John Champagne

246 Venice

San Antonio, Texas 78201

January 12-14, 1989

Walter Cronkite

CBS News

524 West 57^th Street

New York, New York 10019

Dear Mr. Cronkite,

Twenty years ago you called on us to listen to dissenters among us. Thank-you for the good advice. I write to ask, have you heard John Robbins? How do you respond?

There is an ethical dimension to our choice of diet. Can we afford or justify the depletion of resources, pollution, disparity of wealth, psychic numbing and denial of suffering that are associated with the production and consumption of animals for food?

The ecological costs of a flesh-based diet are unreported by our major news organizations, yet they contribute in some measure to the danger posed by each of the Four Horsemen.

Diet for a New America is John Robbins’ expression of the dissenting view that our reliance on animal products for food involves costs which we as a society have yet to recognize, that we must know these costs if we are to make informed decisions about our lives, and that we must choose not to inflict needless suffering if we are to enjoy the greatest happiness in a healthy society.

Our choice of diet affects how much fossil fuel is burned for fertilizer and refrigeration. It affects the amount of CO₂ and CFC that are released into our atmosphere. Our choice of diet determines whether land, water, grain and energy will be used inefficiently to produce animal flesh, or whether our limited resources will be spread more evenly among all the people of the world.

All things considered, it should be clear that our choice of diet will help to determine whether we will be able to overcome the problems represented by each of the Four Horsemen.

I am interested to know what you think of this dissenting view expressed so plainly by John Robbins, and what response you might offer that would reflect your appreciation of the need for realism and idealism in bringing about necessary change.

Sincerely,

John Champagne