Living lightly on the planet is an expression used by people who are conscious of their "energy footprint" and are attempting to minimize it. Americans, on average, require twenty-six acres (10.5 hectares) of land per person to support their lifestyle, compared to a worldwide average of seven acres. Developing nations average three to five acres.

People who live lightly on the earth consciously evaluate their behaviors with regard to how they may enhance or disrupt the natural balance of all things. They are aware that exhaust gases from cars and industrial pollutants are painting a brown haze across the horizon, and that chlorofluorocarbons may be destroying the planet's ozone layer, exposing us to harmful radiation. They realize that unrestricted urban sprawl is wantonly eliminating our green space; herbicides and pesticides are poisoning our soil and, consequently, our food. Greed and waste are the characteristics of a population that has lost touch with itself.

Take some time to reflect on your own lifestyle and the ways in which you touch the earth, the water, the air. Your wellness, our wellness, and that of our children depend upon this.

All of this has been leading up to a definition of one of the general principles governing the approach to wellness taken in this text. It is sometimes called body-trust, sometimes simply self-trust. Turn around ignorance, shame, fear, neglect, and the tendency to praise or blame something out there for what's happening in here, and you have its components.

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