Let me tell you right up front that I have been very disappointed

with both of the major political parties for many years. That's why I registered as an "Independent" about fifteen years ago -- and will remain so for the rest of my life.

In the interest of transparency, I have voted for Republican, Democratic and Independent presidential candidates in the past. In 1996, I didn't like either candidate (Clinton or Dole), so I voted for Ross Perot who ran under the Reform Party banner.

So, which party will get my vote in 2024? Without a doubt, It will be the party whose presidential candidate best embodies these three qualities: courage, integrity and leadership.

As for John McCain, although I did not vote for him when he ran for president, I always thought that he was, for the most part, a man of integrity -- and I totally agree with his quote about courage.

Hopefully, in 2024, we will elect a president with the complete package of knowledge, integrity, courage and leadership necessary to influence the entire world to move rapidly in the direction of sustainable living -- the only way we're going to be able to slow climate change.

In my lifetime, I have memories of fourteen presidents, but since I was in pre-school, when Harry Truman was in office, I will begin my list with Eisenhower.

The first one on this list took office in 1952, just before my 7th birthday.

In earlier decades, once a president was in The White House, it seemed that most Americans were respectful of the office -- and felt that whoever was elected -- that he was the president of all of the people, not just the ones who voted for him.

In my list of the most recent thirteen American presidents, only Kennedy impressed me as perhaps having a healthy combination of all three of those qualities.

During my adult years, not a single American president has impressed me with his overall ability to take a stand on crucially important issues -- particularly, if such a stand might lessen his chances of being re-elected.

My observation goes much further. National leaders in this country -- and in all other countries as far as I can tell, are interested in just two things: staying in power and remaining relevant.

Taking a stand against the wildly popular western diet would likely cost any of them a first or a second term. Perhaps history will be kind to candidates who were knowledgeable about the major drivers of about climate change but were never elected.

Regardless of what's at stake, I have never seen an American president take a strong stand on any crucial issue that he feared would not be a political win. In my seventy years of observing American presidents, I've never seen a single one of them take a stand that might cost him a second term.

We are now running out of time when it comes to taking the necessary steps to slow or stop climate change before we pass the point of no return.

We are now in desperate need of a prominent American leader who is fearless when it comes to just doing what's right. We desperately need powerful voices, whether in the White House or not, to be constantly explaining exactly what it will take to slow climate change enough to prevent our extinction.

Whether you lean Republican or Democrat, you must admit that there is only one prominent person in Congress who's been recently exhibiting her exceptional levels of the big three:

Integrity, Courage and Leadership

I had been admiring the work of Congresswoman Cheney on the January 6 House Select Committee for several months prior to her televised interview of Cassidy Hutchinson last month.

That's when I became acutely aware of her overall combination courage, integrity & leadership.

She is now coming across as an exceptionally rare leader who is simply not worried about politics. She is worried about something that is far more important.

Right now, she is not worried about retaining her seat as the Congresswoman from Wyoming. She is worried about the future of our republic and is simply doing what she believes is right.

That said, after living through the administrations of thirteen male presidents, my conclusion is that in order to get all of the "character" qualities we need in a president -- it is time we elect a woman. As for Cheney...

This observation comes at a time when the Democrats are about to pass the strongest anti-climate change bill in history. It's called the I.R.A (Inflation Reduction Act) and is a major step in the right direction. And not a single Republican senator voted for it.

This tells us where we are. Paul Krugman sums it up in this recent column, entitled: Did Democrats Just Save Civilization?

Although an encouraging first step, it will take decades for that I.R.A. bill -- and future legislation -- to make much difference when it comes to climate change. But there is something that we can do -- and Liz Cheney could start leading that process now, whether she retains her Wyoming seat in Congress or not.

She can start addressing the leading driver of climate change that no one is talking about. You guessed it, I am talking about animal agriculture.

You may ask, what makes me think that Liz Cheney (from the cowboy state) would ever even THINK about criticizing animal agriculture?

I refer back to the integrity and courage of Liz Cheney. She has already demonstrated that she is willing to take an unpopular stance on issues of great importance.

And, once she learns the crucial truths about the overwhelming relationship between animal agriculture and climate change -- this Auburn engineer, turned climate activist, believes that she will know what to do.

How is she going to learn those crucial truths? That learning process can be jump-started with a two-hour session in Washington, DC -- an in-person meeting with six people, including Congresswoman Cheney. Also attending would be five individuals who, collectively, can speak with authority about the not-so-well-known truths regarding the primary drivers of climate change.

That group would include New York Mayor Eric Adams, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Sailesh Rao, the famous visionary and filmmaker, James Cameron and myself.

Within just two hours, I believe that she would be able to see the blinding flash of the obvious -- regarding what is, by far, the leading driver of climate change and the ONLY driver that can be lowered quickly.

Her father, Dick Cheney, has total confidence that his daughter will always do what's right -- and when she does tackle huge, delicate issues like the leading driver of climate change -- he knows that she WILL be successful!

Watch just two minutes of this recent video of a proud father talking about his exceptionally capable daughter.

If you can't watch the video right now, just take a look at what her proud father had to say during the first 90 seconds:

I believe that once Ms. Cheney learns the simple truth about the leading driver of climate change, she will know what to do -- and I look forward to helping her.

Is it possible that Liz Cheney could ever be elected president? Maybe, maybe not. But she can start making a huge difference NOW -- while she enjoys the admiration and respect from both sides of an extremely polarized populace in the United States and in many other nations.

As for the 2024 presidential race, we're looking at January of 2025 before the next president takes office. We must act long before then and I think that, properly enlightened, Liz Cheney could make a huge difference in the next thirty months.

In closing, I am highly confident (near certain) that the more people who follow the guidelines in the two-hour 4Leaf Guide below, the greater the chances that humanity will successfully slow climate change enough to prevent our near term demise as a species.

It is #170 on this list of all of my SOS Memos.

Don't have time to watch the entire Honolulu video? Click here to view all 60 slides in that talk

jmorrishicks@me.com 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

This 83-minute documentary is all about the findings that were documented in Dr. Stephen Emmott's 2013 book. TEN BILLION.

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.

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.

You can join my mailing list and/or find all of my previous postings by visiting the SOS Memos page on my website. 

Want to see earlier SOS Memos? Click here

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