Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador
We Are Eating the Earth
Book

We Are Eating the Earth

The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate

Michael Grunwald
Simon & Schuster, 2025
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9

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Humanity must change its ways to avoid a climate disaster. To date, most climate damage mitigation has focused on replacing fossil fuels with energy sources that don’t emit greenhouse gases. But humankind’s current land use and food production are responsible for fully one-third of the climate burden. In this true-life tale of powerful personalities grappling with the nuances of science and politics, journalist Michael Grunwald artfully explores what needs to change – and what’s possible to change – while it can still make a difference.

Summary

People need to change their food production methods and land use.

The world is heating up due to human activity. The main culprit is fossil fuels, but land use and other food-related issues are responsible for one-third of global warming. To avoid the worst effects of climate change, people must produce and consume food more efficiently, grow more forests, and stop turning existing forests into farmland. Increasing population, additional demand for meat, and climate change itself exacerbate the situation.

Humanity has revolutionized agriculture before, but doing it again won’t be simple. Strategies include reducing food waste, eating substitutes instead of actual meat and dairy, boosting farmland’s ability to store carbon, and using technology to improve agricultural efficiency.

Using crops to replace fossil fuels is counterproductive.

In the 1970s, distilling ethanol from corn became a popular strategy for reducing US dependence on foreign oil. In the early 2000s, the agricultural sector pushed fuel from plants as more climate-friendly than fossil fuels.

When former Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) attorney Tim Searchinger delved into the scientific...

About the Author

Investigative journalist and author Michael Grunwald reports on complex issues for, among others, The Washington Post and Politico. He is also the author of The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise and The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era.

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