I had this thought several months back, that in order to have a healthy planet, we, ourselves, must be healthy. Kind of a no-brainer, right? But it felt like a real Aha! moment for me, so bear with me. We are part of this amazing, beautiful planet, just as trees are or oceans or animals. So, if one of our goals is a healthier planet, then that includes us. I can’t be talking about helping the planet and have my own self be an unhealthy mess, whether physically or emotionally or mentally. And, the more this really sunk in for me, the more I realized how quickly the connection of healthier lifestyles would actually help with a healthier planet—not just in this microcosm sense of it all, which is important too, but also on a larger scale.
A healthier person is going to be eating fresher, healthier foods, which means less food packaging, less eating out, less pesticides. Healthier people require less medical care, which is easily less negative environmental impact. Healthier people’s moods are usually better, meaning they’re probably offering more kindness, helping out more, able to think more clearly, which leads to better voting decisions, better personal choices, more conscious decisions, etc. A healthier person probably spends more time in nature and less in front of a device, so with an added appreciation for nature, because they’re out enjoying it, they probably have more respect for it, whether consciously or not and will treat it better. Anyway, I’m sure the list of connections could go on and on, but I just felt it was an interesting thought and wanted to share it here.