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Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It
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.
In Anna Lappé's controversial new book, she predicts that unless we radically shift the trends of what food we're eating and how we're producing it, food system-related greenhouse gas emissions will go up and up and up. She exposes the interests that will resist the change, and the spin food companies will generate to avoid system-wide reform. And she offers a vision of a future in which our food system does more good than harm, with six principles for a climate friendly diet as well as visits to farmers who are demonstrating the potential of sustainable farming.
In this measured and intelligent call to action, Lappé helps readers understand that food can be a powerful starting point for solutions to global environmental problems.
In Anna Lappé's controversial new book, she predicts that unless we radically shift the trends of what food we're eating and how we're producing it, food system-related greenhouse gas emissions will go up and up and up. She exposes the interests that will resist the change, and the spin food companies will generate to avoid system-wide reform. And she offers a vision of a future in which our food system does more good than harm, with six principles for a climate friendly diet as well as visits to farmers who are demonstrating the potential of sustainable farming.
In this measured and intelligent call to action, Lappé helps readers understand that food can be a powerful starting point for solutions to global environmental problems.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
69 people are currently reading
1881 people want to read
About the author
Anna Lappé
14 books22 followersAnna Lappé is a widely respected author and educator, known for her work as an expert on food systems and as a sustainable food advocate. The co-author or author of three books and the contributing author to ten others, Anna’s work has been widely translated internationally and featured in The New York Times,Gourmet,Oprah Magazine, among many other outlets. Named one of Time magazine’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna is a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute and the Small Planet Fund. She is currently the head of the Real Food Media Project, a new initiative to spread the story of the power of sustainable food using creative movies, an online action center, and grassroots events.
Source: Small Planet Institute.
Source: Small Planet Institute.
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July 11, 2010
In 1973, I read Frances Moore Lappé's Diet for a Small Planet. It helped me to understand the real costs of the food (particularly the meat) that I put on the table for myself and my family. It required me to completely rethink my family's diet. For me and for many others, it was nothing short of revolutionary.
Now, nearly forty years later, another Lappé—Anna Lappé—clearly her mother's daughter, has written another revolutionary book, measuring the planetary cost of the way we eat. It's not just a matter of our bulging waistlines, our rising diabetes and heart disease rate, or the obesity among our children. It's the health of our planet that's at stake now. Our current climate crisis, Lappé argues, is in large part created by the way we grow, process, package, and distribute the foods we choose to eat. If we keep on eating the way we eat (and encouraging people in developing countries to mimic us), there's no stopping global warming. If we keep on farming and subsidizing corporate farming to produce our animal and plant food as it's currently produced, we're in for it.
Lappé starts with a clear and convincing presentation of several pieces of important evidence. Example: the livestock sector, all by itself, is responsible for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions—measurably more than the 13 percent caused by transportation. Surprised? I was. "Move over Hummer," Lappé says. "Say hello to the hamburger."
But transportation has its climate costs, too. Chilean grapes in California groceries, Australian dairy in Japan—these luxuries consume an astonishing amount of energy. Lappé reports: "To transport just one year's supply of out-of-state tomatoes to just one state, New Jersey, takes enough fossil fuel to drive an 18-wheeler around the world 249 times."
There's more, lots more. Compelling data, effectively presented, clearly showing that fossil-fuel-dependent agribusiness is pushing us over the climate cliff—except that we're not exactly being pushed, are we? We're jumping, with a Coke (high-fructose corn syrup) in one hand and a Big Mac (corn-fed beef) in the other. And we won't even know that we have made the leap until we hit bottom. We don't connect our food and the earth that produces it.
But why? What's the answer to this baffling disconnect? Here's one reason (among many others). Lappé, discussing these issues with a group of college students, asked how many had recently "experienced nature." The kids weren't exactly nature buffs: one admitted to kayaking over the weekend, another had strung up a hammock between a couple of trees. But when Lappé asked how many had eaten that day, all the hands went up. The students simply had not made the connection between what they ate for breakfast and nature. Lappé had to remind them, she says, that "food doesn't grow in Aisle 8."
But of course, what we're mostly eating (from Aisle 8, the dairy cooler, the meat market, the bakery shelves, and even the produce section) is a by-product of fossil fuels used in industrialized agriculture. One example: the U.S. is a net importer of nitrogen and potash fertilizers, mostly from Canada, Russia, Belarus, and Morocco. Another example: one Twinkies manufacturing plant (occupying one square mile) used enough coal-and-diesel-generated electricity to power 160,000 homes. And as long as we keep applying chemical fertilizers to our fields and indulging in highly processed foods, the planet will keep heating up.
What's the solution, if there is one, if it isn't too late already? "Cool food," Lappé tells us. The answer, she says, lies in farming as if the climate mattered. In "climate-friendly farming" that respects the laws of nature; actually regenerates soils and water; intentionally aims to mitigate climate change; thoughtfully adapts itself to changing conditions; and empowers the whole community as a partner in food production and consumption.
In a world that is dominated by big corporations and big government, it's too easy to feel helpless and vulnerable. But while there are many things we can't control, we can control what we put in our mouths. It may take some thought, some effort, and some planning, and even—heaven help us!—some manual labor in the garden. But we can choose foods that are healthy for us and for the planet. We can—whether we will or not is an open question. (If Lappé errs anywhere, in my opinion, it is in her cheery optimism. After the dire pictures she paints in her early chapters, I find it a little difficult to share that optimism.)
Like Diet for a Small Planet, Diet for a Hot Planet is crammed with facts. It's cleverer, though, and funnier: you're likely to smile and want to cry at the same time. And yes, this book can start a revolution.
But it has to begin with us, and with the food we choose to put on our forks.
Now, nearly forty years later, another Lappé—Anna Lappé—clearly her mother's daughter, has written another revolutionary book, measuring the planetary cost of the way we eat. It's not just a matter of our bulging waistlines, our rising diabetes and heart disease rate, or the obesity among our children. It's the health of our planet that's at stake now. Our current climate crisis, Lappé argues, is in large part created by the way we grow, process, package, and distribute the foods we choose to eat. If we keep on eating the way we eat (and encouraging people in developing countries to mimic us), there's no stopping global warming. If we keep on farming and subsidizing corporate farming to produce our animal and plant food as it's currently produced, we're in for it.
