Point Of View

Where Health Meets Green

At Rodale.com, we believe in healthy living on a healthy planet. What does that mean? Glad you asked: Below are the principles which underlie that belief and inform what we do every day. Click each statement for more details.

Our Beliefs

1. Environmental health IS personal health.
• We believe that what we do to our environment has a direct impact on our own health, and that our health is dependent on a healthy environment. We even believe that how we go about achieving our own health has a direct impact on our environment-whether it's what we eat, how we exercise, the medicines we take, or the work we do every day.
2. Everything is connected.
• While we've all been trained to think that everything can be reduced to a formula, or a secret code in our DNA, we believe that we're all part of a complex system that's constantly communicating. What we do to the system, we do to ourselves. What we do to ourselves, we do to the system. To fully understand and promote the health of our bodies and our environment, we need to shift from the model of reductionism (searching for ever-smaller bits and causes) to a systems-thinking approach (looking at how things are connected) to find solutions.
3. Organic and local is the gold standard.
• In the often-confusing search to make the right choices regarding food, health, and the environment, here's a simple rule to remember: First, buy organic; second, if you can, buy local organic. Opting for organically grown food is one of the most important choices you can make to save our world. Organic farming methods not only produce healthier food, they create a healthier environment by eliminating the need to use polluting chemicals. And while chemical farming releases carbon into the air, organic farming sequesters carbon in healthy soil, preventing it from contributing to global warming. Finally, though buying local food is an important way to reduce your carbon footprint, more carbon is used in the packaging, processing, and chemicals applied to food than in transporting it. So get the healthiest bang for your food buck: Encourage your local growers to go organic.
4. Everyone has Nature´s power to heal and regenerate.
• Nature has a remarkable ability to heal and repair damage. We, being part of Nature, have the same ability. Whether we're healing from disease or emotional trauma, regeneration is a power we can all tap into. We believe that the best way to heal and be healthy is to support and channel that power. And often, the best strategy for healing is to remove obstacles to our own regenerative capacity. The same goes for repairing environmental damage: Just as our bodies can heal themselves from a wound, forests, if left alone, will return to their full glory.
5. All of us share a responsibility for the future.
• We're optimistic. But we're not naive. We all have a lot of work to do to change the course we're currently following. Each and every one of us must participate in the creation of a positive future. But with hope, confidence in our ability, and a positive attitude, we believe that a healthy future for us—and our children—is achievable.

Our Promises

6. We will save you money and time.
• We don't believe you need to stop buying stuff in order to save the world...or that you have to pay more for what you buy. But we can all be smarter about how we spend our time and money. We'll help by doing the research, legwork, and data sifting that you don't have time for—and we'll keep it organized so you can find it when you need it.
7. We make it simple for you.
• The news can often be confusing and contradictory. One day sunlight is bad for you, the next day, vitamin D from the sun prevents everything. We take the confusion out of understanding your health, your environment, and the news. And we add a level of common sense and moderation that has been sadly lacking in the current sensation-seeking news landscape. Our panel of experts and editors sorts through all the research and gets to the essence of what we all really need to know...and what to do about it! So enjoy the sun, but don't overdo it!
8. We get you upstream from recycling.
• Recycling is great and we think everyone should do it...but isn't it even better to make choices that prevent waste from entering your life in the first place? There are lots of ways to choose products and make decisions that reduce the amount of waste in your life. We help you navigate those choices and share the best options with you. It's called precycling, and we will give you lots of ideas about how to incorporate it into your life.
9. Nothing or no one is perfect. We won't make you feel bad about that.
• The world is filled with judgmental people who want you to be a certain way, usually so they can sell you something, or feel more important than you. The images of perfection in movies and magazines and TV shows often make us feel inadequate. Some advice givers act as if you're a failure if you don't do the "right thing" 100% of the time. We say, let's celebrate the unique imperfections in all of us, laugh about the cheat days we all have, and seek the confidence to be different.
10. We take your trust very seriously.
• With more than 60 years as the leading publisher in health, fitness, wellness, and organic gardening, we promise to make sure you get the best-researched, most progressive, and deepest answers to your health and environmental questions. Our library is the largest private health and environmental library in the country, staffed by experienced research librarians who can answer any question and unearth any fact. We are a third-generation, family-owned private company, independent of the megamedia conglomerates that see publishing as just another cash cow, and we plan to stay that way. And unlike many media companies, we have a long and strong tradition of being an advocate for you, your health, and Nature.
11. We will help you live a pleasurable, happy, and deeply satisfying life.
• In the quest for health, we all want a long life. But we also want something more. We want a life of pleasure, love, and deeper meaning. Rodale.com focuses on what will really enable you to keep yourself and your family happy as well as healthy, while you do what you can to make the world a better place. We call it healthy living on a healthy planet...Where Health Meets Green.