Dust of the Earth

Question: In the book there's a point about different ways of looking at people being made from dust, one of which is that our food comes from the soil and dust of planet earth, we eat the food, the food becomes us, so we come from dust too. Okay, but what about when we eat fish? Fish eat other fish!

Answer: A lot of fish do eat other fish, but the fish they eat are smaller fish, which in turn eat even smaller fish - it’s the food-chain of the ocean. Some of the smallest creatures are Phytoplankton which utilise sunlight to help them with growth but they also need inorganic nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates, and sulphur which they convert into proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. So the inorganic compounds can still be classed as “dust of the earth” which once converted make their way through the food chain to humans.

Paul