SOS #15    J. Morris Hicks    (7-24-19)  
Complacency Can Be Dangerous!
I am talking about the complacency that develops when citizens religiously follow the "green living" advice from the the world's mainstream journalists.

Last week, I came across a number of journalistic efforts aimed at helping all of us lead a more sustainable life.  I am confident that the people involved with bringing us the content referenced below are genuinely concerned about the environment - but have no idea what it will really take to sustain us.
The problem is that mainstream journalists simply don't understand that modest lifestyle improvements among the more conscientious citizens will be a case of far too little and far too late. They simply don't realize that our entire way of life must be reinvented if we are to survive.

So when they hand out their advice in articles like these below, they promote complacency among those readers who follow their advice explicitly and, therefore, feel that they are doing their part.   

Check out these three articles, none of which include a single word about the need to reinvent our civilization:
  • July 2019 List of Ten Climate Change Villains. This CNN article contains some interesting information but does nothing to address what must be done to properly deal with those ten villains.    
  • January 2019 Quiz: How Green is Your Life? If you scored 35 or higher out of a possible 40, you were rewarded with this "complacency enhancing" phrase: 
    Wow, you certainly know your Greens. If you scored this highly, you can rightly call yourself a Green Champion - well done and keep up the good work!
 Good news and bad news...

The good news is that that following some of the advice in these articles may buy us a little more time when it comes to truly re-inventing the entire way we are living today in the developed world. 
 
The bad news is that this kind of incomplete information breeds complacency in the populace; thereby preventing the public from demanding to know exactly what it will take to reach a truly sustainable relationship with Mother Nature. Another example:

This 7-17-19 article on FastCompany featured a 22-step plan for feeding the world in 2050. Here's #16 on that list:
16. Reduce cattle belches.  Cow burps are a major source of methane pollution, a potent greenhouse gas. But  supplements to cattle diets, like seaweed, can help make them burp less . Researchers and companies are also working on other solutions, like "super grass" bred to aid digestion.
Reduce cattle belches? Really? Give me a break! I'll tell you how to get rid of ALL cattle belches. Get rid of the freaking cows! Click here to read the full article.


The Bottom Line.  No head of state, environmental NGO, or prominent journalist is telling the complete story about what we must do to save ourselves.  

One professor, Dr. Rupert Read in the UK, has stated that we must replace our civilization but he provides no details for how we might go about doing that. 

There's also an environmental scientist in the UK, Dr. Jem Bendell, who is talking about "deep  adaptation" as he has realized that our chances for enough mitigation of climate change - are lessening with each passing day.

But that's it. Outside of Bendell and Read, I hear no one else talking about anything remotely close to totally reinventing the way we live on this planet. The one exception may be 16-year old Greta Thunberg who offers up the most powerful advice I have seen.


This is what she told the jet-set crowd at the January 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland - after taking a 32-hour train ride from Sweden because she refuses to fly on jetliners for environmental reasons.

"Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope, but I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is."

  
My first blog on this crucial topic first on the list below. Since then, I have posted another 44 pieces on my Gratola topic since 9-21-18 and you can find all of them at this page on my website. Here are a few of them:
As always, I will continue to focus on this crucial topic - in my research, my writing and my speaking.   

As for speaking, I continue to search for mainstream audiences who may have an interest in learning more about a realistically hopeful vision for our future - and their role in making that vision come true.

As such, I will travel anywhere for an opportunity to speak to one or more groups in each city that I visit. I only ask for travel expense reimbursement and a modest honorarium.

Recently scheduled: A  VegFest in Sedona, Arizona in January.

As for the specifics of my topic, I invite you to  contact me directly  about how I might tailor my presentation to best suit an audience you may have in mind: 

Universities,  churches,  think-tanks, legislative bodies, environmental  organizations, alumni associations, leadership clubs,  and/or civic groups who may appreciate a message of reality and hope for our future. 

Please let me hear from you directly regarding any ideas or questions you may have.

What else can you do to help? Three things:

1. Live as greenly as possible while doing all that you can to raise the awareness of "big picture" solutions that are crucially necessary for saving our civilization.

2. Share this BSB and my  "Mama Ain't Happy" BSB with prominent journalists, thought leaders and/or elected officials whom you respect. They need to learn a lot more about the many reasons why  Mama ain't happy.

3. Here are a few more GRATOLA-related blogs that you can share with your most powerful friends, leaders, journalists and movie producers.



Click here for links  to all blogs and SOS Memos since 2016

Until next time, just remember...

Humanity is on a collision course with Nature.
A damaged Nature will survive. We may not.
We must change course to avert an ecological disaster.

Be well,

J. Morris (Jim) Hicks 
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC

I welcome your feedback and/or questions at:  jmh@4leafglobal.com

In the past 12 months, I have spoken at a  VegFest in
Fort Myers, at  vsh.org  in Honolulu and Kahului, Maui, the   College of the Holy Cross  in Worcester, MA, a  Plant Powered Manhattan  event in New York, at a lakeside health conference in  South Haven, Michigan, in Buffalo, NY, at the University of Scranton and at the Dr.  Joel Fuhrman  Golden Gate Health Getaway  in California near the Silicon Valley. 

To schedule a presentation at a venue near you, please contact me at   jmh@4leafglobal.com


Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth

Moonglow J. Morris Hicks

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