I wrote this about a year ago for a friend, but the words, with only a few additions, still ring so true today.

With epic heat waves, floods, wild temperature fluctuations, volcanic reactions and scorched and infertile grounds, it appears that our planet is sick.

And just as our increasingly allergic and asthmatic children are covered in dry patches, running fevers and launching inflammatory responses to things in their environment, the Earth appears to be having an allergic reaction.

We have poured fossil fuel over her skin, filled her airways with pollution and poisoned her water with everything from oil to agrichemicals to pharmaceutical drugs. 

Is it any wonder that her health appears to be failing?

So if the Earth were a child that was this sick, what would this condition be called?

It could be called "climate fever." She is running hot and cold with all kinds of conditions that have the potential to cause tremendous harm.

And her fever affects all of us. Families, friends, farmers.  Is it short-term? How long will it last?  

The fact of the matter is that dirty air, water, soil, climate.....they don't care what we think or what side of the aisle we are on...they affect all of us.  

So with an image of a child in mind, maybe it's time that we take a new approach. And rather than "fight global warming" and get into "he said/she said" debates, arguing over how sick this child has become or who is to blame, perhaps it's time that we simply care for our planet as a mother might care for a child.

And rather than the routine dousing of her skin with toxic pesticides and agrichemicals, we might consider reducing her exposure to these chemicals and cultivate an approach to agriculture that isn't chemically or fossil fuel dependent, like the one recently recommended by the United Nations.

And rather than continuing to inject her with IV-like instruments used to extract the very oil and fossil fuel that is harming her, we could consider building clean energy sources and alternative energy infrastructures to give her the means with which to grow and thrive without the risk of toxicity.

We could call on our collective talents and insights to lend to the healing of her condition.

And rather than focus on what short-term economic advantages can be obtained through the extraction of her resources, recognize that we need to care for her as if our wellbeing depended on it.   

Because it does.  

And while new data shows that countries like China are contributing more than the United States and Canada combined to climate pollution, we have the extraordinary opportunity to embrace a moral authority, to design and create new energy systems that will not only serve us economically and financially but also resourcefully and sustainably for generations to come.  

It won't happen overnight, but we're a pretty resilient source of renewable energy ourselves, and  in the words of George Eliot, "it is never too late to be what you might have been."

Originally written for the Fearless Revolution in June 2011.

Health care. You couldn't pick a more loaded political topic (OK, maybe oil) which is absolutely fascinating.  Especially in light of the escalating rates of diseases in our country.  

Because the bottom line is that unfortunately, we are growing sicker by the year and in increasing need of a thriving health care system to address these conditions.

No one wants to admit these things, and yet the Centers for Disease Control continues to release alarming statistics: from cancer being the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of fifteen, to the escalating rates of asthma, to the increased hospitalizations related to food allergic reactions.  It's not just our health that is coming under pressure, our medical system is, too. 

It's something that I recently addressed as a keynote to a healthcare conference in Boston (with a short interview highlighting some stats below). 

But rather than careen into the darkness, let's not stop and pause for a moment to reflect on the state of our health and our healthcare system.  Let's dialogue, based on the principals of Joseph Schumpeter and that of creative disruption, and take a hard and honest look at the existing model in order to revolutionize the design of a new one.  

No other nation on the planet spends as much as we do on medical care.  As a matter of fact, no one spends more than 12% of their total economy, their GDP, on health care costs.

But according to TIME Magazine, "the most striking aspect of America's medical system remains how much of an outlier it is in the advanced industrial world."

What do we spend?  17%.  So 17 cents of every dollar floating around in our economy is spent in the medical system.  Sure, that's a great model if you are a company in the medical system capturing those expenditures, it drives shareholder return.  But what about the impact that these costs have on our families, corporations and ultimately our economy?

Well, let's take a look.

The fact of the matter is that we do worse than most other countries on almost every measure of health outcomes.  We lag behind countries like Bosnia and South Korea in terms of life expectancy at birth, as well as show elevated levels of infant mortality and depressed levels of patient satisfaction.  

In other words, we're not healthy and we're not happy with the system we've got.

As TIME Magazine writes "Put simply, we have the most expensive, least efficient system of any rich country on the planet.  Costs remain high on every level."

