Planetary Health | Summer 2026, Vol. 1, No. 3
We see humanity as a foreground figure set within the greater background of nature and the infinite universe. The environment is our true nourishment, and we are what we eat. By shaping our bodies and minds with whole grains and other natural foods in a spirit of gratitude, we remember our organic bond with the surrounding world—part of a common whole. We invite you to join us on this spiral voyage of discovery, whose origin is everywhere and whose destination is endless. Our staple fare is macrobiotic, our compass is yin and yang, and the horizon toward which we sail belongs to all humanity.
Please click on the title of each item for full article or link:
🎂 Michio Kushi’s 100th
Tributes to educator Michio Kushi (1926-2014) by students, teachers, clients, and others who were touched by his wisdom and generosity. Contributors include Jan Huntsman, Marshall Ballou, Ginat Rice, Pat Davis, Drusilla Graham, John Stevens, Carolyn Goldwasser and Megan O’Connor.
🎉 Diagnosing America on its 250th
By Alex Jack
At age 250, America arrives at the examining room not like a serene elder, seasoned by experience and a decent respect for the opinions and dignity of others, but like a celebrated patient in deep denial. Despite a strong constitution, it is overweight, overmedicated, overstimulated, and undernourished . . .
🎉 Celebrating Michio’s 100th: One Peaceful World Day and Summer Conference Report
By Alex Jack
“What a kick! Am I counting right—a four-hour broadcast from Planetary? And Verne Varona with his trademark Chicken-Lady story, and Michio describing his initial decision to relocate to Earth via the Pleiades!” enthused seasoned macrobiotic practitioner and teacher Mike Chen . . .
📱 Smartphones May Have Helped Drive the Decline in U.S. Fertility
The arrival of smartphones may have played a direct role in the sharp decline in U.S. fertility after 2007.
💊 Psychiatrists Call for Safer Ways to Stop Medication
Psychiatry is beginning to give more serious attention to deprescribing: the supervised reduction or discontinuation of psychiatric medications when they are no longer useful, necessary, or tolerable.
🕊️ Waging Peace
By John Liebmann
Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas and a round up of other news on peace and disarmament.
🚫 Amsterdam Bans Public Ads for Fossil Fuels and Meat
Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, has taken a historic step by banning public advertising for fossil fuel products and meat.
💧 The Interstitium Reveals Hidden Pathways in the Body:
The human body may contain a more extensive internal fluid network than standard anatomy has long recognized. The interstitium, once considered isolated pockets, may form a continuous system for the movement of fluid, particles, immune signals, and possibly disease processes.
🌱 The Soybean Solution
By Sheri DeMaris
In Benin, West Africa: SoyDélices, a community-centered soy food company will produce healthy tofu products while creating local jobs, strengthening food security, and serving as a model for sustainable economic development throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
📖 New Book Except
Planetary Commonwealth: A New Dawn for Humanity
By Alex Jack
What might a healthy, peaceful world look like in the second half of the 21st century—and how could such a world come into being? In this visionary account, Alex describes how bioregions replaced nation-states.
Praise for Planetary Commonwealth:
“Planetary Commonwealth is a bold and inspiring vision of a healthier future.”
—Neal D. Barnard, MD, FACC, President, Physicians Committee, Washington, DC
“With all the substantial challenges we face today, this book helps us to envision and co-create a bright future on Planet Earth. I especially like the Soluna song celebrated when the era of Natural Food Renaissance begins!”
—Sachi Kato, coauthor of The One Peaceful World Cookbook
“Planetary Commonwealth presents us with a framework of living as it can be by the end of the 21st century: A world united in cooperation, rather than competition, health over corporate greed, respect amid natural diversity.”—Jane Quincannon-Stanchich, Macrobiotic Counselor and Author
🍄 Earth’s Underground Fungal Networks Emerge as a Major Climate System
A vast living infrastructure lies hidden beneath forests, grasslands, farms, and wild landscapes. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are increasingly being recognized as one of the planet’s great biological systems.
