Why are our greatest thinkers silent about the...
#1 Driver of Climate Change?
And the only driver that could be easily eliminated?
SOS #203 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (3-28-23)
Although I'm uncomfortable using the word ignorant when talking about the world's greatest thinkers, is it possible that many of them are indeed ignorant regarding the most important topic in the history of humanity?
As mentioned in the title, I am talking about the leading driver of climate change and the ONLY major driver that is theoretically possible for us to eliminate globally in less than ten years.

As for the many well-known and highly regarded thinkers in the world -- most are well-versed on many topics and seem to have almost encyclopedic minds -- coupled with the ability to recall detailed data and information on almost any topic.

That said, almost none of them ever mention the leading driver of climate change and what we can do about it. Two of them are featured today, beginning with the oldest:

Noam Chomsky, age 94. From Wikipedia (born 12-7-28) Chomsky is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic,
and political activist. 

Every time I watch one of his videos, I am amazed by his recall of information and his advanced understanding of almost every complex topic in the history of the world.
Over the years, I've probably
watched over twenty hours of his many videos that are available online.

While thoroughly impressed by his knowledge, I am always disappointed that (in all of my twenty hours of viewing) I've never heard him mention the leading driver (by far) of climate change -- and the only major driver that could quickly be eliminated: animal agriculture.

He never acknowledges that while maximizing our chances of stopping, or reversing, the leading driver of climate change -- we could, simultaneously, be eliminating the leading driver of chronic disease in humans AND the leading driver of fresh water usage, topsoil erosion and deforestation.

Have a listen for yourself. His latest video runs 52 minutes and his topic is: "The Future of Our World."
Next up is Jared Diamond, age 85. Wikipedia: (born 9-10-37) He is an American geographer, historian, ornithologist, and author best known for his popular science books, including Guns, Germs, and Steel, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Diamond is known for drawing from a variety of fields, including anthropology, ecology, geography and evolutionary biology. He is a professor of geography at UCLA.
Although I am more familiar with Noam Chomsky, I also chose Jared Diamond for this SOS Memo after watching him address the provocative question below.


The above 9-minute video was recorded in 2019. As he began talking, I was encouraged when he immediately focused on the fact that it is the "near, near" future of the next twenty or thirty years about which he is most concerned -- when it comes to the likelihood of our longterm survival as a species.

But, as with Chomsky, he never mentions a single word about the leading driver of climate change.

How could both of these great thinkers fail to mention how we could easily begin rapidly dismantling the leading driver of climate change -- after being asked similar "big picture" questions like the ones in the titles of the above videos?
Why Chomsky and Diamond?
To be sure, there are scores of brilliant people in the world today. So why did I choose to feature Chomsky and Diamond?

Here's why. I went to several online lists and looked around until I saw people who I recognize and respect. Here is the list on which Noam Chomsky was listed #1:


As for Jared Diamond, his name appeared on another recent published list of the world's top thinkers


This list featured those leaders in alphabetical order and I chose Diamond largely due to my familiarity and respect for his legendary book, Guns, Germs and Steel, published in 1997.

After watching both of their videos about the future of our world, I generated a probing list that I wish to share with you:
One Dozen Questions...
about why the world's greatest minds are not doing much independent thinking about the most crucial topics in the history of humanity
Twelve "Is it possible?" questions...
Is it possible that the world's greatest thinkers, most powerful leaders and most-esteemed scientists know less than we think they do about these twelve questions?

