What can we learn from just one single story?
I wonder…
Hopefully, quite a lot.
I’m all kinds of emotional this week as I’m writing this lesson, even thinking about releasing this content makes me frustrated, furious, sad, depressed, and even scared.
Sometimes you have to tell the truth. Other times, you have to tell a story.
Hopefully you get to speak from your heart, and tell the truth through a story itself.
That’s what I’ll be trying to do today. Thank you in advance for being here…
If I sound a bit rough and choppy, it’s because I am. That’s the waves that came upon me this week as I sat down to write. I had no idea this is what would come out.
I’m not here for a fight, I’m just here for the light.
So let’s see how this goes, shall we?
It doesn’t take a historian to tell us the truth that agriculture today is not the way we used to do things before. And I’m not talking about chemicals like glyphosate that came to be as early as 1970 by Monsanto when they made something new and then had to explore what massive applications could they find to market it’s use.
They soon learned that it manages to kill a lot of biology - like a lot, a lot. This controversial little laboratory chemical has taken it’s trek around the globe to reach the four corners of the world, sharing all the good news about how it would get rid of those awful weeds that make it so hard to harvest each season. “We’ve got your solution! Kill the weeds, it’s all you need!”
Little did the farmers know at the time, but long-term use would actually make things worse, destroying biology in the soil, destroying microbiota diversity in the soil that works to support plants from birth to harvest. Killing the natural landscape of biology causes the plants, animals, insects, and cellular biology to suffer, to die, to become sick, diseased, and lost. Season after season, spray after spray, biology continued to suffer.
And while it may have looked like a miracle drug at first, it soon began to show its negative side effects as time progressed, much like our modern day pharmaceuticals… but more on that later. Remember the term, antibiotic-resistance for later mmkay? - thanks!
After about a decade, the signs were clear, that the crops were actually now suffering more than expected.. The soil’s natural defense was no longer present. No more weeds meant easier access for pests, insects, where the weeds of the past actually did provide some level of protection and buffer for the crop. And the weeds that did survive, well they became the pesky little bunch, striving with all its might to reach for the sun, despite growing from barren soil. Crops no longer had their innate microbial diversity to keep them well as natural plants, they had weakened immune systems and greater environmental sensitives. So, what were they to do?
A little over a decade later, Monsanto began testing out a way to genetically modify crops to make them resistant to their herbicide sprays… in other words, they realized the damage that had been done to the farmer’s fields.. but could they come out and apologize and simply give people their money back…?
Absolutely not. They are a business.
Businesses make profits, they don’t make apologies.
(Unlike most small local farmers, oddly enough)
Monsanto proceeded to teach farmers about their latest and greatest inventions and innovations in crop science. Monsanto had created special seeds that would take care of everything, “don’t you worry, we have a solution… we’ll change the seeds themselves, you’ll just have to purchase our special seeds and use our special fertilizers and our special herbicide.”
Talk about expanding one’s product line…
What a deal!!!
The farmer’s don’t have to do anything anymore, they simply outsource all of the checks and balances, oversight and management of how the farm functions, and they should be all good, right?
Wrong. Dead wrong in some cases.
We now know (and they knew all along) the dangers of exposure to these chemicals - most notably glyphosate as a carcinogen and has now been taken to trial and lost - aka the truth comes out as they pay people marginal settlements for the pain and suffering they have caused for not just human health, but all of biology.
But that’s not the whole story and it certainly isn’t the best way to hear the story either… but you know I only have so long to reach you and teach us each week..
Think of it like this…
Humans and Plants - we’re all the same, we are pieces of the puzzle of natural biology on this planet.
Plants are treated with Glyphosate, synthetic herbicides, insecticides, etc to kill off the microbiota biology surrounding them much like how we are treated with antibiotics as humans.
Really, I’m serious. Stay with me here. Are you tracking?
Glyphosate are to Plants is as Antibiotics are to Humans.
