The Sex, Science & "Supper" Solution
to our ecosystem's declining ability to sustain us
SOS #135 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (12-7-21)
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Everyone in marketing/sales or in the news business knows that sex sells.
And that's why this SOS Memo begins with "sex." Maybe it will be a bombshell -- which seems only natural since it is being sent on the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
(Due to a Constant Contact system-wide outage, this SOS is going out one day late, on December 8)
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To my knowledge, there has not been much, if any, "sexy" news about how we can slow or stop climate change. Maybe we can change that.
Let's face it, a never-ending stream of breaking news about meaningless pledges from 195 nations to curb emissions ten years from now is just not very exciting, or reassuring, stuff.
First of all, no one believes those pledges anyway. And they have done nothing to slow climate change for 26 consecutive years of UN COPs.
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Let's begin today with the
Climate Scoreboard
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Where do we stand with regard to global emissions? If you look closely, it looks like the graph below flattened a little bit last year. No doubt, that was due to Covid.
Take a closer look. Africa, with 1.4 billion people, is going to soon be wanting all the luxuries and food choices that the rest of the world has enjoyed for years.
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How can we significantly reduce global emissions while adding six million to our population every month? What can we do about the predicament in which we find ourselves -- as consumption levels continue to soar?
In a nutshell, we can focus on the leading driver of climate change instead of just trying to reduce emissions across all sectors of an economy that is poised to just keep on growing.
How can we do that? I have concluded that we must have a steady stream of snappy, exciting, informative news about climate change that will be the lead story on cable news and on the front page of every newspaper in the world. And, for that, we need to start telling a story.
A sexy story!
Today, that story begins with sexy, sparkling mirrors that reflect heat back into space. But that's just part of the story. That's the "sexy salad" part of the story before the main course.
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Even the world's least optimistic ecological scientist, Dr. Guy McPherson (Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Arizona), says that the MEER project has possibilities and I have a direct quote from him as of last week.
When I asked if he felt that we humans have any chance whatsoever of surviving much longer as a species, he had a somewhat hopeful response -- primarily because of MEER.
Although I suspect we are too late.
It's still worth a try.
After the "sexy salad" comes supper, the "meat and potatoes" part of the story that the world must read and heed if we're to be successful in preserving a planet that is capable of delivering full, enjoyable, life-spans for our grandchildren.
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Let's take a look at another scoreboard of horrors |
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We're worried about all of the animal-based foods that are a part of the vast majority of all meals consumed in the developed world.
That's because those kinds of foods are delivered by an overall global process that is, by far, the leading driver of climate change.
It all begins with Deforestation
It might surprise you to learn that we humans have been in the deforestation business for over ten thousand years -- since our ancestors phased out of roaming around hunting and gathering -- and shifted toward growing their own food.
Archaeologists don't all agree on the details, but let's just say that the Amazon was not the first lush green paradise to fall victim to humanity's fires, saws and bulldozers. It's been happening in various parts of the world for thousands of years.
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As for the Amazon rainforest, known as the lungs of the Earth, humans have been destroying it to provide grazing lands for domestic farm animals for the better part of a century.
Just in the last half-century, almost 600,000 square kilometers have been deforested there -- an area about the size of Spain.
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As you can see from this graph, the rate of deforestation has been steadily rising for the past six years. And what did they say about that at COP26? Some committed to lowering that number by 2030.
We must do a lot better than that. Plus, we cannot even depend on their lame promises for the next decade.
The only viable action we can take toward reducing all deforestation in the near term is to loudly declare war on the number one driver: animal agriculture or "supper."
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Let's review the science
behind "supper"
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Did you know that the #1 driver of climate change has been right under our noses all along? It's what we have been putting on our forks.
I mentioned the "sexy salad" earlier. Now it's time to talk about breakfast, lunch and dinner -- the world's three leading drivers of climate change.
What does the science say about that topic? It says a great deal -- but most of the elected officials in the developed world lack the courage to talk about it.
