"He led no armies into battle, he conquered no countries, and enslaved no peoples...Nonetheless, he exerted a degree of power the magnitude of which no warrior ever dreamed." A quote from the Edison.com website.
Edison was a prolific inventor and businessman. His inventions included the phonograph, motion picture camera, the light bulb and perhaps the invention that did more to shape modern society than even the light bulb was electric power generation and distribution.
We know from history that on Monday, September 4, 1882 at 3 pm on Pearl Street in Manhattan, NY. That Edison's first power generation network was engaged. This and subsequent improvements were a breakthrough development in what was to become the industrialized world.
But there was another unintended consequence of this breakthrough that was to affect the health of the American family for generations to come.
Homes in the 1800's used wood for heating, cooking and power (steam engines). When the wood was burned an ash remained that was returned to the gardens and farms as a plant nutrient and soil builder.
Slowly but surely as Edison's miraculous invention spread and took hold in society, the use of wood was phased out. Electricity was clean and efficient, but did not enrich the land.
The neglect of returning ash to the soil, meant slowly our soils became depleted and the health of our nation began to decline. Chemically enhanced rock salts and oil based chemicals were used to "fertilize" the crops, 3 minerals (N, P & K) make a nice looking plant by the critical role of 70 plus minerals needed for human health was overlooked.
There are other ways to mineralize our soils other than wood ash, but those were never adopted by mainstream agriculture which was focused on the quest for "tons and bushels".
Many of the great health crises today could be resolved if we were to remineralize our soils.
For example, I believe the epidemic of obesity is partially due to our quest to find minerals and other nutrients from processed foods. Our bodies crave these minerals and we eat too many calories to try to find them.
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