But this time there’s a lot more at stake than one city.

Last week, I read a book review that Bill Gates posted on The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, by Angus Deaton, a distinguished Princeton economist who has spent decades studying measures of global poverty.

In that review, Bill suggested a one-word correction in the following sentence by author Deaton. “Life is better now than at almost any time in history. More people are richer and fewer people live in dire poverty.” Bill said that he would strike the word almost. In other words, he is certain that life on Earth has never been better for humans. 

My question is this, “How good can life be when we’re probably less than seventy-five years away from the collapse of our 20,000 year-old civilization? How great can life be when we know what misery & suffering lie ahead for our grandchildren?

Indeed, some of our most brilliant scientists are predicting a near certain collapse of our civilization well before 2100 if we don’t begin making radical changes very soon. Yet, none of our greatest leaders, thinkers and wealthy philanthropists are focusing on this all-important issue.

From beginning to end, their thriving civilization lasted about 1,000 years. Then it collapsed after they used up too much of their finite resources.

Instead, they are celebrating the unprecedented rich quality of life that exists right now. This realization prompted me to post the following comment beneath Bill Gates’ blogpost on April 8, 2014. (As of yet, he has not replied)

When I read the following quote from your blog, I was reminded of what life must’ve been like on Easter Island just before their civilization collapsed. “Life is better now than at almost any time in history. More people are richer and fewer people live in dire poverty.”

The problem on Easter Island was the same problem we have today on our global “island.” We’re rapidly depleting our finite resources while our population continues to explode. Foreign aid helps relieve the suffering of the victims, but does nothing to address the systemic problems that are driving our deliberate march toward a collapse of our civilization well before 2100. 

Both Stephen Emmott and Lester Brown are predicting the same collapse—unless some sweeping, “radical” behavior changes are made very soon. And neither of them see that happening.

We’ve got three big problems: Too many people. Consuming too much stuff. And eating the wrong food. Only the third one can be changed quickly—and with great benefit to all living things. I explain how that can be done in this recent letter addressed to Bill and Melinda: —J. Morris Hicks

To be clear, I have tremendous respect for the great number of worthy causes being supported by the incredible generosity of Bill & Melinda Gates. But, consider this:

Even if they were able to provide food, water, shelter and medical care for EVERY human on Earth—it wouldn’t contribute one iota to the urgent initiatives needed to prevent the collapse of our civilization. 

As I’ve said many times in the past, compared to SUSTAINABILITY, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. And that includes generous philanthropy to relieve the suffering of the victims of our wasteful, harmful and grossly unsustainable lifestyle.

As of April 2014, here are links to ten of my recent posts on this crucial topic:

1. 1-25-14. NOTHING is more important than SUSTAINABILITY! By comparison, all else shrinks to insignificance.
2. 2-4-14. Food Choices. The primary cause of global warming? Dedicated to the memory of the great climate specialist Dr. Robert Goodland, the first to recommend a pragmatic solution to the worst of all environmental problems.
3. 2-6-14. Cancer. Heart disease. Global warming. Water scarcity. Warning, this one may make you angry.
4. 2-13-14. SUSTAINABILITY. Our generation’s responsibility. We created the mess; now we must FIX it. And to do so, we must know the TRUTH.
5. 2-20-14. First comes TRUTH—then viable solutions. We can never solve problems without fully understanding the causes.
6. 2-26-14. “Living in Harmony with Nature” by Ted Turner. Perhaps the world’s last chance to save us all from the horrors of global warming.
7. 3-3-14. “Not-so-funny” cartoon series. Saving our ecosystem. There is no FUN way to describe what we’re doing to our planet. This is VERY serious stuff.
8. 3-21-14. Activism is not a dirty word—my speech at Holy Cross… My goal was to influence some of those students to become sustainability activists. And it worked!
9. 4-9-14. Now that I am officially an activist…This post features my Bill & Melinda letter and was inspired by someone telling me to “persevere.”
10. 4-14-14. Sharpened focus on SUSTAINABILITY at my home page. This blog features one of my comments on Bill Gates’ blog-site.

The following five books and one DVD can be purchased on Amazon for a grand total of less than $60—and will enable you to understand the overwhelming challenges we face—along with the single most-powerful solution of all.

Six-Pack from Hicks—for health, hope & harmony on planet Earth

1. Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
2. A life changer for millions, including James Cameron. Forks Over Knives DVD 
3. An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell; the primary book that influenced Bill Clinton to adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.
4. What have we done to our planet? Full Planet, Empty Plates by Lester Brown
5. A horrifying wake-up call for leaders. TEN BILLION by Dr. Stephen Emmott
6. Food choices are the primary cause of our environmental problems, yet our world leaders, scientists & experts are Comfortably Unaware, by Richard Oppenlander.

Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. It takes 2 or 3 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.

To order more of my favorite books—visit our online BookStore now For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, visit our 4Leaf page and also enjoy some great recipes from 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.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member since 2012; click banner for more info:

The only plant-eating superstar in the world of golf

For the past two years, I have posted a blog during The Masters golf tournament—held annually in early April at one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the Augusta National Golf Club. I was privileged to attend the 1992 and 1993 events, where I got to personally experience the etherial beauty of this magnificent place.

