Morgan Creekmore- Healthy Community

The other day in class we were discussing the components of a healthy community. A healthy community is comprised of people and place working together, this seems like a simple enough idea, but this is such a key idea that many modern communities don't take into consideration. We said in class that everything about a place goes into the community, even the soil. Well, I've been doing a lot of research on vitamins and minerals in our modern diets and because of over-farming and overpopulation, the soil doesn't hold as many of these key nutrients and therefore, neither does our food. If our foods aren't as healthy as they should be, then our people won't be either. If our people aren't healthy, then we only carry on with more unhealthy habits. For example, if we could all find harmony with our environment by recycling and composting maybe we could help replenish our soil and our Earth and therefore make our food and ourselves much healthier and happier. By working against our environment, we only create a sickly, busy world in which no one is happy or healthy in the community. If we could find harmony with people and place, then our environment would work for us and we wouldn't have to work ourselves sick. Mostly in class we talk about the spiritual connection between people and place, but I think it's interesting how this particular topic also fits into the environmental stresses we face today.