When you are out in the garden this weekend reaching for that pesticide bottle, hold off and ask yourself whose side you are on, anyway? Would it surprise you to learn that you are 10 per cent human and 90 per cent bug? Of course, when I say bug, I mean bacteria, and bacterial cells are so tiny they only amount to two per cent of your body weight. Before you squirt that spray, you should know that they are contributing community members who facilitate digestion, make nutrients accessible, and strengthen immunity.
Now, before you say that you weren't intending to ingest that spray, read on!
The ‘skin of the earth’ (soil) also hosts a multitude of microbes. A single teaspoon can include up to a billion bacteria, yards of fungus filaments, thousands of protozoa, and hundreds of nematodes. Often called the ‘soil food web,’ they make nutrients available to plants, suppress disease, and create soil structure. This soil structure is beneficial to us all as we face extreme weather events. It acts as a sponge helping the soil to catch, absorb and hold water during floods and release the water slowly during dry spells.
Okay, so how does the bug spray fit in?
We are coming to understand that a healthy soil food web results in healthy human beings. Nutrients released to plants by these tiny partners become available to us when we eat those plants. Our little microbes help us digest and absorb those nutrients. What happens when we spray pesticides (or herbicides or even synthetic fertilizers) at these little guys in the soil? Many die. A diverse population of microbes in the soil and our bodies offers us resilience and adaptability. We’re squirting ourselves in the foot here!
This ancient friendship between microbes and our bodies is threatened. We urban folk spend more time indoors, eating a western diet high in processed foods and low in the plant fibre that feeds our gut bacteria. We now have a much less diverse ‘microbiome.’ There is also the Hygiene Hypothesis. With our high use of antibacterial soaps, hand sanitizers and antibiotics, we are wiping out our ‘friends.’ The World Health Organization says antibiotic overuse is one of top three threats to our health this decade. Okay, so?
Neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter explains this killing off of our tiny partners may be contributing to the explosion of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, type two diabetes, cancer, gluten intolerance, depression and obesity.
Current agricultural practices also negatively impact our health. Tillage breaks apart the interconnected soil organisms disrupting their function. Dr Elaine Ingham, soil biologist, says every application of fertilizer destroys more of the life in our soils and sets up an ‘addicted dependency’ on chemicals to prop up plant growth. A million tons of Roundup are used each year in the U.S. Evidence suggests it may disrupt and kill beneficial gut bacteria. Knowing that we are made of bacteria 10 to one, there are bound to be health impacts.
Countless civilizations before us have fallen because they treated their soil like dirt. We need to embrace our tiny partners. We can do this by supporting ecologically run farms that reinvest organic matter into their soils to keep the nutrient cycle intact. We need to get outside, choose whole (and fermented) foods, and reduce our use of antibiotics and antimicrobial products. So, don’t shoot. Put the spray bottle down. For our good health, let’s get out in the garden and get dirty!
Jill Cunningham grew up in St Albert, has a Bachelor of Education from University of Alberta and is passionate about nature, the environment, and building community.
