Failure of the 4th Estate re Climate Issues
What the media is not telling us may cost us our planet
SOS #136 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (12-14-21)

While the leading driver of climate change is animal agriculture, no one knows how quickly, and to what extent, that industry can be dismantled and replaced.
That's because it all depends on how quickly individual citizens throughout the world choose to walk away from eating animal-based foods.

(Click image for 9-min. video of
the controversy around this topic)

Meanwhile, there are a number of geo-engineering kinds of solutions to climate change that may be able to work in concert with efforts to rapidly reduce animal agriculture.

Perhaps we should collaborate with the leaders behind those other kinds of solutions. That said, there are a few of us who are exploring such opportunities -- quietly and behind the scenes for now.
We figure that if we can make enough noise together, perhaps the 4th Estate might finally kick into gear and start putting non-stop news about the most important topic in the history of humanity on the front page every day.

When I speak of the world's 4th Estate, I'm referring to various factions of the international media.
Let's begin with a situational assessment. Where do we stand as a species and what are our chances for surviving this century?

To answer that question, I begin with a concise, one-sentence summary, provided by Dr. Andrew Glikson in a piece published on Arctic News one week ago today on December 7.

Here's how he succinctly explains our predicament:

“Humans have developed an absurd capacity to simultaneously create and destroy, culminating with destruction of environments that allowed
them to flourish in the first place.“

As for destruction of environments, what process has caused the most extensive destruction? It is the centuries old deforestation process to make room for land needed to grow animal-based foods for our dinner tables?

Why has the international media, the journalists of the world -- failed to relentlessly cover that story?
Let's take a closer look at their failure
While researching for this piece, I ran across an opinion piece in the New York Times entitled, Can the Press Prevent a Trump Restoration?

While that question may sell a lot of newspapers, a much more important question is this one:

Can the press prevent a collapse of our civilization that would likely be followed by the extinction of humanity?

A liberated, energized and motivated press is capable of amazing things, but as of December 2021, it does not seem very likely that they are taking the looming disaster of climate change very seriously.
As for the article about the Trump Restoration, I liked one of the comments that was posted under that NY Times column by a reader named Mitch.

It speaks volumes about where our Fourth Estate is these days relative to their abysmal failure to report on matters that are far more important than the daily adventures of Donald J. Trump. He writes:

  • Instead of serving as the fourth estate, today’s media functions just like every other corporation, they seek to maximize their profits at any cost.

  • The media today is more about stirring up emotional reactions than in providing real information that citizens need to make wise political choices, because sensationalism sells more advertising.
What story "should" they be telling us?
They should and must start telling the world every single day -- about what is, by far, the leading driver of climate change.

And they must tell us what we can do about it!

Billions of humans need to walk away from eating animal based foods. It's the only quick fix of climate change that is absolutely free -- and anyone can choose to take that step today.

My numerous scientific friends and colleagues -- know for certain that animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change.

Even the UNFAO knows the truth, yet they hide behind the deadly false premise held by most people today, that we must have animal protein to live a normal and healthy life. We don't!

And, of course, the UN numbers are tainted by the fact that their “partners” include these four international organizations who obviously do not wish the sales of their products to decline: Meat Secretariat -- Dairy Federation -- Poultry Council and Egg Commission.

A blatant case of the fox guarding the henhouse.

Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself on this page of the UNFAO website. And, when you have time, watch this recent half hour video on that topic -- with three of my colleagues and myself.
The two big truths referenced above bear repeating:

  1. The animal agriculture industry is -- by far -- the leading driver of climate change
  2. We do not NEED to eat animal protein to be healthy. In fact, the exact opposite is true.

Here’s another truth that we never hear: The truth about whether it is even possible to stop and reverse climate change by 2030. If so, what must we do to make that happen? 

The fact is simply this. No one knows for sure if it is possible to reverse climate change. But many seem to think that we can slow it down -- hopefully, by enough to save our species.

As for actually "reversing climate change" -- based on my own research and collaboration with various experts, I believe that train left the station about twenty years ago.
So where does that leave us? To have a fighting chance, billions of people in the developed world must start moving as rapidly as possible in the direction of feeding themselves with plant-based foods.

