Earlier this week, I got a note from a friend suggesting that taking a more positive approach might enable me to reach more people regarding the importance of sustainable living. He began with this sentence:
Each time I get your message that the end is coming faster, while I know it is true, it causes a knee jerk reaction to not believe the travesty you are explaining.
After reading his note, I took a long walk on the golf course here in Vermont, thinking carefully about what he said. My response to him is now being shared with you:
Dear Alex,
I know exactly what you're talking about and would very much like to believe that just helping individuals see an "idealized outcome" would trigger a global grassroots movement strong enough to save our civilization.
But based on my understanding of the "big picture" global issues that we face, I just don't believe that will happen.
I simply don't see how a grassroots movement can possibly change things quickly enough to save us. We need much more.
Toward that end,
I have again concluded that the best use of my time is to leverage
my senior executive background in business to help influence some of the
world's top movers and shakers to get onboard in a big way.
For fifteen years, I have been trying to attract the attention of powerful people who, if sufficiently enlightened, could make a lot of noise around the world, gain the attention of other leaders and quickly start moving the environmental needle in the right direction.
So far, I have failed, but will stay the course.
Although I have connected with a few highly prominent people over the years, none have become enlightened enough to make saving the planet their #1 priority. I posted a piece about that effort on 8-2-17:
Bezos, Gates & Musk. Saving Humanity?
Our Two Biggest Issues.
Climate change is the big kahuna for lots of reasons. The other one is our harmful, wasteful, and grossly unsustainable consumption of animal-based foods.
Regarding that one, because of the widespread "protein myth" (that we really "need" to eat animal protein) an urgent campaign to replace animal-based foods with healthier, envirnonment-friendly, plant-based options never enters the minds of those in power.
My Conclusion. If there is a chance to save our civilization, the ultimate solution must include a huge, globally coordinated effort to urgently address both of the above problems.
Conveniently, by eliminating animal-based foods, we improve our health, we conserve water AND we address the #1 driver of climate change--all at the same time. It's also the only major step that can be done quickly--without spending trillions of dollars.
How are we doing so far on those two problems?
Not very well, according to these two charts.
CO2 Levels in our Atmosphere--Now 410 ppm
Highest Level in over 650,000 Years
Meat Consumption/Person--Up in All Regions
The Bottom Line.
As you can clearly see from these two charts, we have made ZERO net progress in the two biggest issues that most threaten our future on planet Earth. In fact, both have worsened substantially in recent years.
