A SHORT ESSAY ON POLITICS AND WELLNESS

Wellness farms across America

Living Well Locally sees wellness as a non-partisan issue. Who would not want to be healthy, regardless of political persuasion or passion?

But today’s world is upside down in many respects, and health is no exception. There are entities - industries, investors, organizations - who make money when people are sick or who secure their existence working on health issues. Even our economy profits from sickness when healthcare expands. This, of course, means having political influence is very important; public decisions at all levels affect profits and health.

For this reason, LWL follows the political realm with an ear for what is being said about wellness-related topics, especially those we write about in this Substack: chronic disease, mental illness, children’s health, lifestyle change, functional medicine (et al), regenerative agriculture, soil health, technology, food-as-medicine, and more.

Since wellness and localism have not (yet) hot topics that grab public attention and discourse, we listen carefully for positive signs that this is changing.

The 2024 presidential campaign has been especially interesting for the impact it could have . . . well, on everything. Public policies at all levels either support localism and wellness, neglect them, or favor corporate and global interests - intentionally or not.

We were recently heartened to hear a presidential candidate, in response to a question about addiction, speak about establishing ‘wellness farms’ across the country. Peace Corps-style ‘recovery centers’ would acknowledge the value of healing foods and draw on America’s expertise in regenerative farming and functional medicine, the two out of three things needed to change our chronic disease and addiction epidemics. In the process, our country could accomplish other things like revitalizing rural economies, training in durable jobs that will withstand AI disruption, and engage the ‘creative entrepreneurship’ with which America is so gifted.

This 35 minute interview covers solutions for more than chronic disease; the ‘wellness farms’ topic is the last 10 minutes.

The third thing needed for healing? Home. The recovery centers would be residential. They would be places where residents heal addiction and poor health with good food, good work, contact with nature, periods of disconnection from digital distractions, and the healing power of real, face-to-face connections.

We call that healing well locally.