"Perfect Storm" Opportunity
To eliminate the leading driver of climate change
SOS #162 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (6-14-22)
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Normally the term "perfect storm" is used to describe a weather event that packs a powerful punch while doing a great deal of damage. In mid 2022, I am thinking that a different kind of "perfect storm" could turn out to be a rare blessing for the future of our species.
Hopefully, the "perfect storm" scenario described herein will trigger concurrent events that that will give humanity the best possible chance of completely eliminating a way of eating that comprises, by far, the leading driver of climate change.
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Although that way of eating is wildly popular in 2022, hardly any of its fans are aware of the damage it is currently doing to the long-term chances for human survival
For illustration, I use this image of a double cheeseburger -- an extremely popular meal that derives most of its calories from animal-based foods.
Why can't we get people to cut back on their consumption of all of those animal-based foods? After all, dietitians, medical doctors and ecological experts have been advising for decades that we'd be better off if we ate less meat.
Obviously, their collective advice is not working. Not only do we add over six million people to the world population each month -- more and more humans are getting the chance to eat the Typical Western Diet (with meat & dairy at every meal) for the very first time.
And that combination produces this chart that traces the global consumption of animal-based foods for the last sixty years.
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Without a doubt, simply asking people to cut back on animal-based foods is not working. We have now run out of time and must consider another approach before it's too late. |
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I am calling that new approach a
"Perfect Storm" Opportunity
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A little background. Last week, my SOS focused on six initiatives for addressing the single largest driver of climate change. It's what we put on our forks three times a day. That SOS Memo was entitled: Certainties, Uncertainties & Priorities.
Here are my top two priorities from that list:
- The Leadership Project
- ARCH System for Large Employers
Today, I want to focus only on these two -- because it just may be possible to do both of them at the same time, in the same organization and with the same leader.
I call that possibility a "perfect storm" opportunity.
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The Leadership Project
This project refers to our ongoing efforts to engage one or more well-known, highly influential leaders who are capable of influencing the greatest number of people to join forces in quickly reducing the leading driver of climate change -- animal agriculture.
Ideally, this project will be led by an individual who not only totally "gets it" about food -- but is also capable of influencing the greatest number of people throughout the world.
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The ARCH Project
ARCH is an acronym for "Automatically Reducing the Cost of Healthcare" for large employers.
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How about that Perfect Storm?
There may be an opportunity to tackle both of these initiatives by one leader in one great city.
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This delightful image of the world's most influential city is your first clue. |
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Yes, I am talking about Mayor Eric Adams in New York. Here's my thinking. The NYC government provides us with two essential ingredients to make this "perfect storm" a reality.
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A large number of employees with a very high cost of healthcare. According to an online search, The City of New York has over 300,000 employees -- more than all but three states: California, New York and Texas. I estimate that the portion of NYC's annual healthcare bill that is paid by the city is north of two billion dollars.
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A leader who totally "gets it" about the connection between food choices, human health and environmental health. That leader is Mayor Eric Adams who successfully reversed his own type 2 diabetes and then wrote a book about it 18 months ago -- about a year before he was elected mayor.
He reversed his diabetes by shifting to a vegan diet consisting mostly of whole, plant-based foods. Now he is in the right place at the right time to influence the entire world to shift to a super-healthy way of eating that just might be able to slow or stop climate change.
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Do you fear that his being "vegan" will be a turn-off for some people? |
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You will probably allay those fears if you watch this 2021 video before Eric Adams was elected mayor. In it, he was asked this question by Chris MacAskill:
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Since you have a lot of influence as Borough president of Brooklyn and the possible future mayor of New York, are you concerned that you might be perceived as an "annoying vegan" and that it might hurt your career?
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His response was immediate and it was fantastic.
I have always been known for really leaning
into what's right!
It was the very first time I ever heard an elected official utter such a genuine, honest answer to what would have been a very "risky" question for most politicians, but not for Adams.
His answer was candid, sincere and oh-so-powerful as he clearly, gently and powerfully explained what his "brand" is all about.
When I heard him say it for the first time, I literally jumped for joy as he stated his position clearly and confidently on a very delicate topic.
He may be the only senior elected official in the world who knows that eating plant-based foods is not only right for our health, it's right for the climate and it's right for the future of humanity.
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That adds up to a
"Perfect Storm" for Humanity
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I am talking about four powerful facts about the Mayor of New York and his ability to literally change the world:
- As the mayor of the world's most influential city, he is arguably the most influential leader in the world.
- He is the most powerful person in the world who knows that the consumption of animal-based food is the leading driver of chronic disease.
- He is the most influential person in the world who knows that animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change.