But just because this is the system that we've inherited (consider it a prototype), it doesn't mean that it has to be the system we continue to embrace going forward.  We had the fax machine for a while.  It worked, but then we developed new technologies, smarter, better, more efficient prototypes.  We can do the same thing here.

The landscape in front of us is wide open.  And we know that America's got talent, creativity and a fierce entrepreneurial spirit with which it can drive change.  It's those characteristics upon which our country was founded.

So lend your talent.  Put some skin in the game. Whatever you want to call it.

Let's bring food into the health care equation and let's figure this out.  Because we've got too much at stake, as a country, as an economy and as citizens both at home and in the global marketplace.

Anyone who has followed my work, knows that I sing a constant refrain:

None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something.

Thank goodness, right?  Especially when there are certain things that you know you are just not good at. 

For me, that lack in expertise revolves around tools for design technology.  I have never been trained in them, think they can be used to create pieces of work that are absolutely beautiful and am in awe (and so envious) of those who possess the talent.

So when someone reached out to share the work that she had created after hearing one of my TEDx talks, it absolutely blew me away.  It is something that leveraged her unique talents with her passion (which we happen to share about clean and safe food) and inspired me so much that I wanted to share it here.  

Hope it inspires you, too!

In the last week, extraordinary things have happened to our food supply.  

Coca Cola and PepsiCo agreed to alter their formulas in order to reduce the risk of a potentially cancer-causing caramel color in their product, Campbell's Soup announced they are kicking a hormone-disrupting chemical out of their soup cans, the USDA agreed to school lunch programs a choice around "pink slime" and 55 members of Congress sent a letter to the FDA calling for the labeling of biotech's genetically engineered ingredients - ingredients, not unlike "pink slime," that industry claims is safe. 

And what is remarkable about all of these things is that these changes were driven by consumer demand - consumers flat out wanted the right to know what was going into their foods and beverages.  

So here's a thought: thank them. All of them for stepping up and making these changes.  Sure, it might have taken some time, but hop on their websites and send in an email.  It won't take long.  And an attitude of gratitude goes such a long way.  For every voice that they hear, they recognize that there are dozens if not hundreds behind it.  

Send a quick thank you to your local Congressman for being one of the 55 who sent a letter to the FDA calling for the labeling of genetically engineered foods.  

Or if yours wasn't on the list, and you want to give them a heads up, you can find a link to who your state senator is right here. 

Plug in your zip code (you probably already know this) and it will bring up the list of the entire delegation, from federal to local. 

All you're doing is sending a little "thank you" note, or maybe a simple: "Hello.  Like you, I am concerned about the health of my loved ones, our community and our food supply..."

Remember: Together, we can do this.  Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good.  A little gratitude can go a long way.  And you may just begin an unlikely conversation (and find out that, like you, your local Congressmen has loved ones that might have allergies, diabetes, ADHD or cancer...).

Together, we can create a much-needed dialogue around restoring the health of our country.  

Sometimes something comes across your desk that is so obvious, so common-sense worthy, that it is almost too much.  

That happened this morning when an email from The Well Daily hit my inbox, offering up a safe and hugely affordable way to keep your house clean.  

Now, that's not to say that I like cleaning. I don't.  

But the message was full of information that any of our grandmothers could share, and I couldn't help but think our grandmothers might also shake their heads and ask us "Why on earth we were spending so much money on products that are so full of things that could do such harm?"  Great question, especially in light of a recent report in the New York Times which reveals that with over 80,000 chemicals in our every day products, the societal costs attributable to this toxic exposure is $76.6 billion for a single year!  

There's certainly a smarter way to spend our money. And while none of us can do everything, all of us can do something.  So maybe a money-saving tip like the one below can serve as an entry point:

Toxic cleaners: aside from the fact that they're terrible for us, our kids, our pets and the planet, they're also expensive and wasteful. We're on a mission to get back to the basics with natural cleaning products straight from the kitchen pantry. We already let you in on our love of lemon. Next up on our list of powerful old school cleaners: vinegar.

White vinegar is the superhero of natural cleaning products. Not only can it replace the majority of the products under the kitchen sink, it’s safe, completely natural and dirt cheap. And if you’re worried about the smell, don’t be—it disappears when it dries and even acts as a mild deodorizer.

