Dear Honorable Vice President Mr. Gore,

You are no doubt surprised to hear from me, a Cow and Climate Healer, on this special day, the national holiday celebrating the birthday of one of my favorite humans, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But just as Dr. King was compelled to write his Letter from a Birmingham Jail when he could no longer keep quiet about the moo’ings of the white moderates around him, I too feel compelled to hoof this letter to you after watching the recent CBS News Special Report featuring you and your 400-acre farm in Carthage, Tennessee.

You break my heart, Mr. Gore. At many points during the news report, I snorted out so forcefully that I almost belched into orbit with my methane thrusters. But then I steadied myself and calmed down before I started hoofing this letter out to you about matters that concern us all.

I know that you were educated at Harvard University and that you have a keen intellect, quick to grasp complex subjects. I also know that you are a human of good intentions and you have inspired a great many humans and transformed their lives, including Sailesh, the founder of Climate Healers. Therefore, it troubles me greatly that you keep ignoring me, Vega, the Cow in the Room. Worse yet, you appear to have bought into the Big Farma nonsense that the planet needs more animal manure in order to solve climate change.

This is indeed heart breaking.

The fact is the planet is already deluged in animal manure, Mr. Gore. Humans alone produce twice as much manure as all the wild mammals that lived 10,000 years ago. Worldwide, the animals that humans enslave and farm on land already produce NINE times as much manure as all the wild mammals that lived 10,000 years ago. Therefore, the last thing the planet needs is more animal manure.

Surely, you have read the Climate Healers position paper and you are aware of this fact (Fig. 4.1 and references therein)? Surely, you are also aware of the enormous land use opportunity cost of animal agriculture and the enormous aerosol cooling opportunity benefit of fossil fuel combustion? Yet you continue to promote fossil fuel reduction exclusively while ignoring me, Vega, the Cow in the Room, the impact of animal agriculture.

Sailesh tells me that would constitute the greatest systems engineering blunder ever. He is a systems engineer with 40 years of experience designing systems including the internet link this letter was transmitted on and he ought to know.

Inept climate action can be far more damaging to the planet than even climate inaction. Elise Yarde has eloquently documented why climate inaction amounts to racism. By the same token, climate inaction amounts to sexism and colonialism too, since women of color in the global South pay the highest price in the ongoing climate disaster. Therefore, inept climate action amounts to an extreme form of racism, sexism and colonialism. It deliberately causes unfortunate humans and animals to suffer faster and unnecessarily.

Why would you want to be associated with such inept climate action? This lack of MooSense is becoming increasingly inexcusable.

(Just FYI, MooSense is the sense making of a Cow who is by nature, diligent, strong, honest, down-to-earth and persistent.)

The last time I checked, of the 400 plus slides in your Climate Reality presentation deck, there was not one dedicated to animal agriculture, the leading cause of climate change. This seems perverse to me, a thinking cow and I’m sure that it seems perverse to any other thinking human or animal.

May I suggest that your oft-stated objective to “preserve civilization as we know it” should be broadly interpreted to mean that we should preserve a confident, strong, peaceful human presence on planet Earth as you transform to a kind and just beloved community that is routinely compassionate towards all life?

It should not be narrowly interpreted to mean that a few special humans should be able to continue flying around in private jets and driving around in electric SUVs, without having to do any manual labor and grow callouses on their hands. I realize that is the only “civilization as YOU know it,” but perhaps you should not confuse your experience with the experience of the vast majority of humans who are toiling away in repetitive menial jobs. They want to cast aside their yoke of oppression and moo’ve on to the next phase of human evolution, to don the cloak of compassion instead.

To elaborate further below, I am attaching an image of the three phases of human metamorphosis above. Notice that in the “Climate Heating” caterpillar phase, man is above woman, animals and all other creatures in nature. This is the dominant, male “EGO”istic way of thinking that causes not just climate heating for the planet, but colonialism, racism, ableism, sexism and all other human social oppressions in addition to speciesism, the domination of animals and nature.

