Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis 1st Edition

by Christopher D. Cook (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-1595580849

ISBN-10: 1595580840

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If we are what we eat, then, as Christopher D. Cook contends in this powerful look at the food industry, we are not in good shape. The facts speak for themselves: more than 75 million Americans suffered from food poisoning last year, and 5,000 of them died; 67 percent of American males are overweight, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States and supersizing is just the tip of the iceberg: the way we make and eat food today is putting our environment and the very future of food at risk.

Diet for a Dead Planet takes us beyond Fast Food Nation to show how our entire food system is in crisis. Corporate control of farms and supermarkets, unsustainable drives to increase agribusiness productivity and profits, misplaced subsidies for exports, and anemic regulation have all combined to produce a grim harvest. Food, our most basic necessity, has become a force behind a staggering array of social, economic, and environmental epidemics.

Yet there is another way. Cook argues cogently for a whole new way of looking at what we eat—one that places healthy, sustainably produced food at the top of the menu for change. In the words of Jim Hightower, “If you eat, read this important book!”

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A far-reaching takedown of the American food industry . . . further explores the stomach-churning realm described by Eric Schlosser." —Mother Jones

"A book that forces you to look at things that you took for granted. Like breakfast." —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Provides the big picture, along with fascinating details, to motivate change before it’s too late." —Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet

About the Author

Christopher D. Cook is an author and award-winning investigative journalist whose work has appeared in Harper’s, Mother Jones, the Christian Science Monitor, The Nation, and The Economist. He lives in San Francisco.

Paperback: 326 pages
Publisher: The New Press; 1 edition (May 29, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1595580840
ISBN-13: 978-1595580849
Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 4 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #647,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #43 in Genetically Engineered Food Nutrition
- #1295 in Social Services & Welfare (Books)
- #1616 in Ecology (Books)

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phbair

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Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Prompt and as promised

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Eve Gabriel

Diet for a Dead Planet

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A well written and informative review of the current food situation.
Well researched and presented, and easy to read.
Chock full of facts, and the varied, related food topics are sure to grab a reader.
Resources at the end of the book guide you to organizations and sources that
further your education.

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Cwn_Annwn

You are what you eat

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2010

Format: Paperback

The author does such a good job of showing what utter rats agribusiness/chain grocery stores/pesticide companies are I have to give this a five star rating. Environmental damage, exploitive labor practices, factory farms, unhealthy and at times out and out toxic food supply, destruction of the family farms, the FDA/USDA being there more to see to it that big food gets what they want instead of protecting the public. All of this is covered in Diet for a Dead Planet. Even the farm subsidies, which the average American probably thinks goes to prop up family farms is more a welfare program for the super wealthy who get paid for land they own that they don't farm. David Rockefeller and Ted Turner, along with corporations like Chevron and Dupont rake in the dough from these programs, not to mention big agribusiness firms.

Probably the only annoyance in this book is he treads politically correct waters when talking about the exploitive labor practices used on illegal (and legal) immigrants by agribusiness. Its also very Americentric. I am really grateful to live in a country that while it is far from perfect, has higher food standards and doesn't allow all this toxic stuff into the food supply like America does and about a third of the fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products on the shelves in Denmark are organic.

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Mona

An Analysis of American Agricultural Mayhem

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2006

Format: Paperback

Christopher D. Cook's latest book Diet for a Dead Planet offers the American public with a wake up call view of the food industry today. As an investigative journalist, he gives a complete overview of the socioeconomic and political ills facing food production. He begins the supermarkets and ends with the global agricultural market.

Cook inspects the multifaceted complexities which have arisen due to cheap labor, often exploited and without healthcare. He also depicts the plight of migrant workers, processed food, and pesticides manipulatively spread over crops with the able assistance of government subsidies. The findings are thorough, compelling, and difficult to ingest at times. However, they are warranted as he introduces authorities to backup his claims.

The statistics Cook presents are real, yet harsh. Yearly, 75 million Americans are sickened by the food they eat, while an estimated 67 million birds are killed by the millions of pounds of toxic agricultural pesticides sprayed on crops. Meanwhile, farmers that remain take home only about 19 cents per food dollar spent by the average consumer (this is in comparison to 37 cents in 1980 and 47 cents in 1952) according to Cook.

Cook closely examines every branch of the food industry. In doing so, he reaches a necessary reason for change. The socioeconomic, environmental, and political injustices currently practiced weigh heavily on America's well being. Within each chapter, he goes into great detail explaining, expanding, and scoping the historical difficulties and how they adversely impact today's food industry. Beyond that conclusion, Cook explains that unless a new solution, specifically changing how food is "made", Americans will continue to spiral downward.

Cook clearly maps out the issues beleaguering and tormenting many workers in the food industry from farmers, supermarket employees to higher up executives. All problems such as exploited migrant workers, sickened Americans, corporate control, and government subsidies carry negative consequences for the future if nothing is done soon. In Cook's last chapter, he outlines a solution which focuses on changing the role of the food industry in the future. This book is powerful in its own right. However, more pages need to be devoted to envisioning that solution than one final chapter. I hope to see more works from Christopher Cook. I recommend this book as a read for anyone who eats. This is also a book for anyone who wants to learn the truth about a topic in urgent need of active change and tired of complacency.

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