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Coming to Grips with Humanity's Predicament
Where do we go from here?
SOS #270 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (3-24-24)
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In my most recent SOS Memo, the title was in the form of a question that I have been asking myself and others, via my SOS platform, for the last ten years. Here is that question;
How can we buy ourselves enough time to design and deliver a truly sustainable civilization, one that can keep us alive on this planet indefinitely?
| Before I try to answer that question, I want to let you know that I am dedicating this SOS Memo to the memory of Michael Dowd, pictured below. I have watched many of his videos for several years, but just got around to viewing two videos that were recorded in the months leading up to his premature passing in October of 2023 at the age of 64. |  | |
Please watch these two videos as if your life depended on them. Because it very well could!
Both videos focus primarily focus on "Overshoot" and how we humans have overshot the ability of our biosphere to keep us alive for much longer.
Both videos are extremely well-referenced -- as is everything you will find on Dowd's extensive "Post Doom" website.
(Lots of videos and FREE audio books
by other authors that he recorded himself)
The First Video. In May of 2023, Mr. Dowd delivered a 52-minute address to the Club of Rome group in Canada. It was entitled "The Big Picture, Beyond Hope and Fear." It is quite possibly the most convincing video I have ever seen.
It is primarily focused on how we Homo sapiens have grossly "overshot" the ability of the biosphere to keep us and most other species alive. When you watch it, I strongly encourage you to watch the lively Q&A that followed his talk.
The Second Video. Three months later, In mid August of 2023, just six weeks before his untimely passing due to heart disease, Reverend Dowd spoke for thirty minutes to a "live" group at a Unitarian Church in Michigan. Again, his topic was all about overshoot and the end of life on Earth as we know it. It was entitled Being the Calm in the Storm.
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Published in 1980, this book by Dr. William R. Catton, Jr, with the foreword by Secretary of Interior, Stewart Udall -- is Dowd's primary reference book.
OVERSHOOT
The Ecological Basis
of Revolutionary Change
In both of the above videos, Rev. Dowd insists that all of humanity has been in serious overshoot mode for over fifty years and that there is absolutely nothing we can do to correct the extensive damage we have already done.
You can listen to a FREE audio version of this book on Dowd's website -- as narrated by Michael Dowd himself. I am reading it again now, having bought a Kindle copy from Amazon several years ago.
Alternatively, you can watch this excellent 2008 interview with the great William R. Catton, Jr. He leaves no doubt regarding the future of humanity and civilization.
He also never mentions our food choices and their outsized role leading to our predicament of certain collapse in the future. But, like almost every other human being, he has likely had no idea whatsoever that we're eating the wrong food for our species. (Click the image below to start the video)
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Dr. Catton also had no idea what might have happened with the climate since 2008 -- if every human in the world had shifted to a plant-based diet sixteen years ago.
Maybe it would not have prevented our ultimate collapse, but Dr. Sailesh Rao and I believe that it might have bought us some time. That's where we are now. We're also much closer to disaster.
A massive shift away from eating meat, dairy, eggs and seafood will probably not prevent that ultimate collapse, but it might buy us enough time for the current generation of children to enjoy a reasonably comfortable life.
We just don't know for sure exactly what the future holds. But we are near certain that we're facing a collapse of civilization -- likely before 2050, maybe much sooner. My conclusion is that rapidly changing what we eat is about the only major step we can take to buy us a little more time.
What does that mean for the future of the young people who are alive today? That's the question I want to answer below. On that note, let's return to the title of this SOS Memo.
Coming to Grips with Humanity's Predicament
Where do we go from here?
A little background. Since learning that animal agriculture was, by far, the leading driver of climate change in 2003, I have made it my major definite purpose in life to promote a powerful, health-promoting way of eating that tastes great, saves money, reverses disease and -- on a per calorie basis -- requires, on average, less than 10% as much land, water and energy as do animal-based foods.
