Woody Harrelson
c/o Creative Artists Agency
9830 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California 90212-1825
Dear Woody,
Please find enclosed, my screenplay, “Inherit the Earth,” based on a true story. You are the man for this role. I understand you are concerned and passionate with the same issues this movie deals with. Imagine playing the role of a mid-western Middle School Art Teacher who was fired for incorporating kindness in his art lessons despite being told not to.
The story garnered worldwide attention in 2007-2008. Even the beef industry followed the media analysis of the story’s impact. The story has been covered by CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, USA Today, Associated Press, UPI, and many more. This story has mass appeal as the issues deal with every part of our lives.
“Inherit the Earth” is similar to a movie produced years ago, “Inherit the Wind,” about a public school teacher who was honest with his students about evolution. “The Scopes Monkey Trials,” garnered world-wide attention. When I was fired for teaching my students about veganism, the world heard that as well; however, the State of Illinois Board of Education closed the hearings from the public; for fear that Humane Education---hidden from students and teachers---would enter into curriculum across the country - just as Evolution is now taught in schools. “Inherit the Earth” will help get Humane Education in schools.
“Inherit the Earth” is based on actual court proceedings and the events surrounding - namely, the nations largest recall of beef - 143,000,000 LBS from the Westland/Hallmark company - the number two supplier to the school lunch program! The recall was too late, as most of the children in public schools ate the Mad Cow infested lunches between the years 2006 to 2008. The human variant of Mad Cow is called Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease which takes as little as 10 years to show signs and is 100% fatal. The children who ate that meat could be the dropping like flies tragedies of tomorrow.
Imagine the surprise of the evil villains when Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of "The China Study," showed up to testify at the hearing. Well, the sad, flesh-addicted morons were unmoved and chose to continue lying to children rather than keeping Warwak on. “Inherit the Earth” will bring this information into the public realm of discussion, as well as, the connected issues of bullying, school shootings, and our tendencies toward violence.
"Inherit the Earth," is the movie the world has been waiting for - and desperately needs. It connects the dots between Humane Education, the school lunch program, bullying, the Health Care Crisis, the plight of the animals, children, Earth and our ultimate future. It address not only the source of most of our problems, but offers a solution. "Inherit the Earth," will make people laugh, cry, learn and change.
Dr. Will Tuttle writes:
"This case of tenured art teacher Dave Warwak being fired by Fox River Grove Middle School for bringing truth and compassion to his students is not only fascinating, illuminating, and ironic, but potentially explosive as well. I am struck by the enormous amount of light this case shines on all the most pressing issues our culture faces: the angst of our children, the devastation of our environment, the domination of our schools, government, and media by powerful corporate interests, the hidden violence at the core of our culture that manifests as abuse, disease, and war, and our ongoing inability to deal effectively with our dilemmas.
There is an old Zen saying: “Whatever you ignore most forcefully will control you the most.” The Peep Show [Inherit the Earth] offers a precious glimpse straight into the living reality of the shadow of oppression that generates our suffering. Dave Warwak’s quest to inform children about the realities that matter to them most is, I believe, an example of authentic education. That he was quickly and ruthlessly forced out of his position by the local authorities reveals the essence of our dilemma today. Dave Warwak’s story is our story: the story of our indoctrination by a culture of reductionism and violence.
I believe that what happened to Dave Warwak in Illinois could happen in almost any public school district in our nation, and this is why it is so important to understand his story and its implications. Are we awake and loving enough to care wisely about our children, our Earth, animals, people, and future generations? With their innate sensitivity, perhaps our children can teach us something - but only if they can somehow avoid the cultural onslaught that strips them of their capacities. This case reveals that onslaught clearly for those with eyes to see.
For the school board to claim that Dave Warwak turned his classroom into a "zone of indoctrination" is not only ironic, but ludicrous. It is clear that the entire school is a zone of indoctrination, complete with posters promoting dairy products and a cafeteria offering a continuous supply of foods derived from terrified and abused animals. The school and its teachers and administrators present this cruelty as normal in an overwhelmingly pervasive way to impressionable children. The school is itself an institution embedded in a culture that uses all its other institutions to do exactly the same thing. Dave Warwak was providing a small counterpoint of awareness, compassion, and sensitivity to this flood of indoctrination to which all children in our culture are routinely subjected and for this he could not be tolerated. That he should be painted by the school board and media as the "indoctrinator" is beyond absurd, and what is astonishing is how difficult this is for most people to comprehend. Dave Warwak was creative and honest in his efforts to help students rise above culturally-imposed attitudes of violence and cruelty toward animals, and because of this he was viewed as dangerous to the status quo. In actuality, he was fulfilling a higher mandate, and for this he deserves respect and honor, not the disrespect and abuse that he has been forced to endure for questioning a culture that is ferocious in its routine cruelty toward billions of animals used for food." Dr. Will Tuttle PhD., The World Peace Diet. Eating For Spiritual Health And Social Harmony
Dr. T. Colin Campbell writes:
"Certain ideas, in my mind, are sacred. One of these is honesty. Another is freedom of speech, at least here in the United States. And a third is the right to a good education, especially for young people. I do not claim to know all the details surrounding Dave Warwak's dismissal from his school post in northern Illinois. But I do not need to know everything because these three sacred concepts were being maligned.
With this information in mind, I quickly caught a flight to Chicago's O'Hare airport then drove north for an hour to testify in his hearing before a hearing officer, the school superintendent and the attorneys for the school board. I was not disappointed. I was asked to give under oath my views on the truthfulness of the posters on dairy that were displayed in the school building and that touted the alleged health benefits of milk for children.
I personally felt offended, not only for Dave but also for his students and, in a larger sense, for the American public who are too often entrapped in ignorance. How dare a school administrator and a school board take the extraordinary action—tantamount to a near-crime in my book—of dismissing a tenured teacher for sharing with his students his thoughts on the origins of violence and his related thoughts on the association of certain foods with poor health? Isn't a teacher's sharing of new ideas what education is all about?
If I had any further reservations about the veracity of this story, they were largely dispelled by Dave's willingness, indeed courage, to openly challenge his dismissal. Any unmentioned baggage could be exposed in such a setting. In a way, I felt a certain sadness with this episode for I was seeing, once again, how otherwise good people have become so thoroughly indoctrinated for so long in the health virtues of milk, thus leading them to equate Dave's views as heresy, perhaps also believing that he was doing something really evil. Let there be no mistake, the scientific evidence now questioning the alleged health value of milk has become substantial and is worthy of public dissemination, especially to children.
Although I did not directly testify to Dave's interest in teaching, through art, his ideas on non-violence, I also believe that it is well past time that schoolchildren also be informed of this very important consideration as well. As I write this, I am still so disbelieving that this event ever occurred. When are we going to come to our senses?
I repeat: I do not know the full details of this unfortunate event in Dave's life. But I know enough for now. Dave Warwak on this basis of my background information and my witnessing the trial was teaching compassion and health, as he must. He also had the courage to be bold in expressing his opinions. His actions are not only a great lesson for young people, they also are the stuff that made this country great." Dr. T. Colin Campbell PhD. Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University
A True Hero
by Mary Hoffman
When I heard that Dave Warwak was fired from Fox River Grove Middle School in Illinois for his attempts to teach Humane Education, I thought about Socrates who was executed thousands of years ago for his teachings. That ancient Greek philosopher was accused of “corrupting the youth.”
I thought how any attempt to teach the truth to youth seems always to be met with opposition and resistance by those who are really corrupt and want to keep the status quo at any cost.
Dave Warwak uses his sense of humor and his artistic talent to help make this a kinder and more gentle world. Isn’t this exactly what the world needs?
Inherit the Earth is a fascinating true chronological account of the events surrounding the unwarranted dismissal of a compassionate tenured art teacher, Dave Warwak, from the Fox River Grove Middle School because he taught the truth to the children in his classes about the harmful effects of eating animal flesh (meat) and bodily secretions (dairy).
While we were reading the documentation and accounts contained in this book we kept thinking about three Bible verses:
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
NIV
and...
Matthew 18:6
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
NASB
and...
Proverbs 12:10
10 A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast,
But the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
NASB
To us, Inherit the Earth
represents the struggle between good and evil: the good being represented in
the person of Dave Warwak who tried to teach the truth about the horrors of
animal agriculture and the harm and suffering these industries are causing
humans, other animals, and the environment; and evil being represented by the
parents and school board members who bought into the lies of corporate
interests to the detriment of their children. Dave Warwak was setting
the children free; he didn't want them to stumble over the lies laid out
before them; and he wanted them to have compassion and recognize the
wickedness of farming animals.
