That was the headline in The Guardian this past Sunday

Stockholm International Water Institute

Once again, the open-minded scientists of the world are trying to help show us the way. Like me—the U.N., the WorldWatch Institute, SIWI, and anyone else who is paying attention, has come to the same conclusion that I did in 2003, “We’re eating the wrong food.” And it’s totally unsustainable for very much longer.

In a story that broke in the UK this past Sunday, (8-26-12 See link below) the scientists agree that we simply cannot continue to keep doing what we’re doing. Their particular area of focus for this article was water—there’s not enough to feed the world unless we change our diet-style in a big way. From the article:

Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world’s population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.

Adopting a vegetarian diet is one option to increase the amount of water available to grow more food in an increasingly climate-erratic world, the scientists said. Animal protein-rich food consumes five to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet. One third of the world’s arable land is used to grow crops to feed animals.

The article mentioned nothing about the fact that our health would improve dramatically if we were “forced into vegetarianism.” They made it sound more like we were being forced into some kind of horrible exile, not a vibrantly healthy lifestyle with far less chronic disease, pain, suffering and nursing homes.

This kind of news is nothing new from the scientists of the world. In 2006, the U.N. Report (Livestock’s Long Shadow) identified livestock as the single biggest cause of global warming—almost 40% more than ALL of transportation combined. A few years later the scientists at the WorldWatch Institute estimated that the U.N. numbers were low—saying that livestock accounts for almost three times as much greenhouse gases as does transportation.

Now 78, Ralph Nader is a six-time candidate for President of the United States, having run as a write-in candidate in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary, as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.

Of course, Al Gore, never mentioned livestock during his movie about global warming. How do you produce a Nobel Prize-winning movie about a world problem and never even mention the #1 cause of the problem? That’s called politics. Politicians get elected by promising to meet the short-term wants and needs of their constituents.

And it’s no different this election cycle in the USA. Neither of the two candidates are talking about the most serious problems facing the human race. Is Ralph Nader still running for office?

The Bottom Line. When are the world leaders going to start helping the scientists promote the truth about the unsustainability of our western diet—and what must be done to promote the longterm sustainability of the human race? 

When are we going to be “led” to a healthier diet instead of being “forced” there by dwindling water supplies, degraded land and other disappearing natural resources?

• Source article. Food shortages could force world into vegetarianism, warn scientists | The Guardian
• An earlier blog. Doing “things right” or doing the “right thing.” Which is better?
• An earlier blog. Unhealthy, unfair, and unsustainable. Yet still ubiquitous.
• An earlier blog. World Hunger. It takes a village.

Don’t want to be forced to eating healthier? Well, read about twenty of my blog posts, buy a few of these items and make your own decision as to what you’d like to do for yourself and your family.

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation