Dear Friends,

At this very moment I’m 30,000 feet over gorgeous northern California on my way to LA, thinking of all those people down there. What an awesome experience it must be to view mother earth from space. Astronauts have characterized it as a transcendental experience, giving them pause to think differently about their own lives and their relationships to the rest of life. Perhaps it leads one to reflect on the big questions like: Who am I? What’s my purpose? How can I fulfill that purpose? Certainly a trip, figuratively speaking, we all need to take.

This planet is not terra firma. It is a delicate flower and it must be cared for. It’s lovely. It’s small. It’s isolated and there is no resupply. And we are mistreating it. Clearly, the highest loyalty we should have is not to our own country or our own religion or our own hometown or even ourselves. It should be to, number two, the family of man [human], and number one, the planet [mother earth] at large. This is our home, and this is all we’ve got.

(Scott Carpenter, Mercury 7 astronaut)

A Chinese tale talks of some men sent to harm a young girl who upon seeing her beauty, became her protectors rather than her violators. That’s how I felt seeing the earth for the first time, I could not help but love and cherish her.

(Taylor Wang, astronaut)

As we got farther and farther away, it [the earth] diminished in size. Finally it shrunk to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. The beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man.

(James Irwin, astronaut)

We each have our own personal narrative, our story about how we relate to the rest of life around us. The blessing for all of us is that the way in which we interact with the rest of life can change as we grow in experience, and evolve into new ways of understanding ourselves—where we fit in life. As Americans, we have viewed ourselves as separate from nature as though we can do what ever we please to her without paying the piper. How shamefully childish and unenlightened we have been. But, this is changing…there is reason for hope.

I propose a new narrative (as Dohrea says), one that deeply connects us to the biosphere. As we look at earth from space, thinking about it from a biospheric perspective, we know a few things: One, is that earth’s blue/green color comes from its covering of life (take a look at the picture above!). Life that is, in essence, one vast food chain that consumes, cycles and recycles both living and non-living matter. Secondly, that this process creates the rich soil, an oxygen filled atmosphere, pure water and weather suitable for the emergence of increasing biodiversity. Thirdly, we now conceive of life not so much of a process of the survival of the fittest, but as a process of symbiosis—life forms helping other live forms symbiotically to survive through forming complex networks of communication and support at all levels of existence, from our cells and bodies to ecosystems and the whole earth herself as one vast ecosystem—named Gaia.

Let’s examine the biosphere. From deep space, into the troposphere (look up this word!) we drop, finding ourself by chance descending into one of the wild places on earth—the middle of the great Ituri rainforest in the heart of the Congo. The jungles of central Africa and the jungles of the Amazon are the lungs of the earth, pulling CO2 from the air and putting oxygen back for us all to breathe.

This special place was filmed by the Planet Earth team. As in any ecosystem, each of its creatures play a special part in keeping it healthy. The elephants drink very rich mineral water, while their waste contributes nutrients and organic matter back into the soil. A critical watering hole for these forest dwellers. As we zoom in closer we see these three together, perhaps they are a family. Elephants mate for life. Family members, bonded together, protecting and supporting each other for their mutual survival.

Taking a closer look still, at the largest of the three, not sure if it’s the poppa or momma, we know that this beautiful creature is a collection of both elephant cells and microbial cells, not unlike us and our human microbiome. If you recall, our human microbiome in our gut is composed of 100 trillion bugs, that’s tens times more than our total human cell mass—yet when were healthy they work together as one collaborative system. It is the same for our elephant friend, whose physiology relies on healthy elephant and symbiotic microbial cells within its gut, and its other orafices, and on its skin—all working together for the survival of this intelligent pachyderm. What’s the microbiome count for an elephant gut?