That science is best explained in two fairly recent videos. In the first one, Stanford-educated scientist, Dr. Sailesh Rao explains the "big picture" in just six minutes.
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In the second video, my colleague, Gerard Bisshop, a scientist in Australia who has focused on the issue of sustainable land use throughout his impressive career -- does a masterful job of explaining the controversy on this topic in just nine minutes.
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Whether you believe the 2006 UN numbers that are backed by the producers of animal-based foods, the numbers from the World Bank researchers in 2009 -- or the latest 2019 numbers from Dr. Sailesh Rao in the first video -- you must agree that animal agriculture is a huge problem for the climate.
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The UNFAO report, the World Bank researchers report -- and Dr. Rao's most recent report -- ALL cite animal agriculture as the top driver of climate change
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More than ALL of the world's transportation sector, combined!
As illustrated here by Steve Martin and John Candy in this 1987 movie.
In case you didn't watch the two videos yet, let me summarize the numbers, beginning with the UNFAO data in their 2006 report, Livestock's Long Shadow:
- The UN group concluded that animal agriculture was responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gases attributable to humans. A few years later, they adjusted their numbers downward to 14.5%
- In 2009, two World Bank researchers concluded that the real number was at least 51 percent.
- A decade later, Dr. Sailesh Rao, who focused more on the opportunity costs of all that deforested land for the past two hundred years -- concluded that the real number was 87% or even higher.
Knowing Dr. Rao to be a man of great precision in his work, I would go with his numbers. Having said that, no matter whose numbers you want to believe, you can be certain that, by far, the leading driver of climate change is animal agriculture.
You can also be certain that the easiest, quickest and least expensive way to deal with this civilization-ending threat is with a massive drop in the consumption all animal-based foods.
As for being the least expensive, in fact, it doesn't cost anything for individuals to make the switch. Instead they will start saving a lot of money when they stop eating animal-based foods. As a single man in 2003, I quickly started saving about $5,000 per year on food.
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Ensuring a future for the children who are alive today |
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Based on my research, I have concluded that if we don't take aggressive steps to toward urgently reducing animal agriculture around the world, we can kiss our civilization goodbye before the end of this century.
To be sure, many scientists have concluded that, no matter what we do, there is simply no way that we can stop climate change enough to save ourselves. But I would bet that over 95% of those scientists are not aware of the "miracle" that would take place if most people in the developed world starting moving rapidly toward plant-based eating.
How much time do we have to start downsizing the animal agriculture business? We may have less even time than we thought according to this latest Arctic report by Malcolm Light posted yesterday on the Arctic News website.
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Exactly what is at stake here? It is the lives of all of the children of the world and we owe to them to give it our best shot.
And we're going to need a ton of never-ending "sexy" media to get that done.
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For this holiday season, how can you beat the gift of health? |
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This powerful little book that I published with a family physician in the summer of 2015 can help loved ones on your gift list -- to take charge of their health.
A compact paperback that you can fit in your pocket, it can be easily read in two hours.
Click the book cover to visit the Amazon page.
With dozens of two-minute chapters, the ones that Dr. Graff wrote were mostly about disease reversal and food preparation -- while my chapters were mostly about the origin of 4Leaf, saving money or saving the ecosystem.
My own story. When I got curious about the optimal diet for humans in 2002, I did an intensive internet search for two months and then switched 100% to a diet of whole, plant-based foods -- almost overnight.
Nineteen years later, I regard that switch as the most important decision of my life. I absolutely look forward to every meal, hardly ever get sick and even lost thirty pounds I didn't know I needed to lose.
More importantly, within a few years after I made the big switch, my two grown children (now 42 and 48) followed my lead. They will both tell you that it's the best gift that I have ever given to them and their families.
Along the way, that interest in my own health led me to an overall awakening regarding the health of the Earth's ecosystem, which depends heavily on our food choices.
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Since 2006, when the first UNFAO report, pictured here, was published, we have known that animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change.
