KILLING Climate Change in Wartime
When gas prices are more important than our future
SOS #155 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (4-26-22)
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Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, climate change had become a primary focus of many governments around the world. Now, it has been pushed to the back burner when it comes to international attention.
So the question is:
How do you kill climate change during a war? The same way you kill climate change during peacetime:
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By influencing most of the world's eight billion citizens to KILL its #1 driver: animal agriculture. (Click image to watch half-hour video)
Even the UN's lowball estimate for that category puts it as driving more climate change than all of the world's transportation combined.
More about how to do that influencing later -- but first, let's consider LEADERSHIP -- a key ingredient that is just not happening anywhere. The IPCC is particularly disappointing.
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Their latest report, was released on April 4, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation with a whopping 3,675 pages -- but not even a mention of suggesting that the world's human citizens should consider moving rapidly away from animal-based foods.
Meanwhile, back to the war. Even without the war, world leaders were not aggressively addressing climate change -- and now, not only do we have a war -- we also have much higher gas prices.
On top of that, this is no ordinary war. Earlier this month, Tom Friedman posted an opinion piece in the New York Times suggesting that we are now in the midst of the First Real World War. What did he mean by that?
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He meant that it is the first war in world history that more than four billion people (those who have cell phones) can follow what's going on in the war twenty-four hours a day.
Early in the piece he stated:
In this war, which I think of as “World War Wired,” virtually everyone on the planet can either observe the fighting at a granular level, participate in some way or be affected economically — no matter where they live.
Here's the problem. The fact that everyone on the planet can see clearly what is going on with that war -- has been a huge distraction from the most important event in the history of humanity: runaway climate change.
Before the war started in late February, there was a great deal of focus on climate change every day in the news. And people everywhere were talking about it. But now that everyone is distracted by the war, they tend to focus on how that war is affecting them right now -- instead of how climate change might affect them in the future.
So far, it is affecting most Americans in their wallet -- each time they fill up their car with fuel. That means that most of us are paying between $50 and $100 per month MORE than we were paying in January. At the high end, we're talking about another $1200 per year.
To them, I say get over it and think about something upbeat:
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Like how to save much more!
I save over $5,000 per year by eating just plants!
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Those savings begin in 2003 when I learned the truth about the optimal diet for humans. I was absolutely delighted when I discovered that I would be saving lots of money -- far more than I was spending on gasoline at the time. |
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Here's the deal. By switching immediately away from eating all animal-based foods, you will probably save between $2,000 and $5,000 per year on food.
More importantly, you'll be doing your part to slow, stop or even reverse climate change.
Want to know how I started saving all that money, while losing weight and getting sick far less often? You can read all about it in the 4Leaf Guide that I co-authored with a family physician in 2015. Click image for book's introduction.
For your convenience, I have provided you with a link to one free chapter from that book -- a book, and a dietary shift, that could end up saving you far more than money.
A Huge Win-Win for Humanity. So how can we help people all over the world save much more money than the war-driven bump in fuel prices is costing them -- while at the same time sharply and steadily eliminating the single largest driver of climate change, animal agriculture?
We can do that...
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With Great Leadership!
from the world's most influential city
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In mid-January of this year, before Friedman's "World War Wired" began, I raised this question, "How can we substantially raise the odds of slowing, stopping or even reversing climate change?"
We can do it by fully-leveraging four qualities the new mayor of NYC brings to his new role -- a set of strengths that can be remembered easily with the acronym "KILL"
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As we are quickly running out of time, I have concluded that Mayor Eric Adams may very well be our last and best hope for taming or killing the climate change monster that has been getting steadily meaner, bigger and more destructive for the last thirty-five years.
Why Mayor Adams? Because, after nineteen years of studying the relationship between our food choices and numerous environmental problems, I have never been aware of any elected official who is even remotely close to Mayor Adams' "total package."
As for the four qualities that I believe to be essential when it comes to slowing or preventing the impending environmental disaster that is driven by climate change -- I have concluded that Mayor Adams stands alone.
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Now, I believe that we can maximize our chances to K.I.L.L. the climate change monster -- by listening to the mayor as he begins to urgently leverage these four arrows in his quiver:
Knowledge, Integrity, Leadership and Leverage
As for knowledge, most well-known elected officials are either unaware -- or choose to ignore the fact -- that the leading driver of climate change and species extinction is the very same culprit that is the leading driver of chronic disease and obesity.
It is our love affair with eating some combination of meat, dairy, eggs and/or fish -- at almost every meal. Responding to demand, it is the global animal agriculture industry that must keep growing in order to survive. So how do we KILL that leading driver of climate change?
