Just like your body metabolises nutrients to generate energy, repair tissues, and maintain balance, the Earth has its own metabolism.
It breathes through forests, digests through soil microbes, circulates energy via weather systems, and stores energy in ecosystems, oceans, and mineral deposits.
Life on Earth is one big, dynamic energy exchange - solar input transformed into food, heat, motion, growth, and consciousness.
A healthy metabolism relies on balance, where input matches output, resources are used sustainably, and waste is recycled. Every part of the system plays its role.
The human disruption
But just like in the body, when certain cells start hoarding energy - extracting more than they give back, burning resources without recycling, ignoring feedback signals - the system begins to fail.
That’s where we are now.
At the planetary scale, this metabolic imbalance shows up as:
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Excess extraction: Fossil fuels pulled faster than Earth can replenish them, forests cut down faster than they can regrow, topsoil lost faster than it’s created.
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Waste buildup: Carbon overload in the atmosphere, plastic in oceans, toxic chemicals in water systems _ like metabolic waste the body can’t process.
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Energy inequality: A few nations and corporations hoard the majority of energy and resources, while billions lack basic access. This mirrors a sedentary body where energy is not in constant flow and the organs atrophy.
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Breakdown of feedback systems: Climate signals (melting ice, erratic weather, extinction events) are ignored or denied, like a body ignoring pain and inflammation.
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Fiat money and false energy: The financial system decouples energy (money) from reality (work, value, resources). Central banks injecting trillions without real productivity is like cells absorbing too much energy and growing uncontrollably to the detriment of their host (cancer).
Symptoms of a sick system
This imbalance leads to symptoms we can no longer ignore:
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Environment destruction = planetary fever
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Resource depletion = nutrient deficiency
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societal adrenal fatigue = Chronic stress and burnout
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Rising inequality = poor circulation
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Mental health crisis = neurological degeneration
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Loss of meaning = disconnection between cells (people), organs (communities), and the whole body (planet)
We are living inside a body that is signalling distress. But instead of treating the root cause, we keep masking the symptoms.
A Path to planetary healing
To restore metabolic health to the Earth, we must return to honest, cyclical energy exchange.
That means:
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Using regenerative systems for our energy, food, and industry (solar, regenerative agriculture)
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Building economies based on value creation, not extraction (Bitcoin, local economies, cooperatives)
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Honouring waste as a signal, not a nuisance (circular economy, permaculture)
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Sharing knowledge freely, because wisdom is like oxygen - it’s meant to flow
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Healing ourselves at the cellular level - through nutrition, movement, community, and purpose - because healthy people create healthy systems. Which brings us to...
A path to human healing
Rebalancing our own energy systems
If planetary health depends on metabolic balance, then personal health must too.
Our bodies, like the Earth, are ecosystems. Every organ, every cell, every microbe in our gut contributes to the symphony of our internal energy flow.
And just like the planet, our health breaks down when we disconnect from natural rhythms.
Modern life pulls us out of sync.
Artificial light hijacks our circadian cycles. Processed foods distort our nutrient intake. Chronic stress keeps our nervous systems stuck in survival mode. Sedentary habits trap energy instead of circulating it.
We extract energy - through caffeine, screens, and stimulants - without giving ourselves time to regenerate.
This shows up as:
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Fatigue and burnout
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Inflammation and immune issues
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Poor sleep, mood swings, hormonal imbalance
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Mental fog and disconnection from purpose
We treat these as isolated problems. But they’re really symptoms of a deeper misalignment: a metabolism that’s been pushed beyond its limits.
Healing begins by restoring rhythm.
- By sleeping with the sun.
- Eating whole foods grown in living soil.
- Moving often, in nature, not just gyms.
- Breathing deeply, being still, and reconnecting to our bodies.
- By spending time with people we trust, in places that feel safe.
It’s not about biohacking your way to perfection.
It’s about honouring your energy like a sacred resource.
Because when we learn to tend to our own internal ecosystem with care and awareness, we start showing up differently in the world around us.
We become regenerators instead of extractors.
We become more sensitive to the signals of both body and planet.
We start living in rhythm again. On all levels.
Mushrooms as metabolic regulators
I believe mushrooms are one of the most powerful metabolic balancers and regulators available to us.
Not just in our bodies, but in ecosystems too.
Fungi are the great recyclers, decomposers, and connectors of life.
They break down dead matter into nutrients that feed new life.
They form symbiotic relationships with plants, enhancing nutrient absorption and water retention.
They literally balance the energy flow in soil and forest.
In the human body, mushrooms like lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps, and chaga support nervous system function, reduce inflammation, modulate immune responses, and improve mitochondrial health.
They help us restore energy balance at the cellular level. They’re like nature’s adaptogens - tuning our inner systems back toward homeostasis.
If we want to rebalance planetary metabolism, we should pay close attention to the wisdom of mushrooms.
They know how to cycle energy.
They know how to regenerate.
And they remind us that healing often starts underground.
Planetary health is metabolic health.
And metabolism is just energy moving in rhythm.
We’ve broken the rhythm.
But we can align ourselves once again.