Since then, new research by World Bank researchers in 2009 and Dr. Sailesh Rao ten years later have painted a steadily worsening picture.
Reinforcing their conclusions in the mainstream media, an article in Forbes that features former Energy Secretary, Steven Chu:
Let's face it, when the average person hears that animal agriculture is the leading driver of climate change, she thinks that's a shame because we can't just tell people to stop eating animal-based foods. Where would they get their protein, right?
Whatever the reason(s) -- the message has not been heard by the masses. Since almost everyone in the developed world (under 80 years of age) has been eating some combination of meat, dairy, eggs and/or fish at almost every meal their entire lives, they have accepted that way of eating as normal and right.
What's it going to take to jolt them into the reality of the crisis we face -- a crisis that was caused by the way we have been eating for our entire lives?
I think we need to start telling a different story,
a totally new, sexier story. NOW!
- We must incorporate and promote a broader approach to slowing climate change.
- We must leverage the voices of many celebrities who know the disease-reversing power of a whole food plant based way of eating -- and they know that it tastes great and costs less money.
- We must ensure that this story is being relentlessly told in the mainstream media
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We also need to join forces with leaders who are working on other ways to slow climate change -- like Dr. Ye Tao of Harvard who is heading up the MEER Reflection Project.
Before you go -- a new "Big Picture" Video
I encourage you to carve out a half-hour sometime soon to watch this video that was produced by FacingFuture.tv about six weeks ago.
To watch, just click on this image.
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In this video, Dr. Rao and Glen Merzer exhibit a superb grasp on what we all must do as a species -- to ensure a decent life for our children and grand-children.
In a nutshell, we must bring back a big chunk of the forests that humans have been destroying for over ten thousand years. And there is only one way to do that.
- By convincing a large portion of the world's population to simply stop eating animal-based foods.
That is difficult to do when the world's most respected peer-reviewed, scientific journals keep promoting a way of eating that includes generous portions of meat and dairy every day. Like this new piece in nature.com
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If everyone, on average, ate a more plant-based diet, and emissions from all other sectors were halted, the world would have a 50% chance of meeting the 1.5 °C climate-change target5. And if diets improved alongside broader changes in the food system, such as cutting down waste, the chance of hitting the target would rise to 67%.
God help us!
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Please send a link of this memo to a friend? It is #135 on this list of SOS Memos. Finally, contact me directly at the email address below with any questions or requests that you may have.
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
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This is the best holiday season photo that I have ever taken -- an early evening shot of my home in the quaint village of Stonington, Connecticut -- circa 2008.
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PS: Focusing on what matters. People everywhere are constantly talking about mostly trivial things.
Only my professional friends, Dr. Sailesh Rao and others, are mostly engaged in the never-ending process of figuring out how we can possibly survive as a species on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping us alive.
In order to do that, 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.
This first one, I just discovered recently, a free YouTube video 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 survival as a species.
Given our dire situation, we must urgently undertake the single most powerful step possible -- that could take place quickly -- an urgent, worldwide effort to completely eliminate animal agriculture.
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, entitled:
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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." I will continue sharing this link in my 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 situations expressed in these SOS Memos will soon replace the 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: 62 slides.
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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, Send me an email and let's get started.
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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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As always, I am just trying to help spark the all-important "conversation" about what is needed. By sharing a vision of what I believe is possible, I hope to influence others to think bigger, faster, better and bolder.
You will find that there aren't many books that cover both the health of your body and the health of your planet. This is one of them -- a book that my son Jason assisted me in writing. It was published ten years ago this month.
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What else can you do to help? Two things:
1. Live as greenly as possible while doing all that you can to raise the awareness of "big picture" solutions that are crucially necessary for saving our civilization.
2. Share this BSB and my "Mama Ain't Happy" BSB with prominent journalists, thought leaders and/or elected officials whom you respect. They need to learn a lot more about the many reasons why Mama ain't happy.
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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