Earth Day Part 2 (Part 1)
I said I’d get this posted on Wednesday, April 19, but I missed the day by a few hours. My plane just got in.
So, I am writing this Thursday morning, April 20.
I was in Boston Wednesday, April 19th, where I joined hundreds of other people to listen to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, announce his candidacy for president of the U.S.
I figured that, for several reasons, it would be a historical event, and I had to be there.
I wasn't attending as political supporter. RFK, Jr has been an environmental lawyer for most of his career—an aggressive one. I wanted to hear what he had to say about better health through a cleaner environment.
I remember taking my high school-age son to listen to him talk here in Milwaukee years ago. In his raspy voice, RFK, Jr. explained how the coal-burning plants that are used to generate electricity also produced mercury that ended up in our lakes, rivers, and drinking water and food. Mercury is a poison and a health hazard.
His speech in Boston on Wednesday focused on his efforts to protect the environment and the battles he fought with corporations that deliberately, or through negligence, were polluters.
But he also explained that he had to fight the agencies that were supposed to regulate polluters. Unfortunately, many governmental agencies are controlled or captured by the very corporations they are designed to control. This is called Regulatory Capture.
He related stories about his dad, Robert Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and how they continue to inspire him.
He discussed many topics, but with a common theme of how the middle class is disappearing through the trillions spent on never-ending military spending, the corrupt amassing of wealth at the expense of our environment, and recently the lockdown from COVID. He said the lockdown cost the country trillions of dollars and devastated the morale and health of many of our children.
He brought up the health of our children now compared to when he was a kid. The rise of chronic diseases, obesity, autism, and many other health issues has sky rocked. He supported this with statistics and sources. This, too, has an enormous financial impact now and in the future as we care for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, compared to other developed countries, America has horrible healthcare stats – we spend more and get less.
RFK, Jr, ascribed the decline of health to environmental toxins, however we take them in – through the air, our water, food, and even our medications and vaccines. The cause is toxins, not genes.
He came across candidly and compassionately and backed his assertions with personal experiences and referenced sources. He said it is easy to appeal to our darker side and stoke fear and anger. But he feels that we all share common values and that, as a nation, we can communicate and care for each other.
I heard him talk a few years back at a chiropractic convention in Los Angeles (Cal Jam). Then, as on Wednesday the 19th, he seemed mission-driven (Goal Driven!), an activist for health for our kids and their kids.
No doubt, he will run into all kinds of media derision and opposition. But he has a proven record as a fighter.
And this is how I think of chiropractors and independent health providers: mission-driven health activists who are compassionate and caring. But with reason and perseverance, you are fighters as well.
So there it is: Happy Earth Day 2023 and a wish for a toxic free environment!
Ed
P.S. **One other note about Wednesday’s announcement. It was held on April 19th, where on the same spring date in 1775, just a few miles from where RFK, Jr was speaking, the Minute Men stopped the British Army, and the War for Independence from British corporate tyranny began. RFK, Jr chose this day for a reason.
Quote from RFK’s speech:
“God talks to human beings through many vectors: wise people, organized religion, the Great Books of religions, through art, music and poetry. But nowhere with such detail, and grace and joy, as through creation. When we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine.”
RFK, Jr (Environmental lawyer and Presidential candidate, 4/19/2023)
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