Dave Warwak always told his students to look up the truth for themselves and verify the facts, so that they could confirm the truthfulness of what they were being taught. But most of the parents and the the entire school board wanted to preserve the lies, so they used their power to try to silence this art teacher, but all they did was shine light on their wickedness and exposed it to the whole world.
Frank and Mary Hoffman, http://all-creatures.org
John Robbins gives thanks:
Thanks, Dave, for all you are doing to dispel the darkness. Reading all the articles on your website about the recent developments at Fox River Grove, brought many feelings to my heart. Mostly gratitude to you for your efforts, and also sadness at the resistance we can encounter when we start speaking out and being voices of the greater conscience. But the trick is to keep going, keep your spirits flowing, even in the face of entrenched denial.
I send much peace and great blessings to you,
John Robbins, Author of Diet for a New America, The Food Revolution
Persecuting Men of Vision
By Robert Cohen
A book burning was held recently. Welcome to the new United States of Amerika, a place in which Homeland Security means protecting our children against subversive ideas such as the promotion of compassion to animals. Such as the vegetarian lifestyle.
A vegan teacher dared to distribute books by John Robbins to his students. Those books were joyously burned at a barbecue in which animals were roasted by members of an Illinois community. What was his crime?
Let me quote Mrs. Lovett in the Johnny Depp movie, Sweeney Todd, brilliantly directed by Tim Burton. When asked what crime a barber was prosecuted for and transported away for a life of hard labor in a ship's galley, she responded, "His crime? Foolishness."
In real-life 21t century terms, Dave Warwak's middle school crime was to inspire his art students (just as Peter Max once did) that compassion to animals and people was a blessing and not a crime.
Dave Warwak took the burdens of the world upon his own shoulders. Like many men of wisdom and courage throughout history who have been honored by those who are touched by greatness, Dave has been persecuted for society's sins.
I cannot do anything other than compare Dave's continuing struggle to Galileo.
Long ago, Galileo turned his attention to a new frontier, and in doing so, angered religious leaders. By placing lenses inside of a long tube, Galileo's primitive telescope allowed him to discover four moons revolving around the planet Jupiter. His invention was destroyed and Galileo imprisoned. Man's laws gave this fanatic and visionary two choices: remain in prison or recant his discovery and previous testimony. Galileo had no choice but to exist in a world in which his truth became a threat to the men of his time. Dispelling myths has always been dangerous to one's health. Dave refuses to betray his values or his mission. Welcome this new vegan visionary into a movement badly in need of heroes.
Robert Cohen, Author of Milk - The Deadly Poison
Pamela Rice says ...
“Warwak is an extremist, yes. But have vegans forgotten that everything around us is extremely horrible: animal cruelty in unfathomable numbers, a planet imploding because of animal agriculture, and a human health crisis?
Why can’t vegans get uppity like every other constituency that is or ever was? Do people think that the meat world is going to just kick over and die one day?
We vegans know the score. It’s up to us and no others to take a stand on these issues. We cannot count on meat eaters to see things the way we do…
Warwak made a strong one stand. We vegans don’t know how to process it. Unfortunately, the kids are the ones most to suffer from today’s agriculture policies.
Warwak gets it. As a teacher, he has to look into their eyes.”
Pamela Rice, Author of 101 Reasons Why I'm A Vegetarian.
“Fox River Grove Middle School is standing education on its head when it cracks down on instructors who teach our kids about kindness and good health,” says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “Mr. Warwak is exposing the meat industry’s dirty secrets, and his students have every right to know the truth behind their food choices.”
Nathan Runkle says,
"We believe that in a time when there’s so much violence, especially in schools, that teachers who show kindness and compassion for all life should be commended," said Nathan Runkle, executive director of the Chicago-based Mercy for Animals advocacy group, which lobbies against factory farms. "It’s appropriate for students to learn about the horrendous cruelty that animals endure on factory farms, and about the benefits of a healthy diet."
