Global Recognition, Credibility, Knowledge, Partnering Skills, Resources and a burning desire to make a huge difference in this world

As a former corporate executive, management consultant and executive recruiter, I know a thing or two about the importance of having the right person in the right job at the right time. The most important aspect of any project is having the right leader in charge. And when it comes to leading the “great food revolution of the 21st century,” there is no one better suited than the former president of the United States; William Jefferson Clinton.

He told the world on TV that he cured his heart disease by switching to a plant-based diet -- Now he needs to tell the world why they must all do the same.

In an interview with David Letterman this week (See video below), Mr. Clinton talked about improving the lives of 400 million people around the world through the efforts of his foundation over the past decade. While noble and impressive, that statistic pales in comparison to what his Clinton Global Initiative could accomplish in the next ten years if he focused the majority of his efforts on one new initiative: leading all of humankind back to the natural diet for our species — the diet that nature intended for us to eat in the first place.

Although Mr. Clinton has personal knowledge of the power of that “natural diet” to reverse his own heart disease, he has not yet connected the dots when it comes to the “big picture” of exactly what is at stake here. As reported in the great PPR film “HOME” (2009), humankind has inflicted more damage on the harmony of Nature in just the past fifty years than all previous generations of humans for the past 200,000 years. And our single best opportunity to reverse that deadly trend is to aggressively move away from the toxic, harmful, wasteful, cruel and grossly unsustainable Western diet.

While we consider ourselves the smartest of all the millions of species on this planet, we’re the only species in the history of the world that has practically abandoned the “natural” diet for our species. No one needs to tell the animals in the wild what they should be eating. On the other hand, we have millions of people in academia, medicine and government who spend billions of dollars studying food — and they’re still recommending a diet-style that is killing us and destroying the planet at the same time.

Once Mr. Clinton realizes the staggering magnitude of what we’re talking about, he may very well want to focus 100% of his own time on this single initiative. When he considers that comparing our typical Western diet to a whole foods, plant-based diet on a per calorie basis, we find that it requires

We need a few billion more people on our team of promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

• Twenty times more land
• Twenty times more water
• Twenty times more energy

The numbers are staggering. And what do we get in return for all that waste and environmental damage? The sickest and most overweight peoples with the highest cost of “disease” care in the history of the world.

And why does this madness continue? Because an estimated 95% of the Western population of over two billion people truly believe that we “need” to eat animal protein to be healthy. 

Job One – Education. So, the first step in Mr. Clinton’s new initiative will be to spread the word about our widely misunderstood need for protein, which is no more important than our need for carbohydrate and fat in our diets. We get calories from all of them and, just like all other creatures, we can get just the right amount of all three by simply eating the “natural” diet for our species. In order to accomplish this first task, it will probably require a ten-year relentless campaign of never ending messages from some of the most heathy, most beautiful and most popular people in the world. They need to replace those milk mustaches with fist-fulls of broccoli, oatmeal and apples and start showing our children how to be healthy.

With a powerful organization already in place, who better than Bill Clinton to lead the world's most important global initiative...beginning with "discreet nudges," then gradually picking up the tempo.

Job Two – Marketing. People need to learn to have the same craving for the healthiest diet that they currently have for the toxic diet that most of us are eating. This will involve enlisting the support of the top 10,000 chefs in the world. Quite simply, the food is going to have to taste good and we already know that great chefs know how to make that happen. Don’t believe me, just stop by the Candle Cafe or Candle 79 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan the next time you’re in New York. No matter how much meat and dairy you are used to eating; I can almost guarantee you will be happy with your meal — the array of delicious options are simply amazing.

Job Three – Incentives. Recognizing that the majority of the people may not willingly give up their burgers and pizza even after they have learned the truth about nutrition; Mr. Clinton’s international team must figure our a way to make it very attractive for everyone’s pocketbook. This may involve a different combination of a number of initiatives in each and every country — initiatives like ending the governmental subsidy of unhealthy food, shifting that subsidy to health-promoting food, environmental tax, and penalties for food producers and restaurants who don’t meet the targets for the percentage of calories from whole plant-based foods, etc.

Water -- our most precious resource -- is finite and we're currently using twenty times more than we should to feed humankind.

The Bottom Line. People must learn the truth, the food must taste great and it must cost far less than the harmful and wasteful foods that we’re eating today. When a cheese pizza costs $40 and a healthy & delicious meal with the same amount of calories costs only $10, then we’ll see some real momentum in the direction of a health-promoting, environmental-friendly, whole foods, plant-based diet.

And, if all goes well, by 2050, when the world’s human population hits nine billion, we’ll be able to easily feed them all on far less than half the acreage of arable land that we’re using today. That freed-up land can be returned to forests, there will be far less pollution, the waters of the world will become pure again and the needless suffering of sixty billion animals a year will be eliminated. All of the above will help Mother Nature restore the biodiversity and repair the environmental damage that humankind has been inflicting while running roughshod over the planet for the past century. Ultimately, as we return to living in harmony with Nature, the historians of the 22nd century may very well ask themselves…

What were they thinking back then when the smartest and wealthiest people in the world were making themselves sick while savagely eating billions of animals and practically destroying life on this planet for themselves and for all the other millions of creatures with whom we share our home? And they might then record for all future generations, Thank God for William Jefferson Clinton, the great leader of the early 2000’s who deftly guided them back to the right way of life.

Video of Clinton on Letterman. For your convenience, here is a clip from Mr. Clinton on Letterman last week. While he doesn’t sound exactly thrilled with his vegan lifestyle, he’s very happy that his new “Esselstyn inspired” diet has healed his heart and probably added years, if not decades, to his life — maybe enough decades for him to get that “great food revolution of the twenty-first century” up and running.

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

A few earlier posts featuring the 42nd president of the United States:

“Discreet nudges” from a powerful leader…President Clinton

Matt Lauer to Bill Clinton, “Does being a vegan suck?”

Bill Clinton — social change, urgency and activism

Thank you President Clinton…but there’s one more thing

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

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