Lappé starts with a clear and convincing presentation of several pieces of important evidence. Example: the livestock sector, all by itself, is responsible for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions—measurably more than the 13 percent caused by transportation. Surprised? I was. "Move over Hummer," Lappé says. "Say hello to the hamburger."
But transportation has its climate costs, too. Chilean grapes in California groceries, Australian dairy in Japan—these luxuries consume an astonishing amount of energy. Lappé reports: "To transport just one year's supply of out-of-state tomatoes to just one state, New Jersey, takes enough fossil fuel to drive an 18-wheeler around the world 249 times."
There's more, lots more. Compelling data, effectively presented, clearly showing that fossil-fuel-dependent agribusiness is pushing us over the climate cliff—except that we're not exactly being pushed, are we? We're jumping, with a Coke (high-fructose corn syrup) in one hand and a Big Mac (corn-fed beef) in the other. And we won't even know that we have made the leap until we hit bottom. We don't connect our food and the earth that produces it.
But why? What's the answer to this baffling disconnect? Here's one reason (among many others). Lappé, discussing these issues with a group of college students, asked how many had recently "experienced nature." The kids weren't exactly nature buffs: one admitted to kayaking over the weekend, another had strung up a hammock between a couple of trees. But when Lappé asked how many had eaten that day, all the hands went up. The students simply had not made the connection between what they ate for breakfast and nature. Lappé had to remind them, she says, that "food doesn't grow in Aisle 8."
But of course, what we're mostly eating (from Aisle 8, the dairy cooler, the meat market, the bakery shelves, and even the produce section) is a by-product of fossil fuels used in industrialized agriculture. One example: the U.S. is a net importer of nitrogen and potash fertilizers, mostly from Canada, Russia, Belarus, and Morocco. Another example: one Twinkies manufacturing plant (occupying one square mile) used enough coal-and-diesel-generated electricity to power 160,000 homes. And as long as we keep applying chemical fertilizers to our fields and indulging in highly processed foods, the planet will keep heating up.
What's the solution, if there is one, if it isn't too late already? "Cool food," Lappé tells us. The answer, she says, lies in farming as if the climate mattered. In "climate-friendly farming" that respects the laws of nature; actually regenerates soils and water; intentionally aims to mitigate climate change; thoughtfully adapts itself to changing conditions; and empowers the whole community as a partner in food production and consumption.
In a world that is dominated by big corporations and big government, it's too easy to feel helpless and vulnerable. But while there are many things we can't control, we can control what we put in our mouths. It may take some thought, some effort, and some planning, and even—heaven help us!—some manual labor in the garden. But we can choose foods that are healthy for us and for the planet. We can—whether we will or not is an open question. (If Lappé errs anywhere, in my opinion, it is in her cheery optimism. After the dire pictures she paints in her early chapters, I find it a little difficult to share that optimism.)
Like Diet for a Small Planet, Diet for a Hot Planet is crammed with facts. It's cleverer, though, and funnier: you're likely to smile and want to cry at the same time. And yes, this book can start a revolution.
But it has to begin with us, and with the food we choose to put on our forks.
April 17, 2010
Thanks to the efforts of Al Gore, most people are aware of their carbon footprint and ways that they can reduce the size of their footprint. But how many of us know that we also have a “foodprint”? Anna Lappé introduces us to this important concept in her book, "Diet for a Hot Planet".
Thanks to the factory farming of crops and animals, the very food we eat is contributing to the problem of global warming. The production of chemical fertilizers and pesticides fill the air with greenhouse gases. The resulting degradation of topsoil from the use of chemical fertilizers not only decreases the soil’s ability to store carbon, but also releases the carbon formerly stored in soils into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.
And then there is livestock. Livestock which is fed the majority of the corn and soy beans raised in a miasma of chemicals. Livestock which produces waste in such quantity that it has to be stored in manure lagoons which leach into the soil and foul the groundwater, or flooded out in storms, pollute the surrounding countryside.
The most frightening statistic in the book is that ruminants (livestock that eats grass such as cows) produce 27% of methane emitted globally. Methane is a more dangerous greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide that we are all so fixated on. Factory farming of livestock produces more greenhouse gases than all of the cars, trucks, buses, trains and planes together in the entire world.
Having made her argument about the deadly cost to the environment of factory farms, Ms Lappé offers a solution. She introduces us to New Forest Farm, an organic farm that practices mixed agriculture where diverse crops are grown together in the same fields as opposed to the monoculture favored by factory farms. Mixed agriculture keeps the soil and the farmer’s pocketbook healthy. If one crop fails or underproduces, other crops grown in the same fields continue to produce both a harvest and an income stream, while enriching and replenishing the soil.
This is the one part of the book that I found disappointing. Ms. Lappé gives the impression that the concept of mixed agriculture is a new and extraordinary idea. It is, in fact, a very ancient idea. Native Americans practiced this kind of agriculture for thousands of years before their way of life was wiped out by Europeans. Think “Three Sisters” (corn, squash and beans) in North America. In Central America, it is known as “milpa” and still practiced in some areas. Farmers plant a dozen different crops together in the same fields. Some milpa fields have stayed fertile for over four thousand years.
Ms. Lappé then addresses the argument that organic farming is not as productive as factory farming. She rightly points out that organic farming is more productive. Then she goes on to discuss the dangers of genetically modified plants. I was impressed by her calm, matter of fact tone on this hot button topic. So many authors, both for and against GMOs (genetically modified organisms), tend to get a little shrill when discussing their views.
The last part of her book is the most valuable. She gives her readers, no matter where they live in the USA, the resources and tools they need to reduce the size of their own and their communities’ “foodprint”. She impressed me once more with the realistic solutions she offers and the level of detail, depending on how involved people would like to be in the process. Books on climate change tend to either offer sweeping generalizations or solutions that are too impractical for the typical man (or woman) on the street.
Thanks to the factory farming of crops and animals, the very food we eat is contributing to the problem of global warming. The production of chemical fertilizers and pesticides fill the air with greenhouse gases. The resulting degradation of topsoil from the use of chemical fertilizers not only decreases the soil’s ability to store carbon, but also releases the carbon formerly stored in soils into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.
And then there is livestock. Livestock which is fed the majority of the corn and soy beans raised in a miasma of chemicals. Livestock which produces waste in such quantity that it has to be stored in manure lagoons which leach into the soil and foul the groundwater, or flooded out in storms, pollute the surrounding countryside.
