We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast

by Jonathan Safran Foer

Overview

In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way.

Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response?

The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves—with our all-too-human reluctance to sacrifice immediate comfort for the sake of the future. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for growing animal products, and the consequences are catastrophic. Only collective action will save our home and way of life. And it all starts with what we eat—and don’t eat—for breakfast.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374280000
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the novels Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Here I Am, and of the nonfiction book Eating Animals. His work has received numerous awards and has been translated into thirty-six languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

February 21, 1977

Place of Birth:

Washington, D.C.

Education:

B.A. in Philosophy, Princeton University, 1999

Table of Contents

I Unbelievable 1

II How to Prevent the Greatest Dying 73

III Only Home 103

IV Dispute with the Soul 145

V More Life 183

Appendix: 14.5 percent 51 percent 227

Notes 233

Bibliography 247

Acknowledgments 271

Editorial Reviews

06/10/2019

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.” (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Deeply contemplative and artfully creative . . . 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." —Carol Haggas, Booklist

"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.'" —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

2019-06-11
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.

Kirkus Reviews

Narrating his own work, Jonathan Safran Foer admits he doesn't have the answer to the world's most imminent problem, which he is purposely slow to identify and confront. The thing is, climate change is overwhelming and heady. The problem isn't that we don't know about the threat it presents—it's that we don't believe in the threat enough to make the necessary radical changes. For Foer, this work of interrogation is as much personal as global, and his performance reveals as much. He is steady, but not overconfident. His tone stays even, despite his creeping doubt. This call to action is a thought experiment in which Foer debates himself. A more experienced narrator would have delivered a more nuanced performance, but perhaps imperfect action is the point. A.S. 2020 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2019 - AudioFile