Newsletter #49: ☀️ Chats with ChatGPT about a healthier future
Lately, I’ve been using ChatGPT to explore ideas for a future that balances sustainability, biodiversity, and respect for nature with a growing human population, technological innovation, thriving democracy, and personal freedoms. This would be ideal, right? Is it possible?
Humanity’s greatest power may be its ability to envision and manifest large-scale change. Unfortunately, our human imagination and power has led to a very polluted environment and a sick global population (with over 3 billion humans with chronic diseases.) While I am extremely wary of AI (especially as a writer!), I have found that ChatGPT has helped me expand my scope of hopeful ideas about the future, which plant seeds in my mind that let my imagination run wild.
As I’ve written and discussed on podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, I don’t believe we’re just facing a global human health crisis. I believe we are witnessing total global ecosystem collapse, with human health as one piece of collateral damage. Humans are inextricably linked to nature—constantly breathing in, consuming, and shedding molecules in a continuous exchange with our environment. We’re built from nature and go back to nature. Yet, we’ve disrupted nature’s cycles in unprecedented ways, and in doing so, we are breaking ourselves: our health is literally destroyed, and our main disease killers are simply mirrors of the devastation we are doing to the Earth.
I believe the solution to the chronic disease epidemic lies in restoring and respecting natural cycles and ecosystems. The human population must support biodiversity, ecosystem harmony, and sustainability, or I fear we will reach an environmental tipping point that will destroy human life (of course, nature will recover and adapt). I’m sharing a summary of my recent queries of ChatGPT on how a truly sustainable future for tens of billions of humans could look, which also honors individual freedoms, democracy, and technological advancement. I don’t necessarily endorse all the ideas that are brought up, and there is infinitely more to unpack and think about on all these issues, but the point here is that the exercise of using AI to expand our ability to imagine may be a use-case that could be positive. But I’m honestly not sure; there’s also something dystopian about engaging with AI to ponder about the future. Share with me: what are you thoughts on using AI to envision a healthier future? Do you think it’s possible?
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My query to ChatGPT:
“Given what we know about natural cycles, waste management, environmental pollutants, electromagnetic radiation, food, circadian biology, and broader ecological systems, what ideas should people be thinking about that could help transition modern American society from wasteful, inefficient systems to a future that supports a growing population while improving human health, strengthening local economies, maintaining and enhancing personal freedoms, and restoring natural resources and environmental harmony? How can we design modern infrastructure and systems that not only minimizes toxins and pollutants but also optimizes human biology—so people thrive physically and mentally?”
ChatGPT’s reply:
🌎️ A Practical Blueprint for a Thriving, Regenerative Future
This isn’t about returning to the past; it’s about using advanced engineering knowledge, biomimicry, and regenerative systems to build a more efficient, resilient future. Here’s how we can get there with practical, scalable solutions:
1. 🏡 Rethink How We Build: Homes & Cities
Why not?
🌆 Smarter Homes & Neighborhoods
🏗️ Building materials: Buildings can be made from easy-to-grow regenerative materials: hempcrete, cross-laminated timber (CLT), and mycelium-based insulation that sequester carbon, last for generations, and create healthier indoor air quality.
🥵 Passive heating and cooling: Thermal mass walls, strategic ventilation, and home orientation to reduce the need for external heating and air conditioning. These elements can greatly reduce the very real situation of “Sick Building Syndrome” which everyone should be aware of – buildings can literally get sick, and then make humans sick.
🚰 Integrated water capture and recycling: Rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse, and biochar-filtered constructed wetlands to manage waste on-site.
⚡️ Decentralized energy production.
♻️ Regenerative Cities
🏢 Living infrastructure: Living walls, green rooftops, and permeable surfaces to manage stormwater, improve air quality, and reduce urban heat.
♻️ Circular material use: Cities should prioritize zero-waste construction, where materials are biodegradable, reusable, or upcycled.
🌳 Mixed-use communities and decentralized manufacturing: Integrating massive green spaces, creating neighborhood hubs where people can work, shop, and socialize within walking distance. Decentralized manufacturing potentially using 3D printing to reduce reliance on energy intensive global supply chains and ensure local resilience in the face of potential supply chain disruptions.
2. 🐮 Regenerative Agriculture & Localized Food Systems
Shifting from Feedlot & Industrial Farming to Regenerative Practices
🧑🌾 Regenerative farming improves financial and land resilience: While feedlot and monoculture farming rely on expensive synthetic inputs, regenerative practices reduce costs over time by rebuilding soil health, increasing drought resistance, and diversifying income streams for farmers. Modernizing government subsidy and grant programs and creating a bridge-loan system to help transition farms from conventional to regenerative would help the transition.
🐄 Perennial & diversified farms: Integrating fruit trees, pastured livestock, and diverse pollinator habitats for long-term food abundance.
🌾 Rotational grazing & holistic land management: Properly managed grazing restores grasslands, increases soil carbon storage, and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers.
💧 Water-conscious farming: Regenerative agriculture conserves water by improving soil structure and organic matter, which enhances water retention, reduces runoff, prevents drought stress, and replenishes groundwater through techniques like cover cropping, no-till farming, and holistic grazing. We’re losing topsoil and water to run-off due to poor soil conditions caused by industrial agriculture.
Localized, Decentralized Food Production
☘️ Prioritizing edible foliage in city planning: In publicly funded parks, schools, hospitals, and other public spaces, incorporate fruit trees instead of ornamental trees and edible bushes and foliage (like rosemary and other herbs) instead of standard landscaping and eliminate the use of toxic pesticides.
🌊 Regenerative ocean farming: Kelp, mussels, and oysters that clean ocean water while providing nutrient-dense food. And expansion of regenerative aquaculture (like Seatopia is doing) over industrial fishing.
Mini-rant.
3. Waste & Water: From Pollution to Resource Cycles
Reclaiming Waste as a Resource
🪱 Compost everything: Not just food scraps, but all human and animal manure should be composted into pathogen-free, nutrient-rich fertilizer rather than flushed into septic and sewage systems, which massively disrupt ecosystems. ChatGPT estimates that the US alone produces 2.7 trillion pounds of feces per year between humans and animals —or roughly the weight of 20,000 Empire State Buildings annually! This is all meant to go back into the cycle of nature to be converted into pathogen free fertilizer and compost, but currently is diverted into fresh water to get to sewage plants, and landfills.
✨ Why composting is cleaner than sewage: Feces can be pathogenic; compost is not. Feces can turn into compost in just months with little to no work. Properly managed composting systems eliminate harmful bacteria and elimiate pharmaceuticals and toxins, while industrial sewage treatment simply moves pollutants into fresh waterways or concentrates them into toxic sludge that is treated with toxic chemicals like chlorine and returns to our sinks.
Note on sewage: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that between 23,000 and 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) occur annually. These overflows result in the release of approximately 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage into surface waters each year. This current sewage system is NOT working, and wasting billions of pounds of usable agricultural materials that come from humans and animals each
Eliminating Plastic & Toxic Waste
📦️ Biodegradable packaging: Replacing petroleum-based plastics with mushroom-based packaging, algae bioplastics, seaweed films, and plant-fiber materials that naturally decompose.
🫙 Fully recyclable alternatives: Glass, metal, and infinitely recyclable bio-polymers that reduce landfill waste.
Plasma Gasification & Enzymatic Plastic Breakdown
🌬️ Plasma gasification: An ultra-high-temperature process that vaporizes waste (including plastics) into synthetic gas, which may be more environmentally friendly than incineration.
🦠 Enzymatic plastic breakdown: Recent breakthroughs have developed bacteria and fungi capable of digesting polyethylene and PET plastics, breaking them down into reusable components.
4. Detoxifying the World We’ve Already Polluted
Cleaning Up Our Land, Water, and Air
🌱 Biochar soil restoration: Charcoal-like material made from organic waste that binds heavy metals and toxins while improving soil fertility.
🍄 Mycoremediation (fungal cleanup): Certain fungi (e.g., Pleurotus ostreatus or oyster mushrooms) break down petroleum, pesticides, and even heavy metals in contaminated soil.
💧 Electrochemical water purification: Advanced graphene and nanofiltration methods to remove pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and industrial toxins from drinking water.
🌺 Rewilding projects: Restoring degraded landscapes by reintroducing native plant and animal species to rebalance ecosystems.
Reducing Future Toxins
🏘️ Disincentivize or ban endocrine-disrupting chemicals filling homes and buildings: Replacing harmful plastics, pesticides, and flame retardants with bio-based, non-toxic alternatives.
🪣 Non-toxic building materials: Replacing VOC-emitting paints, synthetic carpets, and chemical-laden insulation with lime plasters, wool insulation, and natural wood finishes in future builds.
Conclusion
This is not about going backward or reducing quality of life. It’s about aligning human innovation with nature’s intelligence to create a world that is more abundant, healthier, and self-sustaining.
By rethinking how we build, grow food, move around, and manage waste, we can support more people, eliminate pollution, and restore biodiversity—without sacrificing innovation, comfort, or progress. The solutions already exist—it’s time to implement them.
✌️ Two specific plans of implementation in Los Angeles, courtesy of ChatGPT
1️⃣ LA Citywide Thermophilic Composting Plan
Below is a potential plan to turn LA from sewer and septic dependent to a city that composts all human and animal excrement to turn into fully pathogen-free compost that rebuilds topsoil and creates food security. (Note from me: If you are grossed out by any of this, you should be aware that it is legal in America RIGHT NOW to apply sewage sludge as fertilizer on American crops, and we are using petrochemicals to fertilize food. This could all be done naturally and much more effectively.)