The most frightening statistic in the book is that ruminants (livestock that eats grass such as cows) produce 27% of methane emitted globally. Methane is a more dangerous greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide that we are all so fixated on. Factory farming of livestock produces more greenhouse gases than all of the cars, trucks, buses, trains and planes together in the entire world.
Having made her argument about the deadly cost to the environment of factory farms, Ms Lappé offers a solution. She introduces us to New Forest Farm, an organic farm that practices mixed agriculture where diverse crops are grown together in the same fields as opposed to the monoculture favored by factory farms. Mixed agriculture keeps the soil and the farmer’s pocketbook healthy. If one crop fails or underproduces, other crops grown in the same fields continue to produce both a harvest and an income stream, while enriching and replenishing the soil.
This is the one part of the book that I found disappointing. Ms. Lappé gives the impression that the concept of mixed agriculture is a new and extraordinary idea. It is, in fact, a very ancient idea. Native Americans practiced this kind of agriculture for thousands of years before their way of life was wiped out by Europeans. Think “Three Sisters” (corn, squash and beans) in North America. In Central America, it is known as “milpa” and still practiced in some areas. Farmers plant a dozen different crops together in the same fields. Some milpa fields have stayed fertile for over four thousand years.
Ms. Lappé then addresses the argument that organic farming is not as productive as factory farming. She rightly points out that organic farming is more productive. Then she goes on to discuss the dangers of genetically modified plants. I was impressed by her calm, matter of fact tone on this hot button topic. So many authors, both for and against GMOs (genetically modified organisms), tend to get a little shrill when discussing their views.
The last part of her book is the most valuable. She gives her readers, no matter where they live in the USA, the resources and tools they need to reduce the size of their own and their communities’ “foodprint”. She impressed me once more with the realistic solutions she offers and the level of detail, depending on how involved people would like to be in the process. Books on climate change tend to either offer sweeping generalizations or solutions that are too impractical for the typical man (or woman) on the street.
January 23, 2021
Yet another book on eating right for the environment? Yes! But this one covered topics that have been so far in my readings left out of other books, such as, for one example, an in-depth discussion of 'greenwashing' metehods and how to recognize them.
When I got this book I really wasn't in the mood to delve into a dry, lengthy non-fiction so I planned to browse it out of order. Well I looked into the 'how to read this book' section and it encouraged me to do just that.
I actually read the summary diet advice at the end first and found it to be really good advice. I felt it really gave you a good set of guidelines to make better choices.
Then I read through various topics as I was interested, and thought it had a lot of great info.
When I got this book I really wasn't in the mood to delve into a dry, lengthy non-fiction so I planned to browse it out of order. Well I looked into the 'how to read this book' section and it encouraged me to do just that.
I actually read the summary diet advice at the end first and found it to be really good advice. I felt it really gave you a good set of guidelines to make better choices.
Then I read through various topics as I was interested, and thought it had a lot of great info.
October 14, 2013
Excerpted from A belated vegan review of eaarth (Bill McKibben, 2010) and Diet for a Hot Planet (Anna Lappé, 2010).
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.)
In Diet for a Hot Planet, Anna Lappé also looks at agriculture's contribution to climate change. In contrast to McKibben's eaarth, Diet for a Hot Planet's comparatively narrow focus results in a more cohesive and comprehensive discussion of the topic. Unfortunately, like eaarth, it too is riddled with speciesism.
From farm to plate and everywhere in between, Diet for a Hot Planet identifies and examines the many unsustainable aspects of our food production and distribution systems. This necessarily involves standardization, industrialization, waste, pollution, and - perhaps above all else - a dependence on fossil fuels, resulting in a glut of energy-dense foods. (It's all connected, yo!) As McKibben notes in the forward, "[T]he entire industrial food system essentially ensures that your food is marinated in crude oil before you eat it."
In order to compensate for the degradation of soil quality, farmers have moved away from crop rotation and the use of leguminous crops (which bind with atmospheric nitrogen) to the over/use of synthetic, petroleum-based fertilizers and animal waste (which may solve the problem of soil fertility in the short-term, but actually exacerbate it in the long run). Food travels across countries and around the globe before reaching our dinner tables, requiring the use of fuel and attendant carbon emissions. Consumers travel by car to supermarkets and groceries - many of which are concentrated in the suburbs - to buy this food, most of which is heavily processed. (Not even the fruits and veggies escape such a fate: about half of the vegetables consumed in the U.S. are canned, frozen or dried!) In anticipation of our patronage, grocers store perishable items in massive, continuously-powered refrigerators and freezers - some of which consist of open cases. (Explain that one to your ten-year-old!)
As if this isn't appalling enough, roughly 27% of our edible food is wasted – simply thrown away – at both the individual and institutional levels. As Lappé points out, most of this waste finds its way not into compost piles, but the garbage; some municipalities report that food waste represents 50% of the contents discarded into their landfills. Instead of feeding people or nourishing the soil, this uneaten food becomes waste - waste that's the second-largest source of methane, next only to enteric fermentation (read: animal agriculture).
And then we have the most egregious offender of them all: meat, eggs and dairy. In Lappé's own words,
"[L]ivestock production is one of the biggest contributors to the country's greenhouse-gas emissions, both from pastures and from feed-crop production, from smallholder farms to large-scale ranchers to multinational corporations. The deforestation driven by pastureland and cropland is only one reason livestock contribute so much to global warming, as we'll see.
"Globally, livestock account for as much as 18 percent of all global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the U.N. study mentioned earlier. That figure includes almost one tenth of carbon emissions, more than one third of methane, and roughly two thirds of nitrous oxide. (Livestock is responsible for other polluting emissions as well, including two thirds of all human-made ammonia.)" (p. 19)
Yet, like McKibben, Lappé simply isn't able to imagine in world in which humans don't retain their supremacy over nonhuman animals:
"All told, 70 percent of all agricultural land in the world is tied up with livestock production. But livestock don't need to cause such ecological harm. Traditionally and still today, in much of the world, livestock have been integrated into diverse farms and their communities, playing a range of roles: providing companionship, manure to enrich soils, muscle for farm work, and as a source of protein as meat. [...L]ivestock can be an integral component of sustainable systems. Well-managed livestock can even nurture the land. All that stomping and tromping helps to press seeds into the earth, fostering plant growth. The action of hooves on the ground can also break up the soil, allowing in more oxygen and improving soil quality. Today's self-described "carbon farmers" are adopting these proven practices and mimicking time-honored grazing methods to increase carbon content in the soil." (p. 19)
While I agree that nonhuman animals "can be an integral component of sustainable systems," I don't understand why humans must enslave them in order to realize this. Nor can I comprehend why a diet comprised of no meat is so much harder for Lappé, McKibben & Co. to swallow than one involving a serving of meat once every few weeks or months. Lappé (daughter of Frances Moore Lappé, a longtime vegetarian and author of Diet for a Small Planet ) describes herself as an "on and off" vegetarian since her teen years - so you'd think she'd know better than to, say, categorize nonhuman animals as "plants." Then again, perhaps the "and off" part explains it.
