Sleeping Babies in Burning Houses!
What's it going to take to awaken the world's adults?
SOS #125 J. Morris Hicks (9-28-21)
|
|
This SOS is about URGENCY!
It's as if we have hundreds of millions of sleeping babies in burning houses all over the world -- while billions of adults are failing to take urgent, immediate action to save them.
|
|
All of those "burning houses" represent climate change...
And almost no one -- anywhere is urgently taking the simple and easy steps needed to completely disable its #1 driver.
In fact, hardly anyone -- seems to even be aware of what that #1 driver of climate change actually is -- not even the USA's first Presidential Climate Envoy, John Kerry.
More on that topic in a few minutes.
|
|
This is personal for me. The tall man in the photo below is my son, Jason. Some of my fondest memories are from 1973 when I was the first one to greet him in his crib each morning at our home in Puerto Rico, where he was born. (This photo is about ten years old)
|
|
The young man on the right is my first grandson, Collin. Both of these guys have birthdays this week, so I am dedicating this SOS Memo to them.
Jason turns 48 on Thursday and Collin, who is enjoying his last few days as a teenager -- turns 20 the next day.
As a father and grandfather, I have been blessed with a total of ten young people in my life -- a daughter, a son and eight grandchildren. And they have all given me the best possible gift: a life full of meaning and purpose.
|
|
A matter of URGENCY! People often ask me why I continue to write and speak out regarding certain envisioned pathways to sustainable living -- when it appears that few are listening to the messages I am distributing fifty-two weeks a year.
My answer is always the same. I do it for the ten young people mentioned above and, indeed, for all of the innocent children in the world.
|
|
I also do it for my own legacy. I want those ten young people to know that I did it for them and that their GB (GranBuddy) tried his best to help make things right on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping them alive.
Once a person learns the horrible truth about the most important topic in the history of humanity, it is impossible to unlearn it. And that's where I am today.
|
|
After 19 years of studying and writing about this most important of all topics, it seems to me that..
Very few people are aware that animal agriculture is -- by far -- the leading driver of climate change.
Conveniently, eliminating animal-based foods is the ONLY major step that can be taken quickly by individual citizens.
|
|
Thousands of people read these SOS Memos each week but I rarely hear from most of them. And I don't see many taking urgent action.
Where is the urgency that we should be feeling when we have babies sleeping in burning houses?
In last week's SOS Memo, I wrote about whether or not the world's young could survive the mess that our generation has made.
That memo included a list of prominent groups who are totally failing us when it comes to taking concrete steps to keep those "sleeping babies" alive.
That list began with the leaders of the world's 195 nations. None of them have spoken out regarding the
Single Biggest Driver of Climate Change
|
|
And it's not just those 195 leaders. Along with all those heads of state, there are five other groups of leaders and influencers, who are completely failing to tell the world about the single largest driver of climate change.
It's time for someone to call them all out for their collective failure, but I seriously doubt that John Kerry will be the one who sounds the alarm.
In addition to the 195 heads of state, are there any true leaders on this list who have the courage to tell the unvarnished truth on this delicate topic?
- Leaders of the UN and IPCC (Intergovernmental panel on climate change)
- Thousands of universities and millions of scientists
- A host of environmental NGO's like Sierra Club and GreenPeace -- and millions of environmental activists
- Leaders of the world's ten largest religions
- Finally, the global news media has failed to doggedly pursue, and broadcast loudly -- the truth about the single most powerful step we can all take in slowing climate change -- which as most people know, is the number one threat to our survival as a species.
As I asked last week, "So how are all of these groups failing us exactly?" Once again...
|
|
NONE of them are telling us loudly and clearly about the single largest driver of
CLIMATE CHANGE!
It's been right under our noses all along
It's our MOUTHS
and what we're putting in them
|
|
Why are none of those six groups telling us what we need to know about the most important topic in the history of humanity?
Why are they ignoring the critical findings of these peer-reviewed scientific position papers that pegged animal agriculture at comprising 51% and 87% respectively -- of all human-induced greenhouse gases?
Why are all of these highly influential groups failing to tell the public such crucially important information? The reasons are very likely a disturbing combination of:
Ignorance, Greed, Power, Politics
Fear, Control and Money
The last word, MONEY, suggests why they aren't telling us what we must do to survive...
Because it wouldn't be good for business!
|
|
And that simple fact brings up the inspiration for this SOS Memo: It was this article last week in the New York Times, entitled:
I read that article carefully several times and came away thinking that it is entirely possible that he may not even know what the leading driver of climate change is.
However, if he does know, he has probably concluded that it would not fly politically on the world stage. Now that, my friend, is a horribly disgusting thought.
|
|
That NYT piece began with this statement:
As the first presidential envoy for climate, he wants to persuade world leaders to “do what the science tells us.” With global climate talks less than two months away, he faces a tough path.
As mentioned earlier -- with a civilization-saving goal like the one he signed on to achieve, you would think that it might be appropriate for him to tell the entire world about the number one driver (by far) of climate change. That, of course, is not happening.