Killing off natural biology, weakening immune systems, increasing environmental sensitives, and often leading to unexpected and disastrous long-term consequences. You’ve probably heard about the massive overuse of antibiotics, and you’ve probably expected that to be only about humans… but you’d be wrong actually. The vast majority of antibiotics are used in industrialized agriculture for livestock, not humans.
Oh, I could go on for days here but just briefly I’ll use the same analogy as before to highlight this lesson.. more antibiotics = more killing of natural health = more sickness and disease = poor crops, poor plants, poor animals, and poor people across the board.
It’s HONESTLY that simple, despite how much people want to argue about it online. Have antibiotics saved thousands if not millions of lives, ABSOLUTELY.. but have we seen massive overhauls, overuse, and unexpected consequences of it… ABSOLUTELY this too.
Some of the best scientists today comment that glyphosate may have been one of the biggest mistakes of mankind in all of its history, suggesting we’ll be able to look back in 100 years and think “what the hell were we thinking.. how could we not have realized the simplicity of it all and kept our eyes closed or distracted, kept our mouths shut for so long while people our planet and so much of biology had to suffer because of our stupidity.”
They call it the greatest mistake of modern agriculture.
They call it the biggest trouble-maker of all the chem-ag businesses.
They call it evil, they call it satan.
They call it a scam, they call it a farmer’s scar.
And I’m not even done folks.. ugh this is such a hard topic for me..
I’m trying so hard not to get emotional while I’m writing this…
Crops = food, not for us as much as what you might think.
Most crops are grown for livestock.
Crops sprayed with glyphosate = food for animals
And while you might wash off your lettuce before you feed it to your kids, livestock don’t have the same privileges as we do to wash off the layers of chemicals in their food, on their soils, and around their homes.
They don’t get a choice, they just get to suffer our mistakes.
I ask questions. I stay curious. I look around and see what I discover.
And we have the ignorant minds to wonder “why are they getting sick so much?” with our atrocities on biology we’ve provided, I’m surprised they are not doing worse. No wonder they are often given artificial growth hormones and antibiotics to keep them alive… they live in a poison swamp for goodness sake.. I’m surprised most stay alive enough to live long enough for slaughter at all.
And while I understand this story does not define every farm in existence or the local farmers’ market you visit each weekend, this story does shine a light on massive infarctions on natural biological blood supply that circulates this planet. And while I can applaud a local, loving, organic farmer and empathetic human who raises livestock, I must still open my eyes and speak up on the absolute truths of what have been our modern-day, mass-industrialized agriculture - exhibiting mass incarceration, sick massacres of sick animals that spans massive acres.
It shouldn’t take “a black man getting cancer” story to finally spark a hint of curiosity. And I’m not calling for an insurrection, but I do honestly want us to know our history and take time to honestly reflect, learn, and change course when presented with the evidence.
Dewayne Johnson is now closing in on 50 years old after he was in the courts fighting for his rights to a good and healthy life against the chemical giant Monsanto back in 2018. You might know his story, but he was a groundskeeper at a local school, in charge of the grounds, tending to the soil, and instructed to spray the ground with weedkiller on a regular basis.
Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014. Within just a year after his diagnosis, completely unconnected, the World Health Organization had classified glyphosate (RoundUp) as “probably carcinogenic to humans”
And in a swift switch, Bayer Pharmaceuticals acquired Monsanto just shortly before the month of this trial in fact (what a coincidental great time to go hide your name in the sand and hope to forget anything ever happened in the first place).
BAYER PHARMACEUTICALS - did you catch that?
The Lesson is Over this Week. If you’re done reading, you’re done and move on with your life. If however you’d like to stay here, with an open mind just a bit longer, then I warn you this next part is even more difficult for me. I’ve seen and heard a lot of things at this point, and I’m not claiming I know anything more than the next person, but I simply want us to be aware of the patterns of existence flowing all around us.
Remember how I was relating the biological experiences of glyphosate herbicide to that of antibiotics?
Interesting, that these chemical companies seem to be friendly with one another, no?
I won’t be much longer, because I’m about to lose my cool and lose my stable emotions.. but I just want to leave you with one last piece of connection here…
Before we forget the name Monsanto, you might want to read more about their dark and eerie history here: The Monsanto Papers: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice.