"We believe there would be no controversy if Mr. Warwak was talking about, let’s say, the Michael Vick case and the cruelty of dog fighting," Runkle said. "I think his case shows there’s a disconnect of what’s considered cruel for animals considered pets versus those meant for human consumption."
Bruce Friedrich says,
"It’s a sad day when a teacher is punished for telling students the truth: that by going vegetarian they will dramatically improve their health while saving animals from cruelty so extreme it would warrant felony-level cruelty charges in the state of Illinois if the victims were dogs and cats, rather than chickens, pigs, and cows. In a time of growing violence in schools, a teacher who is bringing a message of compassion should be applauded, not punished. Students in every school should have teachers like Mr. Warwak to tell them that the “chicken nuggets” they consume in the cafeteria were once living, breathing animals who were crammed into filthy sheds and pumped full of drugs before having their throats slit while still conscious.
Mr. Warwak was also apparently distributing copies of John Robbins’ book “The Food Revolution”, which documents not just the cruelty of the meat industry, but also the environmental and health benefits of a vegetarian diet. In these days of skyrocketing childhood obesity, hopefully Mr. Warwak’s students will take this health message to heart: according to the American Dietetic Association, a vegan diet is appropriate for all ages and vegans have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity than meat-eaters" Bruce Friedrich, Vice President PETA
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, vol.7. no.2
To Find the Cost of Freedom: Theorizing and Practicing a Critical Pedagogy of Consumption: Don’t Get Mad, Get Vegan!
By Jennifer A. Sandlin, Richard Kahn, David Darts, Kevin Tavin
"In this way, the immediate pedagogical lesson to Warwak‘s students was perhaps a kind of Biblical injunction: Thou shall not transgress the hidden curriculum of food as it is prescribed from on high, which students further learned is vengefully backed by a type of bureaucratic penal system which threatens detention, suspension, and ultimately one‘s removal from school altogether for not upholding school dietary norms. Alternatively, the students may have learned from the larger media battle that took place during and after Warwak‘s firing that contemporary political resistance necessarily occurs in the media as a zone of struggle. Perhaps some of the students were able to evaluate and compare how news stories (mis)characterized events as they knew them to be true and so additionally gained a type of critical media literacy in this way. Or, finally, maybe at least a few students came to realize that due to their collective critical work—at however limited a level—material conditions did change in their school! Rotten and diseased meat was exposed and removed from their cafeteria kitchen; and not just from their own school but from many others as well around the nation in fact, as a coast-to-coast dialogue was raised that exposed pervasive corruption and collusion between the meat and dairy industries, government administrators charged with regulating school food, and the local schools providing the lunches in question."
http://www.jceps.com/PDFs/07-2-05.pdf
My Lack of Courage
by Robert Cohen
After reading today's Notmilk letter, you might be motivated to send an email to a Chicago Tribune reporter who wrote the story of a vegan teacher who no longer teaches Chicago kids about milk's dangers.
You might also consider sending an email to today's hero, a teacher by the name of Dave Warwak. Somebody should make a movie about this man's exploits. I see Robin Williams playing the feature role.
In past years, I have had the courage to walk into a dairy class at Penn State university, facing two hundred very angry sons and daughters of dairy farmers. Two of them filed bogus charges against me with authorities. One with the Penn State police, and one with the United States Department of Agriculture anti-terrorism squad who later showed up at my front door.
In past years, I have taken on Monsanto and gone to federal court against The Company and their team of legal reps, King & Spalding. In past years I have appeared on national television and pointed my finger at USDA undersecretaries, accusing them of conflicts of interests by working for the dairy industry. I have accused congressmen and senators of taking bribes. I have taken on two presidents, one of whom enacted legislation (the Economic Espionage Act) directly against me while I was in federal court seeking to get Monsanto's smoking gun research (the Richard, Odaglia, & Deslex study) legally released.
I have had dead animals accompanied by out of state milk cartons thrown onto my lawn. The FBI has arrested two people who made threats against me. One possessed plastique explosives.
I have not feared many things, but there is one thing above all which terrifies me, and I will forever avoid.
Local school systems.
Every mother has an agenda. Do I dare take on dairy in the schools? No way! Been there, done that. One cannot beat city hall or a local school system.
Not only do I fear local moms, but those spineless eunuchs lacking principles, called principals.
