The Human Ecosystem Crisis

- existing alongside (and partially due to?) our environmental ecosystem crisis

Here's a statistic to pay attention to: hunter-gatherer populations maintain around 40,000 different microbial species in their gut (that’s a good thing, btw), while the average American has just 10,000. We've lost 75% of our internal ecosystem in the span of a few generations.

We're not just talking about a few missing bacteria here. We're talking about the collapse of an entire biological universe that lives within us—one that's been evolving alongside humans for millions of years. It's fundamentally breaking down part of what it means to be human.

The Ecosystem You Never Knew You Had

Most people don't realize that you're not really human in the way you think you are. A human body actually contains more bacteria than human cells. The total number is significant but the diversity of those organisms is also important to health (most of them are bacteria but there are also other forms) .

Think about that. You're not a single organism—you're a walking, talking ecosystem containing more microbial cells than human cells. These aren't just hitchhikers either. They're active participants in everything from your digestion and immune function to your mood and mental clarity. Recent three-dimensional imaging has even shown that your brain neurons extend past your gut barrier to communicate directly with bacteria and fungi. The largest population of organisms reside within your gut (intestines) but the skin and all of your other body openings (mouth, nose, ears, eyes, vagina) each has their own special population of organisms.

Sadly, we've been systematically destroying our human ecosystem for decades, and the results are staggering.

The Perfect Storm of Ecosystem Destruction

The collapse didn't happen overnight. It's been a slow-motion disaster built on at least these factors:

Antibiotic overuse. One course of antibiotics for something as simple as a urinary tract infection increases your risk of major depression by 24% in the following year. Why? Because those antibiotics don't just kill the "bad" bacteria—they carpet-bomb your entire microbial ecosystem, including the species responsible for producing serotonin and dopamine in your gut.

Chemical warfare against microbes in our farming practices. We've doused our food system in glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup), which doesn't just kill weeds—it acts as a broad-spectrum antibiotic, decimating microbial diversity in soil, water, and ultimately, our bodies. This isn't some fringe theory. Dr. Zach Bush is a triple board certified physician who notes that research shows glyphosate directly breaks down the tight junctions in your gut lining, creating the infamous "leaky gut" that triggers food allergies, autoimmune disorders, and metabolic chaos.

Industrial food processing. We've stripped our food of the microbial diversity our ancestors thrived on. Traditional peoples would carry a bloody zebra hide for days, literally bathing in diverse microbiomes that became part of their own biological ecosystem. Meanwhile, we eat sterilized, processed foods that have been pasteurized and injected with preservatives—essentially microbial wastelands.

Routine use of anti-microbial cleaning products and hand sanitizers. Environmental “germs” are not our enemies. They are a normal part of nature with whom we are intended to interact. And the population of bacteria which live on our skin needs to be supported, not eradicated.

Overuse of fluoride and chlorine. Whether it’s present in our drinking water or oral care products like toothpaste and mouthwash, these chemicals definitely alter the normal flora of the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. (see my previous article on nitric oxide )

Non-native EMF’s. The increasing presence of man-made electromagnetic fields like cell phones, wifi routers, bluetooth, power lines and household electrical appliances may also be contributing to the decline of bio-diversity within and around us.

The "New Biology" vs. The Medical Machine

Dr. Tom Cowan, former physician and author of several books, argues we need to completely rethink our understanding of health itself. His "New Biology" approach challenges fundamental assumptions of modern medicine.

"The old biology," Cowan explains, is built on flawed mechanical models that see the body as a machine to be fixed rather than an ecosystem to be nurtured. This thinking leads to treatments that often cause more harm: statins that disrupt cellular energy production, blood pressure medications that ignore root causes, and surgical interventions that treat symptoms while the underlying ecosystem continues to collapse.

Instead, Cowan advocates for what he calls "cosmic thinking"—understanding that our health is intimately connected to the natural world around us. This means supporting chemical-free, restorative farming practices, eating a wide variety of plant species throughout the seasons, getting diverse microbial exposure through natural environments, and working with the body's innate healing wisdom rather than against it. Support your own natural terrain, do not focus on fearing and defeating the microbes around you.

The Soil-Gut Connection Nobody Talks About

Dr. Bush's "Breathe Your Biome" concept reveals something most people never consider: the microbiome in healthy soil is virtually identical to what should be thriving in your gut.

"Just as our gut relies on a diverse community of microbes," Bush explains, "the soil depends on a balanced ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms." When we destroy soil health with chemical farming, we're not just harming the environment—we're destroying the source of our own microbial diversity.

This connection is so profound that traditional farming practices naturally support human health. Farmers who work with healthy, diverse soils have more diverse microbiomes. People who eat food grown in regenerative agricultural systems show improved microbial diversity within weeks.

But our current industrial system is creating dead zones—literally. The Mississippi River now carries so much agricultural runoff that it's created a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico larger than Connecticut, with a threatened zone the size of Texas surrounding it.

Why Your Supplements Aren't Saving You

Walk into any health food store and you'll find endless probiotic supplements promising to restore your gut health. There are some instances in which they can be helpful, as with an acute case of diarrhea, but most of them will accomplish little.

Here's why: traditional probiotics contain maybe 5-10 bacterial strains. Your gut should host tens of thousands of different species, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and yes—even parasites. Taking a narrow-spectrum probiotic is like trying to restore a rainforest by planting only pine trees.

Dr. Bush is particularly critical of the probiotic industry's oversimplified approach: "The industry needs to desperately diversify its own understanding of what a gut microbiome is away from just the concept of bacteria. It is a much larger ecosystem, much more diverse and dramatic than that."

Even the best microbiome testing only captures about 120 species out of the 30,000+ that should be present. You're getting a snapshot of a tiny fraction of your ecosystem—hardly enough information to guide meaningful intervention