Here is a wonderful documentary by the BBC about the building of the great sewers in London. I find it a direct parallel to where we are today when we are confronted by the Chronic Diseases of our time.
We face an epidemic - so did they.
Tackling the epidemic is made almost impossible because the establishment believe that it is caused by forces that don't in fact cause the diseases. Then, they all thought that cholera was caused by smells. Today we think that our modern epidemic is caused by fat in the diet and by lethargy.
In fact the deep cause is the same - our industrial culture creates environments that don't fit our health. Then it was that millions cannot live without pure water - the sewage has to go away for it is the contaminated water that drives cholera. Now it is that we cannot eat the industrial diet. Such food makes us ill in a chronic way. How we eat is driven by our model. It drives an environmental vector.
Then in 30 years the entire situation was turned around. Not by finding a cure for cholera but by changing the environment. By 1900 London had 9 million inhabitants and Cholera in large cities had been eradicated everywhere.
We can do the same for the epidemic of chronic disease. But to do so we have to defeat the grip of the establishment and we have to eat differently. This in turn will enable a new food system and then a new society.
Have a look at this film and see if I am right - and by the way it is also a great film.
7 Wonders of Industrial World EP 4 the Sewer King from ramuel tamayo on Vimeo.