  • Is it possible that globally respected thinkers like Chomsky and Diamond are unaware of the 2009 paper by World Bank researchers, Goodland & Anhang, concluding that at least 51% of climate change was being driven by "cows, pigs and chickens"?
  • Is it possible that they do not know that a 2006 Paper by UN FAO (Livestock's Long Shadow) -- the one finding that the animal agriculture portion was 18% -- was prepared in concert with the "partnership" comprised of International Meat Secretariat (IMS), Dairy Federation (IDF), Poultry Council (IPC) and Egg Commission (IGC)? They're all listed right there on this website image:
  • Is it possible that Chomsky, Diamond and scores of other great thinkers are not aware of the gross conflict of interest reflected in the previous bullet point about all of those animal agriculture LEAP "partners" listed above?
  • Is it possible that they have never heard the story about the fox guarding the henhouse and why that matters, in this instance, to the future of humanity?
  • Is it possible that Chomsky and Diamond do not know that animal-based foods, on a per calorie basis, require over ten times as much land, water and energy as do plant-based foods?
  • Is it possible that they are not aware of Dr. Sailesh Rao's 2019 peer-reviewed scientific paper concluding that, primarily due to global deforestation over the past two centuries -- animal agriculture has been responsible for at least 87% of climate change?
  • Is it possible that they do not know that we humans do not need to eat animal-based foods to be healthy? To be sure, it is just the opposite.
  • Is it possible that Chomsky and Diamond do not know that chronic diseases like heart disease, type2 diabetes and many other diseases can be prevented or reversed by a rapid shift to an eating regimen consisting primarily of whole, plant-based foods?
  • Is it possible that they have not heard about this 2020 book written by the mayor of the world's most influential city -- about how he reversed his own chronic diseases after the "established medical system" had told him he must live with those diseases for the rest of his life?
  • Is it possible that Chomsky and Diamond do not know that prominent schools of nutrition and medicine are largely funded by the animal based foods industry and the giant, global pharmaceutical industry respectively?
  • Is it possible that Chomsky and Diamond do not know that Cornell's former top nutritional scientist, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, discovered in the 1970's that animal protein promotes cancer in humans -- while plant proteins do not?
  • Is it possible that Chomsky and Diamond do not know what happens to nutritional scientists at places like Cornell when they report unflattering findings about the beef, pork, dairy, poultry and/or egg industries who contribute billions of dollars to relevant universities?
The Bottom Line
Not only is it possible -- my observations
lead me to believe that it's LIKELY that most of the world's so-called "great thinkers" are "comfortably unaware" of all of the above.
What about the case of nutritional scientist, T. Colin Campbell, PhD at Cornell? If asked about what happened there, how might Chomsky and Diamond explain why Campbell's spectacular career was derailed after his scientific findings threatened the university's funding from the ultra-powerful animal agriculture industry?
If, by chance, they were familiar with what happened at Cornell, they would more than likely have referred to that case as just a statistical outlier -- and not to be taken seriously.

After all, no other nutritional scientists, anywhere, have experienced that kind of treatment. Why not? Perhaps its partly because all of the other nutritional scientists realized that taking a stance against the mighty meat and dairy industries would cost them their jobs.

In closing, when we see greatly admired thinkers like Chomsky and Diamond ignoring the twelve truths listed above, it makes one wonder:

What it will take to awaken the human species to the fact that in the developed world -- most are eating lots of animal-based foods that are not good for our health OR for the health of the biosphere that keeps us alive?

Unless brilliant scholars like Chomsky and Diamond begin telling the world the horrible truth about our food choices, most humans are not likely to ever learn that crucial truth.

Let's face it. People in authority are not taking the horrible truth about climate change seriously enough. It's almost like they're now trying to convince us that we can all benefit in many ways from a warmer climate.
Even some of the so-called environmental "experts" are suggesting that various elements of climate change might be a good thing.

For example, just last week, I watched an 11-minute trailer of a fairly recent documentary on the topic of melting ice in Greenland. At about the 8-minute mark, they made these statements about climate change possibly being a good thing -- as long as we replace fossil fuels with clean energy in the future:

  • Greenland’s ice melting generates massive hydropower.
  • Climate change has benefitted the fishing industry economically.
  • The melting ice is facilitating development within the livestock and agricultural sectors.   

That last statement should scare the hell out of you.

Take a look for yourself at this alarming ten-minute video that suggests we shouldn't worry too much about stopping or reversing climate change, but rather we should celebrate the silver linings. This emerging complacency is simply terrifying!
Let's summarize all of the above when it comes to averting the worst effects of climate change.

Here's where we stand:

  • The world's greatest thinkers are not telling us the truth about the most serious threat in the history of humanity.
  • Some environmental groups are beginning to tell us that the benefits of climate change could possibly outweigh the negatives for humanity in the long run.
  • No one in authority, ANYWHERE, is telling us what we as individuals can and must do -- to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
  • This means we're on our own. Fortunately, it is possible that we as individuals can get this done. It won't be easy, but we can do it by choosing to eliminate all forms of animal-based foods from our diets ASAP -- and telling everyone we know exactly why we are taking those steps:

For our health. For the planet's health.
For the future of our grandchildren.
If we can't depend on the best modern-day thinkers to tell us what we should be eating, maybe we should harken back to one of the greatest thinkers of all time, Greek physician Hippocrates, who made it real simple for us:

“Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food.”

Need more info? Here are handy links to my five most-recent SOS Memos on this same theme. It will always be this same theme...as long as our children's futures are in peril.


Finally, are you among the rare group of humans who are making the direct connection between our lifestyle choices and our future as a species on this planet? If so, I would love to collaborate with you. Contact me and tell me your story: jmorrishicks@me.com.

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 each 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
This section begins with a conversation with our creator after a 50,000 year absence.
And Mama ain't happy.

A very revealing and entertaining (2022) 15-minute video. Watch it and share it with everyone you know.

Nine more handy "big picture" documents and/or videos:
  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.
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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