All snark aside, as with eaarth, a good deal of Diet for a Hot Planet is devoted to celebrating small, local, organic farmers - including those who make a buck off the bodies of others. While Lappé does at least broach the idea of vegetarianism - according to my notes, McKibben only mentions the v-word (vegan) once and, if I remember correctly, it's to make a very unfunny joke at our expense - it's in a rather wishy-washy, noncommittal way that's guaranteed to have abolitionists rolling their eyes. Sandwiched between the glorified animal exploitation, however, sits a wealth of facts and figures, tables and numbers, including some original reporting by Lappé. Additionally, she tackles a number of common myths surrounding climate, industrial agriculture - and biotechnology's ability to save us from the perils of each.
If you can get past the speciesism, both books are interesting reads. Whereas eaarth is more thought-provoking in its subversiveness, Diet for a Hot Planet leaves the reader with the information necessary to counter climate change skeptics and corporate apologists for our existing food industries.
Three out of five stars, with two stars deducted for speciesism - including Lappé's inability to promote a plant-based diet without objectifying nonhuman animals.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/01/15/...
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.)
In Diet for a Hot Planet, Anna Lappé also looks at agriculture's contribution to climate change. In contrast to McKibben's eaarth, Diet for a Hot Planet's comparatively narrow focus results in a more cohesive and comprehensive discussion of the topic. Unfortunately, like eaarth, it too is riddled with speciesism.
From farm to plate and everywhere in between, Diet for a Hot Planet identifies and examines the many unsustainable aspects of our food production and distribution systems. This necessarily involves standardization, industrialization, waste, pollution, and - perhaps above all else - a dependence on fossil fuels, resulting in a glut of energy-dense foods. (It's all connected, yo!) As McKibben notes in the forward, "[T]he entire industrial food system essentially ensures that your food is marinated in crude oil before you eat it."
In order to compensate for the degradation of soil quality, farmers have moved away from crop rotation and the use of leguminous crops (which bind with atmospheric nitrogen) to the over/use of synthetic, petroleum-based fertilizers and animal waste (which may solve the problem of soil fertility in the short-term, but actually exacerbate it in the long run). Food travels across countries and around the globe before reaching our dinner tables, requiring the use of fuel and attendant carbon emissions. Consumers travel by car to supermarkets and groceries - many of which are concentrated in the suburbs - to buy this food, most of which is heavily processed. (Not even the fruits and veggies escape such a fate: about half of the vegetables consumed in the U.S. are canned, frozen or dried!) In anticipation of our patronage, grocers store perishable items in massive, continuously-powered refrigerators and freezers - some of which consist of open cases. (Explain that one to your ten-year-old!)
As if this isn't appalling enough, roughly 27% of our edible food is wasted – simply thrown away – at both the individual and institutional levels. As Lappé points out, most of this waste finds its way not into compost piles, but the garbage; some municipalities report that food waste represents 50% of the contents discarded into their landfills. Instead of feeding people or nourishing the soil, this uneaten food becomes waste - waste that's the second-largest source of methane, next only to enteric fermentation (read: animal agriculture).
And then we have the most egregious offender of them all: meat, eggs and dairy. In Lappé's own words,
"[L]ivestock production is one of the biggest contributors to the country's greenhouse-gas emissions, both from pastures and from feed-crop production, from smallholder farms to large-scale ranchers to multinational corporations. The deforestation driven by pastureland and cropland is only one reason livestock contribute so much to global warming, as we'll see.
"Globally, livestock account for as much as 18 percent of all global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the U.N. study mentioned earlier. That figure includes almost one tenth of carbon emissions, more than one third of methane, and roughly two thirds of nitrous oxide. (Livestock is responsible for other polluting emissions as well, including two thirds of all human-made ammonia.)" (p. 19)
Yet, like McKibben, Lappé simply isn't able to imagine in world in which humans don't retain their supremacy over nonhuman animals:
"All told, 70 percent of all agricultural land in the world is tied up with livestock production. But livestock don't need to cause such ecological harm. Traditionally and still today, in much of the world, livestock have been integrated into diverse farms and their communities, playing a range of roles: providing companionship, manure to enrich soils, muscle for farm work, and as a source of protein as meat. [...L]ivestock can be an integral component of sustainable systems. Well-managed livestock can even nurture the land. All that stomping and tromping helps to press seeds into the earth, fostering plant growth. The action of hooves on the ground can also break up the soil, allowing in more oxygen and improving soil quality. Today's self-described "carbon farmers" are adopting these proven practices and mimicking time-honored grazing methods to increase carbon content in the soil." (p. 19)
While I agree that nonhuman animals "can be an integral component of sustainable systems," I don't understand why humans must enslave them in order to realize this. Nor can I comprehend why a diet comprised of no meat is so much harder for Lappé, McKibben & Co. to swallow than one involving a serving of meat once every few weeks or months. Lappé (daughter of Frances Moore Lappé, a longtime vegetarian and author of Diet for a Small Planet ) describes herself as an "on and off" vegetarian since her teen years - so you'd think she'd know better than to, say, categorize nonhuman animals as "plants." Then again, perhaps the "and off" part explains it.
All snark aside, as with eaarth, a good deal of Diet for a Hot Planet is devoted to celebrating small, local, organic farmers - including those who make a buck off the bodies of others. While Lappé does at least broach the idea of vegetarianism - according to my notes, McKibben only mentions the v-word (vegan) once and, if I remember correctly, it's to make a very unfunny joke at our expense - it's in a rather wishy-washy, noncommittal way that's guaranteed to have abolitionists rolling their eyes. Sandwiched between the glorified animal exploitation, however, sits a wealth of facts and figures, tables and numbers, including some original reporting by Lappé. Additionally, she tackles a number of common myths surrounding climate, industrial agriculture - and biotechnology's ability to save us from the perils of each.
