THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE: WHAT ONE PERSON CAN DO

“A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark.”

—DANTE

He knew he must stop them. With a mere $800 in his pocket, Sam LaBudde drove across the Mexican border, stood on the fishing docks of Ensenada, and waited for his opportunity. Toting a video camera to get some “home movies” of his excursion, he posed as a naive American tourist and offered his services as a deckhand or engineer to each captain who docked his boat in the harbor.

He was hired on the Maria Luisa as a temporary crew member, and as the Panamanian tuna boat pulled away from the Mexican coast, LaBudde began to secretly film the activities of the crew. He knew that if he were discovered his life would be in jeopardy.

Finally it happened: they were surrounded. A whole school of dolphins, known to many as “water people,” began jumping and chattering near the Maria Luisa. Their friendly nature had drawn them to the boat; little did they know that they were also being drawn to their death. The fishermen trailed the dolphins because they knew that yellowfin tuna usually swim below the playful creatures. With cold-blooded calculation, they lay their nets in the path of the dolphins, not noticing or even caring what happened to them.

Over the course of five hours, LaBudde’s video recorded the horror. One after another, dolphins became entangled in the nets, unable to free themselves and come to the surface for the oxygen they needed to stay alive.

At one point the captain bellowed, “How many in the net!?”^* As LaBudde swung to capture the slaughter on video, he heard a crew member yell, “About fifty!” The captain ordered the crew to haul in their catch. Numerous dolphins lay strangled and lifeless on the slippery deck as the crew separated them from the tuna and discarded their sleek, gray bodies. Eventually, the corpses of these magnificent animals were tossed overboard as casually as sacks of garbage.

LaBudde’s footage gave clear-cut evidence of what others had claimed for years: that hundreds of dolphins were regularly being killed in a single day’s fishing expedition. Estimates are that over six million dolphins have been killed in the last ten years alone. Edited down to an eleven-minute format, LaBudde’s video stunned viewers with the heartwrenching reality of what we were doing to these intelligent and affectionate beings with whom we share our planet. One by one, outraged consumers across the nation stopped buying tuna, launching a boycott that only gained speed as media attention became more pointed.

Just four years after LaBudde first captured the tragedy on film, in 1991 the world’s largest tuna canner, Starkist, announced that it would no longer pack tuna caught in purse seine nets. Chicken of the Sea and Bumblebee Seafoods followed suit, issuing similar statements just hours later. While the fight is not over—unregulated foreign tuna boats still kill six times as many dolphins as did the U.S. boats—LaBudde’s day on the Maria Luisa has served as a catalyst for major reform in the American tuna industry, saving countless dolphin lives and undoubtedly helping to restore some balance to the marine ecosystem.

“Every man is an impossibility until he is born.”

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

So many people feel powerless and insignificant when it comes to social issues and world events, thinking that even if they did everything right in their own personal lives, their welfare would still be at the mercy of the actions of others. They feel beset by the proliferation of gang warfare and violent crime, perplexed by massive government deficits and the S&L crisis, saddened by homelessness and illiteracy, and overwhelmed by global warming and the relentless extinction of the other species who live on this planet. Such people fall into the mindset of thinking, “Even if I get my own life and the lives of my family in order, what good will it do? Some nut in a position of power could accidentally push the button and blow us all up anyway!” This kind of belief system fosters the feeling of being out of control and impotent to create change at any significant level, and naturally leads to the learned helplessness typified by the phrase, “Why even try?”

Nothing could be more crippling to a person’s ability to take action than learned helplessness; it is the primary obstacle that prevents us from changing our lives or taking action to help other people change theirs. If you’ve come this far in the book, you know without a doubt my central message: you have the power right now to control how you think, how you feel, and what you do. Perhaps for the first time you are empowered to take control of the Master System that has unconsciously guided you until this point. With the strategies and distinctions you’ve gained from reading and doing the exercises in this book, you have awakened to the conviction that you are truly the master of your fate, the director of your destiny.

Together we’ve discovered the giant power that shapes destiny—decision—and that our decisions about what to focus on, what things mean, and what to do are the decisions that will determine the quality of our present and future.

Now it’s time to address the power of joint decisions to shape the destiny of our community, our country, and our world. What will determine the quality of life for generations to come will be the collective decisions we make today about how to deal with such current challenges as widespread drug abuse, the imbalance of trade, ineffective public education, and the shortcomings of our prison system.

By fixating on everything that’s not working, we limit our focus to effects, and we neglect the causes of these problems. We fail to recognize that it is the small decisions you and I make every day that create our destinies. Remember that all decisions are followed by consequences. If we make our decisions unconsciously—that is, let other people or other factors in our environment do the thinking for us—and act without at least anticipating the potential effects, then we may be unwittingly perpetuating the problems we dread most. By trying to avoid pain in the short term, we often end up making decisions that create pain in the long term, and when we arrive further down the river we tell ourselves that the problems are permanent and unchangeable, that they come with the territory.

Probably the most pervasive false belief most of us harbor is the fallacy that only some superhuman act would have the power to turn our problems around. Nothing could be further from the truth. Life is cumulative. Whatever results we’re experiencing in our lives are the accumulation of a host of small decisions we’ve made as individuals, as a family, as a community, as a society, and as a species. The success or failure of our lives is usually not the result of one cataclysmic event or earthshaking decision, although sometimes it may look that way. Rather, success or failure is determined by the decisions we make and the actions we take every day.

By the same token, then, it is the daily decisions and actions of each one of us, taking responsibility on an individual level, that will truly make the difference in such matters as whether we are able to take care of our disadvantaged and whether we can learn to live in harmony with our environment. In order to bring about massive and far-reaching changes, both in our individual and joint destinies, it is necessary to commit ourselves to constant and never-ending improvement, to the discipline of CANI! Only in that way can we truly make a difference that will last in the long term.

THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION

What do you suppose is the one common element in all the problems facing us today as a nation and as a world? From soaring numbers of homeless people to escalating crime rates to huge budget deficits to the slow strangulation of our ecosystem, the answer is that every single one of these problems was caused or set in motion by human behavior. Therefore, the solution to every one of these problems is to change our behavior. (This requires changing the way we evaluate or make decisions, which is what this entire book is about.) We don’t have a drug problem; we have a behavior problem. Teenage pregnancy is not the result of a virus. It is the consequence of specific behavior. Gang warfare is a behavioral problem. Even nuclear war is ultimately a behavioral problem! Our decisions built the bombs, and our decisions will eliminate them. All of these problems are the result of actions that people have chosen to take.

