Quotes from book
Diet for a New America

Name: Diet for a New America
Author: John Robbins

Diet for a New America is a 1987 bestselling book by John Robbins. The book discusses vegetarianism, the environmental impact of factory farming and animal rights.In 1991 KCET, the Los Angeles PBS affiliate, produced a film documentary based on the book called Diet for a New America: Your Health, Your Planet. The film is narrated by John Robbins and features interviews with Michael Klaper, T. Colin Campbell, and John A. McDougall.

“We live in a crazy time, when people who make food choices that are healthy and compassionate are often considered weird, while people are considered normal whose eating habits promote disease and are dependent on enormous suffering.”

John Robbins book Diet for a New America

Source: Diet for a New America (1987), Ch. 10: An Ounce of Prevention

“I think what I really learned in all of this, was to be true to myself, to be true to my inner voice. And I began to see, that we really do have the power, our own lives really do make a difference, just by being more conscious of the food that we eat. We can heal ourselves, we can heal the environment, we can heal this planet.”

John Robbins book Diet for a New America

Diet for a New America, 1991 documentary film ( visible https://archive.org/details/DietForANewAmerica at Internet Archive)

“I was born in the heart of the Great American Food Machine. From childhood on it was expected that I would someday take over and run what has become the world's largest ice cream company—Baskin-Robbins. Year after year I was groomed and prepared for the task, given an opportunity to live the Great American Dream… There is a sweeter and deeper American dream than the one I turned down. It is the dream of a success in which all beings share because it is founded on a reverence for life. A dream of a society at peace with its conscience because it respects and lives in harmony with all life forms. A dream of a people living in accord with the laws of Creation, cherishing and caring for the natural environment, conserving nature instead of destroying it. A dream of a society that is truly healthy, practicing a wise and compassionate stewardship of a balanced ecosystem.”

John Robbins book Diet for a New America

Introduction
Diet for a New America (1987)

“We don’t realize that in the sizzle of our steaks there is the suffering of animals, the mining of our topsoil, the slashing of our forests, the harming of our economy, and the eroding of our health. We don’t hear in the sizzle the cry of the hungry millions who might otherwise be fed. We don’t see the toxic poisons accumulating in the food chains, poisoning our children and our earth for generations to come. But once we become aware of the impact of our food choices, we can never really forget… All things are deeply connected, and so the choices we make in our daily lives have enormous influence, not only on our own health and vitality, but also on the lives of other beings, and indeed on the destiny of life on earth. Thankfully, we have cause to be grateful—what’s best for us personally is also best for other forms of life, and for the life support systems on which we all depend.”

John Robbins book Diet for a New America

Source: Diet for a New America (1987), Ch. 12: All Things Are Connected