If you can get past the speciesism, both books are interesting reads. Whereas eaarth is more thought-provoking in its subversiveness, Diet for a Hot Planet leaves the reader with the information necessary to counter climate change skeptics and corporate apologists for our existing food industries.
Three out of five stars, with two stars deducted for speciesism - including Lappé's inability to promote a plant-based diet without objectifying nonhuman animals.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/01/15/...
April 21, 2010
As an introduction to the science of climate change as affected by the global industrial food system, Diet for a Hot Planet excels at informing and entertaining. I have to admit I was hesitant when I started reading it and was sure it was going to be a chore to get through, but I really enjoyed it. Lappe writes in a way that is straight forward and easy to understand, which is a quite feat considering the volume of information included in the book.
In fact, that would be my only qualm, at least with the first section. It is intensely information heavy, with little anecdotal relief. One concept after another is thrown at the reader, with little chance to actually absorb any of it. All of the information is entirely relevant to the rest of the book, however, which is obvious in the number of references Lappe makes to information she's already introduced. And when she does reference something she's gone over before, Lappe does tend to review it, which is a great relief, at least for me.
The notes and bibliography are extensive, and throughout the different sections there are a lot of suggestions for further reading and research. It gives the impression of "Don't just take my word for it" and gives the reader the opportunity to actually go out and learn from more than just one source. While Lappe's worldviews are obvious and assumed to be correct, which could be abrasive to someone who sees the world and issues differently, the assumptions made in the book do seem to be scientifically valid, and everything she references is well cited. Overall, the book is very well researched. I especially appreciated the attention she gave to soil health, something that often is overlooked when discussing the health of an ecosystem.
The last three parts of the book are very easily followed, full of personality and wit as well as convincing arguments and biased or not, a whole lot of science. Lappe writes with a voice that is personable and not at all condescending. In the introduction she says she doesn't want to create cynics of her readers, and I would have to say that that definitely shows. The anecdotes and stories she chooses to express the hope that she's learned to see in the world really do illustrate it.
It's an incredibly effective book. I honestly think I will read it again.
In fact, that would be my only qualm, at least with the first section. It is intensely information heavy, with little anecdotal relief. One concept after another is thrown at the reader, with little chance to actually absorb any of it. All of the information is entirely relevant to the rest of the book, however, which is obvious in the number of references Lappe makes to information she's already introduced. And when she does reference something she's gone over before, Lappe does tend to review it, which is a great relief, at least for me.
The notes and bibliography are extensive, and throughout the different sections there are a lot of suggestions for further reading and research. It gives the impression of "Don't just take my word for it" and gives the reader the opportunity to actually go out and learn from more than just one source. While Lappe's worldviews are obvious and assumed to be correct, which could be abrasive to someone who sees the world and issues differently, the assumptions made in the book do seem to be scientifically valid, and everything she references is well cited. Overall, the book is very well researched. I especially appreciated the attention she gave to soil health, something that often is overlooked when discussing the health of an ecosystem.
The last three parts of the book are very easily followed, full of personality and wit as well as convincing arguments and biased or not, a whole lot of science. Lappe writes with a voice that is personable and not at all condescending. In the introduction she says she doesn't want to create cynics of her readers, and I would have to say that that definitely shows. The anecdotes and stories she chooses to express the hope that she's learned to see in the world really do illustrate it.
It's an incredibly effective book. I honestly think I will read it again.
April 29, 2010
The book achieves an effective fusion of climate change and food security issues presented in an engaging style and accompanied by many excellent resources for further investigation of areas of particular interest to the reader. It provides a useful handbook for addressing the challenges that face us as individuals, as citizens, and as members of the world community as we attempt to take responsibility for the anthropic components of climate disruption and food insecurity and seek to mitigate them. Anna Lappe does an excellent job of explaining the problems, identifying concrete actions we all can take to help solve them, and never losing sight of hope, that "thing with feathers" without which we are surely lost. I was especially pleased with her skillful opposition to the proponents of GMOs. Rational arguments such as those she puts forward will have greater effect in ending this frightening experiment with our ecosystem than all the chants and signs of protesters. In her treatments of agribusiness, genetic engineering, and the opponents of organic farming, she brilliantly reveals that all these who would be kings are wearing garments of air. This should be on the required reading list of every high school in the world.
October 13, 2021
Like many others, I came across this book after reading A Diet for a Small planet recently and wanted to know more and research both Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé's work before inviting them both to take in my podcast Inside Ideas. You can find episode 132 (Frances) here: https://youtu.be/iaOTXTWpyis or Anna's episode 136: https://youtu.be/Vto6WstCxfQ
Or find Inside Ideas on your podcast platform.
Anna is hands-on and travel and meets the people she writes about in the book. For example, she visited Mark Shepard and learned about restoration agriculture and real-world permaculture for farmers. Our food system is responsible for 1/3 of all greenhouse gas emissions. In Diet for a Hot Planet, Lappé shows that such statistics are just the tip of the melting iceberg.
Article on Innovators Mag
Anna: https://www.innovatorsmag.com/climate...
Frances: https://www.innovatorsmag.com/how-can...
Or find Inside Ideas on your podcast platform.
Anna is hands-on and travel and meets the people she writes about in the book. For example, she visited Mark Shepard and learned about restoration agriculture and real-world permaculture for farmers. Our food system is responsible for 1/3 of all greenhouse gas emissions. In Diet for a Hot Planet, Lappé shows that such statistics are just the tip of the melting iceberg.
Article on Innovators Mag
Anna: https://www.innovatorsmag.com/climate...
Frances: https://www.innovatorsmag.com/how-can...
October 29, 2012
I've been following the whole local food and sustainability movements for a while now, so I was steeling myself for the big vegan political diatribe against meat-eating. I was gratified that Anna Lappe did not resort to off-putting put-downs of meat eaters like myself. As she points out, it's not what we eat so much as how it is produced and transported that is so costly to our health, infrastructures, survival skills, and planet at large. Reducing the ratio of meat to fruits and vegetables in our diets is something we all could benefit from doing. Integrating chickens and other farm animals into local communities as a local source of protein is far different from our current dependence on huge and hugely toxic CAFOs (factory farms). Some people argue that a vegetarian diet emphasizing eating a lot of Big-Ag monocropped grains can be just as destructive to the environment as CAFOs.