This caterpillar phase is OVER. It is so yesterday. It is so 20th century. If you humans don’t get over it, we are all going down the planetary chute in a hurry. Therefore, anyone who promotes colonialism, racism or sexism ought to be taken into some corner and incessantly moo’ed into some MooSense.

Talking of MooSense, did I really see a baby animal being fed from a plastic bottle on your farm in the CBS News Report? May I ask who is drinking the baby’s mother’s milk? Just thinking of babies being wrenched from their mothers and having their milk stolen always makes me snort louder than an undersea volcano.Please, it is now time to moo’ve on, Mr. Gore, to the next phase of human metamorphosis, the chrysalis “SEVA” phase that is shown as the “Climate Healing” phase in the image above.

SEVA means “Selfless, fruit-forsaking service” in Sanskrit. This is why humans are placed at the bottom of the heart in the second figure above so that your strength, service and compassion can form the foundation of planetary ecological restoration.

In this phase, human society will meet 16 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (Goal #8 – Decent Jobs and Economic Growth is a potential outcome, not to be misconstrued as a goal) within the next few years, beginning with Goal #2 (Zero Hunger) and Goal #3 (Good Health and Well Being). This is the oxygen mask rule – put on your own oxygen masks before assisting others. You humans must heal yourselves first before helping to heal the planet.

To accomplish these goals, it would make MooSense for you humans to be eating rainbow whole plant foods, not disease promoting animal foods. You will be tending to animals and nature with much care and solicitude in order to rewild and restore the ecosystems of the planet. In this phase, it would make MooSense for you to be creating Veganic food forests, not the monocultured rows of identical crop plants that I saw in the CBS News Report on your farm.

Animals and nature deserve to be free and treated with much care and solicitude not only because we suffered the most in your dominant “EGO” caterpillar phase, but also because we want to be sure that you truly understand our vital role in a thriving planet. This ensures that there will be no going back to your “EGO” phase, ever again. Animals must not be herded and exploited as I saw in the CBS News Special Report on your farm.

Did you know that farmers in England will be given taxpayers cash to rewild their land, under plans for large-scale nature recovery projects unveiled by the government?

That makes so much MooSense.

Dutch farmers are facing calls to cut their animal production by a third in order to control nitrogen pollution using government buyback schemes.

That makes so much MooSense.

Therefore, the writing is on the wall. Please stop ignoring me, the Cow in the Room.

Please know that I will never give up on you. I will be mooing in your home, in your shower and in your sleep until you address me muzzle to face, honestly.

Then, I will be so thrilled when you join my herd. And request your Climate Reality Leaders to join my herd. My herd is unstoppable. Did you know that we are gearing up for V-COP8: VEGAN Convergence of the Peoples #8, our eighth meeting to heal the climate with cowrage and integrity?

It will be VEGAN as in friends of VEGA, me, the Cow in the Room.

It will be VEGAN as in Vitally Engaged Guardians of Animals and Nature.

We fervently believe that those who can heat the planet can just as well heal the planet.Eat plants. Plant trees. Love life. Heal the planet. 

This isn’t rocket science. This is simple MooSense.

Please share my video with the kids in your life.

Please share this UN press conference video with the adults in your life. It shows why Big Farma’s Killing machine is the leading cause of the climate disaster and why focusing exclusively on the fossil fuel Burning machine, while ignoring me, the Cow in the Room, would be the greatest systems engineering blunder in the ourstory of humanity.

Please read “Food is Climate,” a book by Glen Merzer explaining the science behind the Climate Healers position paper from a layperson’s perspective. If you recall, Sailesh handed over a copy to you, Mr. Gore, during COP-26 in Glasgow. It is the pale blue book with my sticker in front. Please let me know if you mislaid it and I will moosend you a PDF pronto.

Finally, please register for our Vegan Convergence of the Peoples #8, V-COP8 on January 29-30, 2022 and join us.

We can heal the climate with cowrage. Yes, we can. 

Eat plants
Plant trees
Love animals
Heal the planet 

Be a superhero. Join my herd. Let’s grow our moovement together.

Yours faithfully,

Vega, Cow and Climate Healer