When it comes to our food, most of the world’s brightest still believe we “need” to eat animal protein. We don’t. In fact, it’s killing us and it’s taking a huge toll on our planet at the same time. 

Julian Cribb, author, journalist and agricultural consultant

And the sooner our global leaders, scientists, doctors and journalists realize that simple fact; the sooner we can get some real traction on fixing the mess that we have created since 1492. At the request of my friend on the Isle of Wight, I watched an interesting video (23 minutes) of Julian Cribb yesterday. An Australian agricultural journalist, he is the author of The Coming Famine, the Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It. Although we had researched his book extensively last year while writing ours, I had not yet seen him on video.

For your convenience, I have provided that video for you below, but first I want to tell you about Mr. Cribb and what he had to say in the video. More importantly, I want to tell you about what he did NOT say in that video. Mark Bittman of the New York Times reported on Mr. Cribb’s book in August of 2010 (Link to article below my signature):

Like many other experts, he argues that we have passed the peak of oil production, and it’s all downhill from now on. He then presents evidence that we have passed the peaks for water, fertilizer and land, and that we will all soon be made painfully aware that we have passed it for food, as wealthy nations experience shortages and rising prices, and poorer ones starve.

Indeed, Mr. Cribb does paint a pretty bleak picture of what is happening to our world’s food supply, but like most of our world leaders, scientists and journalists; he comes up way short in telling us the blinding flash of the obvious solution to the global food crisis that we face. He misses the vital few — or should I say the vital “one,” — of simply returning to the natural diet for our species.

Mr. Cribb's book, one that we researched extensively for our book

After reading his book last year, I suspected that he had not yet learned the simple truth about nutrition. I was right. Midway through the video he talks about the need to come up with another 100 million tons of “protein” (per year) from either the ocean or the land. And, in his case, when he says “protein,” he is talking about some form of flesh — either livestock or fish.

While he covers peak oil, water shortage, environmental damage, feeding the world’s hungry and other crucial topics that we address in our book; he says very little about the importance of eating more plant foods. He does mention the fact that humans only consume a small fraction of the number of edible plants, reporting that there are 6,000 species of edible plants in Australia alone, yet they’re only eating five of them.

While Mr. Cribb appears to be an authority on many subjects, he is not an authority on plant-based nutrition. With the most powerful solution not even appearing on his radar, he talks extensively about the need for new scientific breakthroughs for producing food, new sources of energy, better technology, changing the economics of agriculture, new bio cultures & algae farming, and better education about food in our school system. Once again, one of the world’s brightest is missing the main point.

To summarize, I would say that this video (and his book) are very good sources of information on this crucial topic — except when it comes to the obvious solution.

Julian Cribb – What are the future challenges to our food system?

J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

So what’s it going to take for the “world’s brightest” to become aware of the most important thing that we have learned since 1492? It’s going to take a grassroots revolution led by people like you and me — along with an occasional shot in the arm from the likes of Bill Clinton, Oprah and others. It’s going to take more of us giving The China Study to our friends.

Yesterday, I visited a yacht club friend in the hospital and carried along a copy. As I left his room, I told him that if he didn’t like the book to please give it back to me. On the other hand, if he did like it, I urged him to pass it along to someone he loves. If he heeds the message in that great book, landing in the hospital this week could turn out to be the luckiest event of his life.

Click here for a much earlier post on this same topic: Widespread ignorance…when it comes to our natural diet

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.

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

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