Environmental pollution is a significant problem. But while most of the focus is placed on polluting industries, toxins like mercury and small particle traffic pollution, a major source of environmental devastation is caused by modern food production. Far from being life sustaining, our modern chemical-dependent farming methods:The conversion of grasslands and pastures into chemical-driven, industrial crop land has eliminated much of the natural filtering of ground water that such native landscapes typically provide. Health risks of nitrogen include a potential connection to cancer, as well as thyroid and reproductive problems in both humans and livestock.Most of us are not blessed with a choice of soil. We're stuck with what we've got. And it seems like wherever I move, I get stuck with clay. By comparison to the clay in my old garden, the soil at my home now seems almost ideal. But it's clay nonetheless, and I've had to work diligently to upgrade the soil.