💩 Plan
🚽 Waterless Toilets & Compostable Containers
Incentivize that existing homes use waterless composting toilets with odor-sealed, compostable containers lined with carbon materials (sawdust, straw, biochar). Composting toilets now look almost identical to regular toilets and are able to be installed in homes.
📆 Monthly Collection & Transport
Residents place sealed, odor-proof full containers in outdoor bins for monthly pickup by a municipal or private service, similar to taking out the trash.
🦠 Thermophilic Composting Facilities
Waste is processed at centralized community composting sites utilizing naturally occurring thermophilic bacteria (130–160°F) to eliminate pathogens and produce nutrient-rich compost.
🪱 Compost Use & Incentives
Finished compost supports urban farms, reforestation, and soil restoration.
Residents get compost credits, tax breaks, or food discounts for participation.
🧑⚖️ Policy & Public Adoption
Building codes require composting toilets in new developments, with rebates for retrofits.
Education campaigns normalize composting as safe, sanitary, and eco-friendly.
LA is converted to fully sewer independent in 20 years.
Impact:
🚰 Water Conservation: Transitioning from modern flush toilets to waterless composting systems would save approximately 116.8 billion gallons of water annually. This estimate is based on Los Angeles' population of 4 million and an average per capita daily water use of 80 gallons.
📉 Waste Reduction: By composting human waste, the city could divert around 730,000 tons of waste from landfills each year. This calculation assumes an average waste generation of 0.5 pounds per person per day.
🌱 Compost Production: The composting process would produce approximately 182,500 tons of nutrient-rich compost annually, assuming that 25% of the composted material results in usable compost.
🧘 Spiritual Enhancement: Humans are partaking in a close-loop system in relation to their own byproducts (feces), thus putting humans back into the web of life.
2️⃣ Citywide Lawn-to-Food Production Plan
At a time when 70% of Americans rely on ultraprocessed foods, it’s mind-boggling that city governments, schools, and homeowners pour money into mowing, spraying, and watering lawns—when that same effort could be growing tons of fresh, nutrient-dense food in the exact same space. Why are we still doing this?
🌲 Plan
🍅 Convert Lawns to Diverse Food Systems
Incentivize the transition of some portion of residential and public lawns into food forests, vegetable gardens, pollinator habitats, and regenerative grazing areas based on local conditions.
Incentivize drought-resistant, perennial, and native species to minimize water use and upkeep.
💡 Make It Easy for Beginners
Provide free online guides, city-funded workshops, and mentorship programs to teach basic food-growing skills.
Offer pre-designed garden templates based on different yard sizes and climates.
Create a “starter package” program where residents receive seeds, compost, and simple planting instructions.
Implement city-supported maintenance services or volunteer networks to help those unable to tend their own spaces.
🤖 Automation & Labor Reduction
Drip irrigation, mulching, and no-till soil restoration reduce maintenance.
AI-driven farm management, robotic weeding, and automated composting streamline upkeep.
Community co-ops & work-share programs allow shared labor, making participation manageable (~2 hrs/week per household). I.e., “Uber for garden help”
🤝 Government Support & Policy Shifts
Lawn-to-food grants, tax incentives, and water bill reductions for converting lawns to pollinator or food production.
Zoning updates to legalize front-yard food production.
Public land repurposing (parks, medians, schools) to create neighborhood food hubs with free produce access.
Impact:
💧 Water: Saves billions of gallons of water annually by replacing thirsty lawns.
🍽️ Food production: Produces millions of tons of local food, reducing reliance on imports and cutting grocery costs.
🙅♀️ Eliminates synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and lawn equipment emissions in cities and neighborhoods, improving air and soil health and noise pollution.
💪 Strengthens food security, lowers living costs, and builds community resilience.
Are all of these ideas impractical? For sure. Is it worth imagining them and planting seeds in our minds? I think yes! We need to hold onto hopeful and positive visions for the future, as massive change can happen quickly with collective will. I found this exercise with AI to be surprisingly inspiring for me, and hope it was for you too! What comes up for you?
💗, Dr. Casey
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👀 In Case You Missed It
📄 New article on metabolic health!
Check out this article on The Good Trade by my good friend Dr. Jaclyn Tolentino, who is the lead functional medicine doctor at Love.Life. In the article, Jaclyn discusses the critical role of metabolic health in overall well-being, highlighting how daily choices in diet, exercise, and stress management profoundly influence our body's cellular functions.
Read the full article here.
TOMORROW! If you are LA based, I encourage you to sign up for Dr. Tolentino’s free Longevity Learning classes at Love.Life. There is a class on Menopause 3.0 tomorrow!
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