Changing a light bulb or changing the climate? It's all about:
"Wanting" to Change!
Therein's the problem, we don't want to change!
SOS #198 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (2-21-23)
Remember the old joke? "How many people does it take to change a lightbulb? It only takes one -- but the lightbulb must "want" to change.

In the case of climate change, we must want to "change" if we still have any chance whatsoever of slowing, stopping or reversing climate change. We are changing some things but we're not "changing" the most significant driver of climate change.

A little background. When humans first emerged as a species in Eastern Africa, they ate nothing but whole, unprocessed plants. That remains the natural diet for our species -- for three simple reasons: our hands, our teeth and our intestines.

  • Here's what google says about our natural diet: Fruits, green leafy parts of plants, shoots, seeds, nuts, roots and tubers are the fundamental components of the primate eating pattern – and common sense tells us that these foods should be the foods that humans eat, too.
But those kinds of foods simply weren't available in nature -- in many parts of the world.

So, our ancestors, as they started roaming the planet, were resourceful and simply started eating whatever they could find: rodents, antelope, insects and fish. And the earliest humans no doubt ate them raw.

They later learned how to season, prepare and cook many varieties of animal-based foods. And they did that for so long (many centuries) and started celebrating those kinds of cooked around holidays -- that they started telling themselves that meat, dairy, eggs and fish were the healthiest diet for humans.

We also made up lots of reasons to go with our ill-fated eating habits. Not realizing, at first, that all the nutrients we primates needed were available in just the right proportions in plant-based foods -- we started making up new rules to go along with our carnivorous habits:

  • We "need" to eat meat in order to get protein.
  • We "need" to drink cow's milk in order to get calcium.
  • And on, and on and on....
  • Even the healthcare industry bought into the idea of "balanced" diets with all kinds of animal-based foods on the menu.

But this is a fact. We don't need to eat "any" flesh, fluids or eggs from "any" animal -- ever. With our modern economy and transportation systems, it's easy for humans to eat a whole food, plant-based diet anywhere in the world.
The problem is that since we don't "want" to change...
We're now telling ourselves that animal agriculture is less of a climate change problem than many other elements of our unsustainable way of life
This chart from the EPA is a perfect example of our delusion.

While it shows that 24% of the world's GHG emissions are driven by "agriculture, forestry and other land use" -- what they're doing is muddying the water by not counting the loss of the enormous CO2-removal capability of healthy forests.


  • Want to know what the EPA is not doing about climate change? They are not alerting the world to the fact that animal agriculture is, by far, the leading driver of climate change.

According to two scientific studies in 2009 and 2019 listed below, animal agriculture (if you count the loss of trillions of trees to graze animals or grow food for animals) is responsible for at least 51% of all GHG emissions.


In both of these studies, the conclusions were that animal agriculture is responsible for at least 51% of all GHG emissions and as high as 87% depending on how the deforestation factor plays into the calculation.

In the case of the World Bank Study, the debate with the UNFAO continues regarding the percentage of climate change that is caused by animal agriculture.

The UNFAO now says the number is only 14.5% while the World Bank Researchers have computed that the real number is at least 51%. As of 2012, the FAO declined to debate further -- despite the invitation from the editor of the Animal Feed Science and Technology Journal to do so.

By virtue of the FAO's refusal to continue the debate, The 51% number for animal agriculture is considered the more accurate of the two.
The Bottom Line
For political and economic reasons, none of the parties involved with the FAO "want" humans to change what they are eating. No one seems to really care about the mountain of evidence of human and environmental to the contrary.
No one "wants" to change!
My good friend and colleague, Dr. Sailesh Rao and I have been studying all of the above for the last twenty years -- and have made very little progress.

The problems are terrifying and they're getting worse:
  • The global consumption of animal-based foods continues to rise sharply every year.
  • The deforestation to support that demand keeps climbing.
  • The cost of healthcare continues to soar -- driven by eating animal-based foods that promote all manner of chronic diseases.
  • The loss of biodiversity continues at a deadly pace.
  • The news media talks about problems -- but they say very little about unpopular truths.