- He wrote a book about both topics after successfully reversing his type 2 diabetes (and blindness in one eye) by simply shifting to a diet of whole, plant-based foods.
So, how can he leverage this unique set of strengths and knowledge to fight climate change without drawing a lot of criticism?
He can begin by quietly addressing the health of the 300,000 people currently working in his administration. Along with their families, he can greatly influence the health of up to one million people.
Well, NYC is a very large employer. It has about 300,000 employees and likely has an annual healthcare bill that is north of two billion dollars.
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As stated earlier, ARCH is an automated system that is built on the ability of our 4Leaf Survey to accurately estimate the percentage of one's daily calories that are derived from whole, plant-based foods -- such as the dish shown here.
From this 2016 ARCH document, you can quickly understand how this simple, yet powerful system can quietly promote the health of hundreds of thousands of people in a host of very large corporations or governmental organizations like NYC.
- The process begins with all associates being advised of a new initiative aimed at helping everyone improve their health, save money on healthcare and much more.
- After everyone completes a simple, online learning module, the ARCH system gets the ball rolling by asking each person to take the 4Leaf Survey on their smartphone.
- With the benefit of an online database, each employee will begin to receive a series of custom messages offering them encouragement and praise, while advising them exactly how they can further improve their own 4Leaf score and their health.
- ARCH makes it possible to actively engage and guide millions of people just as easily as with only a few dozen.
Unfortunately, this powerful tool (created in 2016) has never been deployed in a large workforce anywhere. Why not? Because we have never found a prominent leader with the requisite amount of knowledge, courage and integrity to get it done.
Finally, there is a totally enlightened leader who is in a position to literally change the world. That leader is Mayor Eric Adams.
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The Bottom Line
It's time for an "under-the-radar" approach that might ultimately prevent the demise of humanity
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I am pretty sure that Mayor Eric Adams is the most influential person in the world who totally "gets it" about the power of our food choices to promote human health and reverse chronic diseases -- while saving tons of money on healthcare.
That said, he might also be the best-equipped leader in the world who is capable of unleashing the world's most powerful weapon when it comes to fighting climate change.
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But, that is not what the people of New York City elected him to do. They hired him to manage the most complicated city in the world.
That said, if he started talking about leveraging the power of food choices to reverse disease and fight climate change, he would be widely criticized for not doing what he was elected to do and would likely be thrown out of office.
But since he is the kind of leader who is known for Always Leaning Into What's Right -- he will figure out how to work completely under the radar to accomplish the following:
- Promote health among the 300,000 employees of the City of New York
- Lower the city's cost of healthcare by hundreds of millions of dollars a year
- Influence other major governments around the world to start doing the same
As that process of reversing chronic disease around the world gains momentum, it will simultaneously be weakening the leading driver of climate change -- animal agriculture. Our half-hour video below will help you grasp the "big picture" on that topic.
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Ultimately, if we're lucky -- some of the world's climate scientists may take notice and begin urging humans everywhere to just stop eating all animal-based foods.
With this approach, we don't need the help of any government officials to begin rapidly eliminating the leading driver of climate change. We just need an exceptional leader with the ability to quietly begin taking steps that will ultimately lead to the demise of animal agriculture.
And I hope to be able to help Mayor Adams do just that.
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In November of 2021, just after he was elected mayor of NYC, I began to learn a great deal about his leadership skills. Shortly thereafter, I applied for a full-time position in his administration and am hoping that he will soon bring me on board to help him oversee the "stealth" project I have outlined in this memo.
If you're not familiar with the exceptional leadership qualities of Mayor Adams, you may want to take a look at some of my recent SOS Memos in which he was featured:
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Please share today's timely SOS widely.
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Please contact me about a free Zoom talk with your group, using these 60 slides. Participants will all get a lot more out of my talk if they have read my latest book in advance.
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
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PS: The Prevention of Human Extinction |
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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.
Click on the image below for a preview of this 2020 book -- along with the complete Foreword by Mother Nature.
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This "Big Picture" section will provide you with handy reference materials on this most crucial of all topics. |
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"Big Picture"
Data and Video Section
Beginning with the timeline of research
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Five World-Changing Films
That People Everywhere Must See
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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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Grasping the "Big Picture"
These 2 films will help in understanding
our unprecedented dilemma.
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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."
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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. Dowd focuses on the problem; not the solution. I prefer to focus on both.
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What else can you do?
Probably a lot more than you think
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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.
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Share this SOS Memo widely: Certainties, Uncertainties & Priorities by J. Morris Hicks.
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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.
- 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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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.
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The links below to earlier SOS Memos will help you understand how these ideas unfolded since 2018. |
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Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth |
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