Here's how to put vinegar to work in every room of the house:

• Fill a spray bottle with 1 part white vinegar and 1 part water for an all-purpose kitchen cleaner great for counters and floors.
• Prevent oven buildup and shower mildew by wiping down surfaces with a cloth and vinegar.
• Add 1/2 cup to the rinse cycle of your wash for a natural fabric softener.
• Use pure vinegar to get rid of rings in your toilet bowl.
• Mix 1 part vinegar with 4 parts water in a spray bottle for the perfect window cleaner.
• Use vinegar with a higher concentration of acetic acid for apesticide-free weed killer. (Most household vinegar is 5% acetic acid, so look for 10% or higher at the hardware store.)

Over the last few years, so many people have reached out to share their stories and their passion to protect the health of our country and have asked, "What did it take to get started?"

As I've reflected on this, it took me back to the beginning of my story.  And in all candor, that is not a place that I like to visit much.  Because in the beginning, it was isolating.   Organizations that were supposed to be looking out for the best interests of our children were having allergic reactions to me, I had been absolutely buried in the research, not sleeping, not eating, consumed by concern for the health of the American children and the health of our food supply,  and any pictures of me taken from that time reflect it.  I looked like a skeleton, as I'd been swallowed by the work and what seemed like everything that I'd believed in was stripped bare. 

But along the way, I learned one of the most valuable lessons in all of this.  You can not go it alone.  

You have to find a friend to stand beside you to cheer you on.  And about a year into my work, I connected with a bestselling author and film producer.  In February 2007, he filmed my story.  A few months later, I connected with an extraordinary woman, Deborah Koons Garcia, who produced the predecessor to Food Inc., a ground-breaking and life-changing film called The Future of Food.  To this day, both remain friends.  And then, because of these friendships, I appeared on the CBS Early Show before a national audience. And suddenly people knew my story.  

Because in that appearance in the fall of 2007 that I found the courage to share my work, my concerns over the rate at which we had introduced artificial colors, preservatives and genetically engineered ingredients into our food supply while other countries around the world were preserving theirs for the sake of their children. To love more and to fear less and to put my face on on an issue, not knowing what people might say.  My husband stood beside me in that first broadcast, and you could literally see the toll it the work had taken on me physically. To watch some of those early interviews or to look at some of the pictures almost hurts, as I was a skeletal version of the person that I am today.

And as that appearance hit, I began to hear from countless others whose stories were the same.  Those whose children suffered from food allergies, those writing books, those battling cancer.  And I realized that there is far more that unites us than divides us, and that together, we can create the changes we want to see in the health of our families and food systems.

And as I reflected on the stripping away of old beliefs and the building of new ones, it reminded me that despite what can seem like insurmountable odds, we have more strength and courage that we are ever aware of, and love that can serve as a rocket fuel. But that we need friends standing beside us.  

So for those of you who have asked, "Where do I start?" "How do I begin to make changes in my community, school, state...?" The first thing that you must do is to find a friend.  If your spouse is on board, take it for the gift that it is.  If not, look (and don't stop) until you find someone who shares your passion and concern.  

Food is an intimate and loaded issue, and people can become incredibly defensive and say extraordinary things (I've been accused of just about everything!).

But the love that you have for your friends and family will serve as a rocket fuel.  And as you begin to express your concern over the state of the health of our families (on Facebook, on a blog, in your community, to your local Congressmen), you will quickly learn that your concern is shared by countless others (like the 900,000 Americans that have sent comments to the FDA), and it is together, that we can change the dialogue and create a food system that will define our families, farmers and future in a way that makes all of us, every American, both healthy and proud.

Intense.  It's the only word to describe today.  

The weekend had been full of revelations about funding ties between non-profits and industry, an issue close to my heart given what I'd learned in the food allergy world back in 2006.  And quite honestly, I began to wonder, given the enormous wealth, vested interests and interplay between industry and non-profits, if we even stood a chance at open and fair science.  

And then I had an email in my inbox from a mother of three battling breast cancer.  Then another from a 25 year old about to enter the army, more from cancer survivors and then one from an EPA scientist worried about the foods that his kids are eating.

His stopped me in my tracks.

And once again, I reflected on the fact that there is so much more that unites us than divides us.  And the common thread that weaves our stories together is the love that we have for those that we care about.  It's universal.  It's a rocket fuel. It makes the impossible possible. It gives us permission to lend our talents. 

And it is our collective talents that will create the change we want to see in the world.