Lappe underscores many of the myths and manipulations of the large food producers and how they undermine health, sustainability, and our children's future. She names company names for us, which allows consumers to check into just where their food is coming from and how eco-friendly the producers and overall process are. Extensive references and resources in the back of the book allow readers to further explore and educate themselves. This won't change everyone's food-buying behavior, but some of us will decide not to support those companies that are a huge part of the problem. (Just as I avoid Wal-mart like the plague, I will never buy a Smithfield pork product again unless I have no other choice. And I intend to do all I can so I never wind up in a situation where I have no other choice. That means not always taking the path of least resistance and cost when it comes to food and growing/raising as much of my own food as I possibly can.)
Although some of the more recent cutting-edge technologies in carbon-neutral agriculture, like biochar to sequester carbon and improve soil fertility, are not included in this book, a number of techniques and efforts to change our food production system for the better are covered. Also, best-use practices such as forest gardening and permaculture are touched on. One tip that stuck with me is to note not just what ingredients but HOW MANY are on a food label; the more ingredients, the more processed the product is likely to be and the more food miles and planetary costs involved in its delivery to your table.
"Diet for a Hot Planet" is a good eye-opening presentation of what's wrong with our modern food delivery system and why we need to be so concerned about it. We can't all grow our own food, but many of us can; those who cannot can at least support those who are trying to grow food more sustainably through local farmer's markets and CSAs. Making small changes in how and where we buy our food, how we prepare it, and what we do with what's left over can have enormous positive repercussions. Awareness is key. I urge you to buy this book; but, if you don't, at least try to follow these principles (that Lappe explores in depth):
THE SEVEN CLIMATE-FRIENDLY DIET PRINCIPLES
1. Reach for real food.
2. Put plants on your plate.
3. Don't panic, go organic.
4. Lean toward local.
5. Finish your peas...the icecaps are melting. (In other words, cut down on food waste.)
6. Send packaging packing.
7. DIY food.
You'll be highly motivated to follow as many of these principles as you can when Lappe hits you in the face with what most Americans are really eating. It's no wonder so many of us are so fat and sick these days.
Lappe underscores many of the myths and manipulations of the large food producers and how they undermine health, sustainability, and our children's future. She names company names for us, which allows consumers to check into just where their food is coming from and how eco-friendly the producers and overall process are. Extensive references and resources in the back of the book allow readers to further explore and educate themselves. This won't change everyone's food-buying behavior, but some of us will decide not to support those companies that are a huge part of the problem. (Just as I avoid Wal-mart like the plague, I will never buy a Smithfield pork product again unless I have no other choice. And I intend to do all I can so I never wind up in a situation where I have no other choice. That means not always taking the path of least resistance and cost when it comes to food and growing/raising as much of my own food as I possibly can.)
Although some of the more recent cutting-edge technologies in carbon-neutral agriculture, like biochar to sequester carbon and improve soil fertility, are not included in this book, a number of techniques and efforts to change our food production system for the better are covered. Also, best-use practices such as forest gardening and permaculture are touched on. One tip that stuck with me is to note not just what ingredients but HOW MANY are on a food label; the more ingredients, the more processed the product is likely to be and the more food miles and planetary costs involved in its delivery to your table.
"Diet for a Hot Planet" is a good eye-opening presentation of what's wrong with our modern food delivery system and why we need to be so concerned about it. We can't all grow our own food, but many of us can; those who cannot can at least support those who are trying to grow food more sustainably through local farmer's markets and CSAs. Making small changes in how and where we buy our food, how we prepare it, and what we do with what's left over can have enormous positive repercussions. Awareness is key. I urge you to buy this book; but, if you don't, at least try to follow these principles (that Lappe explores in depth):
THE SEVEN CLIMATE-FRIENDLY DIET PRINCIPLES
1. Reach for real food.
2. Put plants on your plate.
3. Don't panic, go organic.
4. Lean toward local.
5. Finish your peas...the icecaps are melting. (In other words, cut down on food waste.)
6. Send packaging packing.
7. DIY food.
You'll be highly motivated to follow as many of these principles as you can when Lappe hits you in the face with what most Americans are really eating. It's no wonder so many of us are so fat and sick these days.
May 1, 2019
I read Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappé for a Chemisty of Food course that I am currently enrolled in at Southwestern University. Diet for a Hot Planet builds and helps the reader understand the connection between the “food-life-cycle” and climate change. Anna Lappé tries to teach the reader the value of eating foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. I can feel her passion as she teaches the reader about the environmental gains by eating raw, local, and fresh. Anna Lappé expresses seven principles of a climate friendly diet: Reach for real food, Put plants on your plate, Don’t panic go organic, Lean toward local, Finish you pees…the ice caps are melting, Send packaging packing, and DIY food. I enjoy these pointers/suggestions that the author provided because it simplifies broad claims and makes it easier for the average reader to understand. I also enjoy how the author expressed A LOT of information, but at the same time, didn’t seem to be judgmental of people’s food choices; she only wanted to inform the uninformed. Anna Lappé tries to teach the reader the value and advantages of consuming foods closest to their natural state. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about food and the environment. If you are wanting to learn some pretty informative things, this book is perfect for you.
November 19, 2017
Pretty good! Wish there was a more in-depth section on "Action"; felt a little shorted on the "What You Can Do About It" part. Maybe 1 chapter on how you can eat better and one chapter on community agricultural movements; started this book thinking it would be 50/50 but it was a lot of rehashing the same research that has been done--guess I am a little late coming to this book, since it was written in 2008, 2009, and lots of this stuff has happened since then.
Overall, good book for someone who hasn't already read about the effect of agriculture on the climate! She is very critical of GMOs--an opinion I myself don't entirely hold and think she was very biased against them with not a convincing enough argument or enough well-communicated scientific evidence.
Overall, good book for someone who hasn't already read about the effect of agriculture on the climate! She is very critical of GMOs--an opinion I myself don't entirely hold and think she was very biased against them with not a convincing enough argument or enough well-communicated scientific evidence.
