Proactive Amidst This Crisis

with Dr. Zach Bush

Anxiety is running high right now. We feel helpless, and perhaps even powerless, in the face of this “virus.” Dr. Zach Bush, physician, international educator, and thought leader on the microbiome, suggests two ideas to empower us in our desire to protect our health: 1) there are positive steps we can take to improve our own health and the health of the planet and 2) we should not blame the “virus” for the deterioration of both.

Zach explains in detail how toxins in our environment have led us to where we are today: as sick as our surroundings. He suggests that pollutants in the air and on the land are compromising our health and jeopardizing our future. The virus is just an “innocent bystander,” in his estimation, being blamed for a larger problem. His prescription for each of us? Get outside. Reconnect with nature. And with one another.

Notes:

Highlights from the conversation include:

How we should respond to our current crisis
How to “co-create” w/ the planet and take better care of ourselves & all who inhabit it
How viral work is always pro-life, pro-people; in other words, viruses are usually quite benign (including the coronavirus)
Virus as messenger that we are under some kind of environmental stress and need to adapt or repair as a result
Exposure to toxins is causing the respiratory distress and illness
Most viruses blow over in 18 months or so
The virus will always be around but it will be less powerful when we deal with toxins
When air pollution decreased in China, covid cases disappeared
Sheltering in place reduced numbers of cases not because people were avoiding contact with each other but because people were not poisoning the earth
Why social distancing (and masks) are unhelpful
How viruses travel; humans are not the vectors
The virus is an innocent bystander in a sense
Our intuition and biology have the power to repair, regenerate, & make us resilient
The power of gardening and connecting with nature
How a hug is a critical tool for healing the immune system & cultivating biodiversity
The danger of isolation (on a cellular level but also for human beings)
How a cancer cell’s isolation leads to its prolific replication
What makes people more vulnerable to the toxins carried by the virus
How Zach predicted the virus
Why Wuhan area was particularly likely to be the hotspot for illness
What Zach would do if he were in charge: no masks and everyone in nature
The need to change our transportation, energy, and food system habits
One in eight children have asthma; they can’t breathe b/c our planet can’t breathe