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Shining a Bright Light on a Silent Enemy
that is on track to end most life on Earth
SOS #247 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (12-6-23)
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As for that "silent enemy" mentioned in the title, it was a term coined by Dr. T. Colin Campbell in The China Study that was published 18 years ago. It is covered in the text below. | |
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Yesterday morning, I watched a new video by Paul Beckwith, a climate scientist in Canada that I have been following for years.
Yesterday afternoon, I wrote this memo to Dr. Rees, another climate scientist from Canada who was featured in Paul's new video. And he's already responded.
December 5, 2023
To: Dr. William Rees
Professor Emeritus of Ecology
University of British Columbia
Hello Bill,
I see that Paul Beckwith has featured your 2019 paper, entitled: Yes the Climate Crisis May Wipe out Six Billion People -- in his latest video posted yesterday, December 4, 2023 Paul Beckwith video.
Note that I have copied two of my colleagues on this memo: Dr. T. Colin Campbell, along with Dr. Sailesh Rao.
Dr. Campbell published The China Study in 2005 — the most important book on plant-based nutrition ever written. This great book was mostly about human health -- but included much information about the environmental benefits of plant-based eating. A true win-win.
|  | Fourteen years later, Dr. Sailesh Rao published a peer-reviewed paper in 2019 — finding that 87% of climate change is driven by animal agriculture. |  | |
According to your work, Bill — and Paul’s latest video, we as a species -- appear to be essentially doomed.
That is very likely true, but — if we do have a chance to turn this thing around — Dr. Rao, Dr. Campbell and I are near certain that any workable solution MUST include an urgent, global shift away from animal-based foods.
Such a shift would promote rapid RE-forestation and/or RE-wilding of billions of acres that are now being used to graze tens of billions of food animals — or to grow feed for those animals. Crucially, such a move could result in turning a giant global source of GhG into a giant global sink — consisting of a few trillion new trees.
And, it could all be driven by personal choice alone. We don’t need any governments, agencies or universities involved. It could all be done by the global media sharing the unvarnished truth about the personal health and environmental impacts of the food choices of billions of humans all over the world. In my two SOS Memos below, I explore a vision of how that process might work.
As for overshoot, a rapid shift to plant-based eating by a few billion people could perhaps buy us a century or two — the time that will likely be needed to solve many other elements of overshoot -- like overpopulation and overconsumption. (Click image for this Dr. Rees video)
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We (Stuart Scott of FacingFutureTV and I) wrote all about that overpopulation and overconsumption in our 2020 book, OUTCRY, which is now FREE in digital form. I now sometimes refer to that compact book as a “handy user’s guide” for planet Earth.
Also Bill, for the convenience of Paul, Colin and Sailesh, I have provided a link to your related session with Nate Hagens earlier this year. Nate Hagens' 2023 interview with Bill Rees
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One more related item. In my SOS Memos, I have been writing lately about a vision of how we as a species might be able to completely eliminate animal agriculture before 2030.
Regarding that topic, we know what doesn’t work. Just asking people to simply cut back on their consumption of those foods is NOT working and will never work.
People everywhere must understand the dire emergency in which we find ourselves -- if we are to even have a ghost of a chance of influencing them to stop eating animal-based foods.
How is that going to happen? I have been writing about that topic a lot lately. These two SOS memos below were published in the last seven days:
I continued with that same theme in the next SOS Memo, two days later:
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There’s a great deal to talk about here regarding all of the above. Perhaps the five of us could share a Zoom call in the near future. | |
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As a point of reference, in addition to Bill’s 2019 piece, Paul Beckwith (pictured here) -- also featured in his video this 2019 piece by Jonathan Franzen that appeared in The New Yorker:
What if We Stopped Pretending?
The climate apocalypse is coming. To prepare for it, we need to admit that we can’t prevent it.
The Elephant in the Room. Gentlemen, there is one topic we must discuss: the fact that in the two powerful 2019 articles that Paul featured in his video, there was not a single mention of the leading driver of climate change — the one that just happens to (theoretically, at least) be the easiest one to completely eliminate.
Why is the world not talking about this elephant in the room?
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The answer to that question is complicated, but Dr. Colin Campbell spelled out the sad truth quite simply in the Introduction to Part IV of his 2005 book: The China Study, which sold over three million copies. | |
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He succinctly described why our entire global feeding “system” has convinced the world’s population that we must eat animal-based foods to be healthy. We don’t.
In this excerpt, Colin brilliantly describes the tragic reason behind our "system's" failure to properly inform the public regarding a topic so crucial to our survival. He wrote:
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The entire system, government, science, medicine, industry, media, and academia —promotes profits over health, technology over food and confusion over clarity.
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Most, but not all, of the confusion about nutrition is created in legal, fully disclosed ways and is disseminated by unsuspecting, well-intentioned people, whether they are researchers, politicians, or journalists.
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The most damaging aspect of the system is not sensational, nor is it likely to create much of a stir upon its discovery. It is a silent enemy that few people see and understand.”
I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. We need to shine a bright light on that silent enemy and, in so doing, greatly improve our chances for longterm survival as a species.
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Be well, Jim
J. Morris Hicks — hpjmh.com
500 Bank Street, Suite 215
New London, CT 06320
jmorrishicks@me.com
PS: Late last night, I got a sadly disappointing response from Dr. Rees. Here is a brief excerpt:
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Many thanks for this 'connecting' Morris -- My response was an instinctive (and uncharitable?) "yes, but..."
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Yes, but this isn't going to happen! As incomes rise so does meat consumption, despite the warnings of the consequences, at all levels from individual to global. In general, we are very good at saying WHAT should be done -- but rather dismal at suggesting HOW to get it done.
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After citing one more example of why my vision was flawed and would never happen, he stated: Sorry I can't get much further into this just now -- gotta run.
Sadly, this is what we're up against. The well-informed scholars of the world basically have concluded that if something has never happened before, why do we think it will happen now?
Well, this engineer, former process improvement consultant and business "turnaround" specialist -- has witnessed many examples of successful, data-based "creative problem solving" that astounded those who were previously near certain that nothing could be done to improve the situation.
Don't the billions of innocent children of the world deserve our very best efforts -- even though the odds are stacked heavily against us?
I plan to keep on trying. How about you? What was it that Winston Churchill had to say about giving up?
Finally, what can YOU do to help promote health, hope and harmony?
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 my updated SOS Memo #200 from earlier this year.
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)
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You can join my mailing list and find all of my previous postings by visiting the SOS Memos page on my website.
Want some FREE professional help getting started eating whole, unprocessed plants? My friends at Rochester Lifestyle Medicine may have just what the doctor ordered. Check it out.
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Sincerely, J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
jmorrishicks@me.com
Primary website, hpjmh.com, with a powerful summary that appears on the landing page. It's all about...
Promoting health, hope & harmony
on Planet Earth
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PS: 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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