I have been telling that same story in books, speeches, blogs, conversations and SOS Memos for over twenty years.
Of late, I have been promoting an envisioned Game Plan for Reversing Climate Change. It features the Mayor of New York City -- in an effort to inspire some of the most respected journalists in the world to start telling the story about how a massive shift away from animal-based foods just might be able to slow climate change enough for us to get our house in order.
My thinking has been that just maybe, with enough non-stop messaging and leadership from highly respected individuals -- we could possibly slow climate change enough to buy us the one or two centuries we might need to design and implement a truly sustainable way of life for all humans.
But, as I wrote last week, I have not done a very good job of convincing very many people to shift to plant-based eating while walking rapidly away from ALL animal-based foods.
In our 2020 book OUTCRY that I wrote with Stuart Scott, we provided a vision of how a truly sustainable civilization might look. One essential element of that envisioned civilization is that animal agriculture of any kind would no longer exist.
That book is still available on Amazon as an e-book -- and is also now available for FREE by clicking this title:
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Since that book was published in 2020, I have been terribly disappointed with the complete lack of progress that we humans have made toward living more sustainably on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping us alive.
This is the latest data about sea surface temperatures, two days ago. Records were set almost every day in 2023 (yellow line) and so far this year (red line).
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We've also continued to add a net six million per month to our global population, consumption of animal-based foods continue to rise and the world's economy is booming like there is no tomorrow.
It now appears that James Cameron was 100% right in the situational assessment that he penned for the cover of OUTCRY -- where he concluded that there will almost certainly be some kind of crash.
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Access the complete book OUTCRY for FREE
As for "some kind of continuation of human civilization" that he mentions -- I have been giving this topic a great deal of thought for the past few weeks. Here's my latest thinking.
I greatly respect the work of Dr. William R. Catton, Jr., that he shared in his book, OVERSHOOT, forty-four years ago -- and now finally realize that our global civilization is quite likely to collapse in the not-too-distant future.
Dr. Catton refers to that as the end of Homo colossus (civilization) -- but not necessarily the end of Homo sapiens. In that case, some of us might still be alive but, if so, we'll likely be foraging or growing our food, an agrarian society if you will.
Catton seems to have concluded that our species, Homo sapiens, may figure out a way to stay alive indefinitely -- but that our civilization (Homo colossus) that depends on never-ending growth on a finite planet -- will eventually collapse, likely before 2050, if not much sooner.
No one knows when our civilization will collapse -- as it has already survived far longer than Dr. Catten would have predicted at the time of his passing in 2015, at the age of 88.
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So where does J. Morris Hicks
go from here?
I'm not sure when it happened, but I do acknowledge that there is a massive amount of data these days -- suggesting that there is absolutely no way that we will be able to reverse climate change. It appears to be near certain now -- that the "climate change" ship has long left the harbor.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that climate change cannot be slowed enough to provide a reasonably enjoyable life for the young people who are alive today.
I should mention at this point; however, that many prominent scientists like James Lovelock, E.O. Wilson, Jacques Cousteau, William J. Catten, William Ophuls and others were, or "are" predicting that the human population will shrink to less than one billion people before it stabilizes again -- if we indeed survive as a species at all.
Stated another way, there are no guarantees regarding the future of humanity and what that future might look like.
So where does J. Morris Hicks go from here? I am an engineer, a former corporate executive, a process-improvement consultant and a writer. I am not a psychologist. But I am a loving grandfather of four collegians, three of whom are graduating in May -- one each from Champlain College, Fairfield University and Boston University.
One graduation gift to each of them, plus the sophomore at Montana State, is a hard copy of the William Ophuls' book pictured below. Per the title, my generation, the famous "baby boomers" are most to blame for creating the kind of unsustainable set of living arrangements that we all "enjoy" today in the developed world.
