All questions of philosophy that address the human condition come down to three: what are we, what created us, and what do we wish ultimately to become. The all-important answer to the third question, the destiny we seek, requires an accurate answer to the first two.

III. T. Colin Campbell of the USA, PhD, Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University

My good friend and colleague, Colin Campbell turned 85 on March 14, 2019. His 2005 China Study and 2013 WHOLE are pictured above and he is about to publish another book later this year.

I first discovered Colin's work in 2003, shortly after I became curious about the optimal diet for humans. Early in my research on this topic, I concluded that the best diet for promoting our own health is one that consists mostly of whole, plant-based foods. From the very beginning, I loved Colin's definition of that diet:

The closer we get to eating a diet of whole, plant-based foods, the better off we will be.

In this three-minute video, Colin explains why the terms vegetarian or vegan do not necessarily describe a true, health-promoting diet. 

What's wrong with veganism?

It really is very simple. Veganism isn't necessarily a healthy diet because it only describes what you don't eat, and what you DO eat is most important, as  Campbell explains in the short video above.

By simply eating mostly whole plants, we can get all the environmental and sustainability benefits of avoiding animal products, while preventing or reversing chronic disease for ourselves. A true win-win-win for our health, our planet and our future.

What's that got to do with sustainability you might ask? Well, as it turns out, the same diet that promotes the best health for humans - ALSO promotes the best health for the planet. 

How so? About two years after learning those critical truths about our food choices, I met Colin and his wife Karen in New York following one of his talks at a restaurant in Manhattan. He and Karen both signed my copy of The China Study that night and we've been collaborating ever since. 

A few years later, Colin introduced me to the World Bank researchers (Goodland and Anhang) who had concluded that the plant-based diet that Colin was advocating could be instrumental in eliminating the single largest source of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions: the grossly unsustainable process of producing an ever-increasing amount of animal-based foods. Their final report was published in November of 2009.

By 2010, I had concluded that even if we cut CO2 emissions by 90% or more throughout the world, we would never be able to live sustainably on this planet without that crucial dietary shift as advocated by Dr. Campbell. The next year, I published my own book on that topic - a book for which Colin and his son Nelson, would write the foreword.