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Show Let's Expand Our View Of Health And Think Big By DALE O. NELSON Utah State University At least once we ought to expand our view of health, fitness, and life. Let's "think big" this time around. It is a fascinating challenge. CONSIDER THE fact that if our lives are inseparable from the geochemical processes of the earth, and it seems they are, then our whole planet must be one great living organism. Many scientists are now saying that life is a property of our geologically active planet whose elements keep recycling under the driving forces of solar radiation and mechanical energy from processes within the mantle and core (Science 83: Jan. -Feb). Data from many scientific disciplines confirm that the life of any single organism is part of a larger scale process involving the "metabolism" of the whole earth. Continued biological activity is then an "earthly" property, an interrelationship or organisms, atmospheres, atmos-pheres, oceans, and continents, all of which are in some sense alive. Without the part played by each of these W components, life as we know it wouls, on a geological time scale, grind to a halt. IN THE INTEREST of space I'm leaving out the ; details that easily tie all of this "living earth" concept . together. But in the final analysis it seems that, when we establish an understanding of the relations between these complementary views of life, we will have a much better idea of how health and fitness on a massive scale really works. Hopefully, the global view might induce us to love and respect our planet earth a little more. There is a purpose for you and me in volcanoes, earthquakes, ocean activity, weather, and all such natural occurrences. occurr-ences. On the other hand, our misuse of the planet adversely affects our health, fitness, and, ultimately, our very lives. It's immensity somehow boggles the finite mind. FINALLY, IF the life, health and fitness of each of us humans is bound to all other life, including the life of planet earth, then we ought to have more concern for the fitness of our environment. Ultimately, your health and fitness is favorably or unfavorably influenced by what happens to all plant and animal life, by the quality of air that surrounds our planet, by our treatment of the earth's surface, and a myriad of other "happenings" that most of us ignore, consider unimportant, or look upon with an attitude of "I can't do anything about it." If the shoe fits TZzrzrzzTzz , , |
