With his views on sustainability and his communitarian view of our future

The October 1 issue of TIME Magazine arrived at my doorstep on Friday (9-21-12). And with Bill Clinton’s picture on the cover, my heart leapt when I saw the title of his article:

“5 IDEAS THAT ARE CHANGING THE WORLD” (for the better)

This man has first-hand knowledge of the power of plant-based nutrition to reverse chronic disease—and his appearance suggests that his near-optimal vegan diet seems to working in more areas than just his formerly clogged arteries. Maybe he really does hold the world in his hands.

I was thinking—Oh my God, he’s about to tell the world about the extremely harmful, inefficient, cruel, unfair and grossly unsustainable typical western diet.

Having adopted a near optimal vegan diet himself a couple of years ago—to reverse his heart disease, he’s now about to tell the world about the incredibly important “big picture” of what we eat.

I was still hopeful after reading the first paragraph and the first sentence of the second paragraph. I especially liked his use of the last word in that sentence:

Our world is more interdependent than ever. Borders have become more like nets than walls, and while this means that wealth, ideas, information and talent can move freely around the globe, so can the negative forces shaping our shared fates. The financial crisis that started in the U.S. and swept the globe was further proof that–for better and for worse–we can’t escape one another.

There are three big challenges with our interdependent world: inequality, instability and unsustainability.

Mr. Clinton is “the man.” Regardless what you may think about his politics and some of his other qualities, you should know that Bill Clinton is the most-prominent proponent of a vegan lifestyle in the world. More popular now than ever, he is also one of the most recognizable names and and one of the most respected leaders in the world.

So why is all of that so important when it comes to how he is now eating? It’s because of the powerful message it sends—when a man of his prominence, power, wealth, influence and access to all of the greatest scholars in the world—chooses an unconventional diet for himself.

What does it tell you when a former president of the United States rejects the collective knowledge of the thousands of nutritional scientists who recommend our continued consumption of meat, dairy and/or eggs at almost every meal? It tells me that he drew the same conclusion as the lone scientist who stated in his book,

“You can at least know that you, as a reader and a person, have finally been told something other than hogwash” about nutrition. — T. Colin Campbell

Along with Dr. Dean Ornish of UCSF, Mr. Clinton was influenced by the works of Cornell’s T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of The Cleveland Clinic.

A little background. So Mr. Clinton chose to follow the no-nonsense advice of that renegade nutritional scientist and two pioneering medical doctors who had also rejected the conventional wisdom of our elite schools of nutrition. He talked about his decision on CNN in 2010 when he told the world he had become vegan after reading the works of T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. and Dean Ornish. (all three endorsed our book)

And because of that decision, I have mentioned Mr. Clinton’s name more frequently in my first 596 blog-posts than anyone else—with the possible exception of my good friend and colleague, Dr. T. Colin Campbell. When people ask me why they should ignore the dietary advice of their doctor, their dietitian and their friends who have advanced degrees in nutritional science—I give them a two-word answer. Bill Clinton.

I absolutely love having Bill Clinton as our international role model of how we should be eating—for promoting our own health and for reversing any chronic disease we might have. Yet, I keep wondering when Mr. Clinton will leverage his unequaled influence to tell the world the rest of the story. Maybe that time is now. The article continues:

The fact that half the world’s people live on less than $2 a day and a billion people on less than $1 a day is stark evidence of inequality, which is increasing in many places. We’re feeling the effects of instability not only in the global economic slowdown but also in the violence, popular disruptions and political conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. And the way we produce and use energy is unsustainable, changing our climate in ways that cast a shadow over our children’s future.

But I firmly believe that progress changes consciousness, and when you change people’s consciousness, then their awareness of what is possible changes as well–a virtuous circle. So it’s important that the word gets out, that people realize what’s working. That where there’s been creative cooperation coupled with a communitarian view of our future, we’re seeing real success. That’s the reason I try to bring people together every year for the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Here are five areas in which there has been concrete, measurable and reproducible progress.

Reading the TIME article by Bill Clinton — while overlooking Little Narragansett Bay toward Rhode Island

At this point, I am thinking—one of those five areas is going to be what the United Nations has already stated publicly: “A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change…As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable.”

A sneak peek. Sitting on a large piece of driftwood overlooking Little Narragansett Bay a few blocks from my home, I excitedly flipped through the remaining pages. Looking for the FIVE AREAS of good things that are happening in our world. Is one of them going to be the “Emerging Truth About the Global Importance of What We Eat?”

No—–Not yet.

But I am confident that the day will come when Mr. Clinton’s Global Initiative will play a pivotal role in helping the world quickly learn the truth about our food choices. He may be the only person alive that can reach as many people with this planet-saving truth—before it’s too late. He may be our only chance—as it will probably take fifty years or more to change the mindsets of our nutritional scientists.

Bill Clinton went vegan in 2010 and it probably saved his life. He remains our most prominent spokesman for eating plant-based.

The Bottom Line. We’re not talking about just saving the planet; we’re talking about preserving the planet’s ability to provide for the longterm sustainability of the human race. As for those “5 Areas” in his article, they are:

1. Phones Mean Freedom
2. Healthy Communities Prosper
3. Green Energy Equals Good Business
4. Women Rule
5. The Fight for the Future Is Now

All good things for sure, and all would be in harmony with a well-planned, deliberate move toward a plant-based diet for humans. If you’re a TIME subscriber, you can read the entire article below by clicking the source article link below. If you’d like to read more about the “sustainability of the human race,” I have provided a few other links to earlier blogs:

Consecutive daily blogs (Numerals from an auto tag in Luxembourg)

• TIME source article. Bill Clinton On Why The World Is Getting Better All The Time
• U.N. urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet
• Clinton or Cheney? Which heart treatment do you prefer?
• Where is Bill Clinton getting his protein these days?
• Drought, famine and the sustainability of the human race
• Forget “saving the planet.” Think great grandchildren.
• 4 REASONS why plant-based eating is best for the planet…
• Are “sustainability schools” ignoring the plant-based solution?

Doing your part. Want to be a huge part of preserving our planet’s ability to sustain life for your human descendants of the 22nd century and beyond? It all begins with what you choose to put on the end of your fork. Find out exactly what that is in this handy kit—then share your new knowledge with everyone you know. The lives of your future great-great grandchildren may depend on it.

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

International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.

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