So what are we? An individual self trying to survive in a dog-eat-dog world, or an intimate part of a collective whole called Gaia—or somewhere in between? The bottomline is, at every level, we are an intimate part of the natural world where even our individual human cells have evolved as an intermingling of human DNA and microbial DNA. As we’ve closely looked at the power house organelle within each of our cells, the mitochondria, we’ve come to realize that these membrane bound entities contain their own DNA, unique to that of our cells’-most likely derived from ancient bacterial origin. At our cellular core we are symbiotically connected to the microbial world. From a purely Gaiac perspective, James Lovelock with help from Lynn Margulis in his 1979 book, Gaia: A New Look at Life On Earth, proposes:

All organisms and their inorganic surroundings on earth are closely integrated to form a single and self regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet …. The troposphere, the blanket of air covering the earth where all the weather takes place, is the circulatory system, produced and sustained by life …. Humans may be the emerging brains of Gaia. We are the micro-beings and Gaia is the macro-being.

In conclusion, life is a vast network of relationships to which we are deeply connected. A lifeless Earth would have a surface atmosphere somewhere between Mars and Venus, which is mostly made up of CO2 and methane. It would be much hotter, much more acidic, the clouds on Venus are mostly composed of a sulfuric acid atmosphere. Fortunately, we are becoming aware that by our actions we are affecting the whole biosphere, and that how it all turns out for us is very much in our hands. Knowing this is the good news. Now it is time to smell the roses and get to work.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Isn’t it time for a Spring cleaning of our body? Many of you have your detox programs
for your patients in the Spring. Our new product fit right in. Here they are: Energy Sustain, Cruciferous Sprouts Complex, Chlorella, Phyto Power, Ultra Minerals and Original Synbiotic Formula.

Let’s look at them from right to left: Energy Sustain: organic quinoa, amaranth, chia, buckwheat and millet, all especially milled to make their nutrients available. There is no gluten, yeast, wheat, corn, soy, or excipients and additives of any kind. They are clean and pure. They are kosher. Cruciferous Sprouts: broccoli, daikon radish, red radish, watercress, kale, mustard, cabbage. All freeze dried sprouts harvested on the third day when their glucosinolates are at their heights. Phyto Power: whole and very potent multi-species of wildcrafted Blueberry, Dandelion and Rosehips-just think of the red, blue and green power. Ultra Minerals: 72 nano sized, negatively charged plant derived minerals from Deep Time-predating humans destructive involvement with the land. Original Synbiotic Formula: good bacteria and good fiber. Mix with a little dilute organic pear or apple juice-a good breakfast.

The Last Quiz Answer:

A new study has found that forest elephants may be responsible for spreading and planting more seeds in the Congo than any other species. Dr. Stephen Blake’s, of the Max Planck Institute in Ornithology, research shows that elephants consume more than 96 species of plant seeds and can carry them as far as 35 miles from the point of origin. The study did not take into account seeds smaller than a centimter, even though seeds of this size were estimated to number in the hundreds and thousands in the dung piles studied. The forest elephants are under the threat of extinction due to poaching for their ivory for the Chinese market. There numbers have been reduced by 80% in the last 50 years. We are witnessing their annihilation.

A Farm For the Future by Rebecca Hosking Rebecca Hosking is a wildlife film maker, who has made to spectacular documentary of her journey back to her aging parents farm to becoming a farmer herself and save the farm. It is a documentary divided into five chewable parts that will totally delight you and masterfully inform you. It is every bit as important as Food Inc. Just watch the first segment and you will be delightfully hooked.

Dear Friends,

It’s spring.  It’s time to check out the soil, plant the garden, watch life sprout and grow.  Watch the biosphere do its thing.

Two questions for you: What is your definition of the biosphere?  How can a proper understanding of what the biosphere is, save us from extinction?

Here’s mine:  The biosphere is the biofilm of life on the rock we call earth. (Bardell. S., 4/11/2012)

Here’s another, expanded a bit more for further clarification: The biosphere is the totality of life living and dead plus its interactions with rocks, water, and air.  It is diverse and complex. (Donovan, P., Carbon Cycle video, Soil Carbon Coalition, 2010)

So, the biosphere is the zone of the earth where the complex interweaving of living and nonliving systems occurs.  Fritjof Capra (1996) in his book, The Web of Life, takes us into the workings of the biosphere through explaining its carbon cycle/.  Let’s look at the carbon cycle from two vantage points as he provides us with foundational and transformative ideas.