September 10, 2020
I recently attended a talk with Anna Lappe and her mother Frances. Both women have spent their careers educating about our food system, politics and their relationship to climate change. "Diet for a Hot Planet" goes over the basics about how industrialized agriculture is contributing to global warming, and steps citizens can take to change the trajectory. Lappe travels to organic farms all over the world, including South Korea and Mexico to see how farmers are taking back their land from food conglomerates. Lappe also looks at the impact of animal products in our diets, from crops being raised solely for animal feed, animal waste issues, and transportation of food around the planet.
January 7, 2021
Everyone who eats should read this book, especially those seeking truth. In this compelling scientific narrative, Lappe uses excellent scientific reporting and writing in cojunction with poised narratives to explain and uncover the truths of our food system and the devastating climate effect our food choices have. Through stories of both devastation, resilience, and hope this book will throw you deep into personal reflection about the choices we make everyday.
Read
June 27, 2019Blah blah blah.
Activists are pushy when in tight quarters, even if you totally support their campaigns.
Entitlement is so unbecoming an author.
I support the ideas put forth by Lappe and the pages I glanced over seemed clear and laced with humor. But this was not the best possible event. Just sayin'.
Activists are pushy when in tight quarters, even if you totally support their campaigns.
Entitlement is so unbecoming an author.
I support the ideas put forth by Lappe and the pages I glanced over seemed clear and laced with humor. But this was not the best possible event. Just sayin'.
August 28, 2010
Yep, doomed is what we are. We are living as if nothing matters but us, and although Lappe has some hope, I guess I don't really. I see how the changes she recommends could have an effect, but I'm doubtful of humanity's willingness to make changes in time. This book made me less hopeful than I was before I started it, and that's going a far piece.
July 24, 2019
The bad: it's quite bulky. Not a bad thing, but maybe some of the things presented could be more succinct.
The good: it's excellent and depressing just like The Uninhabitable Earth. It tells you all about how corporations do jack shit for the environment but greenwash to pretend they do. And so much more. Very eye opening and to re-read.
The good: it's excellent and depressing just like The Uninhabitable Earth. It tells you all about how corporations do jack shit for the environment but greenwash to pretend they do. And so much more. Very eye opening and to re-read.
March 30, 2010
I received this from goodreads.com giveaways.
This was an informative book about the connection of what we eat and climate change. It was easy to read and leaves me more aware, but also more hopeful. What is healthful for our bodies, is healthful for the planet. I hope everyone reads it.
This was an informative book about the connection of what we eat and climate change. It was easy to read and leaves me more aware, but also more hopeful. What is healthful for our bodies, is healthful for the planet. I hope everyone reads it.
October 19, 2013
Good arguments for eating local and organic.
February 13, 2020
very educational, but easy to read.
May 1, 2019
Diet For A Hot Planet is a book by Anna Lappé dealing with the role of the food industry in climate change. Its goal is the betterment of human consumption: the introduction of sustainable agricultural practices into the mainstream industry, the efficiency of food distribution, and the elimination of frivolous packaging waste, for example. Lappé also makes an effort to vilify the statisticians and scientists who corporate food has under their wing, claiming that these corporations are in flagrant and malicious denial of environmental realities for their own gain. This is accomplished through her detailing of the inefficiencies and inaccuracies present in the modern food economy. While her goals of sustainability and major corporate change are well rooted and on the right path, her attitudes towards certain aspects of food, lifestyle recommendations, and writing style reek of the kind of simplistic purism that other “en vogue” health trends exude. Perhaps it's just that this is the third in my string of diet and food science related books, but her advice, while rooted in goodwill, was simply graining and often came off as unqualified and holier-than-thou. For example, Lappé has an absolute vendetta against genetically modified organisms, despite the fact that nearly all the produce she so adores would be inedible without artificial selection of genes, and seems to espouse the so-unfounded idea that a long ingredient list will kill you. It’s mostly in the background of this work, but it comes through in her style often enough to be seen as obnoxious. Not incorrect by most means, but still an obnoxious read through most chapters. 2.5/5
May 3, 2019
Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappé, a book I read for one of my college classes, was a contradictory book filled equally with facts as it was with food myths. Pretentious, dense, jargon makes it a difficult and frustrating read along with endless sections repeating the main point. Though it was an interesting read that certainly had some good points Lappé is a very biased writer who fails to take into account differing socioeconomic status, and race and how that factors into people's decisions to buy and have access to food. She also tends to confuse food myths with facts, though she criticized the average citizen for doing so in the same breath. Her language and attitude leave most readers who have no background in food, chemistry, or environmental politics, floundering. I don’t wish to say that this book was terrible, it does bring up many subjects that are not talked about and should be addressed, like “foodprints”, greenwashing, and alternative farming. However, she addresses none of the deeper lying problems behind these things. That most farmers can’t change the way they farm because the government only subsidizes specific products, or that what she calls “alternative farming” was actually ways of farming by different people all over the world that was stopped because of colonialism. She doesn't talk about how people who are on government programs at the time the book was written, unable to buy fruits and vegetables with food stamps.
All in all her book did have some good points but she ignored so much about the industries and deeper structural inequalities that contribute to global warming and food that it took away from the overall book. I rate a ⅖.
All in all her book did have some good points but she ignored so much about the industries and deeper structural inequalities that contribute to global warming and food that it took away from the overall book. I rate a ⅖.
May 6, 2019
Diary of a Hot Planet is a book by Anna Lappe that I read for my Chemistry of Food class in order to gain a better understanding how the choices we make regarding our food affect the rest of the planet. I will begin with what I liked about the book. I think that if you already have previous knowledge on the environment, climate change, and GMO’s, this book may be well suited for you. The book goes in depth into may science heavy topics about the environment. Although I did not really agree with what Lappe said in the GMO chapter, there was enough science behind what she was saying in order for me to understand it. Even though I have differing opinions with how GMO’s should be used, I still like to welcome varying points of views in order to get a more complete understanding of the “GMO debate”. I also liked that the book discussed alternative farming. The methods used were ones I was not familiar with. I can now see how these alternative practices are another tool that can be used to combat climate change (although these methods are not perfect).