You can access this audio book for free at Michael Dowd's website. Or you can purchase a hard copy of this book by William Ophuls from Amazon by clicking this image:
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The first chapter of this book is the same as the title on the cover of the book, "Apologies to the Grandchildren." That said, I join with the author in sincerely apologizing to all of the world's children -- for my generation's role in hastening the demise of civilization -- and quite possibly, our very species.
Here is the beginning of that first chapter:
"Civilization is, by its very nature, a long-running Ponzi scheme. It lives by robbing nature and borrowing from the future -- exploiting its hinterland until there is nothing left to exploit -- after which it implodes."
"While it still lives, it generates a temporary and fictitious surplus that it uses to enrich and empower the few -- and to dispossess and dominate the many."
"Industrial civilization is the apotheosis and the quintessence of this fatal course. A fortunate minority gains luxuries and freedoms galore, but only by slaughtering, poisoning and exhausting creation."
"So, we bequeath you a ruined planet that dooms you to a hardscrabble existence -- or perhaps none at all."
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The Bottom Line
After reading the above book, I have spent many hours agonizing about what I wanted to leave you with today. It's simply this:
If there is a chance for humanity to avoid near-term extinction, I am near certain that the most powerful step that we can all take -- independent of any governmental action -- is to simply choose immediately to STOP eating ALL animal-based foods.
I now believe more than ever, that the single best, easiest, fastest, most enjoyable and least expensive action that we can ALL take -- is to shift to 100% plant-based eating all over the world as rapidly as possible. The markets WILL respond.
Here are my top four reasons:
- At the very least, many billions of innocent animals will not have to suffer and die in order to become the main attraction at our dinner tables.
- If you choose a whole-food, plant-based version of a vegan diet, your health will likely improve, you will lose weight AND you will likely cut your food bill in half.
- If millions of people take action right away and start urgently encouraging others to do the same -- millions of acres of land will be freed up and can undergo a natural re-wilding that can play a big role in slowing the rate of climate change -- as that land returns to being a carbon sink instead of a source of carbon emissions.
- Finally, unlike many other possible initiatives aimed at fighting climate change, what you choose to eat is an individual choice that almost anyone in the developed world can make immediately. We can all act without permission from any government, industry, institution or agency. If ALL of us in the developed world choose to start eating nothing but plant-based foods, the industries involved will respond quickly -- and they WILL deliver exactly what WE choose to eat. It's that simple.
In addition to immediately eliminating animal based foods, you can further help Mother Nature by simultaneously minimizing your consumption in every other category: clothes, furniture, stuff, travel, etc. As for gifts, start giving e-books and consumables like fresh foods, wine or flowers -- instead of manufactured STUFF.
Also, Share this SOS Memo on this crucial topic with others: Walking the Talk of Sustainable Living. It describes how I'm now living in 443 square feet where I can walk to the grocery, package store, restaurants, Amtrak, medical visits, etc.
The railroad trestle below, visible from my apartment building (in the photo) is on the busiest passenger rail line in the United States -- and I can walk to the Amtrak station in twelve minutes.
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Of course, none of the above recommended actions will be good for the global economy in the near term. That said, just remember that our international Ponzi scheme game of never-ending-growth capitalism is what got us in ecological trouble in the first place.
To replace capitalism, we eventually must develop and install an Earth-friendly way of keeping score on the only planet in the universe capable of keeping us alive.
Need a little more motivation, watch this FREE YouTube video and insist that everyone you know watch it with you. The new Abbreviated version of the Eating Our Way to Extinction Video.
| After you watch this FREE half-hour video on YouTube, click on the FREE 2015 book below that I wrote with a family physician. | |
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It will help you get started down the road to vibrant health -- while helping to ensure that the young people alive today, and future generations, will have a much better chance of enjoying comfortable and meaningful lives.
This handy book is still as relevant as ever. It will answer many questions that you may have about moving rapidly to the whole food, plant-based method of feeding yourself.
This special e-book version is absolutely FREE: Just click 4Leaf Guide to Vibrant Health.
