Comfortably Unaware

by Richard Oppenlander

Overview

In Comfortably Unaware, Dr. Richard Oppenlander tackles the crucial issue of global depletion as it relates to food choice. We should all be committed, he tells us, to understanding the reality and consequences of our diet, the footprint it makes on our environment, and seek food products that are in the best interest of all living things. His forthright information and stark mental images are often disturbing-and that's how it should be. As the guardians of Planet Earth, we need to be shaken out of our complacency, to stop being comfortably unaware, and to understand the measures we must take to ensure the health and well-being of our planet-and of ourselves. Oppenlander

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780825306228
Publisher:	Beaufort Books, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/13/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	649,565
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dr. Oppenlander has devoted his life to improving the health of our planet. Since 1976, he has extensively studied the effect our food choices have on our health and their immense impact on our environment. He is also president and founder of a sustainable organic food production business. He has been a featured guest appearing on radio shows, in newspapers, and in magazines, and speaks around the country about Global Depletion--the loss of our resources, food supply, and our own health.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Defining Global Depletion and Use of the Word "Sustainable" xix

I So It All Goes: Defining global depletion as it relates to food (where global warming fits) 1

II For the Unaware: Pertinent facts and figures 9

III It's in the Air: Depletion as it affects oxygen and the quality of the air that we breathe 15

IV Rainforests: Depleting the lungs of our planet 21

V Whose Land Is It Anyway?: Global depletion of our land 27

VI Water and Oceans: Part 1: Drinking water and sustainability-where is it all going? Part 2: Our oceans-what is happening below the surface? 39

VII Pollution: Yes, that would be you 53

VIII Why Do We Do It?: A word about nutrition-do you really care? 59

IX Tread Lightly: Entering the no-wake zone 81

X How We Arrived at This Point: Observations, predictions, and solutions 97

XI Not-to-Read Chapter: A closer look at the animals 135

XII A Final Word 147

End Notes 149

Index 165

Editorial Reviews

Oppenlander’s powerful message—that “our current food choices detrimentally affect climate change and global warming more so than do all the cars, planes, trucks, buses and trains used worldwide,” and therefore veganism is the key to our survival—isn’t well served by his presentation. While he appears to have shocking facts on his side (“80 percent of the world’s starving children live in countries where food surpluses are fed to animals that are then killed and eaten by more well-off individuals in developed countries”), he makes gratuitous arguments that undermine his own credibility. Rather than simply applaud Al Gore’s work on the risk that energy consumption poses for Earth’s future, the author accuses him of avoiding truths inconvenient to him, because of “ties to the current livestock industry”—an allegation that Oppenlander admits is only speculative. More serious is Oppenlander’s glossing over the pragmatics of how any politician could make headway on the issue in a post–Citizens United political landscape. The billions of dollars the meat industry would pour into opposing any effort to ban meat consumption goes unaddressed, as does the challenge of changing the thinking of people whose ancestors have been carnivores for hundreds of thousands of years. Agent: Jenée Arthur, Jenée Arthur Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly