Overcoming the Deadly Suppression of Truth
Regarding our ONLY real chance to slow climate change
SOS #157 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (5-10-22)
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We know that the powerful beef, pork, chicken, egg, dairy and seafood lobbies wield a great deal of power when it comes to what the public hears about the problems associated with the widespread consumption of those products. |
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The organizations behind the production and distribution of those foods do not care about our health and they do not care about the horrors that runaway climate change will deliver.
This SOS Memo summarizes the truth about the relationship between the production of those foods and our future as a species. In a nutshell, if we don't "get the food right" in the near future, we will never be able to slow climate change enough to prevent the demise of humanity.
Sadly, most humans have no idea that it has been scientifically proven that animal-based foods are, collectively, the leading driver of deforestation, food scarcity, species extinction, water shortages, ocean dead zones, heart disease, type 2 diabetes AND finally, the grandaddy of them all -- the one for which Mother Nature will never forgive us:
Climate Change!
Want to hear the truth that is not corrupted by the meat lobbies? In 2009, two World Bank researchers published a scientific paper on Worldwatch.org, concluding that the animal-based food industry was responsible for at least 51% of all human-induced greenhouse gases. Click on the image below to read it.
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Ten years later, Dr. Sailesh Rao published a peer-reviewed scientific paper concluding that animal-based foods are responsible for 87% of greenhouse gases.
The main difference between his findings and the 2009 Worldwatch paper has to do with how deforestation was treated. Want to better understand the differences? Watch this excellent 9-minute video by Gerard Bisshop and then decide for yourself. In either case, our desperate situation is the same when it comes to our food choices.
Click image below for Dr. Rao's 2019 paper:
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Deadly Suppression of Truth
About the leading driver of climate change
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Why aren't the UN and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) telling us the truth about the most important topic in the history of humanity -- our survival as a species? An article published last week lays bare the horrible truth.
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In April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dropped a gargantuan report examining how humans might mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. The entire report runs almost 3,000 pages, but the bit you really need to know about comes 50 pages in and lists all the ways we can reduce emissions right now.
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Switching to wind and solar energy are listed as the two highest-impact shifts. But a little lower down there’s an odd one: “shift to balanced, sustainable healthy diets.” If that phrasing strikes you as mealymouthed, that’s because it is.
An earlier version of the report included a recommendation that people switch to plant-based diets, according to a report from Reuters.
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But this advice was watered down in the negotiations after lobbying from the US, Brazil, and other countries with large meat industries. In the executive summary, plant-based diets are relegated to a single mention: a footnote on page 43.
Let's take a look at that first sentence in a larger font:
But this advice was watered down in the negotiations after lobbying from the US, Brazil, and other countries with large meat industries.
Scroll down past the cover of this 3,000 page report containing millions of words that will accomplish nothing except protecting the industries behind the largest drivers of climate change.
Scroll down to take a look at that "footnote on page 43" mentioned earlier.
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Footnote on Page 43
Far too little and far too late!
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Here's that footnote from
page 43 of the 3,000 page report:
FOOTNOTE 62: ‘Sustainable healthy diets’ promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable, as described in FAO and WHO.
The related concept of balanced diets refers to diets that feature plant-based foods, such as those based on coarse grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and animal-sourced food produced in resilient, sustainable and low-GHG emission systems, as described in SRCCL.
And there you have it. The single largest driver of climate change is reduced to a single footnote in a 3,000 page report, successfully BURIED by the industries who produce most of the animal-based food products involved.
And that footnote is worded in a manner that does not clarify the fact that animal agriculture is a leading driver of climate change. They also do not clarify that governments should encourage their citizens to sharply reduce, if not eliminate, animal-based foods in their diets. My conclusion is this:
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We can't depend on the IPCC!
Why does the UN's IPCC even exist if its corruption prevents mentioning the leading driver of climate change, which happens to be the ONLY DRIVER that can be addressed quickly and efficiently?
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The short answer is that we should proceed as if the IPCC does not exist. It is crystal clear that this bureaucracy will fail to make any progress whatsoever when it comes to making drastic cuts in the leading drivers of climate change. All they do is talk about green energy powering a forever growth economy in a world of finite space and resources.
But there is still a way to get this done. I wrote about it last week and will keep writing about it until the role of animal agriculture in climate change begins to get the attention it deserves.
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Here's the Deal (2 pts)
#1: A rapid global shift toward plant-based eating is essential for slowing, stopping or even reversing climate change
#2: Based on the failures of the IPCC and all of the world's large large governments, I am convinced that this world-changing process can be launched and led by one well-known, highly respected leader with integrity.
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It now seems to be a widely accepted fact of life, that if we don't figure out a way to substantially slow climate change in the next ten years -- the children of the world are in for a brutally uncomfortable future -- or even no future at all.
And that means that we must urgently begin addressing the ONLY major driver of climate change that billions of people around the world can address on their own: by replacing animal-based foods in their daily regimens with healthy plant-based foods. We simply cannot wait for the IPPC to start delivering this life-saving message.
As cited earlier in their recent report, they devoted over 3,000 times more ink to the far lesser drivers of climate change than they did to the leading driver.
But, to be fair -- because of the lobbying efforts of the animal-based food industries for so many decades -- the vast majority of the well-intentioned folks at the IPCC may not even be aware that humans can survive, and thrive without ever consuming ANY animal protein.
We are now running out of time and we are quite sure that the IPCC and the leaders of the world's 195 countries will not suddenly start recommending a much greener, safer and healthier way for the world's humans in the developed world to start feeding themselves.
That leaves us with an independent effort -- led by highly regarded leaders with convictions about the right thing to do. To me, it all boils down to one word: LEADERSHIP. And, I am no longer talking about leadership from governmental leaders.
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The Bottom Line
There is a desperate need for a handful of well-informed, greatly-admired, capable and thoughtful leaders with integrity, courage and funding to step forward and tell the world what we humans must do to survive.
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In a perfect world, the various environmental NGOs would have been loudly telling the public since 1988 what we must do to survive. That was when James Hansen described our climate change dilemma to the U.S. Congress. |
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But, as you know, that has not happened -- for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most significant reason has to do with where they get their funding.
Follow the money. They get their $$ from the public and that means that their message about slowing climate change must be popular with the public. The problem is that the whole truth about this topic would be wildly unpopular during the early years.
You see the problem, right? How could they possibly tell the residents of the world's richest nations that the vast majority of them are eating the wrong foods?
(Full disclosure, I have personal knowledge of this grave situation and am happy to share a few juicy details during my public presentations. It is not a pretty picture.)
This conundrum is exactly why we must have a much better vehicle for getting the desperately needed truth to the public -- and I believe that vehicle can begin with just one exceptionally qualified leader.
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What kind of vehicle is needed? An independently funded organization with the sole mission of coordinating the global mission of completely replacing the animal agriculture industry in less the ten years. I have been describing that organization as some kind of hybrid bringing together the world's best talent in some kind of organization focused on delivering the most important information in the history of humanity.
I am envisioning an organization that is larger than CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC combined. Money should be no object when the future of humanity hangs in the balance.
Many trillions of dollars must be spent during the next few years on this essential process of promoting crucial changes in the way we feed ourselves. Maybe it could be called:
THE GLOBAL COALITION OF TRUTH TELLERS
Saving Humanity One Bite at a Time!
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What kind of leader do we need?She or he must meet the requirements summarized below -- and must be capable of building an entire team that can provide the wealth and influence necessary to change our current trajectory toward extinction. Once again, here is concise summary of the kind of leadership we need:
There is a desperate need for a handful of well-informed, greatly-admired, capable and thoughtful leaders with integrity, courage and funding to step forward and tell the world what we humans must do to survive.
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After giving this envisioned process a great deal of thought in the past few years, I believe that such a "handful" could be started with a single great leader who is open to understanding the many truths shared in this SOS Memo. |
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After such a leader fully understands what is at stake, he or she will know what to do. I believe that Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple -- is one of those rare leaders.
After writing about him in many of my SOS Memos, I am confident that he is the kind of leader who has the integrity required to take the painful, yet totally necessary, steps toward slowing, stopping or even reversing climate change. See this SOS Memo that was posted on 3-8-22: Trillion $$$ Tim Cook & Climate Change
I am now envisioning (some think I am fantasizing) a four step process that could actually happen over the next six months:
Step One. We begin by convening a series of meetings with Mr. Cook and a few scientists/experts who can help him fully understand the dilemma in which all of us humans find ourselves -- and why this kind of information has not yet been shared with the world.
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Step Two. Mr. Cook would then be ready to share his newfound knowledge with other prominent environmentalists one at a time, perhaps beginning with his neighbor John Doerr (pictured here) who just donated over a billion dollars to Stanford University to start a new school focused on climate change and sustainability. See recent NYTimes piece.
Step Three. As the two men gain confidence in the validity of these new truths (well-kept secrets) about climate change, Mr. Cook and Mr. Doerr would schedule a series of three or four small (two on one) meetings with some of the best-known billionaires, whose collective wealth will be needed to launch and fund that Global Coalition of Truth Tellers mentioned earlier.
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Step Four. After enough billions have been pledged, Mr Cook will agree to leave Apple and immediately begin building that Global Coalition of Truth Tellers mentioned earlier -- a hybrid news/environmental activist organization mentioned earlier that will be spending trillions of dollars per year aimed at eliminating the single largest driver of climate change in less than ten years.
Beginning late last year, I have been posting a series of SOS Memos related to this urgent topic. Here are links to seven of them.
Check them out and then invite me to speak to your group via Zoom (for free) on this most crucial topic in the history of humanity.
Are you still not buying into what I am saying? Do yourself a favor and scroll down to the "Big Picture Data and Info Section" below.
One more thing. Please share today's timely SOS widely.
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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 ongoing "Big Picture" section below will 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.
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.
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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