For example, when an individual becomes a gang member, that single decision sets in motion a whole series of behaviors and problems. With this new gang identity, he will hold himself to a very specific code of behavior which places utmost value on such things as loyalty to the group, and out of that flows a whole system of characteristic rules and behaviors. A global example of the long-term effects of our decisions is the chronic famines and food shortages that take the lives of so many around the world. The World Health Organization has proven that it is possible to feed every man, woman, and child on this earth, yet every day, 40,000 children die of starvation.^* Why? Obviously we have the resources, but something has gone terribly awry, not only with the way food is distributed, but with the way our resources are used.

What’s great about all of this? The good news is that once we realize that the root of all problems is behavior (and the decision-making process we use to initiate it), then we know that we are the ones who can change it! As you’ve learned in this book, the one thing we have absolute control over is our internal world—we decide what things mean and what to do about them—and as a result of our decisions, we take actions that impact our external environment. There are actions each and every one of us can take in our own homes, our own businesses, and our own communities that will initiate a chain of specific positive consequences. With our actions, we communicate our most deeply held values and beliefs, and through the global influence of our mass media, even the simplest actions we take have the power to influence and move people of all nations.

While this sounds encouraging for the human race, you may be asking yourself, “What can one person do to truly make a difference in the world?” Virtually anything! The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment. The history of the world is simply the chronicle of what has happened because of the deeds of a small number of ordinary people who had extraordinary levels of commitment to making a difference. These individuals did little things extraordinarily well. They decided that something must change, that they must be the ones to do it, and that they could do it—and then they summoned the courage to persist until they found a way to make it work. These are the men and women we call heroes.

I believe that you and I—and everyone well ever meet—has the inborn capacity to be heroic, to take daring, courageous, and noble steps to make life better for others, even when in the short term it seems to be at our own expense. The capacity to do the right thing, to dare to take a stand and make a difference, is within you now. The question is: When the moment arrives, will you remember you’re a hero and selflessly respond in support of those in need?

“It was involuntary; they sank my boat”

—JOHN F. KENNEDY, when asked how he’d become a hero

So many people want to avoid any hint of a problem or challenge, yet surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character. Many people don’t discover their heroic nature until a major difficulty or lifethreatening situation occurs and they must rise to the occasion because there is no other choice. The next time you find yourself in a tough spot, decide to make a difference in that situation and take action, no matter how small it seems at the time. Who knows what consequences you will set in motion? Identify yourself as a hero so that you can act as one.

Many people look at a person like Mother Teresa and assume that she was born to heroism. They claim that she’s just an incredibly spiritual woman and that she’s always been set apart by her commitment and selfless contribution to the poor. While it is true that she is a woman of extraordinary courage and compassion, it is also true that Mother Teresa had some crucial moments that defined her role as one of the great contributors of our time. Mother Teresa did not set out to help the poor. In fact, for over twenty years she taught the wealthiest children in Calcutta, India. Every day she overlooked the impoverished slums that surrounded the well-to-do neighborhood in which she worked, never venturing outside her tiny sphere of influence.

One night, as she was walking down the street, she heard a woman crying out for help. It was in the moment that this dying woman fell into her arms that Mother Teresa’s life changed forever.

Realizing the seriousness of the woman’s condition, Mother rushed her to the hospital, where she was told to sit and wait. She knew the woman would die without immediate attention, so she took her to another hospital. Again, she was told to wait; the woman’s social caste made her less important than the others being treated. Finally, in desperation, Mother Teresa took the woman home. Later that night, she died in the comfort of Mother Teresa’s loving arms.

Mother Teresa’s “defining moment” had transpired: the moment when she decided that this would never happen again to anyone within her reach. From that moment on she decided that she would devote her life to easing the pain of those who suffered around her and that, whether they lived or died, they would do so with dignity. She would personally do everything in her power to see that they would be treated better than they had ever been treated their entire lives, with the love and respect that all people deserve.

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home, and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

—JOHN F. KENNEDY

Many people today seem to shy away from the very idea of being a hero, perhaps avoiding the responsibility they feel it would entail. Besides, aren’t such aspirations egotistical? Isn’t all heroism false anyway? After all, no one’s perfect. Today we live in a society where we not only overlook potential heroes, but we denigrate the ones we have. With morbid fascination, we scrutinize their private lives, digging for some chink in their armor, and eventually we find it—or fabricate one. In every campaign race, people complain about the caliber of the candidates, yet they systematically pursue evidence of even the slightest indiscretions of a candidate’s past behavior, even to the extent of focusing on the fact that a potential Supreme Court Justice once smoked a marijuana cigarette decades ago!

If we held the great heroes of our past to the same unbending criteria by which we judge our present-day heroes, we wouldn’t have any heroes! The Kennedys and the Kings would have had difficulty withstanding today’s tabloid mentality. It seems that we’re so afraid of being let down that we try to find something wrong to begin with—just so we’re not disappointed later. As long as we operate from the frame that all heroes have feet of clay, then clearly we must believe that there is something wrong with all of us, that none of us has what it takes or is “good enough” to be a hero.

How do I define a hero? A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances; a hero is an individual who acts unselfishly and who demands more from himself or herself than others would expect; a hero is a man or woman who defies adversity by doing what he or she believes is right in spite of fear. A hero moves beyond the “common sense” of the promoters of the status quo. A hero is anyone who aims to contribute, anyone who is willing to set an example, anyone who lives by the truth of his or her convictions. A hero develops strategies to assure his outcome, and persists until it becomes a reality, changing his approach as necessary and understanding the importance of small actions consistently taken. A hero is not someone who is “perfect,” because none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes, but that doesn’t invalidate the contributions we make in the course of our lives. Perfection is not heroism; humanity is.

THE CHALLENGE OF HOMELESSNESS

Knowing that within each of us flickers the spark of heroism, just waiting to be fanned into a mighty flame, how can we tackle a giant social issue such as the plight of our country’s homeless population? The first key to changing this situation is to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We must decide that, as the richest country on earth, we are no longer willing to settle for having so many of our men, women, and children cast out on the streets like human refuse.

