#2 The Yin and Yang of Climate Crisis: Personal and Environmental Health

The premise of the book is that our health and environmental health are intimately connected and that what’s happening in the climate is a direct reflection of what’s happening within us. That climate change externally, climate change in the world around us is a reflection of the climate change within us, that the personal and the ecological are the same thing. And Chinese medicine has been talking about that for several thousand years, so that’s not a new idea, that’s not a contemporary idea, so much as that’s a very old idea. The basic premise of Chinese medicine is that the big picture in the little picture, the same picture, the microcosm and the macrocosm in the same picture happening on different scales. So that’s a very important idea because I believe that the way to address the big picture is to address the little picture, the way to address the little picture is to address the big picture. Our health is intimately connected to climate health and climate health is intimately connect to our health. So big picture will picture this image.

The condition of the climate is intimately connected to our own internal condition. From our more usual Western view, we have assumptions of separation. Our culture assume separation, it assumes medically separation between our organs, it assumes separation between the physical mental and emotional aspects of our lives and really it assumes separation from the people around us and assume separation between us and nature. Chinese medicine has a very different set of assumptions. Chinese medicine assumes connection, assumes inter connection, it assumes all of the organs are interconnected physically. It assumes that we are interconnected within us physically, mentally, emotionally. It assumes connection between us and the people around us, assumes inter connection between us and the world around us. So the assumption is again the small picture and the big picture are the same picture.

So one way of looking at climate change is, it’s not just happening out there, it’s not just happening in the environment. It is of course there’s no doubt on a Western scientific perspective that climate change is happening, we’ve had data on that for 30 years or so, very I would say conclusive data for 30 years. So it’s not to deny the external realities of climate change but what it is. I am saying that one of the premises of the book is that what’s happening in nature is a reflection of what’s happening with those, that climate change externally is a mirror of climate change internally and the importance to that is that when we understand that connection, a way to address climate change is by addressing what’s happening within us, what’s happening to our organs, what’s happening to our thoughts, what’s happening to our emotions, and also the assumptions that in many cases our lives are based on the assumptions of our culture. So personal health and environmental health is the same health, it’s just happening on different scales

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