In my research to launch Pigs Are Smart, I came across a book written by Jonathan Safran Foer called, We Are the Weather. Foer tells the story of a young boy named Kyle who was hit by a Chevy Camaro and dragged underneath for thirty feet. A witness nearby jumped out the passenger side of his truck and proceeded to lift the Camaro long enough for someone to pull the boy to safety.
For context, the book references the current world record for a dead lift at 1,102 pounds and a Camaro weighs around 3,300 – 4,000 pounds. This phenomenon is known as “hysterical strength.”
Foer continues, “one amazing person lifted the car off [the boy’s] body, but then many other people pulled their cars to the side of the road to make the ambulance’s journey quicker. They were every bit as important in saving the young man’s life, but we don’t think of their acts as exceptional. To lift a car into the air is the most one can do. To move your car to the side when an ambulance appears is the least one can do. Kyle’s life depended on both.”
The least and the most. And both are imperative. That’s it! With all my findings, research, and attempt at defining the purpose of Pigs Are Smart, here it was. When it comes to reversing climate change, there are so many complexities and large-scale changes that need to be made. Yet, reducing our consumption of meat and dairy is a consistent action that is mentioned over and over again. It’s the least we can do.
On your Pigs Are Smart journey, you’re going to discover how eating more plant-based is kinder to our bodies, our animals, and our planet. In fact, it’s the single most impactful shift you can take to reverse climate change according to A Well-Fed World and world-renowned scientists on the United Nation’s IPCC.
“No single factor can be credited for a decline in cigarette smoking – and yet in all cases, every factor is significant. When radical change is needed, many argue that it is impossible for individual actions to incite it, so it’s futile for anyone to try. This is exactly the opposite of the truth: the impotence of individual action is a reason for everyone to try.” Foer, Jonathan Safran (2019). We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (p.51)