How do we take back our own health AND
the health of our biosphere?
To put it simply. We work to quickly lower the demand for animal-based foods of all kinds. We get that done by urgently influencing billions of people around the world to switch ASAP to a health-promoting, less expensive, ecosystem-nourishing, style of eating: consuming a delicious array of whole, plant-based foods.
This process begins with knowledge. Without the rare knowledge of how to eliminate the leading driver of climate change, the most powerful leader in the world would be powerless when it comes to taming that #1 threat to our future as a species.
So that's where we begin -- with Mayor Eric Adams' rare knowledge of what it will take to kill the climate change monster -- beginning with the first of four arrows in his quiver:
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Arrow # 1: KNOWLEDGE!
As an elected official, he has no peer
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Mayor Eric Adams of New York City is, by far, the most prominent elected official in the world who has the requisite knowledge to get this done. He even wrote a book about it in 2020. Click image to visit the book's Amazon page.
This special leader who ascended to the world stage on New Years Day -- is literally a one-of-a-kind. How so?
He has the rare, first-hand knowledge that is essential for making this bold guarantee to his constituents -- and indeed to the entire world.
The guarantee that the best food choices for our physical health are, conveniently, the best foods for nurturing the natural biosphere that keeps us alive
As the mayor clearly chronicles below, when most of the world's humans abolish animal agriculture -- the benefits for the planet will far exceed the benefits for our own physical health as individual human beings. A true win-win for the ages.
By focusing primarily on human health in his book, he conveys to the reader that his first concern is for their own health as individuals.
After making that concern abundantly clear, he clearly and powerfully summarizes nine world-changing environmental benefits that result from humans everywhere choosing to eat nothing but plants.
And he put all of that crucial information on one page of his book. The text below is actual content from page 108 of "Healthy at Last" -- the mayor's book that is pictured above and published in 2020.
Go Plant-Based for the Environment!
In this book we’re focusing on the health reasons you should give up meat and go plant based, but that isn’t the only reason. By helping your health, you are also helping the health of the planet. Here are nine reasons why:
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1. If every American removed a single serving of chicken from their diet, it would be the equivalent of removing half a million cars from the road.
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2. By going vegan the average American reduces the country’s carbon emissions by 1.5 tons per year.
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3. Cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys are the largest producers of methane in the United States—a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. (#4 thru nine continue below the image)
that animal agriculture is responsible for at least 51% of climate change. Click on this image of cows, pigs and chickens to read the entire paper.
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Reason #4. One calorie from animal protein requires 11 times as much fossil fuel energy compared to plant protein, and all told, eating a meat-based diet creates 7 times more greenhouse gas emissions than a vegan diet.
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5. Almost half of all the fresh water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food.
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6. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to create just a single pound of meat. By not eating that pound, you’d save the water equivalent of not showering for six months.
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7. Animals raised for meat and dairy create almost 90,000 pounds of excrement per second, much of which contaminates ground water.
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8. Thirty percent of the world’s entire land mass is devoted to grazing animals for slaughter—a space larger than the surface area of the moon.
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9. Every minute the equivalent of seven football fields are bulldozed just to create space for farmed animals.
Back to the mayor's own personal health. In his book, Healthy At Last, he tells a compelling story about how switching totally to a whole food, plant-based diet -- resulted in the swift reversal of his type 2 diabetes, saved him from blindness and may have saved his life.
He also lost thirty-five pounds, showed his elderly mother how to reverse her diabetes and wrote a best-selling book that makes all of that compelling information available to the entire world.
More importantly -- for all of humanity -- he gained the knowledge necessary to prevent our near-term demise as a species. And, because of his exceptional integrity, he has exhibited no fear of the negative publicity that might accompany his embracing a way of eating that most people still consider extreme: a whole food, plant-based diet.
Eating potatoes, legumes, grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts is NOT extreme. But I will tell you what is extreme: runaway climate change and the horrors that accompany it.
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Arrow # 2: INTEGRITY
The mayor's most impressive quality
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One measure of integrity is the degree to which a leader will always do the right thing -- even when it may not be the popular thing to do. Mayor Adams is a special leader who will always do the right thing.
In the case of food choices, he published his powerful book on that topic over one year before he became the mayor of New York City -- arguably the most influential city in the world.
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Obviously, taking a potentially controversial stand for plant-based eating before the election -- did not prevent him from winning the biggest election of his life.
Many elected officials would not have taken that transparent a stand on such a controversial issue -- for fear that it would lessen their chances for success at the ballot box.
