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In the long run, a sustainable future for humanity depends on us moving steadily toward a lifestyle that enables us to live in "harmony" with nature.
Since 2010,
when we started writing
Healthy Eating, Healthy World,
my tagline has included the word harmony.
So, naturally, I started signing all of my books with
H3,
representing the three "H" words in this alliterative phrase:
Promoting Health, Hope & Harmony on Planet Earth
As you may know, my journey in that direction began with a curiosity about the optimal diet for humans in 2002. Since then, I've been steadily sharpening my focus toward what I believe to be the most important issues. I call this my discovery phase.
- Early in my research, I realized that our food choices were not just extremely important to our own health, but also crucial to the health of the planet's biosphere that gave us birth and continues to keep us alive.
- Secondly, I concluded that changing that our food choices were, by far, the easiest, the quickest and the most powerful step toward sustainable living that every human in the developed world could take.
- Thirdly, I concluded that if all humans began quickly shifting toward only plant-based foods that, just maybe, we could buy ourselves enough time to properly address the many other challenging issues that threaten our future as a species.
Obviously, that has not happened - and we now find ourselves in big trouble when it comes to the deteriorating ability of our planet's biosphere to sustain us. And, most of us know that it's our own behavior that is driving the majority of our problems.
Now, we're running out of time and must make HUGE systemic improvements quickly as we strive to live as green as possible on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping us alive. Individual actions alone will not be nearly enough.
My six steps to sustainability are based on our answer to the simple question at the top of this slide:
My answer to the above question, as suggested in the slide, is that we must strive to err on the side of living even greener than nature requires. How do we do that? Here are my six steps:
1. Start the "Conversation." This is what I am trying to do now. I think about it, study it, talk about it and write about it seven days a week. I also give public talks every chance I get. That said, even with my public appeal to ten American billionaires in May of 2019, the silence around the world has been deafening on the most important topic in the history of humanity.
2. Start the process in the USA. Build a test model of a new civilization here and they will emulate our success all over the world. I call it the most important experiment in the history of humanity as we urgently d
esign the greenest possible environment
for humans. That means, when in doubt, take it out - when it comes to questionable lifestyle choices like I addressed in last week's SOS Memo.
3. Make it ultra-desirable.
To maximize the appeal of that super green environment, include many features that would never be available outside the green model. The psychologists insist that people only make big changes for something they perceive as better. I call it "pull" vs. "push" marketing. In other words, If we don't make it
nice
, it will not
suffice
.
4. Start Slow, test and perfect.
Build the first phase of the GBN and begin populating the model while testing and improving the new form of governance, housing, finance, transportation, food services, education, employment and entertainment systems associated with the all-important new economy - all of which must answer first to the needs of the natural world. If it ain't
green
, it won't be seen.
5. Accelerate the growth. As soon as possible, open it up to everyone who wants to live there - while greatly accelerating the rate of growth of this super-green human habitat.
6. Roll it out to the rest of the world. In the totally connected realtime world of today, other nations will want to follow our lead and adapt our proven solution to their own environment. It will take a lot more than a super-green USA to save our fragile biosphere that keeps us all alive. This is one project that, to be successful, must eventually include the participation of nearly ALL of the developed countries.
Re-invention vs Conversion. If you're new to these SOS Memos, you may not know that I've been writing about this new envisioned human habitat since September of 2018. You also may not have heard why I am insisting that the all-important conceptual design process start from scratch -vs. trying to retro-fit or update our existing civilization. I sum it up this way:
Trying to convert our incredibly wasteful and harmful way of life in the developed world into one that can coexist in harmony with nature is like trying to
convert a donkey into a spaceship
. It just ain't gonna happen. We must start over from scratch and build a civilization where only green lifestyle options exist.
Back to Step One, the "conversation."
Before we can figure out what kind of economy will best suit our needs in the future, we've got to spark a much-needed global conversation about the absolute necessity of reinventing just about every aspect of the way we live.
And when we finally get that done, I am confident that our new way of living will end up being a virtual paradise on Earth, as Dr. E.O. Wilson predicts is possible.
You also may want to refer your friends and family to that same page, where they might see something that helps to spark their interest, enthusiasm and action. In conclusion,
I choose to believe that we can turn the climate change monster into a lifeline of sorts for moving urgently toward a sustainable civilization.
In closing, I believe that if we can get this process started here in the USA, that the rest of the world will follow. That said, we should welcome environmentally-conscious leaders from other countries to join us in the design process.
PS: You may be wondering how you can help promote the never-ending search for a way to save our species. You can get me in front of some audiences who you think might be ready to hear about the long-overdue, global "conversation" about our survival.
As always, I am just trying to spark a global conversation about what is needed. By sharing a vision of what I believe is possible, I hope to influence others to think bigger, better and bolder.
********************
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 will create a custom presentation for each audience and I only ask for travel expense reimbursement and a modest honorarium.
In the months ahead, I will continue to focus on the urgent need for a totally reinvented greening of our civilization - beginning with a model in the USA that could be applied globally over the next fifty years.
Upcoming talks
: There are lots of open dates on my calendar as my next scheduled talk is
at
Camp Plant-Stock
in Black Mountain, NC, in August.
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, PTA's
and/or civic groups who may appreciate a message of reality and hope for our future.
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.
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.
This SOS Memo series was created by:
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
In the past two years, 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, at Dr.
Fuhrman's
Golden Gate Health Getaway
in California and at the
Healthy World Sedona Health and Sustainability Conference in AZ.
Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
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