🥫 Ultra processed food becomes a national policy fight
Ultra processed food has become one of the most contested issues in American health policy. What once sounded like a specialist term from nutrition research is now central to debates over school lunches, food stamps, warning labels, children’s advertising, grocery packaging, and the political future of the Make America Healthy Again movement.
🌾 Carbon pollution is making staple foods less nourishing
The climate crisis is no longer only threatening food production through droughts, floods, heat, and crop failures. It is also changing the nutritional quality of the food that does grow.
🌽 Atrazine remains in use despite health and ecological warnings
Atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States, has been cleared for continued use after a federal review concluded that it does not pose an extinction-level threat to protected wildlife.
🔥 White phosphorus raises new concern about war, health, and the land
White phosphorus is one of the most terrifying substances used in modern warfare. It ignites on contact with air, burns at extremely high temperatures, produces thick smoke, and can cause severe injuries to skin, eyes, lungs, homes, fields, forests, soil, and water.
🏃 Lester Wright’s life shows the power of movement at 100
Lester Wright became a symbol of extraordinary aging when he ran the 100-meter dash the day after his 100th birthday. He completed the race in 26.34 seconds at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, finishing ahead of competitors aged 86 and 92 as a crowd of 38,000 stood and cheered. Though the time was never officially ratified because of record-keeping issues, he is widely considered the fastest known centenarian.
🌊 An older ark story emerges from Mesopotamian clay
A small Babylonian tablet brought to the British Museum in the late twentieth century preserved one of the most startling flood traditions in ancient literature.
🦷 A 59,000-year-old tooth suggests Neanderthal dental care
A single molar from Chagryskaya Cave in Siberia is changing the way researchers understand Neanderthal medical skill. The tooth, from an adult Neanderthal, contained a deep cavity reaching the pulp chamber, along with scratches around the hole. Fine-pointed stone tools found at the cave may have been used to remove decayed tissue.
🎵 Floating bowls turn chance into music
A sound installation at the Park Avenue Armory transforms water, porcelain, motion, and accident into music. French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot filled three circular pools with 30,000 gallons of water and hundreds of porcelain bowls.
Recipes
🌾 The Best Quinoa Salad
By Amber Maisano
🥗 Buckwheat Summer Salad
By Mieke Vervecken
♨️ Cheesy Tofu Casserole
By Virginia Harper
🥣 Chia Pudding
By Laura Castoldi
Special Articles for Amberwaves’ Paid Subscribers
🛰️ Satellite Pollution – Out of Control?
By Cynthia Vann
As of January 2026, more than 14,500 active satellites orbit Earth, compared with just over 800 in 2003. At the same time, Earth’s radiation belts are experiencing extremely high levels of electron flux. If Earth were a heart, this condition would resemble supercharged palpitations triggered by solar flares . . .
🥵 The Hidden Cause of Digestive Disorders and Weight Gain
By Alex Jack
The alarming rise in fatty liver disease is not limited to those consuming ultra-processed meats, poultry, and dairy. Even those relying on plant-based fast foods may develop this increasingly common condition. In this article, a macrobiotic nurse explores how to relieve and restore liver health naturally.
🕸️ Spiders on Drugs & Nectar: What Caffeine, Stimulants, and Pollen Reveal About the Nervous System
By Alex Jack
An eye-opening account of how coffee, marijuana, LSD, and pharmaceuticals affect the webs spiders—and by extension—what we weave.
🐂 Ferdinand the Bull Still refuses to fight after 90 years
The Story of Ferdinand remains one of the most quietly radical children’s books ever published. Ferdinand is a bull who does not want to fight. While the other bulls run, jump, and butt their heads together, Ferdinand prefers to sit under a cork tree and smell flowers. His refusal to perform aggression makes him gentle, but not weak.
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