We Are the Weather

June 10, 2019
In an unconventional but persuasive manner, novelist Foer (Here I Am) explains why taking meaningful action to mitigate climate change is both incredibly simple and terribly difficult. Writing from an intensely personal perspective, he describes the difference between understanding and believing, making clear that only the latter can motivate meaningful action. He argues that the dichotomy between those who accept the science of climate change and those who don’t is “trivial,” because “the only dichotomy that matters is between those who act and those who don’t.” Foer makes the case that animal agriculture is the dominant cause of climate change, concluding that “we must either let some eating habits go or let the planet go. It is as straightforward and as fraught as that.” While he calls for everyone not to eat animal products before dinner (at the very least), he is not shy about discussing his own hypocrisy, disclosing his lapses back into meat-eating after writing a book-length treatise against it (2009’s Eating Animals). Foer’s message is both moving and painful, depressing and optimistic, and it will force readers to rethink their commitment to combating “the greatest crisis humankind has ever faced.”

July 1, 2019
Extending an argument that began with Eating Animals (2009), novelist Foer (Here I Am, 2016, etc.) traces climate change squarely to human deeds and misdeeds. Our species, suggests the author, just isn't very smart when it comes to thinking ahead and doing something about errant behavior. "We are good at things like calculating the path of a hurricane," he writes, "and bad at things like deciding to get out of its way." It behooves us to get better at the latter, since ever more intense hurricanes--and blizzards, droughts, and all the other portents of a drastically changing climate--are in the offing for the near-term future. There are things we can do to ameliorate the situation: For one thing, we "need to use cars far less," but we also need to pat ourselves on the back a bit less when we do something virtuous of the sort, since there's so much else to do. One critically important thing, writes Foer, is to eat lower on the food chain. A prominent driver of climate change is deforestation, and a prominent engine of deforestation is clearing ground for animal agriculture. As he notes, "sixty percent of all mammals on Earth are animals raised for food," so lessening the number of animals slated to be eaten will decrease the rate and scale of deforestation. "It will be impossible to defuse the ticking time bomb without reducing our consumption of animal products," reads a chapter title that scarcely needs supporting text. That's a big, even revolutionary demand, but it's not an impossible one by Foer's estimation. After all, all of us humans got together and, at least for a time, cured polio because we took our vaccine, and even if we don't want to hear it, the ticking is getting louder and louder. Foer is not likely to sway climate-change skeptics, but his lucid, patient, and refreshingly short treatise is as good a place to start as any.

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September 1, 2019
How much of accepting climate change is practical and how much is theoretical? How much of what an individual can do is worthwhile in the face of massive corporate and government apathy? Such existential questions keep novelist Foer (Here I Am, 2016) up at night, after he reads bedtime stories to his children or sits at his dying grandmother's bedside. In a deeply contemplative and artfully creative series of essays, Foer shares his internal dialogues, conflicts and all. A devoted advocate of veganism, Foer, also the author of the nonfiction work, Eating Animals (2010), posits that one of the most effective ways of combating climate change is to eat less meat, dairy products, and eggs. Yet while his moral outrage remains strong, he presents his arguments with a considered objectivity, sharing his own doubts and weaknesses and admitting his personal failure to always practice what he preaches. In his desire to convince others to take action, Foer raises the philosophical bar, which is, perhaps, the most effective way of fomenting sincere and long-lasting commitment to this life-threatening crisis.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2019

Foer (Eating Animals) provides a global "call to action" in addressing the perpetual planetary climate change crises. According to Foer, 97 percent of climate scientists have reached the conclusion that the planet is warming because of human activities. He argues that popular environmentally conscious actions such as recycling, driving electric cars, and tree planting aren't "high impact" enough to make the changes needed to reduce the human impact on the planet. He believes that we can't save the planet unless we significantly reduce our food consumption of animal products; and, according to his research, animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change. This book is an argument for a collective act to eat differently--specifically, no animal products before dinner. Foer is not encouraging the "complete" elimination of eating animal products, but suggests that eating as close to vegan as possible before dinner would have a high impact on reducing greenhouse gases caused by mass animal farming. VERDICT This book provides a well-researched solution for addressing climate change and is highly recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/19.]--Gary Medina, El Camino Coll., Torrance, CA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2019

Sure, we know climate change is a problem, but what are we going to do about it? Leading novelist Foer (Here I Am), also the author of the nonfiction Eating Animals, urges action now, arguing that it all "begins at breakfast" as we've turned the planet into one giant factory for producing meat.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.