I grant 5 stars for the message and 0 stars for the delivery. Exact quote from page 64: "This is a book about the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment. Yet I have managed to conceal that for the previous sixty-three pages." As if the reader hadn't noticed...
So here's the good part: In the midst of all the media hype about electric vehicles and solar panels, Jonathan Safran Foer brings attention to the issue of planetary diet and the contribution the farming of animals is bringing to greenhouse gases. This issue shows up in "figure out your carbon footprint" apps, but this is the first time I've actually heard it talked about. It's going to take years to green up our power usage, but changing eating habits can happen overnight. Time is of the essence and this is something we can actually fix right now. If this is as big a deal as he says it is this information should be shouted from the housetops and preached in all our media.
But that's not what most of the book is about. The writer wanders, meanders, tells stories, obsesses over death, and for about 40 pages (Part IV) he indulges in practically unreadable self-dialogue in which all he says is he doesn't take his own advice and he doesn't know why. The author's advice is everybody should abstain from eating any animal products before dinner and he admits he doesn't do it.
Here's what is missing from the book: The author doesn't give any data to back up his assertation that if we all just didn't eat animals products for breakfast and lunch it would solve half the greenhouse gas problems. This advice implies there is a budget for how much we can eat in animal products daily and still save the planet. So what's the budget? He doesn't say. There is no discussion of the merits of the carbon footprint of some animals products over others. If he was advocating we all become vegans that information wouldn't matter, but he's saying just don't eat animal products before dinner. There are no suggestions for environmentally friendly replacements for the protein most of us get from, say, milk & cereal. If there is a budget, doesn't it make more sense to keep the milk (lower carbon footprint) and skip the hamburger (higher carbon footprint)? The author covers none of this -- I looked it up.
I think I can answer the author's question about why he doesn't follow his own advice: his advice doesn't make any sense. The issue is vitally important, though, and so the value to me of reading this book was to spur me to learn more about what I can do to help save the environment before I can afford an electric vehicle or solar panels.
Here's the time saver tip: to get started learning about this issue, read Section II: How to prevent the Greatest Dying, and read the Appendix, which discusses data on how animal farming contributes greenhouse gas. Skip all the rest.
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From the Publisher
We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast
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I received an advance an advance reading copy of We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast through Goodreads’ Giveaways, and my review is based on an uncorrected proof. We Are the Weather will be available in bookstores Sept. 17.I was attracted to We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer because of its title, although I am by far not a tree hugging environmentalist, subscribe to the gloom and doom of climate change, or espouse the vegan lifestyle. I didn’t — although I should have — expected the latter emphasis. After all one of Foer’s previous books was titled Eating Animals.I expected going in for this to be a discussion about climate change. And it is, just not in the way I expected. I was mentally prepared to “argue” his claims.Of course, there is no argument. Something is going on and we humans play a role. Where I draw the line generally is how minuscule our individual footprint is in a global world. That’s not to say we shouldn’t each do our part at conservation, but to expect every American to go green {and vegan} to solve worldwide problems is just ludicrous. The irony is Foer agrees with that premise.I digress. Back to the book. I found Foer’s presentation … interesting. He didn’t preach his beliefs, but rather offered anecdotal phraseology to convey his sometime dark thoughts. I found it sometimes rambling, sometimes repetitive, sometimes self-serving. Yet it {mostly} held my interest.The point of the book is Foer’s call to action. He professes as a society we need to eat fewer animal products because factory farms are a leading cause of climate change. All the other small things we do — recycle, compost, drive hybrid cars, etc. — barely make a dent. We should still do them, but they are just so small compared to factory farms. I honestly wasn’t expecting that factory farm angle.I was fascinated by some of the anecdotes Foer used. I found many of them informative and interesting. Some of them were haunting, though — especially when he described first person and family events. I also found his affection for suicide and death disturbing.I wouldn’t call this a must read. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend it for a strict environmentalist looking for affirmation. While presented differently — it took an awful lot of pages to get to the point, about 90 — this book primarily addresses two points: animal agriculture causes climate change and animal agriculture is a/the leading cause of climate change.I give the book a three star — average — rating. It was far from a horrible read, but it was a tedious read. If you’re into the vegan lifestyle, you might rate it higher. If you like bacon and eggs and cream in your coffee for breakfast, you might rate it lower.
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