But not Eric Adams. As he told Chris MacAskill in a half-hour 2020 interview, when it comes to controversial issues like "veganism" -- that he had always been known for really leaning into what's right. How many times have you heard any elected official say something even remotely close to that?
It is an extremely rare quality in anyone -- but, particularly so in the political arena. When I first saw him make that statement in the MacAskill interview above, I literally jumped for joy. I also published this SOS Memo a few days later on 11-23-21.
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Arrow # 3: LEADERSHIP
Known for "leaning into what's right"
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Eric Adams is an extremely rare kind of leader who will always do what he thinks is right -- and what is best for his constituents. That quality sets him apart from practically all of the elected officials in the world -- and is a quality that will serve him well as the mayor of the world's most influential city.
The new mayor has first-hand knowledge that type-2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and a host of other chronic diseases -- are not only preventable -- but are completely reversible in over 90% of the cases.
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I just learned from a quick google search about the rate of diabetes among the constituents of the new mayor:
- "An estimated 987,000 New Yorkers have diabetes, and 19% of them are people who don't know they have it. Forty percent of elementary school children are overweight, which puts them at risk for diabetes."
Mayor Adams is very much aware of those statistics and many others that plague his constituents. And he knows that those issues would all but disappear in New York City -- if all of his ten to fifteen million constituents switched to eating mostly whole, plant-based foods.
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Arrow # 4. LEVERAGE
as mayor of the world's most influential city
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When we talk about leverage, we are talking about an advantage over every other city when it comes to the ability to influence the rest of the world. No other city is even close to the "Big Apple."
Why is New York so much more capable of generating effective action against climate change than other major cities or countries? Read on.
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Here's some data that you can easily verify yourself. For each of the following categories, just "google" them -- and you will see that New York City is #1 in several and near the top in the others:
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Top media city in the world. This is very important when you wish to spread the word about something as crucial as what we must do to slow or stop climate change.
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Top "vegan" city in the world. You can look up the numbers. I did and NYC is always near the top.
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Most important city in the world. You can look this one up too. It's a fact.
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The world's most influential city. Here again, if you tally up all of the above, you will have to conclude that the Big Apple truly takes home the blue ribbon in this category.
As for the first item, the 4th Estate/independent media must pick up the slack when our elected officials fail us. The world needs to learn the truth about food choices & climate change in the very near future -- and, sadly, its eight billion citizens are simply not going to learn it from the host of feckless "leaders" who attended COP26.
Given all of the above, any rational person would conclude that there is no person on Earth who is more qualified, or better positioned, to lead this civilization-saving, global initiative -- than the newly elected mayor of New York City.
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What about President Biden?
Why shouldn't he be leading this global initiative?
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The short answer is because he is simply not qualified. For many reasons.
He's in the same boat with over 90% of the world's top leaders -- none of whom have publicly made the connection between animal-based foods and and the single biggest threat to our future as a species: climate change.
I suspect that, even if he and other world leaders had made that connection -- most, if not all of them -- lack the integrity and/or the courage to admit it. That's because it might affect their ability to win the next election.
On the topic of courage and integrity. This situation reminds me of a 2013 meeting of 22 people that I attended. In addition to the host and a few of the world's leading plant-based MD's -- along with the nutritional scientist who wrote "The China Study" -- there were a few senior officers from several of the top environmental NGOs in the world.
The host asked them a direct question in front of the group. He asked why there was nothing on their websites strongly urging their huge networks of members and supporters to minimize or eliminate their consumption of animal-based foods -- which everyone in the room knew was, by far, the leading driver of climate change.
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Their shameful answer:
"Such a move would seriously damage our fundraising."
Their admission of guilt was not only alarming and saddening. It also begs the question: What good is all of their fundraising if they lack the courage to identify the lifestyle habit that comprises, by far, the leading driver of climate change?
It would also be the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to slow or stop climate change. But, nine years later, all of the world's NGO's remain silent about the most crucial topic in the history of humanity.
Do you know any of these people? How can they even stand to look at themselves in the mirror each morning? Obviously, they lack the courage to do what's right.
So, where does that leave us? In big trouble unless some great leader with integrity steps forward soon. I am confident that Mayor Eric Adams will step up and do the right thing.
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Why must Mayor Adams lead this initiative? |
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My answer is this. If not him, then who?
Consider the two bullet points below and then tell me who is in a better position to lead the effort to slow, stop or reverse climate change -- than the new mayor of New York City?