What percentage of our population is homeless? At this writing the results of the 1990 census on the homeless have not been fully tabulated. In fact, by the very nature of homelessness—the people involved have no address—exact figures are difficult to obtain. The most commonly cited statistics estimate that at least 3 million of our citizens are homeless, or roughly one in every 100 people live on the streets or in shelters.^*

The second key to addressing this problem is to change our beliefs. We must stop believing that these problems are a permanent malaise pervading our country and that there is nothing that any individual can do to truly make a difference. The way to break free of learned helplessness is to adopt the belief that, as an individual, you can make a difference, and that in fact all great reform movements have been carried out by committed individuals.

Another belief we must change is that the homeless are in their current situation because they are all “mentally deranged.” Again, statistics cannot be precise, but it is estimated that between 16 percent and 22 percent of the homeless suffer some form of mental illness.^† In order to really help these people, we must break through our stereotypes. Generalizing about the homeless does not empower us to help them, and beyond a shadow of a doubt, many can be helped.

What causes homelessness in the first place? Besides the already-mentioned mental illness, other reasons commonly cited include the spiraling cost of housing coupled with diminishing income, drug or alcohol abuse, and the breakdown of the traditional American family. The truth is that all of these are legitimate reasons. Yet underlying them all are belief systems. After all, there are plenty of people who have also survived the ravages of drug and alcohol abuse, who have lost their homes or can’t even earn enough to pay the rent, and who have never experienced a stable family life—yet these people never became homeless.

What’s the difference? It all comes down to the basic beliefs, values, and identity of each individual. Many who are on the streets may see themselves as “homeless” people; but others may see themselves as being “temporarily without a home.” Thus they pursue solutions and will find a way back into the traditional lifestyle. To create long-term change for a homeless individual, there must be a change in identity. This is the only way to produce a consistent change in their behavior.

Since 1984, I have worked with homeless organizations in the South Bronx, Brooklyn, Hawaii, and San Diego, assisting people in making the transformation from “homeless person” to “societal contributor.” Each year in my Mastery programs, participants spend an evening with several homeless people to facilitate change and help them turn their lives around. The results of these one-hour interactions are often astounding.

One terrific example of this is a young man named T. J. We first met him two years ago, when we brought him in off the street and invited him to have dinner with us if he’d share a little bit of his life story. At the time, he says, he was “high as a kite.” He had been living on the street for over ten years, addicted to cocaine, methadone, and amphetamines. After spending a mere hour with him, the seminar participants I had trained were able to help him make huge shifts in his beliefs and assist him in developing strategies to support his new identity.

Today, T. J. is not only off the street and off drugs, but he is also a major contributor to society—he is a fireman in Texas. In fact, for the last two years he has returned to our program to help us recruit and assist others who are in the same position he was in only a couple of years ago.

In interviewing homeless people, I’ve found that many of them are just like T. J. They have drug or alcohol problems, or they have lost their homes and don’t know how to cope with the situation. Most of their challenges are not unlike many other people’s. They have neuroassociations that limit them; they have values that preclude a change; some of their rules keep them from moving forward; their identity ties them to their limiting circumstances. Since freedom tends to be one of their highest values, they feel happy in spite of their dissatisfaction with their physical environment. After all, they don’t have to play by society’s rules, and they avoid the pressures they associate with those rules. Besides, they’ve built up a whole community of friends, and they often see themselves as being “strong” because they survive by their wits. Often they think it builds character. I’ve even met people who used to be homeless and now have homes, yet they spend time in shelters because they still identify so completely with their homeless persona.

Through our friendship and caring, you and I can be the bridge between the harsh reality of homelessness and the challenge of personal responsibility that rejoining society requires. We all act upon what we feel is compelling. What would happen if you cultivated a friendship with a homeless person and offered this individual some new reference experiences, like a visit to the spa or the theater? New references provide the fabric for new beliefs and new identities. Remember, small efforts can make a big difference.

THE CHALLENGES FACING OUR PRISON SYSTEM

We have equally disturbing challenges in our prisons. It doesn’t take a genius to see that our current incarceration system is ineffective, with a recidivism rate of 82 percent. Of all federal and state inmates in 1986, 60 percent had been in prison two or more times, 45 percent three or more times, and 20 percent six or more times.^*

In the last five years, our prison population has swollen in size, creating the stresses that come with massive overcrowding. To relieve the pressure, many inmates are abruptly released with $200 in their pockets, sent away from a system they hate yet have learned to rely upon for a sense of certainty and security.

Clearly they have not learned how to change their system of decision making. Living in an environment where you must pay someone just so you won’t be physically harmed or sexually abused, where you must steal or join a gang to survive, does not enhance your view of yourself or your world. Inmates are driven to maintain their criminal identity in order to survive in the prison society, where acknowledgment and prestige are earned by a savage set of rules.

As one ex-convict shared with me, “As soon as I was released, I started thinking about going back. After all, I knew no one on the outside. In the joint I had respect. I had guys that would kill for me. On the outside, I was just a worthless ex-con.” Sent out into a world where they know no one, thinking that they have no way to control their own environment, these men and women often do things—consciously or unconsciously—to ensure return to their “home.” Can this cycle of criminality be interrupted? Of course it can—if there is enough pain linked to being in prison, and enough pleasure to being outside of it. If we could train people effectively, the combination of these factors would be amazing. Recently, I interviewed a man who had just been released after serving eight years for attempted murder. When I asked him if he’d shoot someone again, he smiled and said, “In a heartbeat—if anyone tried to take my drugs.” I asked, “Don’t you want to avoid going back to prison?” He said, “No! Prison’s not so bad. There, I didn’t have to worry about my next meal. And I got to watch TV. And I really had things wired; I knew how to deal with all the other guys, so I never really had to worry.” Prison is not a deterrent to his sociopathic behavior. He simply doesn’t associate pain to incarceration.

Now contrast this with the experiences of Frank Abagnale, author of the book Catch Me If You Can. He is world famous for his antics as “the great imposter,” traveling around the world posing as a Pan Am airline pilot, a hospital administrator, an aide to the attorney general of Louisiana, among other guises, and conning people out of millions of dollars. Today, Frank is one of the foremost experts in bank security systems and a contributor to his community.