Like this NY Times piece the first week of January, entitled:
Has the Amazon Reached Its Tipping Point?
Some Brazilian scientists fear that the Amazon may become a grassy savanna — with profound effects on the climate worldwide.

(The NY Times piece was over two thousand words but never mentioned what human habits are driving all that deforestation. Here's four paragraphs from about halfway through)

Losing the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, would be catastrophic for the tens of thousands of species that make their home there.

Rising temperatures could also drive millions of people in the region to become climate refugees. And it would represent a more symbolic death, too, as “saving the rainforest” has long been a kind of synecdoche for modern environmentalism as a whole.

What scientists are most concerned about, though, is the potential for this regional, ecological tipping point to produce knock-on effects in the global climate. Because the Amazon’s flying rivers circulate back over the continent, the impact may already be reaching beyond the rainforest.

In 2015, Brazil’s populous southeast was hit by historic water shortages; in 2021, quasi-biblical sandstorms swept the region. If the flying rivers peter out entirely, it could affect atmospheric circulation even beyond South America, possibly influencing the weather as far away as the western United States.

Not a single word in the entire piece regarding the
driving force behind all of that deforestation.

People in the developed world don't "WANT" to give up their favorite foods even if it means the end of humanity. So, the media stays away from that delicate topic.
Last week, I my SOS Memo was entitled Fire in the Basement! Children are sleeping -- and it featured a simple solution to all of the above.
The final word from our creator
Once again. Our creator gets the final word in a conversation with a UN rep after a 50,000 year absence.

She ain't happy with what she sees upon her return. She wants to know what happened to half of the six trillion trees she left here to moderate the climate.

She can't believe that we've deforested so much land in order to grow cattle that we weren't supposed to be eating in the first place. A very revealing and entertaining 15-minute video. Watch it and share it with everyone you know.
Finally, are you among the rare group of humans who are making the direct connection between food choices, your own health and climate change seriously? If so, I would love to collaborate with you. Contact me and tell me your story: jmorrishicks@me.com.

Here are handy links to my five most-recent SOS Memos (in chronological order) on this same theme. It's always the same theme...as long as our children's futures are in peril.
Do you want to do your part to help people get healthy...while slowing, stopping or even reversing climate change at the same time? Then, share this SOS Memo and the free books below with everyone you know.

Also, scroll on down to the Big Picture Documents and Video Section where you will find links to a plethora of references regarding the validity and the urgency of the information contained herein.
FREE: Two "Big Picture" Books
Our health. Our planet. Our future as a species.
Here is the first book we are now offering FREE to the world public: a quick and easy read that I published with Stuart Scott in 2020. Just click below for individual links to every chapter.

To our knowledge, OUTCRY is the only book ever published that features a summary of "outcries" from the natural world, along with consensus conclusions of nine big picture scientists regarding our dilemma — AND an envisioned sustainable civilization of the future, using today’s technology.

We've also started calling this book a "User's Guide for Planet Earth." We are giving it away because of this troubling fact that was stated by Jeremy Rifkin early in this recent 15-minute video:

"the most important info in all of humanity
is going undiscussed."

We're talking about the crucial information regarding how we can possibly slow or stop climate change within a few years.

Want to help relieve the desperate situation in which we find ourselves, read OUTCRY as soon as you can and send it to everyone you know. Just click on the book cover above.
Here is the 2nd book that is now FREE: a quick and easy read that I wrote with Dr. Kerry Graff in 2015.

Using the Power of Food
to Heal Ourselves and Our Planet

This compact book is still highly relevant, focusing on helping people take charge of their health and reverse chronic disease by urgently shifting to a whole-food, plant-based way of eating. 

A fringe benefit of their efforts is the steady downsizing of the leading driver of climate change: animal agriculture. Merely suggesting that the masses cut back on their meat, dairy, egg and fish consumption will accomplish very little. 

We want everyone to completely eliminate all animal-based foods from their diet. Yes, that includes cheese, eggs and all forms of seafood. 

For your children and grandchildren, just do it!
Please share today's timely SOS Memo with everyone.

Click this image to watch my May 2022 presentation. 
A 45-minute talk whose title says it all.
Don't have time to watch the entire Honolulu video? Click here to view all 60 slides in that talk

Finally, please contact me about arranging a FREE "live" Zoom talk for your group. They will get a lot more out of my talk if they have read our two FREE books in advance of my talk.

Sincerely, J. Morris (Jim) Hicks

PS: Scroll on down for more "big picture" information that is mainly in the form of powerful videos, most of which are free.

For a concise summary of "big picture" information about our situation, take a look at the landing page of my primary website that I recently updated. Just click hpjmh.com
What about the "preservation" of civilization?
To clarify, we're not trying to preserve civilization as we know it. Because what we have now is extremely wasteful, harmful and grossly unsustainable. It's an incredibly reckless way of living that is now threatening our very existence as a species.

We're talking about replacing it with an entirely new, ultra-green civilization of the future -- and we do our best to paint a picture of that envisioned way of sustainable living in OUTCRY. For what one Ohio State professor emeritus of history had to say about that book on Amazon, click here.
As for making our stand on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping us alive, our "Big Picture" section below will provide you with handy reference materials on this most crucial of all topics.
"Big Picture" Documents & Video Section
Chronological timeline of climate change research
  1. 2006 UNFAO report: 18% of climate change attributed to animal agriculture (far more than the world's entire transportation sector, combined). After pressure from the massive animal agriculture industry, they lowered their estimates to 14.5% a few years later
  2. 2009 World Bank Group researchers concluded that at least 51% of climate change is being driven by animal agriculture -- almost four times more powerful than the numbers being reported by the revised UNFAO study.
  3. 2012. What is the right food for humans to be eating? For our own health and for the health of the planet. Five-minute video with J. Morris Hicks
  4. 2019 Dr. Sailesh Rao peer-reviewed paper.This former member of Al Gore's environmental team concluded that 87% of climate change is driven by animal agriculture. His paper was recently featured in Forbes.
  5. 2021. A 19-minute video session with the producers of the new documentary, Eating Our Way to Extinction.
  6. 2021.The Animal/Climate Controversy? Dr. Gerard Bisshop, Director of World Preservation Foundation sorts out the various studies regarding the huge role that animal agriculture plays in climate change (9 minute video).
  7. 2021. This six minute video features Dr. Sailesh Rao, speaking candidly with Klaus Mitchell about the sad truths and commercial interests behind the leading driver of climate change. It will make you want to scream.
  8. 2022. Published in PLOS Climate (2-1-22) a paper by Michael Eisen and Patrick Brown, "Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize Gh Gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century."
  9. A summary of THE FACTS timeline from Dr. Sailesh Rao, wherein he explains how in 2012, the UNFAO scientists declined to continue the 51% debate with Goodland & Anhang in the Animal Feed Science and Technology Journal -- but they failed to admit that fact to the public.
Also in 2022. A conversation with our creator after a 50,000 year absence.

And Mama ain't happy. A very revealing and entertaining 15-minute video. Watch it and share it with everyone you know.
Five World-Changing Films
That People Everywhere Must See
Film #1 in 2014
In 2014, Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn produced their first documentary film Cowspiracy. Executive producer is Leonardo DiCaprio, it runs 90 minutes and has been on Netflix since 2015. In 2020, I met Kip and Keegan in Sedona where I was honored to be able to speak at the same conference with them and other great leaders in this movement like Dr. Sailesh Rao and Dr. Michael Greger.
Film #2 in 2017
Also on Netflix, Kip and Keegan teamed up again in 2017 to produce What the Health, which is also on Netflix. It runs 92 minutes and may be the best documentary ever that focuses on the health reasons for choosing to eat plant-based. Click here to watch the short trailer. You can also watch the full movie for free on Vimeo.
Film #3 in 2021
In 2021, Kip Anderson teamed up with British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi, to produce Seaspiracy, an 89-minute film that vividly and alarmingly reveals what is at stake when it comes to the crucial importance of our oceans to our future as a species. Most people have no idea regarding the environmental horrors of commercial fishing -- a disgusting industry that kills dolphins by the thousands and tosses them back into the ocean. It runs 90 minutes on Netflix. Click here to view the trailer.
Film #4 in 2021
As our situation becomes more desperate, the documentary films become more terrifying. As alluded to earlier, we are literally Eating Our Way to Extinction, a process that is vividly covered in this 2021 film (81 minutes). Narrated and produced by Kate Winslet, you can watch this great film on Amazon Prime or on YouTube for $3.99. The great ocean scientist and former head of NOAA, Dr. Sylvia Earle lends powerful credibility to such a crucial topic.
Film #5 in 2022
This new film (89 minutes) features a young activist who travels around his country, New Zealand in an effort to find out the truth about the horrors of the dairy industry in his native land.