Given his knowledge of the problem, his rare integrity and his role as leader of the world's most influential city -- I quite frankly don't believe that there could be another leader in the world who comes even remotely close to being as ready, willing and able as he is -- to help all of us maximize our chances for survival as a species.
Think about the fate of the world's children -- and consider these two bullet points:
- In order to have a chance at slowing or stopping climate change in time to prevent our demise as a species -- hundreds of millions -- if not billions of people around the world, must start moving quickly away from eating animal-based foods.
- Even if every single one of Mayor Adams' constituents -- along with their extended families in other states or countries, shifted to 100% plant-based eating over the next 24 months, those efforts would fall way short of slowing climate change enough to prevent our likely extinction as a species before the end of this century.
For that, we need big numbers and we need them fast. We need much bigger numbers than the city of New York can deliver. So I believe that Mayor Adams may very well conclude:
If I am going to have a chance to save the lives of my 10 or 15 million constituents -- I must take the urgent steps necessary to save all eight billion humans on Earth!
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That's because all eight billion of us are passengers on this same spaceship rocketing around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour.
None of us are getting out of here alive -- unless ALL of us get out of here alive!
That said, it shouldn't be too difficult for the mayor's constituents to understand why he needs to add a powerful new initiative to his administration: a Global Food & Climate Envoy to travel the world under his NYC banner -- promoting urgent support and action toward a rapid world-wide shift toward plant based eating.
Mr. Mayor, I believe that it is quite possible for that world-wide shift to be moving the needle on climate change -- well before 2030. It all hinges on the urgency with which such a campaign is tackled. All set to go, my application to assist you in such a crucial mission was submitted to the your office shortly before you took office in January.
That said, I am certain that what we humans choose to eat has an incredibly-powerful impact on the current and future health of our world. Hence, the title of my first book, pictured below.
You will recognize the endorsers on the cover, beginning with my friend, the legendary, Dr. Dean Ornish -- of heart disease and type 2 diabetes reversing fame.
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The Bottom Line
We are running out of time!
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We have known about the many health and sustainability issues associated with eating animal-based foods for over thirty-five years. During that time, many books have been written and many documentaries have been produced.
Also during that time, our global population has risen by three billion while our consumption of animal-based foods has tripled. We don't have another thirty-five years to squander.
We must take drastic NOW!
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Although we don't have another thirty-five years -- we do have a superbly-informed man of integrity who, on January 1, took over as the mayor of the world's most-influential city.
If he asks me to join his team on a full-time basis, I will accept with these words of admiration and commitment:
Mr. Mayor, It would be the honor and privilege of a lifetime to work with you to help influence other world leaders to begin urgently taking steps similar to the ones that you will be taking in New York City -- steps toward saving the lives of your constituents -- pivotal steps that will simultaneously promote the health of the biosphere that keeps us all alive.
In an earlier, SOS Memo, I went into much greater detail. It includes a letter to you that was written on November of 2021, shortly after you were elected:
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Finally, contact me directly at the email address below with any questions you may have.
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
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The section below will continue to provide you with handy reference materials on this most crucial of all topics.
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PS: Regarding the Saving of our Civilization |
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To clarify, we're not trying to preserve "civilization as we know it." Because what we have now is an extremely wasteful and harmful way of life that is threatening our very existence as a species.
The section below will provide you with an abundance of handy reference materials on this most crucial of all topics.
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"Big Picture"
Data and Info Section
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This section has been appearing at the end of my weekly SOS Memos for six months. It contains links to relevant information that form the foundation of what our options appear to be for responding quickly and appropriately to our global crises.
In order to respond appropriately, 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.
Added to this section in April of 2022 is my list of five powerful videos that tell the whole story about the health AND the many environmental reasons we should be eating only plants.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 free at waterbear.com
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Next is a half-hour video that 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.
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, published November 15, 2021.
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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. |
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This powerful film will certainly help more people grasp that all-important "big picture." Just click on the hourglass image.
I will continue sharing this TEN BILLION link in future weekly SOS Memos
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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- 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.
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A final word. Hopefully, the kind of crucially serious situationsexpressed in these SOS Memos will soon replace meaningless and 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: 65 slides.
Click on the image below to view the slides that I am currently using for those kinds of sessions:
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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.
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Regarding the free Zoom conferences with your group,
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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.
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One more thing. I first started learning about the supreme importance of our food choices in 2002. After studying the topic for eight years and getting to know many of the medical and ecological experts in the field, I co-authored the book below with my son Jason.
You can find it on Amazon in all formats by clicking on the image below:
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Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth |
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Click here to learn more about this free online dietary assessment tool.
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