What turned him around? Pain. As the result of one of his escapades, he was arrested and incarcerated in a French prison. No one threatened him with physical or sexual abuse, but the pain was incredibly intense. First, he spent his entire sentence in a dark cell and totally isolated from all contact with the outside world: no television, no newspapers, no radio, no conversation with other inmates or guards. Second, they gave him absolutely no idea when he’d be released. He didn’t have a clue whether he’d be held there for sixty days or sixty years.

The pain of not knowing—the sense of uncertainty—was the severest form of punishment imaginable, and Frank linked so much pain to this “hell on earth” that he vowed he’d never return. And you know what? He’s not alone. Not surprisingly, French prisons have a recidivism rate of 1 percent and spend about $200 on each prisoner annually (an even more astounding figure when you consider that Americans spend about $30,000 a year on our prisoners, and perpetuate an 82 percent recidivism rate!).

Am I suggesting that we duplicate the French penal system? No, all I’m saying is that the system we have in place is obviously not working and that it’s time to try something else. We must provide our prisoners with an environment in which they don’t have to constantly worry about being beaten or attacked by cellmates, yet at the same time we cannot make prison the home they never had. I’m suggesting that prison terms should be undesirable—uncomfortable—and that during a prison term, people should be shown ways to make the outside world an experience that they can be in control of, one of pleasure and possibility, so that when they’re released, it’s something they pursue rather than fear. They must link pain to being in prison, and pleasure to changing. Otherwise, the behavior that landed them in jail will never be modified long-term.

Above all, a prisoner must know that someone cares about him and is committed to offering him strategies that will steer his life in a new direction. Not all prisoners are ready for change, but those who are clearly deserve our support.

“While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

—EUGENE VICTOR DEBS

What can you do? One simple yet profound action would be to commit once a month to visiting a prisoner who has truly decided to change the quality of his life. Become a loving, supportive friend and show him or her the choices available. I’ll never forget the relationship I developed as a result of volunteering to visit with an inmate of the Chino, California prison. Through my assistance and encouragement, he began running up to three miles a day, reading inspirational and instructional books, and beginning the transition from “prisoner” to “valued person.” When he was released two years later, the sense of connection and contribution we shared was one of the more rewarding experiences of my life.

THE CHALLENGE OF GANG VIOLENCE

While adult crime is a demanding problem indeed, we also need to address the question of how we can stem the flow of our youth into the juvenile penal system. What about the senseless murders that are being committed every day by young gang members in the inner cities? The unrelenting savagery of two gangs that originated in Los Angeles and then spread across the nation—the Crips and the Bloods—has taken an unfathomable toll on the cities in which they live, and most of us are at a loss as to how to address this frightening problem. I’m certain, however, that one of the first things that must happen is to get gang members to rethink their rules. Remember, all of our actions stem from our core beliefs about what we must and must never do or be.

I recently read a Rolling Stone article excerpting a book focusing on the day-to-day life of gang members.^* This “slice of life” details a gang class held at a juvenile hall called Camp Kilpatrick. When the students (gang members) were asked why they would kill someone, they rapidly fired off a list of thirty-seven reasons. These are a few of those I found most shocking: if someone looks at me funny, if someone asks me where I’m from, for a nickel, if someone walks funny, if someone touches my food (for example, takes a french fry), for fun, if someone gives me a bad haircut.

With such aberrant rules—rules that almost no one else in the society shares—it is no surprise how volatile these young men and women are. They have more reasons to kill than virtually anyone, and thus they act in accordance with their rules. What was encouraging to me, though, was to see that the facilitator understood the power of questions to weaken even the most strongly held beliefs. He asked, “For which of these things would you be willing to die?” In other words, if you knew that by killing someone for a bad haircut you would also die, would you still do it?

By asking this question, he got them to reevaluate their rules and to reconsider the importance of those things for which they’d previously been willing to murder. By the time he was done with this questioning process, these gang members had radically changed their rules. Instead of thirty-seven reasons to kill, they now had only three: self-defense, for family, and for association (gang). The latter remained only because one young man persisted in believing that this was perhaps the most important thing in his life. Whenever any of the other kids tried to dissuade him, he simply insisted, “Y’all don’t know me.” His identity was a conviction, one so tied to his gang that surrendering it would mean surrendering his whole sense of self—probably the only thing constant in this young man’s life.

By pursuing this method of asking and answering questions, this “school” is getting through to many of the kids who take the course. It is weakening the reference legs of destructive beliefs until these kids no longer feel certain about them. Remember, all behaviors can be changed by changing beliefs, values, rules, and identity. Obviously the conditions that produce the gangs in the first place need to be addressed—ultimately, this too can be handled through modifying behavior at the level where it counts, case by case.

THE CHALLENGES FACING OUR ENVIRONMENT

The environment is no longer just a rallying cause for the counterculture, but has come to the forefront as a major national and international concern. After four of the hottest consecutive years ever recorded in history, people have become extremely concerned about global warming—the phenomenon caused by excess carbon dioxide that is trapped by the ozone layer, resulting in rising temperatures. What are the major sources? One of them is the fluorocarbons found in air conditioners and spray bottles. Another major source of the global-warming effect is the wanton destruction and burning of our Central and South American rainforests. Rainforests account for an astounding 80 percent of the earth’s vegetation, and are critical to our ecosystem.^*

Trees absorb the toxic gases of excess carbon dioxide that we release into the atmosphere, and convert it to breathable oxygen. Trees are our ultimate rejuvenators: without them, life on earth as we know it could not exist. Rainforest trees also provide an environment for the largest diversity of animal and insect species in the world. By burning our rainforests, not only do we destroy the oxygen-producing vegetation and the environment in which the animals and plants live, but we release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hasten the deleterious global-warming effect.

With all their importance, why are the rainforests being cleared so relentlessly? The answer is a simple matter of pain and pleasure: economics. Huge tax breaks have been given in these countries as incentives for ranchers to clear the land. Is it to make room for more housing? Of course not. It’s to clear grazing land for cattle to be exported as beef to the United States. This nation imports 10 percent of its beef from Central and South America.^† In order to meet this need, rainforests are being eliminated at a pace of one acre every five seconds.^‡

The inefficiency of the use of this land for grazing is one of the most destructive, short-term decisions that man can make. We’re bulldozing the source of our survival. Do you realize that every time you buy a quarter-pound hamburger using rainforest beef, it represents the destruction of fifty-five square feet of tropical rainforest?^** Once destroyed, it can never be replaced. Further, the current rate of species extinction is 1,000 per year due to the destruction of the rainforests—an unimaginable assault on our ecosystem.

What’s the point of it all? It’s solely for the purpose of cycling more meat through our bodies, which medical science has already established is directly related to the top killers in this nation: heart disease and cancer. The shocking statistic is that one out of two Americans dies of some form of heart disease—Russian roulette gives you better odds of survival than following the standard American diet! Ultimately, we cannot destroy the external environment without destroying our own internal environment.

Do you want to stop the destruction of our rainforests? Do you want to help restore the delicate balance of our ecosystem? In addition to sending your financial support to environmental organizations like Greenpeace, the most powerful thing you can do is to link pain to any of your personal behaviors that perpetuate the ill use of our planet. Clearly, one step would be to reduce or eliminate your consumption of hamburger meat. A boycott worked with the tuna industry, and it can work here as well. We’re not just talking about dollars and cents. The earth itself is at stake. Know that the decisions you make about what to put on your dinner plate determine, in a small yet undeniable way, such things as how much carbon dioxide is released into our atmosphere and how many plant and animal species will die each day.

Now let’s look at the impact of your dietary decisions on a local level. Perhaps you live in a state, like I do, that is experiencing a severe water shortage. In fact, it’s been said that in the twenty-first century water will be the gold of the future, one of our most valuable and scarce resources. How can this be true, on a planet that is predominantly covered with water? The reason can be found in our incredibly poor management of this vital resource. Specifically, it’s related to the meat industry. Consider this: the amount of water that is used to raise one single steer is enough to float an American destroyer!^* In California, we’re all working hard to conserve water, taking steps such as not watering our lawns and installing flow restrictors in our toilets and shower heads. All of these actions are important, but did you know that it takes 5,214 gallons of water to produce one pound of California beef?^† This means that you can save more water by not eating one pound of beef than you could by skipping showers for an entire year!^‡ According to Cornell economist David Fields and his associate Robin Hur, “Every dollar that state governments dole out to livestock producers, in the form of irrigation subsidies, actually costs taxpayers over seven dollars in lost wages, higher living costs, and reduced business income.”^* What can one person do to save more water? The answer seems obvious to me: cut your meat consumption.

Here’s something else for you to chew on. Did you know that more energy is consumed by the beef industry than any other single industry in the United States?^† The percentage of all raw materials that the United States devotes to the production of livestock is a staggering one-third of all energy consumption, and the fossil fuel required to produce one pound of beef is roughly thirty-nine times that required to produce the equivalent protein value in soybeans. If you wanted to save energy, it would be wiser to drive your car to the restaurant down the block than if you walked there, fueled by the calories you consumed from a quarter-pound of beef or chicken raised by the energy-inefficient standard of the industry.

Are you concerned about nuclear power plants? If we were to reduce by 50 percent our meat consumption, we could totally eliminate our reliance on nuclear power throughout the United States, as well as significantly or completely reduce our reliance on foreign oil imports.^‡

One final issue we’re all concerned about is world hunger. With 60 million people dying every year of starvation, clearly it’s time for us to examine just how efficiently we’re utilizing our resources. Remember, all decisions have consequences, and unless we have some understanding of the long-term impact on our planet, we will make poor decisions.

The amount of food produced on any prime acre of land is markedly reduced when that food is beef. The same acre of land that would produce 250 pounds of beef would produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes—roughly the difference between feeding one person, and 160 persons!^‡ The same resources that are used to produce one pound of beef can produce sixteen pounds of grain.^†† The land required to feed one meat-eater for a year is three and a quarter acres; for a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, one-half acre; and one complete vegetarian, one-sixth acre.^‡‡ In other words, one acre can feed twenty times as many people if they eat a vegetarian diet! Forty-thousand children starve every day, yet we clearly have the ability to feed them if we just manage our resources more effectively. What’s more, if every American were to reduce his or her meat intake by just 10 percent, the number of people who could be fed using the resources that would be freed from growing livestock would be 100 million!^* This is enough food to feed every single starving man, woman, and child on earth—and have a surplus. Obviously, we’d still have to deal with the political challenge of distribution, but the food would certainly be available. Finally, one of the most important natural resources that we are depleting as a result of our meat habit is our topsoil. It takes nature 500 years to create one inch of topsoil, and we’re currently losing one inch every 16 years! Two hundred years ago, our country had twenty-one inches of topsoil, and now we have only six inches.^† The amount of topsoil loss that is directly related to livestock production is 85 percent.^‡ Without adequate topsoil, our food chain collapses, and with it our ability to exist.

My initial exposure to most of the above statistics and the devastating impact of meat eating on our environment was through my good friend John Robbins (who is not related to me by birth, yet we truly are brothers in our commitment to making a difference). John wrote a book, Diet for a New America, that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I believe this book has a place in the home of every American who wants to be aware of the effects of their daily decisions and actions.

