Sources for Thinking About Climate Change and Diet re Foer's We Are the Weather

 

My spur to deeper inquiry & perhaps some knowledge

This brief bibliography and videography is an addendum to my review of this book. The review was critical (and included praise as well). I stated several contentions that I didn't cite. This brief piece provides some sources of my thinking and my general outlook toward the challenge of climate change, diet, and our political economy. Needless to say, this could be a much, much longer document. But I think it covers sources for particular contentions that I made and informs any reader about my general attitude on these issues. 

1. 1     Climate Change Generally

1. Two thinkers who've most influenced how I think about climate change

1. 1. William Patrick Ophuls. His books (linked to my reviews)

1. Ecology & the Politics of Scarcity Revisited by William Ophuls & A. Stephen Boyan, Jr.

2. Requiem for Modern Politics: The Tragedy of the Enlightenment & the Challenge of the Next Millennium by William Ophuls

3. Back to the Future: A Review of Plato’s Revenge: Politics in the Age of Ecology by Patrick (William) Ophuls

4. Decline & Fall in the 21st Century: A Review of Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail by William Ophuls

5. Apologies to the Grandchildren: Reflections on Our Ecological Predicament, Its Deeper Causes, and Its Political Consequences by William (Patrick) Ophuls

2. Thomas Homer-Dixon, The following three books by Homer-Dixon create a trilogy of books dealing with climate change and related issues. 

1. The Ingenuity Gap: Can We Solve the Problems of the Future? by Thomas Homer-Dixon

2. The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization by Thomas Homer-Dixon (to my chagrin, I realize that I haven’t written a review of this fine work. Something to fix). 

3. Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril by Thomas Homer-Dixon

2. My best resource about the current situation & prospects regarding climate change: Uninhabitable Earth; Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells (2019)

2. On Diet in General

1. Gary Taubes: Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007)) and Why We Get Fat & What We Can Do About It (2011) & all his books published since then. 

2. Nina Teicholz, Big Fat Lie (2014) and this 2021 Youtube video, “The Science & Politics of Red Meat 2021” 

3. On Agriculture, Plant & Livestock

1. Sacred Cow, documentary film available on Amazon & iTunes. (There is a companion book as well, but I haven’t read it yet.) 

2. Kiss the Ground documentary film available on Netflix. 

3. Eating Less Meat Won’t Save the Planet. Here’s Why and   Are Cows really Bad for the Planet? Why did we start blaming them?  From the “What I’ve Learned” video essayist Joseph Everett. (Although somewhat redundant, it’s worth your time to watch both. As usual with Everett, thoroughly researched and well-presented.) 

4. Sustainable/Regenerative Agriculture

1. Changing Paradigms: Regenerative Agriculture: a Solution to our Global Crisis? | Full Documentary. About Australian farmer Charlie Massy about his experience in traditional and regenerative farming. 

2. How regenerative farming can help heal the planet and human health. Charles Massy TEDx talk. 

3. Running out of Time | Documentary on Holistic Management. Zimbabwe farmer Allan Savory on holistic management of his farm. 

4. Cows, Carbon & Climate. Virginia farmer Joel Salatin’s TEDx talk. 

5. Mainstream Press Articles: Recent & Relevant

1. Meat Is Murder. But You Know That Already by Mark Bittman in the NYT is a well-considered review of We Are the Weather that anticipated many of my concerns about Foer’s shortcomings. I still nevertheless disagree with Bittman on some points. He still peddles the “meat is bad for you” line, but he understands the need for pricing accurately (all costs of production of any foods), the problems of industrial plant agriculture, Big Food, & junk food. N.B. I almost didn’t read this review because I found the title insipid, and I feared that the article would prove likewise. I’m happy that this didn’t prove so.  

2. The Washington Post ran three op-ed pieces in one day (15 May), well after I posted my review, but still relevant. They are: 

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/beef-isnt-bhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/ditching-meat-isnt-the-answer-for-climate-change-better-farming-is/2021/05/14/86001c36-b426-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.htmleing-banned-but-its-always-a-staple-of-the-culture-war-diet/2021/05/14/6c58919e-b423-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html

2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-meat-industry-is-doing-exactly-what-big-oil-does-to-fight-climate-action/2021/05/14/831e14be-b3fe-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html

3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/ditching-meat-isnt-the-answer-for-climate-change-better-farming-is/2021/05/14/86001c36-b426-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.html

6. A rebuttal site with a downloadable pdf attachment from “What I’ve Learned” guy Joseph Everett in response to criticisms of his two video essays listed above. This guy does his homework. 

7. As you can imagine, this list could go on forever, and should. We’re still learning and will all have to constantly calibrate our positions as new (dependable) information becomes available. Thanks to Jonathan Safran Foer for starting my internal conversation and the spur to look into the issues his book raised.