Naturally Speaking

Community contributed by G.T. Larson

All natural, no artificial ingredients, go green, save the Nauga, boycott naugahyde. These, among sundry other sayings, are the message of the moment. The question one should ask is, are there any totally artificial or man-made ingredients? Every substance, ingredient, part, coloring, chemical, additive and anything you have ever eaten, drank, wore, put on your hair, your feet, had its origin in nature.

This is not to say all things in nature are safe and good for you. There are many elements in the natural world that, if not respected, are decidedly deadly dangerous. Throughout human history, man has taken many parts of the natural world and extracted, diluted, concentrated, manipulated, isolated, folded, spindled and mutilated, all supposedly to make our world safer, easier and taste better. The point is, everything is, in essence, all natural. Humans can create nothing, except for possibly chaos. Truly organic foods are usually better for us; we do not need various pesticides, herbicides, mildewcides and all the other cides floating around in our bodies. Genetically modified foods have shown to be, at times, deleterious to both the plant and animal kingdoms alike, including one of the most fragile of animals, humans; plant pollen should not kill butterflies, it’s not natural!

All this, hopefully, has been food for thought (albeit, all natural, organically grown, non-gmo, green technology food for thought). One of the most all natural elements that any of us can partake of and enjoy is right outside our doors, the island we call home, Molokai. In our next several articles, we will be examining some of the natural treasures of this jewel in the Pacific. The real and the true, natural Molokai. Aloha Ke Akua.