As John makes clear, the decision about what to put on your dinner plate tonight is one that has profound processional effects. It sets in motion a whole series of events and activities that are shaping the quality of life on earth. You may ask, “How can one person hope to turn the tide of such an enormous challenge?” John maintains that this battle will be won not on Capitol Hill or in the boardrooms, but by individuals: “the shopper in the supermarket stopping at the meat counter, picking up that chuck steak marked $3.98 a pound, and realizing that they’re holding in their hand a very costly illusion. Behind that little price sticker hides the forests that have been cut down, our children’s food and water supply, our children’s topsoil, their future environment. And we have to look at that steak and say, ‘Thai costs too much.’ Real power lies in the decisions you make in the supermarket and in restaurants and in your kitchen.”^*

TAKE A STAND

By taking a stand, you not only stop participating in the misuse of our resources, but you send a clear message to big businesses whose lifeblood is tied to hamburger. In recent years, food-service companies like McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr. (Carl Karcher Enterprises) have begun to respond to changes in consumer tastes by featuring salad bars and other alternative foods. McDonald’s also recently stopped using polystyrene containers for its foods, and as a result estimates that it reduced its production of hydrocarbons by 25 percent, making a measurable difference toward an improved environment. As a consumer, use the skills that you’ve learned in this book to bring about positive change: know what you want, use your buying power as leverage to interrupt destructive patterns, cause the companies to look for alternatives, and then reinforce them for the desired behaviors by patronizing their products and services.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL—LEAD BY EXAMPLE

As with any challenge, our environmental issues require education and action to create change. Unfortunately, most people’s idea of education is tied to being in school, and they stop learning as soon as they graduate—or even before they graduate! So many teachers who start out with a vision of making a difference have fallen into the trap of learned helplessness as a result of trying to cope with numbing administrative policies and not being prepared to deal with the personalities and real-life issues confronting their students.

Yet throughout this book you’ve been exposed to many models of excellence from whom we can learn. So how can you and I make a difference? We can each take an active role in determining the quality of our children’s education. Could your children’s teacher benefit by understanding the power of questions, global metaphors, Transformational Vocabulary, values, rules, and conditioning? Share what you’ve learned, and you can truly make a difference in this area.

Most important, we must teach our children the consequences of their actions. We must make them aware of the impact they have on an individual or local level and, by extension, their collective impact on the global level. Don’t let them ever fall into the trap of thinking that their actions don’t make a difference—if there’s anything I’ve tried to convey in this book, it’s that even small decisions and small actions, consistently made, have far-reaching consequences.

One of the best ways to ensure that your child grows up with a healthy sense of self-esteem is to show them that their decisions and actions, consistently made, make a major difference. How can you do that? Demonstrate what’s possible by being an example. Demonstrate to your kids the effect of asking empowering questions, living according to values and rules you’ve consciously chosen, and using all the other strategies you’ve learned thus far.

There are so many ways that you and I could contribute. We don’t need to wait until we have a grandiose master plan to make a difference. We can have impact in a moment, in doing the smallest things, making what often seem like insignificant decisions. It’s true that most of our heroes are hidden behind what seem like small acts done consistently. Look around you. There are heroes everywhere, but we don’t acknowledge them with the accolades they deserve for doing their jobs every day. The men and women who work day in and day out as police officers are clearly heroes. They protect us, they create for us a sense of security, yet many of us see them as our enemy. Firemen are heroes, yet we generally don’t see them in that light unless we find ourselves in an emergency situation. The same principle holds true for ambulance drivers, 911 emergency dispatchers, crisis-intervention counselors, and a whole host of other unsung heroes.

Just being prepared can make all the difference. For example, how would you feel if someone had a heart attack in your presence, but you were CPR-certified and knew what to do? What if your concerted efforts to keep their blood circulating, despite the apparent absence of any signs of life, actually resulted in saving a life? I can promise you one thing: the feeling of contribution you would get from that experience would give you a greater sense of fulfillment and joy than anything you’ve ever felt in your life—greater than any acknowledgment anyone could possibly give you, greater than any amount of money you could possibly earn, greater than any achievement you could possibly have.

These are just some of the most dramatic examples. Are there other ways in which you could contribute? You bet! You can be a hero by simply being a people-builder, that is, by noticing people around you and giving them support, encouragement, or a reminder of who they really are. What if you were walking through a grocery store, and instead of meandering aimlessly from the artichokes to the zucchinis, you actually noticed and acknowledged each person you passed with a cheerful grin? What if you gave a sincere compliment to a stranger? Could you, in that moment, change their emotional state enough so that they could pass on the smile or the compliment to the next person they saw as well? Perhaps to their children? Could there be a processional effect set in motion by that one action?

There are so many simple ways to make a difference. We don’t have to go out and save somebody’s life. But maybe getting them to smile is saving their life, or at least getting them to enjoy the life that they already have. What are some other simple ways you could make a difference today? On your way home from work, what if you decided to stop at a senior citizens’ home, walk in, and strike up a conversation? How would it make them feel if you were to ask, “What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in your life?” I’ll bet they’d have plenty to tell you! What if you stopped at your community hospital, visited a patient and helped brighten their afternoon? Even if you did nothing but listen to the person, you’d be a hero.

Why are so many people afraid to take such small steps to help others? One of the most common reasons is that they are just embarrassed to be doing something they’re uncertain about. They’re afraid of being rejected or appearing foolish. But you know what? If you want to play the game and win, you’ve got to play “full out.” You’ve got to be willing to feel stupid, and you’ve got to be willing to try things that might not work—and if they don’t work, be willing to change your approach. Otherwise, how could you innovate, how could you grow, how could you discover who you really are?

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

—JOHN WOODEN

If we want to change the quality of life in our country, then we clearly have to affect the value systems of a mass number of people. Our future is in the hands of our youth. Their values will one day be society’s. As I write these words, President Bush has recently signed a document that offers a unique opportunity for us if we maximize its use. It’s called the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and is intended to provide program funds, training, and technical assistance to enable communities to develop and expand service opportunities. While the bill encourages all citizens to give of their time, talents, and energy, it is aimed specifically at involving young people in a variety of worthwhile projects.^*

Consider the sense of contribution these young people will experience by helping the aged, physically disadvantaged, cancer patients, functionally illiterate, and others. Through the daily experience of contributing, their identities and destinies will be profoundly affected. Once touched by the gratitude of a fellow human being, a life transforms forever. Can you imagine the impact if the majority of our young people share this experience?

Indeed, the most powerful processional effect you will ever set in motion will be your burgeoning sense of contribution. We all have a need to go beyond our base drives to avoid pain and gain pleasure. I believe that in the deepest part of ourselves, we all want to do what we believe is right, to go beyond ourselves, to commit our energy, time, emotion, and capital to a larger cause. We must meet our moral and spiritual needs even if it brings us pain in the short term. We respond not just to our psychological needs, but to our moral imperative to do more and be more than anyone could expect. Nothing gives us a greater sense of personal satisfaction than contribution. Giving unselfishly is the foundation of fulfillment.

