The official logo for Earth Day 2011

This year, Earth Day falls on Friday, April 22 — but Earth Week begins now. Coincidentally, I received an e-mail just this morning from the man who has arguably done more than any other human to preserve our planet for future generations of people and all other forms of life.

His name is John Robbins and he just asked me to send him a copy of my manuscript — in response to my inviting him to consider writing a blurb for the cover of our book. John, whose father started Baskin-Robbins, had zero interest in selling ice cream and took a completely different route — among many other things, he founded EarthSave and has written many books, but is best-known for his first really big book — Diet for a New America, published in 1987.

I first read that book in 2003 and it has had a HUGE impact on my life. It opened my eyes to how the entire world is connected and that almost everything we humans do is simply not in harmony with nature. (Read more about John in a previous post.)

This image may help remind you of what is at stake the next time you sit down to dinner -- reminds me of our "apple planet" on the cover of our book.

But, of all the things that we do, the single greatest opportunity for us to begin loving our planet would be to aggressively move in the direction of a plant-based diet. Over half the world’s seven billion humans still eat plant-based — it’s the western world that has begun eating meat and dairy three meals a day and is currently raising 60 billion animals a year for that purpose.

As If first learned in Diet for a New America, our method of feeding ourselves in the western world is about the most harmful and inefficient process imaginable. Not only does it drive up to 80% of our cost of health care, it also:

• Requires 20 times more energy per calorie than do plant-based foods.
• Requires 20 times more land to feed the same amount of people — compared to plant-based eating.
• Contributes mightily to all sorts of environmental issues like global warming, water pollution/waste, land degradation, and disruption of many forms of  biodiversity throughout the world. (Recent post on water)
• Involves the suffering of 60 billion animals per year to feed us — a number projected to increase to double to 120 billion by the year 2050.
• Is totally unsustainable — by almost any measure.

Make this years Earth Day a day to remember! Everybody claims to care about the environment -- its time to put that "care" into action.

Want to do something great for your planet, for your family that follows you, and for the continuation on life as we know it — make a pledge today to start the process by doing something wonderful for yourself.

Start by taking charge of your own health by shifting to a diet that derives the vast majority of its calories from whole plants. Then, while enjoying the plethora of benefits that vibrant health will deliver — start sharing this good news with everyone that you care about.

Ready to get started?

1. Take a half day and read everything on this blog and watch all the videos under the Video Tab.
2. Order a copy of Diet for A New America and The China Study from Amazon.
3. Use our 4-Leaf Program to start taking charge of your own health.
4. Subscribe to this blog in the top right corner. This way, you’ll get daily reminders and encouragement for those days when you might be second-guessing yourself.
5. Tell your friends and family about what you have learned and encourage them to do the same — because we’re going to need a few more million people driving this change.

J. Morris Hicks, participating in an environmental friendly form of recreation off Newport, Rhode Island

While everyone claims to care about the environment, the vast majority of humans in the western world are simply unaware of the kind of damage that the human race is inflicting. Warning! With knowledge comes responsibility as you “become the change you want to see in this world.”

If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard.