Pink Lung Disease

Human lungs inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide

Tree Branches inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen

Trees and Humans together - we're a great team

Back in Primary School (or Elementary School) I think I was about 8 years old, our form teacher told us about a Doctor who trained in London, England, and had moved to the countryside to a rural Doctor's Practice.

The story goes that the Doctor, whilst working in the rural areas, discovered a new disease and he called it 'Pink Lung Disease'. Based as he had been in London, where the pollution was very high, city dwellers were breathing in a toxic mixture, whilst rural inhabitants had much cleaner air. The polluted air in London's winter was called the 'Smog' a mixture of Smoke from coal fires, and Fog.

This Doctor had only seen 'black lungs', and when he performed Autopsy on his 'new' patients, they had 'pink lungs'. This led him to conclude that it was a new disease and he called it 'Pink Lung Disease'. He hadn't joined up the dots, and realised that his rural patients were breathing purer, cleaner air.

Recently, whilst reading about the Coronavirus, I found several articles linked to Pink Lung Disease. It's a different condition to the one in the 1950's - essentially it's COPD, known as Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or emphysema. The sufferer will often cough up 'pink mucus' and this has been identified as blood in the mucus.

I'm not a doctor, but I find it interesting that in the 1950's and 1960's there were prejudices from rural people towards city dwellers, and similar prejudices from city dwellers towards rural people. The only time there appears to have been some tollerance was during the Second World War when children were separated from their parents in cities, during the 'Blitz' and relocated to the safety of the countryside.

Early in the Pandemic, the Queen spoke on television and it included her broadcast, originally made in 1940 with her sister Margaret, used as a example of how she, and her late sister, consoled a nation who would be parted from their loved ones.

Why are we so separate?

There are many articles on the internet about Narcissists and Border-line Personality disorders, and we hear tales of these 'awful' people. But shouldn't we be asking ourselves why this is happening.

Personally, I blame the main stream media for elevating soap operas, and telling stories of ruin and harm to individuals and their families. Life is not a 'Doris Day movie' but neither is it a disaster movie.

Video games are usually about war and fighting, or killing your opponent. Is this healthy? Is it wise?

If more people were to question this and perhaps complain about programmes which glorify harm to others, perhaps we could build a better society.

There have been a lot of discussions recently about the 'haves' and 'have-nots' the 'have-nots' are disadvantaged. Some of them definitely are, and I feel genuinely sorry for them, but twice in my life I have lost everything, and I have rebuilt my life again, against great odds.

What helps me, is that I truly want to create a more beautiful place in which to live, and I spend more time building up my environment, rather than tearing it down.

I'm lucky enough to live where there is natural lichen growing on the trees. It is said that Lichen only grows where the air is pure. Lichen on tree bark is completely harmless to the tree itself. The rhizines (similar to roots) allow them to attach to the tree but do not go deep enough to harm the tree in any way. It's impossible for the lichen to kill the tree and was probably there long before the tree became ill.

As we start to come out of the Pandemic wouldn't it be wonderful if we could try and live more harmoniously together, and try to bury our differences - instead of tearing each other apart.

The world is depending upon it.

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Aknowledgements to: Lichens On Trees – Treatment For Tree Lichen https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/treatment-tree-lichen.htm