The film uncovers alarming information about the environmental and health impacts of the industry -- leading up to the discovery that we are on the edge of the biggest global disruption of food and agriculture in history. This new film is now available for $2.99 on Vimeo.
Grasping the "Big Picture"
These 2 films will help in understanding
our unprecedented dilemma.
This 83-minute documentary is all about the findings that were documented in Dr. Stephen Emmott's 2013 book. TEN BILLION.

He brilliantly describes the grossly unsustainable way of living that has brought us to the emergency situation in which we find ourselves. Since I met him in London in 2013, he has become much more serious about the need to abolish the practice of eating meat, dairy, eggs and/or fish at almost every meal.

Just click on the hourglass image. Dr. Emmott delivers a very compelling message from the stage of a theater in London. This 2013 film is still relevant and will certainly help more people grasp that all-important "big picture."
Finally, this half-hour video was published in November of 2021. It was produced 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 our survival as a species.

As do practically all researchers, Dowd focuses entirely on the problem; not the solution. I prefer to focus on both.
What else can you do?
Probably a lot more than you think
  • Start with the new documentary (Film #4) mentioned earlier -- Eating our way to Extinction for $6 on Netflix. Watch it often with your friends and family.
  • Share this SOS Memo widely: Certainties, Uncertainties & Priorities by J. Morris Hicks.
  • 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.
I am confident that if a few million people carefully read and digested this book that there would be a more robust conversation around the world regarding our grossly unsustainable way of living in the developed world.

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.


The links below to earlier SOS Memos will help you understand how these ideas unfolded since 2018.
  1. Creative "Idea" for Saving our Civilization (9-21-18)
  2. A Prayer for All Faiths. Taking Responsibility (11-9-18)
  3. If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy! Deming (12-7-18)
  4. How "Green is Green Enough? (12 20-18)
  5. In the age of Earthism, what about governance? (12-26-18)
  6. "Successor" Civilization? Dr. Rupert Read. (1-24-19)
  7. "I don't want to talk about it." Taboo. (2-7-19)
  8. A Change of Heart on Biosphere 2 (4-11-19)
  9. SOS #1 Doing our "best" won't get it done. (4-18-19)
  10. SOS #7 Willy-Nilly Planet Stewardship (5-30-19)
  11. SOS 13 Donkeys, Spaceships and Survival (7-10-19)
  12. SOS 21 Why Don't We Dream BIG? The GBN? (9-4-19)
  13. SOS 53 Outcry debuts on Earth Day 50th (4-22-20)
  14. SOS 129 Urgent Pre-COP26 message to the world (10-26-21
  15. SOS 131 Anger, Nausea & Disappointment -- COP 26 (11-9-21)
  16. SOS 132 Emerging Ray of Hope for Humanity. Mayor (11-16-21)
  17. SOS 133 Powerful, world-changing integrity (11-23-21)
  18. SOS 134 Crippling impact of ignorance, fear & greed (11-30-21)
  19. SOS 135 The sex, science and supper solution (12-7-21)
  20. SOS 136 Failure of the 4th Estate re climate issues (12-14-21)
  21. SOS 137 Slowing climate change should've been easy 12-21-21
You can join my mailing list and/or find all of my previous postings by visiting the SOS Memos page on my website. 
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