The power of such programs is that by giving to others on an ongoing basis, we begin to reorient our values to the importance of contribution. As a country, if we embrace this one value, it could change the face of the nation and expand our influence in the world abroad. Don’t limit yourself to the structure of government-backed programs, however. There are so many organizations that have a crying need for manpower and expertise, as well as financial and physical resources. Imagine the impact if, regardless of reward or lack thereof, Americans as a whole make contribution a must. Do you realize that if everyone in the country (except the very young and elderly) were to contribute only three hours a week, our nation would reap the rewards of over 320 million hours of much-needed manpower dedicated to those causes that need it most? If we all were to contribute five hours, the figure would jump to half a billion hours with a monetary value in the trillions! Do you think we could handle a few social challenges with this kind of commitment?

Contributing your time to any one of the following will definitely alter your perceptions of who you are and start you on the path of becoming a hero.

A GIFT OF POSSIBILITY: AN INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE

How does one embrace the homeless, heal criminals, rejuvenate the aged, and mobilize the young? One exciting opportunity for you to contribute is to work in partnership with me through The Anthony Robbins Foundation. We are a nonprofit organization formed to create a coalition of caring professionals who have committed to consistently reach and assist people who are often forgotten by society. We are aggressively working to make a difference in the quality of life for children, the homeless, the prison population, and the elderly. The Foundation is dedicated to providing the finest resources for inspiration, education, training, and development for these important members of our society. I founded it as the result of my own life experience.

Years ago, I decided that contribution is not an obligation; it’s an opportunity to give something back. When I was eleven years old, my family did not have enough money one year to afford a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and a charitable organization delivered food to our door. Since then, helping the hungry and homeless has become one of the missions to which I’ve dedicated my life, and, every Thanksgiving since I was eighteen, I’ve made and delivered food baskets to needy families. It was also at the age of eighteen that I first joined the Chino prison support system. As a result of my community service, I formed an identity as a philanthropist, a person who would truly make a difference, someone who was committed. It increased my pride, my integrity, and my capacity to give more to other people as well. And it allowed me to inspire others to do the same.

Because of the massive exposure that my books, tapes, and television shows have produced, I daily receive letters from people from all over the world calling out for help. Some of the most profound and moving transformations I hear about have been made by prisoners and those who are no longer homeless. As a result, the Foundation has made available a complimentary copy of my thirty-day audio library, Personal Power, as well as a copy of my first book, Unlimited Power, to every prison system in the United States. As of this writing, we’re in the process of contacting each homeless shelter in the country to make them the same offer. I’ve dedicated 10 percent of the royalties from this book to the Foundation in order to fund these tape distributions. In addition, Anthony Robbins & Associates,™ the franchisees who represent me with my video-based seminars across the United States, is committed to conducting up to two programs a year in its respective communities at no charge. These programs are held in prisons, homeless shelters, high schools, and senior citizen centers.

If you’d like to join forces with us, please contact the Foundation, and consider enrolling in our Commit-2 program. It’s a simple and balanced way to cause yourself to grow personally and to contribute in a way that truly makes a difference. Through Commit-2 you can give others the gift of possibility through a monthly commitment to briefly visit an assigned prisoner, elderly person, homeless adult or child, and be a true friend. You can also commit to help support one of our annual programs. We sponsor a Youth Leadership Program, the Thanksgiving Basket Brigade, prison seminars, and a project for the elderly, Project Wisdom (more information follows this chapter).

Certainly you’re not limited to working with our Foundation to make a difference. There are organizations in your community right now that need your help. In fact, I’ve designed my Foundation to empower local organizations already in place to succeed. Our Foundation members are trained in how to make a measurable difference for the people they coach monthly. While a different coaching style is necessary for different challenges, there are some universal principles. We all need to raise our standards, change our beliefs, and develop new strategies for personal success. In helping people, we need to provide profound knowledge—simple, basic distinctions that can immediately increase the quality of their lives. Very often they need to break through learned helplessness and develop new identities. These are skills and strategies, obviously, that form the backbone of my technology, and therefore we want all those who are involved in this program to have mastery of these skills as well. If you’re interested in finding out more, please contact us at 1-800-964-2200, ext. TR.

“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.”

—ANTHONY ROBBINS

If a simple Albanian nun, with no resources except her faith and commitment, can positively affect the lives of so many, then certainly you and I can deal with whatever challenges we have before us. If Ed Roberts can emerge from his iron lung each morning to figure out how to change an entire nation’s attitudes toward the physically disadvantaged—and succeed—then maybe you and I can be heroes, too. If one person can single-handedly mobilize a nation through a videotape and an $800 investment to stop the murdering of dolphins, then maybe you and I can also set powerful effects in motion. Often we don’t know where the chain of events will lead us. Trust your intuition and give of your heart; you’ll be surprised at the miracles that will occur.

If you’ll commit to giving an hour or two once a month, it will enhance your identity and you’ll become certain that you are “the kind of person” who truly cares, who takes deliberate action to make a difference. You’ll discover that you have no problems in your business, because you’ve seen what real problems are. The upsets you thought you had because your stock went down today tend to disappear when you carry a man with no legs to his bed, or when you cradle an AIDS baby in your arms.

“Verily, great grace may go with a little gift; and precious are all things that come from friends.”

—THEOCRITUS

Once you’ve mastered the elements of this book, your ability to deal with your own challenges becomes a minor focus. What used to be difficult becomes easy. At this point, you’ll find yourself redirecting your energies from concentrating primarily on yourself to improving what’s happening in your family, your community, and possibly the world around you. The only way to do so with a lasting sense of fulfillment is through unselfish contribution. So don’t look for heroes; be one! You don’t have to be Mother Teresa (although you could, if you desired!).

However, make balance your watchword. Strive for balance rather than perfection. Most people live in a black-and-white world where they think that they’re either a volunteer with no life of their own, or just a materialistic, achievement-oriented person who doesn’t care to make a difference. Don’t fall into this trap. Life is a balance between giving and receiving, between taking care of yourself and taking care of others. Yes, give some of your time, capital and energy to those who truly need it—but also be willing to give to yourself. And do so with joy, not with guilt. You don’t have to take the weight of the world on your shoulders. More people would contribute if they realized that they didn’t have to give anything up to do so. So do a little, and know that it can mean a lot. If everyone did this, fewer people would have to do so much, and more people would be helped!