Which brings me to this week's Chicago Tribune story.
Vegan Teacher May Lose His Job
By Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks, September 7, 2007
Dave Warwak has taught art at Fox River Grove Middle School for eight years, and for most of that time, he was happy to eat meatloaf, hot dogs or whatever else the cafeteria workers dished out.
But in January he became a vegan and started spreading the word about the benefits of a meatless diet to students at the McHenry County school. He even built an exhibit out of candy that depicted animals in cages and as road kill.
On Thursday, Warwak said his crusade might cost him his job. He said he was told to stay away from class this week by administrators he described as "ardent meat-eaters."
Warwak, of Williams Bay, Wis., near Lake Geneva, said he is scheduled to meet with Fox River Grove District 3 officials Monday about the discussions he's had in class about vegetarianism, which excludes meats, and veganism, which excludes meats and other animal products such as milk. Officials asked him to leave the school Tuesday because he refused to stop talking about the harms humans cause animals, he said.
Principal Tim Mahaffy declined to comment Thursday, calling the dispute a personnel issue. He would not discuss issues raised by Warwak or verify the teacher's version of events.
The candy display came down after three days, when Mahaffy decided it was too much of a "PETA advertisement," Warwak said. The battle over diet lessons resumed this week after Warwak distributed the book "The Food Revolution" to his 8th-grade students and talked to his classes about vegetarianism.
"It's probably one of the most life-changing books a person can read," Warwak said of the book, written by John Robbins and subtitled, "How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and the World."
"It's about how we're destroying the planet with pollution from factory farming," Warwak said. "It's about health. It's about living longer."
Neither the American Civil Liberties Union nor the Illinois Education Association had an opinion on the case, but Warwak drew support from animal rights advocates.
"We believe that in a time when there's so much violence, especially in schools, that teachers who show kindness and compassion for all life should be commended," said Nathan Runkle, executive director of the Chicago-based Mercy for Animals advocacy group, which lobbies against factory farms.
"It's appropriate for students to learn about the horrendous cruelty that animals endure on factory farms, and about the benefits of a healthy diet."
Runkle said his group plans to write a letter to the school in support of Warwak.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, is giving Warwak its "Compassionate Educator" award, vice president Bruce Friedrich said. The group is also sending the school a letter in support of the teacher.
Warwak, meanwhile, sees no problem discussing the topic he cares about passionately during art classes.
"It's art in every way," he said. "Art is something different for everyone...Art is like philosophy."
District 3 Supt. Jacqueline Krause was out of the office Thursday and unavailable for comment. Warwak, who said he makes $55,000 per year, said he feels a responsibility to warn his students about the dangers of what he calls an unhealthy diet and to open their minds to new ideas.
"I'm telling kids, 'Don't believe everything you see and everything you read,'" he said. "I'm trying to get them curious enough to check things out for themselves."
I lack the courage to do what this teacher has done. I will never again try to take on my local school system. My children went through years of ridicule and tireless Gotmilk jokes after my first (successful) attempt to change the milk from GMO to organic in 1994. I have learned my lesson.
Your letter of support can be forwarded to Jeff Long, the reporter: jjlong@tribune.com and to Dave: dwarwak@gmail.com
Dave's very cool website: http://veganschool101.blogspot.com
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2757
Kimberly Steele writes:
"Eating animals, bullying, school shootings... all are part of a larger violent picture of a society that tries to maintain status quo at all costs.
Dave Warwak dared to connect the dots in order to reach out to the children he taught and was fired. The corrupt Fox River Grove system that fired Dave Warwak would not listen when Colin T. Campbell, author of The China Study, only the largest, most comprehensive study of diet and health ever made, testified at Dave's hearing.
Those indoctrinated into the culture of eating animals would often rather ignore all the distressing signs around them, including the ones coming from their own bodies than to shake off their conditioning.
The difference between Dave and the school system he challenged was that Dave actually cared about the health and well being of children, enough to risk and then lose his job. The Fox River Grove school administrators who fired him proved beyond a doubt they were far more concerned with kickbacks and subsidies from Big Ag than the welfare of children, anything to service their addiction to eating their rump of dead pig without suffering those annoying stirs of conscience."
Kimberly Steele, Author of Forever Fifteen, and Honey
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