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The Next Big Climate Deadline
Will Surprise You!
SOS #272 -- J. Morris Hicks -- (4-18-24)
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The Next Big Climate Deadline
is for Meat and Dairy!
And it’s a lot sooner than you think!
Last month, a news story about a new scientific study out of the Harvard University School of Law broke in a number of news organizations. Sadly, but not surprisingly, it was not picked up by ANY of the major TV networks.
This is how they describe that new study on the Harvard media website.
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The story was all about this research paper:
Options for a Paris-compliant livestock sector
Timeframes, targets and trajectories for livestock sector emissions from a survey of climate scientists.
Authors: Dr. Helen Harwatt of Harvard Law School, Dr. Matthew N Hayek of NYU, Dr. Paul Behrens of Leiden Dutch University and Dr. William J Ripple, the distinctive professor of ecology at Oregon State University
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The news release from Harvard Law School was published on March 12, 2024 and appears below in its entirety. You can also read about this alarming scientific paper in
As noted above -- on the Harvard Law School website, this compelling headline on March 12, 2024. gets right to the heart of this crucial story:
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For your convenience, this entire news release appears below. Please share it widely:
By 2036, global emissions from livestock must drop by 61% to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. This, according to a first of its kind report from researchers at Harvard University, New York University, Leiden University, and Oregon State University -- sets out a new understanding of livestock within the context of climate change goals, and new expectations for climate policy – providing the first set of GHG emissions trajectories for the global livestock sector, and in high, middle, and low-income countries.
Dr Helen Harwatt, who led the research as Food & Climate Policy Fellow with the Brooks McCormick Jr Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School, considers this to be a vital piece of the picture needed to move forward with climate plans: “The research findings provide much needed clarity on a key question – what role should the livestock play in meeting the Paris Agreement? The experts surveyed suggest it’s a major and critical role that should begin immediately”.
The 210 survey respondents are highly experienced climate scientists and food/agriculture experts based in 48 countries – and 60% have authored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. The latest report from the IPCC, the 6th assessment, states that emissions must fall by around 61% by 2035 to limit warming to 1.5°C.
Experts’ responses to 19 questions contained in the researchers’ survey reveal differences in how each country should respond. Emissions from livestock must peak before 2025 in High-Income Countries, Middle-Income Countries and globally, but not until after 2030 in Low-Income Countries. Following the peak, livestock emissions should fall rapidly in HICs and MICs. All countries should have a GHG reduction target for livestock production, in alignment with an overall global reduction target of 61% by 2036.
“The emissions trajectories for livestock outlined by the experts recognize key differences in how countries should act on this issue – there isn’t a blanket approach or a one size fits all countries – and the results reflect that. High producing and consuming countries must do the most the soonest, and have the most ability and potential to achieve this. The results speak to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities – which has been part of international environmental law since 1992 in that action is required from all countries, but that all countries are not equally responsible.
What is also clear is that high consuming nations must reduce consumption – experts state that global emissions must peak by 2025 and so must the number of farmed animals – this doesn’t allow for high consuming nations to continue their ways by increasing imports from other countries while reducing their own farming emissions.”
According to the experts, reducing the production and consumption of livestock products has potential to make very large contributions to this target. Additionally, achieving emissions reductions should not come at the cost of animal welfare and should not result in an increased number of farmed animals – ruling out measures that further confine animals for example, or options that raise the farmed animal population such as shifting beef to chicken meat.
Globally, diets would generally need to be more plant-based, with the most substantial shifts occurring among consumers in HICs. In support of achieving the emissions targets and trajectories, a number of policy priorities were identified for climate, agriculture and food purchasing – including the provision of financial assistance for farmers to convert their practices away from livestock production where required.
The report essentially provides the first articulation of a Paris-compliant livestock sector. The reduction targets for livestock suggested by the survey results are in line with what the IPCC show is needed globally for all emissions and sectors, so it appears that the experts are suggesting a reasonable pathway for the livestock sector.
Much of the political focus has been on the energy transition, however a food transition is also needed – especially for highly emitting animal products. How much and when livestock reduction should contribute to climate goals has until now been unclear – but these findings provide some clarity for policy makers grappling with these issues, and can help with the formation of plans to tackle climate change. We’re way behind schedule on this, and technological solutions alone are inadequate. Difficult decisions are inevitable – and well-designed policy, communicated effectively, is essential”.
| So are you wondering why The Guardian has not weighed in on this news? Does it surprise you to learn that they published a very similar story in December of 2019 on this same topic. It's title is below the Guardian logo: | |
Reach ‘peak meat’ by 2030 to tackle
climate crisis, say scientists
Here are the first few paragraphs. Sound familiar? Remember, this was published in December 2019.
