This post is part of the Closed-Loop Zero Waste series.
Our bodies are nature. Our bodies are affected just like the earth is affected by contamination. I truly believe that the health of our earth reflects the health of our bodies.
According to the EPA, some anthropogenic activities (human related activities that result in environmental pollution) introduce metal into the environment like mines and smelters, firing ranges, municipal waste treatment outfalls, industrial point sources, urban runoff, landfills, and junkyards. Heavy metals can enter the food chain through these anthropogenic activities, which can result in contamination to living beings, even humans.
So much of our focus in zero waste is to reduce plastic, which is good, but it is common to use metal as an alternative to plastic. I reduce my need for items made with metal and plastic by trying my best to use these materials only when necessary, like commuting with a vehicle for example. When we vote with our money and buy metal products, especially ones made with new metals rather than recycled ones, we are supporting the mining industry. Metal is a material that is useful and necessary in many circumstances, but like plastic, it is over-used, and I now consider how to reduce my need for it.
I also have a unique and very personal reason for wanting to reduce the amount of heavy metal contamination of the earth. I have a condition called Systemic Nickel Allergy Syndrome (SNAS). When I ingest food that is high in nickel, I get severe rashes on my scalp and experience an inflammatory response of itching, pain and swelling throughout my body.
I am cautious of the metal content in my food due to having SNAS. I try to eat a low nickel diet, which can be very difficult at times. After I stopped cooking my food on stainless steel and reduced the amount of high nickel food I was eating, I had dramatic relief in just two weeks from the severe skin rashes, stomach pain and brain fog I was experiencing. I could almost immediately see the harmful effects nickel had on my body.
After that, I started reading more about how food can be contaminated by toxic loads of metal, how areas become enriched in metals unnaturally, and how that relates to metal accumulating in the body. The EPA has found that toxic concentrations of metal in the environment can cause impairments in aquatic organisms. Here is a quote from the EPA (Metals | US EPA) detailing this:
“Metals and metalloids are electropositive elements that occur in all ecosystems, although natural concentrations vary according to local geology. Land disturbance in metals-enriched areas can increase erosion and mobilize metals into streams. Human activities redistribute and concentrate metals in areas that are not naturally metals-enriched.
These metals can reach water bodies when they are released into the air, water and soil. Unlike sediment and nutrient impairments, there is often no visible evidence of metals contamination. While some metals are essential as nutrients, all metals can be toxic at some level. Some metals are toxic in minute amounts. Impairments result when metals are biologically available at toxic concentrations affecting the survival, reproduction and behavior of aquatic organisms.
This module addresses water column contamination by metals and metalloids that commonly cause toxic effects. These include arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, inorganic mercury, nickel, selenium and zinc.”
My intention with this post is to provide another way for us to have more awareness about what we use and how it is sourced. Even though I get severe reactions to a specific metal, it doesn’t mean that I believe that nickel or any other metal is a complete contaminant; it is found naturally in the earth and considered a micronutrient after all. For someone like me who is acutely aware of the nickel content in food, I was surprised to find so many foods high in nickel. It really is an important element to the earth in many ways, though it’s also important to be aware of the consequences of disturbing metal-enriched areas and mobilizing metal into the environment. I feel more research is needed on high-metal foods that would normally be low-metal if heavy metals were not distributed to certain areas through anthropogenic activities.
Many natural materials we use in everyday life become nourishment to the earth and are not harmful. Prioritize those materials and use them in a way that nature can use beneficially or without harm in its natural systems, and if necessary, that readily transform through natural processes. See my post comparing natural vs. synthetic materials to learn more about this and see where metal falls within those two types of materials.
If we use materials properly, the energy they provide and how those materials affect the energy systems of our bodies and the earth can manifest its way to being healing and regenerative, rather than destructive. What is valuable to nature is of the utmost importance. When we manipulate nature too much, we will experience side effects.
Nature provides us food which can be contaminated by many metals. I know that when I consume food that has been contaminated, it can be destructive to my body instead of healing and restorative. This isn’t to say that every person will feel ill effects of it, but my allergy gave me a more acute awareness to what is in our food and has influenced the questions I ask regarding how heavy metals have come into the food chain.
A HUGE thank you to my talented cousin, Aili Juusola at Design by Aili Juusola, who helped me make this Closed-Loop Zero Waste diagram look cohesive and engaging!