4 Miracle Natural Remedies

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Few of us need to be told that the world is filled with problems, but what if many of the solutions have been here all along, in the form of plant and fungi species found in the natural world? Below are four of nature's answers to drug addiction, deforestation, malnourishment and oil spills.

1.Ibogaine

Photo: Ayahuasca Netherlands

Ibogaine is a psychoactive root bark originally used by followers of the Bwiti religion in western Africa for initiation ceremonies, now gaining attention outside of Africa for it's ability to cure drug and alcohol addictions in a few or even a single treatment. 

Though not guaranteed to cure addictions, one study of 33 serious addicts found that 25 were observed to have zero "drug-seeking behavior" 72 hours after treatment. With specific counseling after their treatment and one or two more Ibogaine treatments over the next year and a half (if necessary), many patients are able to break their addictions entirely.

Ibogaine works by acting on parts of the brain related to dopamine concentrations and dependencies related to drug use, reducing these levels in a complex manner that scientists don't fully understand. It is known that the root bark reverses the "affects of certain abusive and highly addictive drugs, namely/specifically: cocaine, morphine and nicotine" according to the treatment center IbeginAgain. In doing so, Ibogaine allows addicts to alleviate intensely unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that would normally occur in the absence of the addictive drug.

Photo: psychadelicadventure.blogspot.com

The experience of Ibogaine lasts between 18 and 24 hours, inducing a dream-like state whereby patients are shown the underlying emotional or mental events and patterns at the root of their addictive behavior. Counselors and patients alike equate the Ibogaine experience with several years of deep therapy.

Illegal in the U.S. for its alleged "high potential for abuse", Ibogaine treatment centers exist in 12 countries around the world, including Great Britain, France, Canada and Mexico.

2.Hemp

Photo: Jessica Vanegeren

Outlawed for nearly a century due to sharing its species name (Cannabis Sativa) with marijuana (despite significant differences between the two plants), hemp has been used by humans for over 12,000 years, and until the 20th century was a primary source of paper, wagon canvas, ship sails, clothing and rope. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were both major proponents of the hemp plant, and even as late as 1942, the U.S. Government was urging American farmers to grow hemp for the war effort, documented in the USDA-produced Hemp for Victory film.

The extent to which the hemp plant can be used to create nutritious, sustainable, profitable and quality products is quite remarkable:

• Hemp seeds are rich in healthy fats that can be used to make milk, bread and other foods.
  
• Hemp fiber has been used as material to make cars out of, and as a stronger, more flexible and far less energy-intensive alternative concrete, dubbed "Hempcrete".
• Hemp could easily replace cotton, a water intensive crop responsible for 50% of pesticide use worldwide, as a source of clothing material.
  
• Hemp requires no pesticides or other biocides to grow, is drought tolerant and cleans up pollution, as it was employed to do at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. 
• Hemp is at least four times more profitable per acre than corn or soy (even including subsidies).
  

Photo: organicgreenandnatural.com

Perhaps most significant for environmentalists is hemp's potential to render deforestation obsolete.

Hemp yields four times the amount of fiber for paper than the average forest does, and can be regrown each year, in comparison to the 50-100 years it takes a forest to return to suitable harvesting size. Hemp paper can also be recycled two times more than wood pulp and requires none of the highly toxic chemicals which mills processing wood pulp use. Lastly, hemp fiber could actually replace many wood materials used in home construction, such as fiber board, strand board, beams, studs and posts.

 Like Ibogaine, Hemp is another incredible plant that is illegal in the United States.

3.Moringa

Photo: plantsystematics.org

Starvation, malnourishment, drought and poor water quality are persistent problems in much of the developing world, but many people are finding help from one specific tree, known as Moringa Oleifera to researchers, and hailed as the "miracle tree" by those who depend upon it. The Moringa Tree is a native to the Himalayan foothills and is purported to have over 100 medicinal, nutritional and household uses, for which it is cultivated throughout Africa, Central and South America and Southeast Asia.

The flowers,leaves and seedpods are all edible for humans, and the branches constitute a rich meal for livestock, increasing weight gain and milk production. The seedpods contain all essential amino acids, in addition to many other nutrients, and yield an oil resembling olive oil which does not go rancid.

The leaves can be dried and crushed to form a storeable powder, whose use has been documented to prevent starvation, and which contain, gram for gram: seven times the Vitamin C in oranges, four times the calcium in milk, four times the Vitamin A in carrots, two times the protein in milk and three times the potassium in bananas. It is for these exceptional nutritional qualities that Moringa has been called a "mother's best friend", preventing malnutrition in young mothers and infants for some time.

Medicinally speaking, ayurvedic lore claims that Moringa leaf prevents "300 diseases", and recent research has suggested that the leaves, seedpods, roots, bark and flowers all work against internal and skin infections, as well as the formation of tumors.

The miracle tree is also valuable because it leafs out fully at the end of the dry season, when many other foods in the tropics are dormant. Moringa needs little water and is grown in dry soils, especially important in areas where landscapes have been ravaged by drought, deforestation and overgrazing or tilling. Lastly, the seed cake left over from the pods has been found to purify drinking water, a boon to tens of millions suffering from a poor suply of drinkable water.

4. Oyster Mushrooms

Photo: Michael Talbot

The disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico has brought the nightmarish potential of oil to infiltrate and poison natural habitats to the public's attention, but far from the TV cameras and news reports a few scientists and activists have been utilizing species of fungi to clean up pollution from oil.

Foremost among this group is mycologist (a botanist specializing in fungi) Paul Stamets, whose work with Battelle Labratories demonstrated the ability of oyster mushrooms to break down complex hydrocarbons, reducing concentrations of diesel in contaminated soil from 10,000 PPM to less than 200 PPM in just 16 weeks.

Inspired by Stamets' work, Matter of Trust director Lisa Gautier joined with mycologists and volunteers in late 2007 to use hair mats to mop up oil spilled on the beaches of San Francisco by the Cosco Buscan container ship. The oil-soaked hair mats were inoculated with oyster mushroom fungi, and two months later the oysters emerged, with no toxins remaining in the hair mats.

Photo: yakist.com

The potential to "mycroremediate" oil spills is evident in both examples, leading Stamets, Grautier and others to work at employing a mycological solution for the Gulf spill.

In a statement following the Deep Horizon disaster, Stamets notes that oyster mushrooms are known to be tolerant of salt water, and efforts by his labratory are under way to develop a "myco-boom" filled with straw and oyster mushrooms, which could absorb and decontaminate floating oil. Beaches and wetlands affected by the spill can also be mycoremediated, as can pesticide, bacteria and fertilizer pollution which are common sources of water quality issues in the United States and elsewhere.