Earlier this year, Gary Player (still looking good at 78) being applauded by Jack Nicklaus

Writing this blogpost each April not only brings back some great memories—but also enables me to showcase Gary Player, one of the world’s greatest ambassadors for plant-based eating.

Notice how, at age 78, he stands out next to his carnivorous pals when you watch the highlights of the first round—which will no doubt feature the “big three” honorary starters; Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.

As for the use of the word superstar, I heard Gary’s definition yesterday. He said that stardom in golf is measured by victories in the majors. One or two victories means you’re a star. Three to five means you’re a great star.  Over five major victories puts you in the superstar category—and there aren’t that many who have done it.

Only thirteen to be exact—of which just seven are alive today. Gary Player is tied at #4 with Ben Hogan—each with nine major victories. Jack tops the list with 18; Tiger is second with 14—and will miss this week’s tournament due to back surgery.

Bobby Jones, founder of the Augusta National Golf Club

Bobby Jones, the founder of Augusta National is tied with Arnold Palmer and two others at #7  on the list after retiring with seven major victories, including the only “grand slam” in history—winning all four during the same year in 1930.

Phil Mickelson has a chance to enter Gary’s superstar realm this week with major victory#6; it would also tie him with Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods with four green jackets each. Tom Watson, the only superstar in the field this week, stands at #6 on the list with eight major victories.

What about SUSTAINABILITY? Lest you think I’ve taken my eye off the ball, I want to take this opportunity to remind you to set your DVR to record James Cameron’s 9-part series on global warming. Entitled “Years of Living Dangerously,” it begins this Sunday evening on Showtime. EXTRA!! A reader just “commented” that the first one-hour episode is on YouTube as a promo for the series. So, for your convenience, here it is:

Further, I have provided links to my NINE most recent articles on my favorite topic—SUSTAINABILITY below. But first, I want to share with you four previous articles about golf—with two of them featuring Gary Player.

4 Golf Articles AND the prettiest hole in Augusta

• From two years ago, 4-6-12 Gary Player at 76; plant-eating Masters Champion
• From last year, 4-13-13 Tiger chasing 5th green jacket; 14-year-old makes the cut
• 7-17-13. Posing Nude for ESPN—Gary Player at 77
• Twelve years ago. My 2002 Augusta National article about admitting women as members. They have now begun admitting women, with Condoleezza Rice being among the first two admitted last year.

Hole #12, Golden Bell, in the middle of Amen Corner at the famed Augusta course

SUSTAINABILITY blogs featured below (now appearing on my home page) These are among over 800 blogs (since 2011) related to the “big picture” consequences of our food choices. After attending one of Dr. Campbell’s lectures to an environmental group on January 24 in Princeton, NJ, I began a streak of sustainability blogs that resulted in my officially becoming an activist about halfway through that streak. 

Notice the definition of “activism” on this slide.

In Blog #8 below, I documented my March 19 presentation at Holy Cross. One of my slides was six steps to becoming an activist. Step 6 was “Still not an activist? Better check your pulse.”

That’s the way I feel about the information in these nine blogs. If you believe the information is true, you almost have to become an activist.

Yesterday’s blog is the last one on this list. Hopefully, you will use this list to go hunting for some activists of your own; let me know how many you find.

1. 1-25-14. NOTHING is more important than SUSTAINABILITY! By comparison, all else shrinks to insignificance.
2. 2-4-14. Food Choices. The primary cause of global warming? Dedicated to the memory of the great climate specialist Dr. Robert Goodland, the first to recommend a pragmatic solution to the worst of all environmental problems.
3. 2-6-14. Cancer. Heart disease. Global warming. Water scarcity. Warning, this one may make you angry.
4. 2-13-14. SUSTAINABILITY. Our generation’s responsibility. We created the mess; now we must FIX it. And to do so, we must know the TRUTH.
5. 2-20-14. First comes TRUTH—then viable solutions. We can never solve problems without fully understanding the causes.
6. 2-26-14. “Living in Harmony with Nature” by Ted Turner. Perhaps the world’s last chance to save us all from the horrors of global warming.
7. 3-3-14. “Not-so-funny” cartoon series. Saving our ecosystem. There is no FUN way to describe what we’re doing to our planet. This is VERY serious stuff.
8. 3-21-14. Activism is not a dirty word—it’s an essential process…This was posted right after I delivered a speech at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
9. 4-9-14. Now that I am officially an activist…This post features my Bill & Melinda letter and was inspired by someone telling me to “persevere.”

The following five books and one DVD can be purchased on Amazon for a grand total of less than $60—and will enable you to understand the overwhelming challenges we face—along with the single most-powerful solution of all.

Six-Pack from Hicks—for health, hope & harmony on planet Earth

1. Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
2. A life changer for millions, including James Cameron. Forks Over Knives DVD 
3. An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell; the primary book that influenced Bill Clinton to adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.
4. What have we done to our planet? Full Planet, Empty Plates by Lester Brown
5. A horrifying wake-up call for leaders. TEN BILLION by Dr. Stephen Emmott
6. Food choices are the primary cause of our environmental problems, yet our world leaders, scientists & experts are Comfortably Unaware, by Richard Oppenlander.

Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. It takes 2 or 3 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.

To order more of my favorite books—visit our online BookStore now

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, visit our 4Leaf page and also enjoy some great recipes from 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.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member since 2012; click banner for more info: