A great place to start would be a return to harmony with Nature
The final chapter of our book is entitled “A Return to Harmony,” where we make the case for ending the madness that began when humankind moved far away from the natural diet for our species over the past few hundred years. In just a blink of history; the past fifty years, we humans have inflicted more damage on the fragile harmony of Nature than all previous generations of humans combined for the past 200,000 years.

Harmony; then Peace on our precious planet
Now, I am not suggesting that our rich Western diet-style is totally responsible for that damage, but I am convinced that it has driven at least half of it. I am also convinced that the single most powerful move that we could make now — is to begin a deliberate and urgent move back in the direction of our natural diet — whole, unprocessed plant-based foods.
Whereas it would take many decades for us to change the way we live, work and travel; it would be relatively simple to change the way we eat. Chapter 11 in our book was somewhat of a call to action to begin that process. The chapter (A Return to Harmony) began with this quote:
Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.” —- Confucius
First two paragraphs. The world’s scientists have recorded over 50,000 vertebrate species on planet Earth, including some 5,500 species of mammals. Other vertebrates include fish, reptiles, birds, and amphibians. Beyond the vertebrates are about 1 million named species of insects, and scientists estimate that millions more are yet to be discovered. For eons, all of those species lived in harmony with each other and their natural environment—until recently. Over the past century, the human species has distinguished itself as the only one that is not living in harmony with the rest of the planet.
What is needed to correct this problem is a blinding flash of the obvious. One of the geniuses of the modern era, Albert Einstein, said it best: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
Last two paragraphs. In a world full of sick, obese, or starving people, suffering animals and rapidly disappearing natural resources; how can we possibly not come together and end all of this madness once and for all? Given what you now know—if you don’t take action—what will you tell your adult grandchildren someday when they ask why you didn’t?
Ultimately, your decision is a simple matter of health, hope, and harmony. As each of us begins to take charge of his or her own health, we simultaneously plant the seeds of hope, accelerating the pace with which the human race can return to living in harmony with nature. Since we consider ourselves smarter than all the other creatures, we should be able to figure out how to make our world a better place. The time for that action is now.
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing, there will be no result.” —Mahatma Gandhi
Project “Harmony”
Beginning in the summer of 2011, I began thinking about how we humans might begin an urgent process for returning to the health-promoting and Earth-saving natural diet for our species. As reported in the 2009 movie, HOME, an urgent process is essential. The “fifty years of human havoc” cited above was reported in the movie with the added warning: “If this deadly trend is not reversed within one more decade, we may have passed the point of no return.” Bear in mind that the “decade” they’re talking about ends in May of 2019, just a little over seven years from now.
The primary obstacle to progress. Well over 90 percent of the wealthiest and best-educated one billion citizens of the Western world truly believe that we “need” to eat animal protein to be healthy. Even though the health, environmental, economic and social benefits of a plant-based diet are enormous; because of this “protein myth,” the prospects of transforming our global feeding model to plant-based never even makes it to the table for consideration. My premise for action is simple.
All we need to do is dispel that protein myth — and in so doing, it will be almost like the key that opens the door of knowledge. Once the greatest thinkers of the world learn the truth about the food we eat, they will apply their great minds to global food-supply solutions that will boggle the mind.
So how do we make that happen? I call it Project Harmony and have been blogging about it for the past few months. We paid Dr. T. Colin Campbell a visit in November and discussed the prospects for how we might go about dispelling that protein myth in the most expeditious manner possible. Then, on December 20, I met with a seasoned veteran of politics and health care in the United States. He holds a doctorate in public health and is currently on the Harvard faculty. Like me, he also is certified in plant-based nutrition from Dr. Campbell’s Foundation and Cornell University. I have enlisted his support in planning this crucial project.
As outlined in great detail in my various blogs on this topic, my goal is to reach the wealthiest one billion people in the Western world with this simple message:
Plant-Based Eating – Providing ALL the nutrition that you need for your health — while, at the same time — doing some wonderful things for your environment, your fellow man, and all living creatures. While eating in a manner that prevents or reverses heart disease, diabetes and cancer; each of us can reduce our total water consumption by 90 percent, free up three acres of land, and cut our total energy consumption by 30 percent. The positive implications on global water scarcity, energy crisis and world hunger are staggering.
We are the U.N., the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), and the ADA (American Dietetic Association) and we approved this message.

Peace on Earth? A return to Harmony would be a great start.
The Bottom Line. The whole idea behind Project Harmony is to conduct a comprehensive media campaign (print, TV, internet, billboards, etc.) that will repeat the above message enough times so that hardly anyone will question its validity. It will be almost like the well-known negative health consequences of smoking. Once this simple message is understood by everyone, the great minds of the world will know what to do, and the ensuing benefits will be enormously supportive, if not essential, to the continuation of life on this planet as we know it.
We have the message, we need the best possible messenger, we need funding and we need an organization to manage all of the above. More to come on this crucial project; meanwhile, here is a listing of the twelve blogs that document the evolution of the thinking to date:
- As Jobs would say, “Let’s get crazy enough to change the world.”(posted on 10-25-11; features Dr. Joel Cohen — mathematical biologist — from Columbia University.)
- “Thinking differently” and changing the world…(posted on 10-28-11; cartoon, effective advertising frequency, Lester Brown, Ted Turner and Bill Clinton)
- Topping 7 billion on Halloween — Very scary indeed. (Posted 11-1-11; summary of what’s at stake, more on the “protein myth)
- Bill Clinton, the natural leader for the “great food revolution” (posted 10-16-11; international credibility, knowledge of plant-based, etc.)
- Clinton Foundation seeks ideas to change the world…(posted 11-3-11; a letter to President Clinton)
- Blinding flash of the obvious; my 20-minute speech outline. (posted 11-10-11; health, hope and harmony)
- Reaching the 95% who still eat meat; a plan (posted 11-16-11; scientific, clinical and ADA — more on protein myth.)
- What does it take to change the world? Maybe less than you think. (posted 11-17-11; one scenario of reaching one billion people, including one million of world’s brightest)
- Apple CEO Tim Cook and Me — Two Auburn Industrial Engineers. (posted 11-26-11; assessment of process improvement opportunity)
- Project “Harmony” from Ithaca, New York (posted on 11-21-11; outline of meeting with Dr. T. Colin Campbell)
- Dispelling the “protein myth” and beyond; a report from Ithaca (posted 11-22-11; a report on the Ithaca meeting)
- A tiny few eating a perfect diet? — or truly changing the world? (posted 12-14-11; we need to get the masses moving in the right direction)

Authors J. Stanfield Hicks and J. Morris Hicks , working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
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.
And if you like what 4-Leaf eating is doing for you and your family, you might enjoy visiting our new “4-Leaf Gear” store. 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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Great post as usual Jim! I’ve decided to forward your blog to our kids, age 30 and 33 – one is vegetarian, one eats very little meat – hopefullly they’ll read more as they are both concerned about our planet and animals. Thanks!
Jim – I posted your link for today’s message on two forums —
(1)
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2W7KWZKQY6BGJ/ref=cm_cd_NOREF?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxZJ813G2J60B7&cdPage=1&asin=1439190275&newContentNum=1231&cdMSG=addedToThread&store=books&cdSort=newest&cdThread=TxCB0L17B0KXSQ&newContentID=Mx15GS02N6EC9P4#CustomerDiscussionsNRPB
and
(2)
http://www.spacedoc.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=12207#12207
Thanks for the continuing great material daily to share with the world.
My downloadable Holiday Gift is at the top of
http://public.me.com/maule5662h
titled ” HL-Gift-Xmas11″ — HL stands for Healthy Lifestyle”