When he says, "do what the science tells us," he is just talking about the "science" that is popularized by those six groups (above) -- none of whom will tackle any life-saving projects or initiatives that would...
|
|
...NOT be good for BUSINESS! |
|
My own background is relevant here. After earning a degree in industrial engineering at Auburn University in the late sixties -- followed by an MBA a few years later -- I spent the next forty years with various clients and employers -- applying my engineering and business skills to problem solving and process improvement.
|
|
On many projects, I worked to help maximize our clients' performance by improving processes in sales forces, factories, and, my all-time favorite project -- working with the field inspectors of the world's largest hotel chain at the time, Holiday Inn.
Our work there went to the heart of the company's mission: Making the overall customer experience within their thousands of properties the best that it could possibly be. This picture is what their logo looked like in 1976 when I was there.
|
|
Our routine consulting approach. No matter what organization or what industry, we always focused on tackling projects that would give our client the "best bang for the buck." As such, we always began with the...
|
|
"Low Hanging Fruit" -- starting with the projects that offered the best financial return in the shortest amount of time |
|
Back to John Kerry. We would like to see our "first presidential envoy for climate" demonstrate the courage to pursue that low hanging fruit -- and then loudly begin sharing the truth about the #1 driver of climate change.
Maybe we can help him. If my friend, colleague and fellow engineer, Dr. Sailesh Rao and I had the chance to conduct a consulting project for Mr. Kerry, here is an outline of what we would likely propose:
-
A simple five-step process -- for helping him to quickly address, and greatly disable, the leading driver of climate change
Simultaneously, We would begin laying the foundation for addressing the other four issues, but our primary efforts would be focused on that "leading driver" of climate change -- knowing that if we don't get that one done, we'll never be able to save those sleeping babies.
Here are those five steps:
|
|
- Animal Agriculture. We would obviously begin with the "biggest bang for the buck" and strongly encourage Mr. Kerry to begin with an all-out effort to completely eliminate animal agriculture globally. Lame steps like Meatless Mondays are not an option. We think that it is theoretically possible to totally eliminate all animal agriculture within five years, but, sadly, it may NEVER be politically possible.
- Sharply reduce personal consumption. in all developed nations. As in Step#1, Mr. Kerry will get a lot of push-back from the business world. But it won't be nearly as bad as the push-back we will all get from from Mother Nature if we don't begin to substantially reduce personal consumption very soon.
- We must have a new score-keeping system. In order to accomplish all of the above, we are talking about the need to urgently replace our global economic "system" with one that answers first to nature. An envisioned economy that we refer to in our book, Outcry, as Earthonomics.
- Design a new, ultra-green civilization. We do not believe that our current civilization can ever be tweaked enough to pass muster with nature. For that, we need a completely new way of living that is at least 5 to 10 times "greener" than what we have now. Getting there will require 20 years of more before that new way of living will yield benefits -- and that's why it's listed here in 4th place. The next step should be obvious by now.
- Seriously begin to address overpopulation. The carrying capacity of spaceship Earth depends on how we humans are living and I have concluded that Earth may be capable of sustaining four billion* indefinitely. But, right now, we're nowhere near that number -- and it will take a long time to get there.
*According to my calculations, even if we could reduce daily births from 380k to 100k, it would still take 160 years to get down to that 4 BN that I believe might be sustainable if managed properly -- with everyone eating plant-based and living as "greenly" as possible.
|
|
The Bottom Line. Apparently, none of these five steps are being actively discussed and urgently promoted -- anywhere.
And that's not likely to change anytime soon. To my knowledge, there are no prominent leaders in the world who are likely to take meaningful action on any of those five steps.
Oh sure, some of the topics are being discussed, but no radical action is being actively pursued.
- Right now, the simple steps listed above for how we "might" be able to continue living on this planet -- seem to be a well-kept secret.
- To be sure, none of those steps will be simple or easy to execute quickly.
- But that doesn't make them any less necessary.
- For all of the above, we're likely to need ample assistance from AI in order to get much done.
Finally, there is one HUGE reason why we (as John Kerry's consultants/advisors) must strongly implore the Presidential Envoy on Climate -- to tackle Animal Agriculture immediately!
|
|
Because it is the ONLY crucial move among the five listed above -- that offers extremely swift, almost instantaneous results and the only one that all citizens of the planet can tackle quickly on their own.
If we don't tackle the "food monster" first,
it is very unlikely that we will have enough time --before driving our species to extinction -- to address the other four initiatives.
Let's face it. Our house is ON FIRE!
And all those babies are still sleeping...
Indeed, we must eventually tackle all five projects, but we must start with the easiest one: THE FOOD
|
|
What can you do? For starters, you can share this SOS Memo with everyone you know.
You can also inform all the young people in your world that you are deadly serious about this topic. Also, you can:
|
|
- 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 sleeping babies upstairs.
- As you take that step, 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.
|
|
A final word. Hopefully, the kind of crucially serious "conversations" expressed in this SOS Memo will soon replace the trivial topics that dominate a ridiculously large percentage of all of the conversations in the world.
Let's all try to talk a whole lot more about what's really important -- 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 friends via Zoom. To help you jump-start that all-important conversation with your group, I will be happy to present and discuss this topic. Here's an advance link to my 62 slides.
|
|
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.
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.
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
|
|
PS: Regarding the free Zoom conferences with your group, Send me an email and let's get started.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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
|
|
If you got this blog from a friend or found it on our website and want to receive more of these Bite-Size Blogs? Join Our Mailing List
Want to get started nurturing your own health and the health of our planet? Take our survey at 4leafsurvey.com
Click here to learn more about this free online dietary assessment tool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