By blending water and minerals from below with sunlight and CO2 from above, green plants grow out of the soil, but in fact most of their substance comes from the air.  The bulk of the cellulose and the other organic compounds produced through photosynthesis consists of heavy carbon and oxygen atoms, which plants take directly from the air in the form of CO2.  Thus the weight of a wooden log comes almost entirely from the air.  When we burn a log in a fireplace, oxygen and carbon combine once more into CO2, and in the light and heat of the fire we recover part of the solar energy that went into making the wood.

We have this great plant next to our kitchen sink.  It’s been with us for years and all I’ve ever done to keep it happy is water it.  No plant foods given, no changing of its soils, nothing but supplying water—and still it’s alive, healthy and busting with life.  This wonderful plant supplies us with beauty, fills our room with oxygen, and takes the CO2 out of the air.  Isn’t it amazing to realize that most of its material for existance and growth comes from the air?

Another example of how carbon cycles through the biosphere is called The weathering effect.

Rain (containing CO2) falls to the earth and mixes with the rocks (containing calcium), which is catalyzed by soil bacteria to form calcium carbonate (CaCO3).  The soluble CaCO3 washes into the ocean where it is absorbed by microscopic algae to form their tiny microscopic shells.  When they die, they fall to the bottom of the sea to form limestone.  As the weight of the limestone builds it eventually finds its way through the ocean floor’s earth crust, falling into the mantle of hot molten rock underneath.  This is then, through volcanic action, spewed back into the atmosphere as CO2, to be recycled once again by plants and rainfall.

The only waste generated by the ecosystem as a whole is the heat energy of respiration, which is radiated into the atmosphere and is replenished continually by the sun through photosynthesis. Eugene Odum’s dictum, “Matter circulates, energy dissipates.” (Capra, 1996)

Knowing the path carbon takes during its cycling, gives us the power to control our fate when it comes to the escalating atmospheric green house gasses that are catapulting us into extinction.

The slide, on the right,  comes from the excellent Carbon Cycle powerpoint on the home page of the Soil Carbon Coalition.  As you can see from this slide, there is more carbon trapped in the soil in organic matter (humus) than in the atmosphere and plants combined.  The humus holds carbon and reduces CO2 levels in the atmosphere.  The humus plays a leading part in the storage of energy of solar origin in the surface of the earth.  As Donovan says in his carbon cycle video, “When there is more carbon in plants and soils there is more water in the soil, more photosynthesis, more work ,more food and more of what we need and the rest of life needs.  If is a reinforcing or positive feedback loop.”

So, what is the biosphere?  The biosphere is the totality of life on earth that captures the energy of the sun to continuously cycle matter.  The pattern of this work can becomes clear as we come to understand the carbon cycle—a circular never ending flow of matter that flows through and connects all life.  It is the cycle of birth, growth, death and decay. (Donovan)

How does this understanding help us save ourselves?  By understanding the carbon cycle we also realize the key factor in whether or not we will be able to stop the escalating rise in greenhouse CO2 levels, which threatens us with the next mass extinction. How well we manage the soil of the earth has the potential of saving our world but if we continue with our present mismanagement of our farming practices we will reap the grim consequences.  So roll your sleeves, plant your organic gardens, water your plants indoor with love, and pass on the urgent message that change is good.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Isn’t it time for a Spring cleaning of our body.  Many of you have your detox programs

for your patients in the Spring.  Our new product fit right in.  Here they are:  Energy Sustain, Cruciferous Sprouts Complex, Chlorella, Phyto Power, Ultra Minerals and Original Synbiotic Formula.

