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Matthew Prescott on Solving Our Biggest Problems Through Plant-Forward Eating: PYP 260

When Matthew Prescott was 12, his older sister came home from school one day and announced that she had decided to become a “vegetarian,” whatever that was.

In the grand tradition of little brothers everywhere, Matthew made sure to stick his forkful of beef under her nose at the dinner table while making mooing sounds. But he also tried her bean burritos, veggie burgers, and other plant-based alternatives to meat, and found that they were actually pretty good. And when he eventually looked at her reasons for ditching meat, he had to admit that they made a lot of sense.

From that humble beginning, Matthew has become one of the most influential voices in the animal welfare, plant-forward movement. He's Senior Food Policy Director for the Humane Society of the United States, and advisor to the Good Food Institute.

He's both contributed to and harnessed the stunning change in public perception and habits around reducing animal consumption by helping giant food companies alter and improve their supply chains.

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And now he's pulled off an unlikely achievement: he's produced a beautiful, inspiring coffee table book about environmental degradation. A call for less meat featuring quotes by Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck. A meticulously referenced, wonky policy statement that's also a gorgeous cookbook.

The book, Food is the Solution, is a compendium of voices. Matthew includes essays by leaders of the world's major environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the National Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Working Group, and Greenpeace. There's a story contributed by (non-plant-based) actor Jesse Eisenberg. A foreword by James Cameron. Quotes by Pope Francis, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Jamie Oliver, and Martha Stewart.

And yet, this book isn't about them. It's not about the powerful or the wealthy or the influential.

The real protagonists of Food is the Solution are the vulnerable and the voiceless.

People like Lisa and Joe Inzerillo, whose home and neighborhood in Maryland's Delmarva Peninsula have been rendered uninhabitable by dozens of industrial poultry complexes.

Like the thousands of North Carolinians whose health has been harmed by the millions of gallons of liquid hog waste dumped into their drinking water sources.

Like the workers in poultry slaughterhouses, many of whom are undocumented, who spend their days in Dantean misery and have the highest turnover rates of any occupation.

Like the impoverished peasants forced by economic necessity to clear cut their Amazon rainforest in order for wealthy multinationals to graze cattle.

And like those cattle, and pigs, and chickens, spending unimaginably miserable lives treated as machines in the factories that feed our harmful addictions.

And like the earth itself, source of all life, groaning and shuddering under the weight of all the indignities and injuries we her rude and ungrateful children have visited upon her.

These are the voices that are centered and amplified by those like Matthew who do have voice and standing and influence in our society.

I had a wonderful conversation with Matthew about his life, his work, and the book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. We covered:

  • why Matthew wrote the book
  • why he shifted from a self-righteous to an inclusive stance
  • the cow shit statistic I just couldn't believe
  • environmental degradation is global, and the problems are felt locally
  • why each chapter focuses on individuals and their stories
  • the Orwellian language of the animal ag industry and their governmental enablers
  • the lack of environmental arguments for meat eating
  • the incredible 53-gallon egg
  • the importance of a visually appealing book
  • including celebrities and chefs who are not plant-based in the orchestra of voices
  • why compassion for animals often precedes compassion for other humans
  • the NIMBY problem and environmental racism and classism
  • why you should buy Food is the Solution at Costco, if you can
  • and much more…

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

Food is the Solution (if you can't access a Costco, you can get it from amazon)

Matthew's Website

USDA web page advocating use of Orwellian language about animal waste

Vegan Goodness cookbook (by Food is the Solution photographer Jessica Prescott)

Plant Yourself Podcast with Rody Hawkins, founder of Improved Nature

Plant Yourself Podcast with Eric O'Grey, author of Walking with Peety

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Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons
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Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Disclosure

This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive amazon gift certificates from your actions on such links.

Dr Howie Jacobson

This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).

My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.

Here are three gigs that I do:

1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation

I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high  performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.

At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.

My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.

2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance

I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.

We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.

The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.

3. High Stakes Conversations for Fast Growing Small Business Teams

I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.

So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.

You CAN Change Other People!

Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.

What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.

Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.

 

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.

Disclosure

This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive compensation from your actions on such links. It don't cost you a dime, tho.

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