Sustainability & Renewable Energy

Do you consider yourself an environmental ally? Maybe you recycle your household goods, ride a bike, and avoid too much air travel. But did you know that the primary driver of climate change isn't plastics, or cars, or airplanes? Did you know that it's actually our industrialized food system? In this fascinating new book, authors Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone share new research, intriguing infographics, and compelling arguments to show how making even minimal dietary changes can have a lasting impact on our planet.

Brian Kateman, founder of the Reducetarian Foundation, presents more than 70 original essays from influential thinkers on how the simple act of cutting 10% or more of the meat from your diet can transform your life and the planet. This book features contributions from Seth Godin, Kathy Freston, Joel Fuhrman, Jeffrey Sachs, Bill McKibben, Naomi Oreskes, Peter Singer, and more.

Most of us are aware that many animals are threatened by extinction—the plight of creatures such as polar bears, tigers, and whales has been well publicized. While this is typically attributed to climate change and habitat destruction, few people realize that there is a direct link to consumer demand for cheap meat. Some may see intensive farming as a necessary evil. After all, we need to produce more food for a growing global population and are led to believe that squeezing animals into factory farms and growing crops in vast, chemical-soaked prairies is efficient and leaves land free for wildlife—but this is far from the truth. With the limits of the planet's resources now seemingly within touching distance, awareness is growing about how the wellbeing of society depends on a thriving natural world.

Should We Eat Meat? is less an ideological tract for or against carnivorousness than a careful evaluation of meat's roles in human diets and the environmental and health consequences of its production and consumption. The author describes a vision of "rational meat eating", where environmental and health impacts are reduced, animals are treated more humanely, and alternative sources of protein make a higher contribution.

Even beyond what we already know about "food miles" and eating locally, the global food system is a major contributor to climate change, producing as much as one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. How we farm, what we eat, and how our food gets to the table all have an impact—and our government and the food industry are willfully ignoring the issue rather than addressing it.