Natural Cures Vs Modern Medicine

Both sides in the Argument of Natural cure vs Modern Medicine have it wrong. As some one who studies history, & as someone who once worked in the medical field, I can tell you a thing or two. Not all Native people's thrived, some disappeared because, they grew to big, and over used their land. So, when drought or some other natural disaster came a long, their society collapsed. On the other hand, other tribes did live a more harmonious existence for a thousand years or more, which is more than we can say for most civilizations. As far as medicine goes, while its true, 60% if not more of our drugs are based on cures found in nature via plants, animals, etc, one should not discount modern medicine. There are millions of people who would not be alive today without modern medicine. Before modern medicine came into being, midwives performed the task of being the healer, helped deliver babies, etc. These dedicated women were much like modern Seamen/medicine men, as they passed down knowledge of natural cures, from one generation to the next. Modern medicine had an ugly start, when men decided they wanted control, and were threatened by what they perceived as the power women had. So, these men, who had no knowledge of natural cures came up with cures, often as deadly as the illness itself. It wasn't until scientific methodologies were reintroduced, which the women simply had learned from trial and error, over the generations; that the men began to make progress. Today, the science of modern medicine is as robust and refined as any formal science, which is why, false cures, tainted prescriptions, etc are weeded out. This does of course, make the process for adopting new prescriptions take some time, as they do have to be shown to work, as they claim they do.

I hear people denounce modern medicine all the time, they say, don't take pills, just take natural cures, even though over 60percent of modern medicines are derived from plant based cures, and now some are derived from chemicals found in animals via their venom,hormones, etc. I have family who have had cancer, and natural cures may have helped, but some people have forgone modern treatments for natural cures, and died of their cancers. It is easy to assume that, because a natural cure can cure one or two things, or that several things can be cured naturally, that all things can be cured that way. What is needed is a balance, that balance is to take the scientific knowledge of modern medicine, and to apply it to native cures. Modern medicine is in fact doing that. Its searching the rain forests, the oceans, the deserts, etc for new chemicals found in plants, animals, etc for cures for cancer, neurological disorders, and any number of health problems. There are programs to work with native healers, so they may pass on their knowledge to modern medicine, so that we may all benefit from their knowledge. However, we must also be on the watch for those who claim to know about cures, the market is full of people pedaling natural cures, via alternative health stores, etc. Just because something is natural doesn't make it safe. Some natural things offered in these stores can interact with medications, vitamins, minerals, etc. This is why, you should always discuss with your doctor, any thing you are thinking of taking. More and more doctors are aware of of natural/homeopathic medicines, and their interactions with any prescriptions you may be taking.

Our lifestyle is one of the most important starting point in changing our health, most people don't get enough fruits and vegetables, don't get enough exercise, and don't get enough sleep. We are too sedentary as a society, our jobs have us sitting in front of computers, then we come home and watch TV, sit in front of the computer, and play video games. All it takes is an hour a day of exercise, and if its choosing being healthy vs a stroke or heart attack in my 50s, I'll choose exercise. We also need to do something active, while on our breaks at work. Studies show, when you sit inactive for long periods of time, the blood pools in your body, and that even if your in good physical shape, it can have adverse effects on your health. For those of us that have children, or who have children in our lives, we need to lead by example, for our children will follow in our footsteps, and often at a faster and therefore, a more unhealthy pace. By being fit, we can help insure our children and the future generations are fit. By eating foods with less artificial ingredients, less preservatives, healthier fats, etc we can teach our children and their children to eat healthy, and to be healthy. Many of these things are not only linked to obesity, but to cancer, diabetes, and a host of other diseases. I recently read about an announcement about pesticides being linked to ADHD, and it has me wondering if, other frontal lobe disorders, such as Autism, ADD, etc are not also linked to pesticides, what about sociopathic behavior, as it too is linked to frontal lobe malformation/underdevelopment. The fact the FDA doesn't screen from pesticides or heavy metals in our food, should be of great concern.

Keeping one's home as free from chemicals as possible is another step we can take to insuring our health, as studies have shown, having a home that is too sterile is actually bad for our immune system, and may even be a cause of some allergies and asthma. Home made, chemical free cleaners are cheap, easy to make, and non-toxic. Also avoid products with chemicals, such as plastics with BPA, fabrics with chemicals, etc. Carpeting is known to be vary toxic, and a new car leaches many chemicals over a long period of time, to several chemicals. So medicine and health is a complex subject, that simply saying go natural won't fix. It involves many choices, being informed, and knowing when to go natural, and when to go chemical, or with a surgery, or other treatment.

The Environment

In discussions about the environment, I here people say that, the planet will do fine. Its not the planet I'm worried about, its humanity I'm concerned about. I mean, other than an object bigger than the moon, the earth would probably survive, I mean, it did once before, hence the moon. What worries me today is, I have a niece and nephew, who may have kids some day. I also have extended family, who will probably have kids, who's lives will be impacted by global warming. I also have a number of friends who have kids, or may have kids, who's lives will be impacted by global warming. All one needs to do to understand the dangers of global warming is study history. In the past, individual societies, like Aztec and Mayans would disappear from the face of the earth, because they over used their land, and their population grew to the point, any natural disaster, like a drought, meant disaster. Today, the scope of humanity's actions are so huge and far reaching, that they threaten all life on earth. If we are lucky, humanity stops itself, and undoes the damage, before we pass beyond the tipping point of no return. If we are unfortunate, humanity dies, but enough of the ecosystem remains to renew itself in time. If we are completely helpless, not only does humanity die, but the environment goes into greenhouse overdrive, like Venus, and all life dies. All the models prove global warming is here, upper atmosphere cooling, and lower atmosphere warming, more warming at night, more warming over the oceans, more warming at lower hemispheres, etc. The melting of the ice caps may have reached a cascade level, where the lack of ice is adding to the warming, which makes more ice melt, which adds to the warming, till it can't be stopped.

Humanity needs to stop all petty warfare and concentrate on the environment, work towards true alternative energies like nuclear fusion, breeder reactors, who's radioactive waste last decades, rather than thousands of years. The faithful need to treat the earth as such, and stop trying to debunk evolution, simply have faith in how science has shown how it works. Science hasn't said, god didn't use evolution to create life, or didn't use the big bang to create the universe. Science simply tells us how things happen, philosophy and religion speak as to why. As long as you don't stomp on another person's view of why something happened, I could care less, if you think little green men created the big bang, lol. Humanity has so much potential, we are at our worst, when things are at their best, and often at our best when things are at their worst. However, we can't afford for things to get much worse, in order for them to bring humanity together as a whole, we must choose to come together now, on our own accord.

Corporations are only doing a little bit, I mean, the percentage of Chevron's research money going into alternative/clean energy, is vary small, compared to whats going into oil research. So, they keep investing into something they know will be gone in five or ten years, because that's where the profits are today. Likewise, companies are spending billions of dollars on extracting the last drops of oil out of the ground, from under the oceans etc, yet there are cleaner ways to power our factories and homes. New solar technologies greatly reduce its costs, and if mass produced, the costs would be even less. Nuclear is an option, as burning coal releases more radiation than other processes. Breeder reactors can use radioactive waste as fuel, however some governments like the United States are against them, because they can be used to create, refined uranium. Simply put, if we put as much energy into solving the problem as we have debating it, denying it, and defending it, we could make a lot of progress and solve the problem. The fact companies can sell products in second and third countries, which have been banned in 1st world nations, because they are known to damage the environment, cause birth defects, etc can not continue. We can not afford to allow corporate corruption and exploitation, nor political corruption and exploitation of the planet or its people.

I'll step off my soap box now, lol.