When we speak of “the environment”, we are invariably speaking of the environment outside of us, the external environment.  The plants, animals and other living organisms in this environment share the air we breathe, the water we drink and swim in, and the soil we walk upon.  Their survival is to some degree dependent upon our wise stewardship of the Earth’s resources.

When we endeavor to protect this environment it is a noble enterprise.  It demonstrates our reverence for Mother Earth and our appreciation for the beautiful world we live in.  Most of us however fail to realize how the health of the external environment determines to a large degree the health of our internal environment, the health of the environment within our bodies.

Our external and internal environments are inextricably linked.  Breathing in the air we all share, drinking the water that bathes the entire planet, and eating the food grown in the soil of the earth, incorporates the external environment into the very structure of our bodies, not only affecting our physical health, but our mental, emotional and spiritual health as well.

Our Western mind, greatly affected by the Western scientific approach, has an affinity to separate things in order to better understand them.  Although this scientific approach has led to much greater understanding of various basic sciences, it remains blind in many ways to how it all fits together in our complex world.

Just as in Western culture we tend to think of the “body” and the “mind”, in actuality there is no separation at all.  According to Candace Pert, M.D., a neurophysiologist researcher, there is only the “body-mind”.  The mind and the body are one.  Each affects the other in many complex and profound ways.

Similarly, there is no “external environment” and “internal environment”.  Those are only artificial constructs of our Western mind.  There is only “The Environment”, which encompasses everything within and around us.  By affecting the one, we are automatically affecting the other.  Polluting the external environment pollutes our internal environment, and vise-versa.

So, being good stewards of the environment is not only altruistic, it is self-serving (in a good way) as well; contributing in very substantive ways to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.  The choices we make always have a dualistic affect.  Choosing to eat organic food not only results in less pollution of our internal environment and leads to improved health; it also supports more farmers growing more food without pesticides and herbicides, resulting in less pollutants released into the external environment.

Eating locally and seasonally not only results in less fossil fuels being burned in order to transport food to our table; it also provides us with food that is seasonally appropriate for our bodies, leading to increased levels of health and vitality.

Dr. Mark Baxter is a local chiropractor who specializes in nutrition, healthy diet and lifestyle choices, detoxification, hormonal balance, bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, and neurotransmitter balance.  You can learn more about healthy choices at his website: http://www.mylasvegaschiropractor.com