Restoring Balance: Happy Plants, Healthy People & Hope for Our Future

There’s no denying this has been another week of devastating losses of life in numbers that are impossible to comprehend. These aren’t just statistics. Behind every number is a precious soul, someone’s loved one who will be sorely missed. The cannabis community suffered the loss of a child whose extraordinary journey helped to galvanize the movement to legalize medical cannabis in multiple states. Charlotte Figi’s parents were forced to move to Colorado where they could legally purchase the CBD she needed to control epileptic seizures. Charlotte’s Web, the medicine created by the Stanley Brothers in her name, has since helped so many other children lead healthier lives. We’re embracing her family in love, light and healing prayers. It’s our hope that they can find peace that transcends human understanding in knowing that their daughter’s legacy is something all of us in this industry will appreciate for generations.

If there’s a glimmer of hope that some good can come out of so much devastation and frustration of forced isolation, it may be found in the space cleared for quiet reflection about how we got here and how we can recover normalcy in a healthier, more sustainable way.

The emergence of COVID-19 didn’t happen by accident and is more of a symptom of an imbalance that we – humans – may have caused. The ordinary distractions of every-day life impact our health on so many levels. Our contributions to the earth’s imbalance make us partly to blame for the cataclysmic events that threaten our own survival. The ways in which we extract resources, poison the land that provides nutrients for the food we eat and put blind faith into the pharmaceutical industry have left us vulnerable to the pestilence that thrives in such unsustainable circumstances.

We come from the earth, we live of the earth, and we return to the earth.  In nature, plants draw minerals and nutrients from the soil.  Throughout their life cycle, they drop leaves, which decay and enrich it with micro-biotics and humuric acids. Under the canopy of the mature plant, the fertile ground supports new seedlings that take root and grow.  When the plants die, they return to the earth, replenish the soil for new plants, which mature by drawing from the replenished soil to repeat the cycle. That is the process of entropy, which has naturally occurred since the first vegetation appeared on Earth. Everything we consume, from the food that nourishes our body to the medicine we take to stay healthy, is the end result of what we put into and take from the earth.

The disruption of our natural ecosystems, dependence on fossil fuels and unsustainable agricultural practices that have ensued since the Industrial Revolution explain why there is so much disease in our society today. It also explains why minimizing contaminants at every stage of growth from soil to canopy is crucial to our food security and public health. That’s the topic of today’s show and something our guest, Dino Changanqui, knows a lot about.

Also known as “The Happy Plant Guy,” Dino Changanaqui has a diverse background with 20+ years of experience in sustainable business development in world markets with a focus on producing contaminant-free food and botanicals in state-of-the-art scalable facilities that he designs. As founder and owner of Amal Gold Nutrients, Inc., he is a designer of custom blended organic fertilizers and insecticide specifically designed for the developmental needs of plants including cannabis.

As a Consultant, Changanaqui advises farms of all sizes on the importance of organic agriculture inputs for purity and frequently lectures on the importance and benefits of consuming nutrient-dense organic food grown in mineral-rich organic soils. His efforts expanded awareness and the power of self-healing for those in the recovery of cancer for Cancer Support Community Los Angeles. Across Los Angeles County, Changanaqui also donated his plant nutrient line of products to develop gardening protocols for Enrich L.A.‘s 60 + non-profit school garden programs across Los Angeles County. Dino has also sponsored The Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital Veteran Gardens Program with his products. This program helps military veterans in managing their PTS through gardening.

The Craft Gardener book written by Changanaqui is due in 2020. “Happy Plants, Happy People, Happy Planet” is his motto.

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