And if they want to reverse their chronic diseases and save money at the same time — they will want to shift to a whole food, plant-based diet -- a simple and very affordable way of eating that derives most of its calories from very inexpensive legumes, grains and potatoes.
If our elected leaders won’t tell us the life-saving truth about the foods we eat — and scientists and medical doctors won't broadcast that truth — where does that leave us?
Our best chance may be the 4th Estate?
Isn't broadcasting the truth supposed to be their job? The 4th Estate, the international media -- has been failing to fully delve deeply into, and report accurately on -- this most crucial of topics. My question is: why are we not hearing it from them? 

Isn't there some kind of Journalism Code that all media professionals have agreed to follow? It turns out there is. Just click on the image below to visit the Code of Practice page of the fourthestate.org website.
Here is a very brief preview of what you will find there under this title:

The Journalism Code of Practice

  • The mission of the Fourth Estate is to contribute to a healthy society by fostering, supporting, and incubating a sustainable and vibrant free press.

  • The only sustainable free press is an ethical, free press.

  • The Fourth Estate recognizes three core principles that are fundamental to the ethical practice of journalism:

One: Reporting the TRUTH
Two: Ensuring TRANSPARENCY
Three: Serving the COMMUNITY

I would argue that the Fourth Estate has been seriously violating Principle ONE. They are not telling the public the whole truth about the many crises we are facing and what can be done about those crises.

So there you have it. Why is the world not hearing the clear, unvarnished truth about the many questions that have been asked today in this SOS Memo?

Who is to blame for that? We all are.
The Bottom Line
We have all failed! Those of us who are fully aware of the crises we face -- have failed to make those crises newsworthy enough to be covered constantly by the international media.

Those of us who know the truth about this most important topic are simply not getting it done when it comes to spreading this urgent message around the world.

Part of the reason is that we who are advocating an urgent shift in the direction of plant-based eating, are just one of many initiatives aimed at slowing, stopping or reversing climate change.

I am proposing that we make a sincere effort to join forces and collaborate on a combination of initiatives that are now under way.

This was stated earlier, but bears repeating: While we know that the primary driver of climate change is animal agriculture, no one knows how quickly, and to what extent, it can be dismantled and replaced.

Again, there are a number of geo-engineering kinds of solutions that may be able to work in concert with our efforts to rapidly reduce animal agriculture.
Believing that there is strength in numbers -- along with more newsworthy stories to tell -- we are now discussing how we might join forces and do a better job telling our combined stories to the world.

AND we would hope that all of our geo-engineering team members -- and their colleagues would join the rest of us with regard to promoting the essential shift away from animal agriculture. The sooner that happens, the better.

That shift will be necessary to buy the time needed for the various geo-engineering initiatives to be developed, funded and installed. The working title of that evolving group, as of today, is:

The International Climate Collaboration
and Leadership Coalition

Stated simply, our mission is to make all of our collective efforts newsworthy enough to attract the rabid attention of the world's Fourth Estate. Let's not keep our crucial work a secret any longer.

Like the old adage, Build it and they will come, we say:

Make it newsworthy and they will cover it!
We owe it to ALL the children of the world to give it our best shot. And we're going to need a ton of never-ending "sexy" media to get that done.
*****************************
Want to send a link of this memo to a friend? It is #136 on this list of SOS Memos. Finally, contact me directly at the email address below with any questions you may have. 



J. Morris (Jim) Hicks

*********************
In closing, I wish to share with you one of my all-time favorite holiday photos. Last week, there was a soothing New England snow scene in this space.

Today, I am sharing this picture that was taken in the home of some dear friends in Atlanta exactly five years ago.

It is the best shot of my daughter, Diana, and my wife, Justine, ever.

Happy Holidays!!
The "Big Picture" Data and Info Section
Focusing on what matters. People everywhere are constantly talking about mostly trivial things.

Only my professional friends, like Dr. Sailesh Rao and many others, are mostly engaged in the never-ending process of figuring out how we can possibly survive as a species on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping us alive.

In order to do that, we must first grasp the all-important "big picture" regarding how we got to where we are in the first place. The various links below will help you do that.

This first one, I just discovered recently, a free YouTube video by Michael Dowd, a non-scientific researcher like me who does a very fine job of explaining the many facets of the obstacles standing between us and survival as a species.