Or the same author’s first book titled, Whitewash: The Story of A Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science.
If we look back and see what happened to the crops and see what Monsanto did to farmers, taking away their informed choice and their health sovereignty - saying “no, you’re seed is not good enough, it’s not safe enough for the toxins of our sprays you must use.. here we have the answer, go ahead and let us genetically modify the crop to make sure it can withstand the poison we plan to spray..” then I’m trying to be a little more conscious of what future paths these companies (like Bayer-Monsanto) and others decide to take with respect to science, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and planetary biology.
Giving antibiotics, changing biology. Spraying fields, killing biology.
Genetically modified (RoundUp ready) crops - aka designed to be able to withstand the environmental poison being sprayed all around.
We humans, are facing a similar circumstance. I’ll leave the debate for animal, mammal, and amphibious exposures for another day.. for now let’s focus on humans…
It’s been a chaotic controversial year and at this point you’re well aware I’m not a fan of changing biology before we really know what we’re even doing. From destroying farmlands to genetically modifying the crops we grow to be ready and resilient to the killer sprays we apply, to the ignored potential for natural healing modalities utilized around the world to help someone reach health sovereignty without having to pay thousands of dollars every week for yet another chemical kind of “treatment.”
And dammit if it doesn't make me think about what’s going on right now with similar chemical companies crafting laboratory studies to dose humans with some strains of trace amounts to promote biological resistance while we live in a toxic environment…
And it brings tears to my eyes with every death that I read and hear about. Those directly related to the virus itself or the deaths, strokes, blood clots and other strange symptoms and even deaths that have occurred shortly after receiving vaccination.
Let me be clear to say I’m not here to fear monger or raise alarm. I’m simply thinking out-loud at this point. I’m not saying something is unsafe, and I’m not saying it is.
I’m not a virologist, and I’m not a cancer scientist.
I’m not a farmer, and I’m not a geneticist.
I’m not a chemist, and I’m not a lawyer.
I’m not anti-anything, and I’m not a healer.
What I am though is a writer, a reader, listener and student of biology and recorder of my experience and what I observe in my world around me.
The environment grows scary, toxic, potentially harmful and could lead to disease, so we apply chemicals to kill off potentially harmful biology. Then, we lose a grip on our confidence and safety of the environment again, so we employ ways to change the biology itself. From killing the biological terrain to adjusting the terrain inside.. it’s some pretty strange stuff we’ve got ourselves into if you ask me.
And I’m not here to tell someone what to do, I’m just here as a communicator and contributor to the community.
I’ve always been fascinated by how this world works and the ways in which we were created, crafted, and continue to live and breathe each day. I’m interested in learning and sharing information and insights to make sure everyone has the very best informed choice they can have over the course of their life.
I’m not here to cast shame, to spark controversy or even tell anyone what to do. What I do want though is for us to spend time together, with open eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to speak deeply into each other's lives and explore these conundrums and complicated controversies together.
I won’t bring salvation, but I hope to bring something worth living for.
Loving you with every moment of every day, with every letter that I write and every word that I type.
Next week, I’ll try to take things a bit more light… we’ll see.
If you want to do me a favor and share with a trusted friend or family member, then please do so. If you have something to say about this message itself and feel comfortable reaching out to me directly or comment freely and openly in our private community group at your leisure.
Stay Blessed 😁 😇 Stay Hopeful. Enjoy each moment and breath that you have and step BEYOND any controversial discussions with family and friends as you may gather together this weekend. Remember who you are and what you need. At the end of the day, we are all humans in search of the same things if you ask me - peace, love, safety, and community. If you feel led to lead with love and lean into conversations this weekend, then do so with a smile, with empathy, and an open heart.
Stay Beautiful ☀️ 🌱
Jonathan Isbill aka Jonathan ZaZa from ZigZagNutrition - pleading and preaching on how we can take what we know to live our best lives possible and learn to adapt along the way. Health is a Journey, not a Destination, so can’t we learn to love the wave?