The next time you see someone who’s in trouble, instead of feeling guilty because you have so many blessings and they don’t, feel a sense of excitement that you might be able to do just some little thing that could make them think about themselves in a new way or simply feel appreciated or loved. You don’t have to commit your whole life to this. Just be sensitive; learn to ask people new questions that will empower them; touch them in a new way. Capture these moments of opportunity, and contribution will be a pleasure rather than a burden.

I often meet people who live in pain because they constantly focus on the injustices of life. After all, how could a child be born blind, without the chance to ever experience the wonder of a rainbow? How can a man who has never hurt anyone his entire life become a victim of a drive-by shooting? The meaning and the purpose behind some events are unknowable. This is the ultimate test of our faith. We must trust that everyone in life is here to learn different lessons at different times, that good and bad experiences are only the perceptions of man. After all, some of your worst experiences have truly been your best. They’ve sculpted you, trained you, developed within you a sensitivity and set you in a direction that reaches out to impact your ultimate destiny. Remember the adage, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” By the way, just when you think that you’re the teacher, take another look—you’re probably there to learn something from this person you’re so busy teaching!

“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”

—MICHAEL LANDON

What’s the message? Live life fully “while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process! Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human. Constantly find ways to improve yourself. Practice the discipline of CANI!; be a lifelong learner. Take the time now to set up your Master System so that the game of life is winnable. Let your humanity—your caring for yourself and others—be the guiding principle of your life, but don’t treat life so seriously that you lose the power of spontaneity, the pleasure that comes from being silly and being a kid.

Eighty-six-year-old Nadine Stair said it best:

How do you want to be remembered? As a giant among men? Start acting that way right now! Why wait to be memorable? Live each day as if it were one of the most important days of your life, and you’ll experience joy at a whole new level. Some people try to conserve their energy so that they’ll last longer. I don’t know about you, but I believe that what’s most important is not how long we live, but how we live. I’d rather wear out than rust out! Let’s have the end find us climbing a new mountain.

I think one of the greatest gifts our Creator has given us is the gift of anticipation and suspense. How boring life would be if we knew how it would all turn out in advance! The truth is that in life, we never know what’s going to happen next! In the next few moments, something could happen that could change the entire direction and quality of your life in an instant. We must learn to love change, for it is the only thing that is certain.

What can change your life? Many things: a moment of deep thought and a few decisions as you complete this book could change everything. So could a conversation with a friend, a tape, a seminar, a movie, or a big, fat, juicy “problem” that causes you to expand and become more. This is the awakening you seek. So live in an attitude of positive expectancy, knowing that everything that happens in your life benefits you in some way. Know that you are guided along a path of never-ending growth and learning, and with it, the path of everlasting love.

Finally, as I leave you now, I just want to tell you how much I respect and appreciate you as a person. We’ve never met, but it sure feels like it, doesn’t it? While we may not have met face to face, we’ve certainly touched hearts. You’ve offered me a great gift in allowing me to share parts of my life and my skills with you, and my sincere hope is that some of what we’ve shared here has moved you in a special way. If you’ll now use some of these strategies to increase the quality of your life, then I’ll feel very lucky indeed.

I hope you’ll stay in touch with me. I hope you’ll write to me or that we’ll have the privilege of meeting personally in a seminar, at a Foundation function, or by a “chance” crossing of our paths. Please be sure to introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting you and hearing the story of your life’s success.

‘Til then, remember to expect miracles … because you are one. Be a bearer of the light and a force for good. I now pass the torch on to you. Share your gifts; share your passion. And may God bless you.

“Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tide and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

—TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

* Reed, Susan, and Lorenzo Benet, “A Filmmaker Crusades to Make the Seas Safe for Dolphins,” People magazine, August 6, 1990.

* Institute for Food and Development Policy. See John Robbins, Diet for a New America, Walpole, New Hampshire: Stillpoint Publishing, © 1987, p. 352.

* Snyder, Mitch, and Mary Ellen Hombs, “Homelessness Is Serious,” David L. Bender, ed., The Homeless: Opposing Viewpoints, Greenhaven Press, © 1990.

† Ibid.

* Wright, John W., ed., The Universal Almanac, Andrews and McMeel, © 1989.

* Bing, Léon, “Do or Die,” Rolling Stone, September 1991.

* Robbins, John, Diet for a New America.

† “Acres, USA,” vol 15 #6, June 1985, cited in J. Robbins.

‡ Robbins, John, Diet for a New America.

** The Fate of Our Planet,” Robbins Research Report, Fall 1990, Robbins Research International, Inc. © 1991.

* “The Browning of America,” Newsweek, February 22, 1981, cited in J. Robbins.

† “The Fate of Our Planet,” Robbins Research Report.

‡ This figure assumes a total of 5,200 gallons of water used by a person taking 5 showers a week, 5 minutes per shower, with a flow rate of 4 gallons per minute. Robbins, John, Diet for a New America.

* Fields, David, and Robin Hur “America’s Appetite for Meat Is Ruining Our Water,” Vegetarian Times, January 1985.

† Spencer, Vivian, “Raw Materials in the United States Economy 1900-1977,” Technical Paper 47, Dept. of Commerce, Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Mines, cited in J. Robbins.

‡ Robbins, John. Diet for a New America.

** Department of Agriculture, cited in J. Robbins.

†† Robbins, John, Diet for a New America.

‡‡ Lappe, Frances Moore, Diet for a Small Planet. Ballantine Books. © 1982, cited in J. Robbins.

* Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute, cited by Resenberger, UNICEF, “State of the World’s Children,” adjusted using 1988 figures from the USDA, Agricultural Statistics 1989, cited in J. Robbins.

† Harnack, Curtis, “In Plymouth County, Iowa, the Rich Topsoil’s Going Fast, Alas,” New York Times, July 11, 1980, cited in J. Robbins.

‡ Hur, Robbin, Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act—Summary of Appraisal, USDA Review Draft, 1980, cited in J. Robbins.

* “The Fate of Our Planet,” Robbins Research Report.

* For more information on National and Community Service, please contact your congressperson or The Commission on National and Community Service, The National Press Building, 529 14th Street NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20004, tel. 202-724-0600.