Given our dire situation, we must urgently undertake the single most powerful step possible -- that could take place quickly -- an urgent, worldwide effort to completely eliminate animal agriculture.

Dowd has a pretty good handle on most things, but he seems to be unaware of the simple weapon that we can all use to fight the leading driver of climate change. Our forks.

That said, he does a terrific job of describing our ever-worsening dilemma. Click the link below to view this very informative 33-minute video, entitled:

This next item is a free 83-minute documentary film that is all about the findings that were documented in Dr. Stephen Emmott's 2013 book. TEN BILLION.
This powerful film will certainly help more people grasp that all-important "big picture." I will continue sharing this link in my weekly SOS Memos >>>>>>
More Data re Leading Driver of Climate Change.

Beginning in September of 2021, I have been including links to world-changing scientific information that thought leaders everywhere should read and and share with others.

What can you do? For starters, you can buy the new documentary -- Eating our way to Extinction for $6 on Netflix -- and watch it often with your friends and family.

Also, you can:

  • Share this SOS Memo with everyone you know.
  • Get an e-copy of OUTCRY. Visit Outcry page on Amazon and get a much bigger understanding of the situation in which all humans find ourselves.
  • Inform all the young people in your world that you are deadly serious about this topic. Urge them to read these SOS Memos and our latest book, OUTCRY.
  • Completely stop eating meat, dairy, eggs and fish today and tell everyone why you are taking such a "radical" step. You're doing it for the innocent children of the world.

  • As noted above, do yourself a favor and make sure that your plant-based meals of the future consist of whole plants -- the kinds of foods that prevent or reverse most chronic diseases AND enable your body to effortlessly seek its optimal weight.
A final word. Hopefully, the kind of crucially serious situations expressed in these SOS Memos will soon replace the trivial topics that dominate a ridiculously large percentage of all of the conversations in the world.

We must all start talking much more about what's really important. That is , we must start doing everything possible to maximize the chances of a meaningful and pleasant life ahead for the young people of the world.

I volunteer to help you do that. For Free. Invite me to collaborate with you and your group via Zoom. To help you jump-start that all-important conversation, I will be happy to present and discuss this topic at length. Here's an advance link to my standard presentation: 62 slides.

“Food, protein, pandemics and the future of humanity” This is the latest title slide that I am currently using for those kinds of sessions:
The image above is a clue regarding the essence of my "family game plan" that is revealed only in my talks. I do not put that in writing.

Want to share some of my SOS Memos with others? Visit my SOS Memos page where the most recent ones are listed first.

Finally, I am confident that if a few million people carefully read and digested OUTCRY, that there might at least be a more robust conversation taking place about our grossly unsustainable way of living in the developed world -- and what it will take to get us focused on maximizing our chances of survival as a species.

To be sure, we must do a lot more than change what we eat -- and OUTCRY helps explain the "why" and the "how" of that proposition. 

To my knowledge, OUTCRY remains the only book ever published that features an envisioned, totally-green, ultra-sustainable, super-desirable, future way of living for humans -- along with ideas for how we might get there as quickly as possible.


Regarding the free Zoom conferences with your group, Send me an email and let's get started.
Our book, for a host of environmental reasons, is only available as an e-book on Amazon. As such, it contains hyperlinks to hundreds of references and videos, is less expensive, does not kill any trees and does not have to be manufactured and delivered. 

The links below to earlier SOS Memos will help you understand how these ideas unfolded since 2018.
You can join my mailing list and/or find all of my previous postings by visiting the SOS Memos page on my website. 
As always, I am just trying to help spark the all-important "conversation" about what is needed. By sharing a vision of what I believe is possible, I hope to influence others to think bigger, faster, better and bolder. 

You will find that there aren't many books that cover both the health of your body and the health of your planet. This is one of them -- a book that my son Jason assisted me in writing. It was published ten years ago this month.
Order e-book on Amazon
What else can you do to help? Two 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.

Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
Want to see earlier SOS Memos? Click here
If you got this blog from a friend or found it on our website and want to receive more of these Bite-Size Blogs? Join Our Mailing List

Want to get started nurturing your own health and the health of our planet? Take our survey at 4leafsurvey.com
Click here to learn more about this free online dietary assessment tool.