In closing, I just want to say that I feel very lucky to be able to live during the most prosperous era of human existence. As one of the oldest "baby boomers" -- I have been able to enjoy a wonderful life -- full of luxuries that my great-grandparents could have never even imagined possible.
With challenging days in our future, I find myself appreciating, more than ever, the kind of life that I have right now. It's great that my place is warm, water still comes out of the faucet, the electricity and the WIFI are working, I have two large TV screens where I primarily do my research these days and my food co-op right down the street continues to provide me with fresh fruits and vegetables 364 days a year. They close on Christmas.
Now that I know how the lives of future generations might look, I am ever more grateful for the luxuries that I continue to enjoy today. Living in a beautiful coastal city in New England, I consider myself a very lucky man.
The image below was taken on one of my routine morning walks through Fort Trumbull on the left -- and the Coast Guard Academy three-masted training vessel, the Eagle, on the right. Oftentimes, many Canada Geese, and other birds -- greet me on this vast green lawn near the middle of my sunrise walk.
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As for "not giving up" -- I am still doing all that I can -- to help provide the children of today with the kind of future they deserve. Last August, I posted this SOS Memo that includes the above picture: “Smelling the Roses” — But Not Giving Up.
So, Do We Still Have a Chance?
No one can be sure that we do. But, I believe that if we humans still have a realistic chance of preventing the collapse of our civilization and the resulting loss of three to seven billion lives (or more) -- that our absolute best course of ACTION is simply this:
Shift exclusively to plant-based eating
all over the world -- before 2030!
Unlike all other efforts to mitigate climate change, deciding what we eat remains an individual choice.
Importantly, such decisive action by enough people can greatly raise the odds that we will create a livable, enjoyable world of the future for all of the world's children and young adults who are alive today.
We older adults created the dire mess in which we find ourselves. Therefore, It is our responsibility to do our very best to fix it.
Not everyone is on board with this kind of thinking. Some well-informed experts are convinced that we've already passed the point of no return -- and that there is NOTHING we can do to save ourselves.
But, thankfully, there are many others who disagree with that conclusion. One of them is a retired Princeton meteorologist, Dr. Abraham Oort. In March of 2023, he penned a climate change article in the Valley News of N.H. His compelling piece ended with these words:
Transforming just one factor in our daily lives, eating plant-based foods, may save the planet for our children and their children. Is that too much to ask?
My colleagues and I have concluded that by returning quickly to the natural diet for our species -- we just might be able to buy ourselves the time needed (about 200 years) to address and resolve the plethora of unsustainable elements of our rapidly expanding, wasteful and harmful civilization.
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Conveniently, we have a game plan for making that happen!
It was fully explored in SOS Memo #245 that was posted on 11-28-23.
Click the link below to read all about that plan, then share it widely. Share it as if the lives of your children, and their children, depended on it. Because they do!
Below this link, as in all of my SOS Memos of late, I highlight a few key elements of that game plan -- one that consists of harnessing the power and reach of the handful of big-picture journalists in the world who have the courage and integrity to just do the right thing for the future of humanity.
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Game Plan for Reversing Climate Change.
The opening question is this...
What would happen if the global media were to become aware of the simple fact that animal agriculture is, by far, the leading driver of climate change and the ONLY driver that is theoretically possible to completely eliminate by 2030?
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At zero cost! How's that for a benefit? Not only does it cost far less to eat plant-based, there are countless benefits that will result from our return to the natural diet for our species. As people begin consuming mostly whole, plant-based foods, most chronic diseases will be reversed -- and the world's cost of healthcare (disease management) could be slashed by over 50%.
Most Importantly. The beauty of this approach is that we don't have to deal with the world's food growers and processors, the world's self-serving healthcare Industry, the many rogue governments and international alliances (UN, UNFAO) or all of the academic entities who are supported financially by the animal food producers and drug marketers. We don't need ANY of their support to get this done!