Let’s look at them from right to left:  Energy Sustain:  organic quinoa, amaranth, chia, buckwheat and millet, all especially milled to make their nutrients available.  There is no gluten, yeast, wheat, corn, soy, or excipients and additives of any kind.  They are clean and pure. They are kosher. Cruciferous Sprouts:  broccoli, daikon radish, red radish, watercress, kale, mustard, cabbage.  All freeze dried sprouts harvested on the third day when their glucosinolates are at their heights.  Phyto Power:  whole and very potent multi-species of wildcrafted Blueberry, Dandelion and Rosehips—just think of the red, blue and green power.  Ultra Minerals:  72 nano sized, negatively charged plant derived minerals from Deep Time—predating humans destructive involvement with the land.  Original Synbiotic Formula:  good bacteria and good fiber.  Mix with a little dilute organic pear or apple juice—a good breakfast.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This gorgeous frog comes from the jungles of Central America, where it was filmed by the Planet Earth team.  Their experience as they traveled around the earth to wilderness places was that the amphibian populations are in collapse.  Of the 6000 species of frogs worldwide one-third are endangered.  Why?

They are like the carnary in the mine—sensitive to unhealthy atmospheric conditions.  The frogs are the canary of our world.  Their skin is very vulnerable to the rising tide of pollutions and pathogens.  One of the lead scientists in the Planet Earth Video said that frogs are becoming extinct throughout Central America.

Climate Impact Day on May 5th, 2012 is coming! From early morning on May 5th when the sun first rises in the Central Pacific and our colleagues in the Marshall Islands do a daybreak dive on their damaged coral reef, we’ll be following the day around the globe, providing an endless stream of pictures and images.  People around the world will upload a group photo from their local event that captures their big climate dot.  We’ll help you figure out what makes sense, and how to pull together the logistics, but we need you spirit of solidarity to get it going. Imagine one of the largest banners the world has ever seen, staked down on a California glacier with a simple message:  I’m melting!  Now imagine, at the same moment, activists in Ho Chi Minh City gathering along the Saigon River to mark the ever higher tides that are swamping homes and neighborhoods.   Now imagine our friends in Hobart, Tasmania gathering along the beach to mark severe erosion from a recent series of freak storms.  Start or join an event near you for Climate Impacts Day on 5/5/12.  Click on the above link.

Dear Friends,

Home, home on the range.  Where the deer and the antelope play.  Where seldom is heard a discouraging word.  And, the skies are not cloudy all day”—a verse from a good old American cowboy song from times gone bye.

Just imagine what the experience of Lewis and Clark must have been like as they crossed into the Great Plains and saw this vast grassland, home to 64 million bison, along with wolves, bear, birds, bees and humans (the native Americans)—a humming, thriving healthy ecosystem.

The soil of the prairie was rich and deep, filled with microbes, worms, insects and organic matter, able to absorb and sequester carbon from the atmosphere, thereby reducing excessive CO2 levels (greenhouse gasses), protecting against the warming our planet, and resultant erratic and violent weather patterns.  The Great Plains soil was able to hold water and to filter water, thereby providing protection against draughts, erosion and providing to its inhabitants’ clean drinking water—an ecosystem perfectly in tune. Mother Nature provides these ecosystem services for free.  The biosphere left in the hands of Mother Nature to do its work, creates grasslands, forests and abundant biodiversity, not desserts and wastelands.

But, what do we have today in the mid west?  Just a handful of bison (count them with one hand), and over 40 million cattle and other live stock in animal prisons (CAFOs). The cattle are fed foods that they are not genetically able to handle, given antibiotics to keep them alive long enough to push their unhealthy bodies into rapid growth and to hasten their trip to the slaughter house.  Have you seen Food Inc.?  If not, you truly owe it to yourself to see it.  It is a perfect educational tool for the whole family, for your patients, for the public school systems of America.  Food Inc. exposes factory farms for what they are. The corruption of our food system worldwide, by a handful of giant transnational corporation, becomes apparent and understandable.  The need for action unmistakable.