"Livestock production needs to reach its peak within the next decade in order to tackle the climate emergency, scientists have warned. They are calling for governments in all but the poorest countries to set a date for “peak meat” because animal agriculture is a significant and fast-growing source of global greenhouse gas emissions."
"Cattle and sheep emit large amounts of methane while forests are destroyed to create pasture and grow the grains that are fed to intensively reared animals."
"The world’s scientists agree that huge amounts of carbon dioxide will have to be removed from the atmosphere to limit global heating to 1.5C."
"More than 80% of farmland is used for livestock but it produces just 18% of food calories."
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Also, I refer you to one of the other recent articles that were referenced above. For your convenience, I have provided an introduction to that powerful VOX piece that was published on March 20, 2024. | |
The Next Big Climate Deadline
is for Meat and Dairy
And it’s a lot sooner than you think!
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"For years, climate scientists have called for a phase-out of fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic global warming.
Now, according to a first-of-its-kind survey of more than 200 environmental and agricultural scientists, we must also drastically reduce meat and dairy production — and fast."
"Global livestock emissions should peak by 2030 or sooner to meet the Paris climate agreement target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the surveyed climate experts said.
Click here to read the entire piece.
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The Bottom Line
With all due respect to the scholars who wrote the extensive Harvard piece, the situation we are facing is much simpler to understand and much easier to address than the authors seem to recognize.
They would lead us to believe that it is the animal agriculture sector that must take action. Wrong. That will never happen without one amazingly simple, yet necessary ingredient: a decisive shift in human demand away from animal-based foods.
Here is that key INGREDIENT in 25 words or less as to what it will take to rapidly shrink the mighty global, animal-based, food industry.
Independent citizens and families simply must STOP eating animal-based foods and replace those foods with whole, plant-based foods.
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I wonder how many of the 200+ scientists who signed the above Harvard paper are still eating animal-based foods. I would bet that it's way over 90%.
Why do I believe that? It's because of what I know about my own 1,000+ acquaintances, including family and close friends. I'm talking about people who know me and have been reading my work for the better part of twenty years.
How many of them have shifted 100% to plant-based eating? How many have completely stopped eating ALL animal-based foods? You may find this hard to believe, but I would bet money that the number is well below forty. That's right 4-0.
Fortunately for me -- and for them and their families -- two of my "forty" people who have stopped eating meat & dairy are my 44 year old daughter and my 50 year old son -- in this photo that I took of them as we enjoyed a plant-based meal this past November in a Worcester, MA restaurant.
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Unlike my own case with Diana and Jason, I have found that most people simply don't want to even think about giving up their favorite foods. And, they don't want to talk about it.
They simply can't imagine that a 100% plant-based dietary regimen could ever be as enjoyable to them as what they've been eating for their entire lives.
I would like to believe that people will change, but so far, I simply don't see it happening anytime soon. My friend and colleague, Sailesh Rao, still believes that it can happen in just two years. I certainly hope that he is right.
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In closing, I like the way Dr. Rao puts it in this recent article entitled Two Years to Change the World:
"The obvious solution to the climate crisis is staring us in the face three times a day on our meal plates. For us Climate Healers, it is self-evident that an industry that has cut down half the trees on the planet over the past 10,000 years is the leading cause of the climate crisis."
"After all, the remaining 3 trillion trees on the planet and the soil that they live on store twice as much carbon as in the entire atmosphere and four times as much carbon as in all the fossil fuels we have burned to date."
"Therefore, if we all go Vegan and reforest the missing 3 trillion trees on the planet, then we can completely reverse climate change. However, for the past three decades, the UN and its enablers have been pretending that cutting down half the trees on the planet had little to do with the climate crisis."
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Simply stated, we must somehow influence hundreds of millions of people in the developed world to quickly shift to a health-promoting, world-changing, money saving, whole food, plant-based diet.
How can you help? How about sending a FREE copy of the 2015 book that I wrote with a family physician: 4Leaf Guide to Vibrant Health. In that little book, Dr. Graff wrote about her patients and I devoted most of my chapters to the environment. Just read it for God's sake. It's FREE.
Here's another idea. Watch this FREE, 35-minute video and then insist that everyone you know watch it with you. The new Abbreviated version of the Eating Our Way to Extinction Video.
|  | As mentioned above, after you watch this FREE half-hour video on YouTube, read the FREE 2015 book below. As noted earlier, it's a two-hour read that I wrote with a family physician. Believe it or not, since we started giving away the e-copy of this book over a year ago, the sales of the hard copies have risen sharply. (Available on Amazon) | |
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This small, easy-to-read book 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.
About half the chapters are about promoting "vibrant health" for the biosphere that keeps us alive.
To be sure, this little book is still as relevant as ever. It will answer many questions 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.
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In closing, 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 almost certainly 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
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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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