We simply take this life-saving message directly to the people! The food producers WILL deliver what they demand!
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Individual food choices alone -- all over the world -- can make this happen. When enough people shift to plant-based eating, the food producers, for financial reasons, will respond quickly -- as they urgently start producing only what we consumers are now choosing to eat. | |
At that time, we will have triggered a rapid global dismantling of what is BY FAR -- the single largest driver of climate change: animal agriculture
The stakes of this game are too daunting to ignore. And it's likely that we only have a few more years to get this right!
This climate change solution is simple! Getting billions of people to quickly join in that solution is a very difficult task!
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To get that ball rolling, how can we get this group of seven news anchors (and/or many others) prepared to urgently begin reporting the complete truth about the direct relationship between our food choices, climate change and the future of humanity? Read on...
The man pictured below has the knowledge on this topic and he has the world's ear. Will he do all of humanity a huge favor and agree to facilitate the jumpstarting of the game plan described herein? Several members of his staff know that we are standing by -- ready, willing and able to assist him as needed.
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For the record, I am confident that Mayor Adams of New York City, should he choose to ignite the flame (in this Game Plan) -- will someday enjoy an exceptionally rarified place in the annals of history.
He knows better than most what we should be eating -- for our own health -- and for the health of the biosphere that keeps us alive.
He's also mayor of the global media capital AND the world's most influential city.
In his book above -- he writes about reversing his own type 2 diabetes and partial blindness -- by making food choices (whole plants) that deliver the bonus benefit of preserving Mother Nature's ability to keep us alive.
How convenient is that? In closing, it's all about what we choose to eat. Let's just do it, already! We're about to run out of time.
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For billions of innocent children...let's all work urgently together to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
Sincerely, Jim
PS: Someone asked me why I repeat myself from week to week in these memos. It's because I'm making sure that each message can be fully understood by all of the first-time SOS readers.
J. Morris Hicks — hpjmh.com
500 Bank Street, Suite 215
New London, CT 06320
jmorrishicks@me.com
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PS: How can YOU make a difference?
1st: Become a healthy vegan -- making sure that over 80% of your calories are derived from whole, plant-based foods. As such, you will be doing your part in dismantling the leading driver of climate change: global animal agriculture. As a personal bonus, you will get healthier, eliminate most prescription drugs, lose weight and save money at the same time.
2nd: Start "walking the talk" of sustainable living. Let your actions do the talking for your friends and family. My thoughts on that process are in this updated SOS Memo #200 from early 2023, when I moved into my delightful 443 square feet, about halfway between New York and Boston -- on the busiest passenger rail line in the USA.
3rd: Check out the FREE stuff in the appendix below and start sharing all of this info with your friends & family.
4th: Schedule a FREE Zoom call with me and your group. Contact me at jmorrishicks@me.com to arrange.
In the APPENDIX below, you can read about what we must do to understand much more about the climate dilemma in which we find ourselves -- along with what it will likely take to prevent a collapse of civilization.
This appendix can help you get that done:
Appendix to SOS Memos
(lots of data, FREE books, scientific reports, videos & more)
You can join my mailing list and find all previous
postings by visiting this SOS Memos page.
Again, my primary website is hpjmh.com -- featuring a powerful summary that appears on the landing page. Click the link below for my one-page bio summary:
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy.
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Want to get started nurturing your own health
and the health of our planet?
Take our dietary survey at 4leafsurvey.com (2 min). With your answers to 12 multiple choice questions, the survey provides an estimate as to what percent of your daily calories are being derived from whole, plant-based foods.
Over 80% from whole plants = "4Leaf Level" of eating
(The average American or European gets less than 7%)
Click to learn all about this dietary assessment tool:
About the 4Leaf Survey
For much more about 4Leaf, visit 4leafprogram.com
Also: Link to the FREE e-copy of the The 4Leaf Guide
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