The grasslands of the midwest have become vast monocultural plantations, and because of the modern industrial agricultural practice of the heavy tilling of the soil, pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, we’ve degraded its ability to hold carbon, losing it back to the atmosphere as CO2. The weakened soil is easily eroded, the increasing wind storms and tornadoes have carried away much of the top soil, and with it the services it provides us.  In some areas of the Great Plains, topsoil has decreased in thickness from twelve inches to 4 inches.  During the past 50 years or so our actions have resulted in the loss of roughly one fifth of the earth’s topsoil, one fifth of its land unsuitable for agriculture (Sustaining Life, How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity, 2008, Oxford University Press).

What can we do?  Plenty!  These are very exciting times and there is much being done. Briefly, I’ll introduce you to some exceptional individuals and organizations, worthy of your checking out.  Here are their links:

The Soil Carbon Coalition- Put the carbon back where it belongs.  Check out this non-profit organization.  They have an amazing solution.  If you have only a minute, go to the bottom of their home page and click on the Carbon Cycle Video, and if you’re really pressed for time just click on Part 2.  It is well done.  You’ll be glad you did.

The Polyface Farm- At Polyface our goal is to collect as much solar energy as possible. And grow as much grass as possible because we are completly grass based. In this link you’ll meet Joel Salatin, and his Polyface farm—it shows us what a farm can be.  It’s a bit of heaven on earth—truly home on the range.

That’s it.  I’ll keep this email short and sweet because my hope is that you will take just a moment to check out the important links above—they present a new vision of how to stop global warming, and reverse the de-evolutionary process.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Isn’t it time for a Spring cleaning of our body.  Many of you have your detox programs for your patients in the Spring.  Our new product fit right in.  Here they are:  Energy Sustain, Cruciferous Sprouts Complex, Chlorella, Phyto Power, Ultra Minerals and Original Synbiotic Formula.

Let’s look at them from right to left:  Energy Sustain:  organic quinoa, amaranth, chia, buckwheat and millet, all especially milled to make their nutrients available.  There is no gluten, yeast, wheat, corn, soy, or excipients and additives of any kind.  They are clean and pure. They are kosher. Cruciferous Sprouts:  broccoli, daikon radish, red radish, watercress, kale, mustard, cabbage.  All freeze dried sprouts harvested on the third day when their glucosinolates are at their heights.  Phyto Power:  whole and very potent multi-species of wildcrafted Blueberry, Dandelion and Rosehips—just think of the red, blue and green power.  Ultra Minerals:  72 nano sized, negatively charged plant derived minerals from Deep Time—predating humans destructive involvement with the land.  Original Synbiotic Formula:  good bacteria and good fiber.  Mix with a little dilute organic pear or apple juice—a good breakfast.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This amazing creature is the Amur leopard.  The last remaining viable wild population, estimated 20-25 individuals, is found in a small area in the Russian Province of Primorsky Krai, between Vladivostok and the Chinese border.

In adjacent China, 7-12 scattered individuals are estimated to remain. In South Korea, the last record of an Amur leopard dates back to 1969, when a leopard was captured on the slopes of Odo Mountain, in South Kyongsang Province.

It is estimated that between 1970-1983, the Amur leopard lost an astonishing 80% of its former territory. Indiscriminate logging, forest fires and land conversion for farming are the main causes.  According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), one of my most favorite conservation groups, believes that the Amur leopard can be saved from extinction if the present conservation initiatives are implemented, enhanced and sustained.

This Spring We Rise! April 9-15 we will gather across America, 100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to train ourselves in non-violent action and join together in the work of reclaiming our country. History is calling; it’s time to step up. Hey guys, click on the above link, and check this out.  I did, and have signed up to go to an instructional meeting in my neighborhood, to get us ready to move in mass across the country.  There will be a meeting in your area to educate you in the non-violent protest process, all in preparation for the show of force in mass.