We are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer

Undoubtedly, you have seen much coverage about Greta Thunberg and the millions participating in the climate change protests (here are images from those events in publications as diverse as The Guardian and Teen Vogue). There’s been increased coverage on various aspects such as some concerning statistics and charts and the UN Climate Action Summit 2019, too.

Another way to gather more knowledgeable related to this topic is to read the newly published WE ARE THE WEATHER by Jonathan Safran Foer.  Building on his earlier best-selling work, Eating Animals, Foer now shares essays related to how “Saving the Planet begins at Breakfast.”  He divides the short pieces into five sections, and early on he writes about WWII when “ordinary people joined together to support the greater cause” and encourages his readers to take action beyond recycling and changing their driving habits. Overall, his message deals with the ability of individuals to reduce their carbon footprint by eating less meat, but it is often a rambling musing about the situation. As Foer himself writes, “this is a book about the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment. Yet I have managed to conceal that for the previous sixty-three pages.” However, his book will be worth a look from those who are exploring impactful personal action in the face of government apathy. There is no index to help researchers, but the text does include an appendix, notes and an extensive bibliography; WE ARE THE WEATHER received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.  

Foer’s new book is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a division of Macmillan – the publisher who recently announced a policy intent on limiting library access to eBooks.  If you are interested in learning more about Macmillan’s restrictions and public libraries’ efforts to provide #eBooksForAll, check out the American Library Association website. The public petition there already has over 34,000 signatures.

The Fate of Food by Little and Falter by McKibben

Here are some comments on two newer books which independently use “bleak” to describe a possible future.

THE FATE OF FOOD by Amanda Little, a professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University, is subtitled “What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World.” In over a dozen chapters, she explores some really interesting – and disruptive – ideas like Impossible Meat product development and research into why humans crave meat. The CEO of Impossible Meats says, “our mission is to completely replace animals in the food system by 2035, which we will certainly do.”  Sound far-fetched? Maybe, but starting next week the Impossible Burger will be available at every Burger King. Amanda Little’s research about our changing food supply led her to conduct interviews in a dozen countries and around the United States and she includes black and white photographs in this text. That helps envision some of these technologies and how wide-spread they could become.  Little deftly explains changes in agriculture, threats to the water supply, and evolving production processes like vertical farming.  For a quick overview, listen to Terry Gross’ interview with her on NPR’s Fresh Air. Notes and an index comprise about fifteen percent of THE FATE OF FOOD which received a starred review from Kirkus.

FALTER by Bill McKibben is a new non-fiction work by the activist author of the more fanciful Radio Free Vermont. Thirty years after publishing The End of Nature about global warming, McKibben combines his long-standing concern about Earth’s environment with apprehension about the increasing influence of technology (especially artificial intelligence and genetic engineering) in our lives. In FALTER he argues that “we’re simply so big, and moving so fast, that every decision carries enormous risk.” In the first section, Size of the Board, McKibben looks at ways that “privilege lies in obliviousness,” how we have distanced ourselves from nature, and how we already have losses due to a changing climate (e.g., “winter doesn’t reliably mean winter anymore, and so the way we’ve always viscerally told time has begun to break down.”) In a section titled Leverage, he looks at shifts in ideology involving profit-seeking and race-baiting, the short-term outlook and lack of human solidarity. His philosophical comments are interspersed with data and statistics (e.g., on establishing solar panels) and, thus, FALTER is a rather involved call to action. McKibben argues that “we have the tools (nonviolence chief among them) to allow us to stand up to the powerful and the reckless.” He has “walked the talk” by founding the environmental organization 350.org and offers in his latest work an updated, but at times, meandering treatise which is both alarming and hopeful. Approximately ten percent of FALTER is devoted to notes and an index. FALTER received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly and appears in The Washington Post list of “40 new books that tell America’s Story.”