodel the |
| increasingly alienating our basic biological make up. | | | | Whole Planet] |
| We are like fish taken out of water. | | | | [Ozone Marks Environmental Threats] |
| The accompanying charts demonstrate the | | | | [Using Intelligence in Food Choices] |
| dramatic change occurring just in the last 100 | | | | [Are We Healthier? |
| years. | | | | |