John Robbins (born October 26, 1947) is an American author, who popularized the links among nutrition, environmentalism, and animal rights. He is the author of the 1987 ''

Diet for a New America ''Diet for a New America'' is a 1987 bestselling nonfiction book by John Robbins. The book links the impacts of factory farming on human health, animal welfare and the environment, in an "animal-rights, pro-environment, vegetarian message." It w ...

'', an exposé on connections between diet, physical health, animal cruelty, and environmentalism.

Biography

Robbins is the son of Irma Robbins and

Irv Robbins Irvine Robbins (December 6, 1917 – May 5, 2008) was a Canadian-born American businessman. He co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin. Early life Robbins was born in Winnipeg ...

, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins. He is of Jewish descent. John graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969, and received a master's degree from Antioch College, in 1976. Rather than following the ice-cream parlor legacy of his father, he left the company to seek a simpler life. He and his wife Deo were married on March 10, 1967. Ocean Robbins, their son, is the founder of Food Revolution Network. In 1987 ''Diet for a New America'' was published. In the book Robbins links the impacts of factory farming on human health, the environment, and animal welfare, to make a case for a plant-based diet. A year later he founded EarthSave (see below). In 2001, Robbins updated and reiterated his views on veganism for ethical, environmental and health reasons in the book ''The Food Revolution''. The book includes information on organic food, genetically modified food, and

factory farming Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

. He worked with

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

in 2002 to sue the California Milk Advisory Board over its 'happy cows' television advertisement. The Milk Advisory Board won on a technicality. His 2006 book ''Healthy at 100'', published by Random House, was printed on 100% post-consumer non-chlorine bleached paper, a first for a book from a major U.S. publisher. Robbins is also on the advisory board of ''

Naked Food Magazine ''Naked Food'' is a quarterly magazine focusing on whole-food plant-based nutrition. It features health information, nutrition and food related news, recipes, interviews, events, and product, book, and film reviews. It was founded as a digital p ...

'', for which he is also a regular contributor of articles espousing a plant-based diet.

EarthSave

In 1988, Robbins founded EarthSave, an international, non-profit organization. The organization was born to channel the reader response to his ''Diet for a New America''. EarthSave did outreach to the non-vegetarian public, with information tables and vegetarian social activities such as vegetarian Thanksgiving potlucks, and activism on vegetarian, animal, and food system issues. EarthSave sponsored a youth-outreach group, YES (Youth for Environmental Sanity), which toured the country visiting high schools and raising awareness of the EarthSave message. EarthSave continues to promote healthy, environmentally sound food choices. As of January 2022, its head office is in Chatsworth, California. Earthsave Canada was established as a registered non-profit charity in British Columbia in March 1990.

Books

*'' Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth'', (1987). *''May All Be Fed: Diet For a New World'', (1992). *''Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing'', (1996). *''The Awakened Heart: Meditations on Finding Harmony in a Changing World'', 1997. *''The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World'', 2001. *''Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples'', 2006. *''The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less'', (2010),

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

, 304 pages (). *''No Happy Cows: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Food Revolution'', 2012. *''Voices of the Food Revolution: You Can Heal Your Body and Your World with Food!'', (May 6, 2013)

Films

* ''Diet for a New America'' (1991) featuring

Michael Klaper Michael A. Klaper (July 19, 1947) is an American physician, vegan health educator, conference and event speaker, and an author of articles and books of vegan medical advice. Graduating from medical school in 1972, Klaper became a vegan ten yea ...

T. Colin Campbell Thomas Colin Campbell (born March 14, 1934) is an American biochemist who specializes in the effect of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University. Campbell ...

, and

John A. McDougall John A. McDougall (born May 17, 1947) is an American physician and author. He has written a number of diet books advocating the consumption of a low-fat vegan diet based on starchy foods and vegetables. His eponymous diet, called ''The McDouga ...

* '' Super Size Me'' by Morgan Spurlock has a short interview with Robbins.Responses to Healthy at 100 – Healthy at 100 ::: by John Robbins

References

External links