That being said, there were several things I did not like about the book. One of my issues with the book was that I think some of the information in the book had a very strong bias. I would have liked a more holistic approach to GMO’s to gain a more complete perspective. My main issue was that this book would be very inaccessible to those with little information about the environment and those that poor. Some of the recommendations would be very difficult enact without a lot of money. I would have liked there to be some mention of cost-effective ways to improve the environment. Rate: 3/5
That being said, there were several things I did not like about the book. One of my issues with the book was that I think some of the information in the book had a very strong bias. I would have liked a more holistic approach to GMO’s to gain a more complete perspective. My main issue was that this book would be very inaccessible to those with little information about the environment and those that poor. Some of the recommendations would be very difficult enact without a lot of money. I would have liked there to be some mention of cost-effective ways to improve the environment. Rate: 3/5
May 2, 2019
I read Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappé for a Chemistry of Food class at my university. The book’s purpose is to raise awareness on how intertwined our dietary habits are with climate change and what we can do to mitigate this. Unfortunately, I had a very hard time taking the book seriously. Firstly, to get it out of the way, the book is written in such a manner that even I (a soon to be sophomore STEM major) found even the most basic chemistry and biology topics incomprehensible. I found myself unable to contribute to our class discussion because I simply didn’t understand what she was saying. Secondly, the author seems to be very heavily biased, particularly on the topics of veganism and genetically modified food. While I myself am a vegetarian, I strongly disagreed with how she promoted it. It seemed very much like a guilt trip and it was presented the same way you would expect a stereotypical militant vegan to do it. She additionally didn’t mention (or if she did, it was a fleeting sentence) any of the downsides of being vegan such as cost. When it came to GMO’s, she seemed to present all the same things I have learned in my class but come to the opposite conclusion that GMOs should be avoided at all costs. I’m not sure I would recommend this book and I give it 2.5 stars. Points given because I really enjoyed her two chapters describing alternative farming methods.
May 3, 2019
I read Anne Lappe’s “Diet for a Hot Planet” for a college Chemistry of Food course. The book discusses how agriculture and food processes are contributing to global warming. The author emphasizes that there is a clear lack of blame on the agricultural and food industry for their part in global warming. Their part in global warming comes from transportation, processing, and waste production. Anne Lappe heavily blames the meat industry as a major culprit in gas emissions and encourages smaller farms. She also discourages GMOs; despite that they are safe and better for the environment. Furthermore, she seems to insult the scientists who create GMOs by insinuating that they do not understand that the central dogma of biology does not explain all of the processes of DNA. Lappe is clearly biased against big agricultural industries and for a vegetarian diet sourced from small organic farms. While I appreciate her call for agricultural industries to clean up their act, the book is hard to read. Personally, the book was very dense with long chapters, which made it impossible to hold my interest. There was far too much information in each chapter which could have been communicated more clearly and concisely. I would recommend this book to someone with a background in environmental science and agriculture.
April 26, 2019
Anna Lappe’s Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork & What You Can Do About It was assigned to me in my Chemistry of Food course. This book’s purpose was to call out the connection between our food habits as a society and its impact on climate change. In her analysis of our food consumption and production along with her predictions as to the forces that are at play to ensure that these habits don’t change, Lappe offers the conclusion that it is our own eating habits, and consumption of various resources, that will keep us from successfully approaching a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly world. I really enjoyed this book! In part, I believe this is because of my interest in my environmental course that I’ve really enjoyed this semester. This class has also focused on the way our eating habits are detrimental to our planet. Her conversations around waste and overconsumption were definitely most interesting to me because I also believe that the simple act of changing our eating habits would solve so many social problems: hunger being one of the biggest. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding how interconnected food is with us on an individual, societal, and global level. I give this book a 4.5 rating.
May 5, 2019
Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappé is a dense piece of work that aims to spread awareness of the effects of food on our health and the planet during our ecological crisis. This book was a required read for my Chemistry of Food course. Lappé's claims pertain to the complex impact food has on climate change and she declares that the food industry holds the same, if not more of a vital, detrimental role in this crisis compared to auto emissions. She argues that we can partake in mitigation efforts at a small individual scale by changing our diet practices to a more conscious lifestyle. Additionally, she supports her claims with extensive data and dense information that could overwhelm the typical reader. I personally found some of her arguments interesting but repetitive at times which made me enjoy the book less. Her writing style was easy to follow at times and hard at other times, due to her technique of reiteration. Consequently, the book presented bias when claims were presented without the consideration of underlying factors at hand. Furthermore, I would recommend this book to a person who already has a basic foundation of knowledge of the issues within our ecological crisis being that it is a dense read. I rate this book a 2.5/5.
May 8, 2019
Aside from reading this book for a course, my aim for reading Anna Lappe’s “Diet for a Hot Planet” was to become more informed about the relationship between the food industry and the current climate crisis. Lappe’s book explores the link between the food industry and how our practices all across the world impact climate change and ways in which we can change how we run the food industry to impact climate change for the better. Overall, I found the book very informative and a decent read. However, this book is extremely dense. While I found all of the information very intriguing, this is definitely not a book that I believe just anyone can pick up. However, I think this was the only component of the book I did not like. Surprisingly, I found the chapters about farming to be very interesting. Prior to this book I definitely would not have linked farming techniques directly to climate change. I would argue, however, that while the changes Lappe’s proposes are ideal and definitely positive, I think this book lacks an “awareness” for the accessibility to make these changes for not only farmers and consumers. Nonetheless, I would recommend this book, but only to those that are already informed with climate change or our food industry to some extent.
May 22, 2024
Too bad. It's a near miss. The basic point is solid, but Lappe misses in two areas. She should drop humor; she just can't do it. But that may be a personal view. Her "side" in the discussion is 100% correct, not 80, not 97.
There's lot of examples. Here's one. She calls the use of grain going to animal feed and sweeteners "waste". That may not be the best allocation of that output, but it's not waste. It's simply going into products that she believes we shouldn't have. I agree with her that Iowa is a complete mess for growing almost nothing but inedible HFCS feedstock. But Lappe damage her credibilty by calling it waste, because it's not.
There's lot of examples. Here's one. She calls the use of grain going to animal feed and sweeteners "waste". That may not be the best allocation of that output, but it's not waste. It's simply going into products that she believes we shouldn't have. I agree with her that Iowa is a complete mess for growing almost nothing but inedible HFCS feedstock. But Lappe damage her credibilty by calling it waste, because it's not.
September 13, 2019
Written in 2010, a lot of the data quoted was from 2008 so it did seem a bit out of date but I still learned quite a bit. I mean, this was way before Trump so perhaps she was cautiously optimistic! Written by Anna Lappe, daughter of Frances Moore Lappe, she researched a lot about the connection between global warming and the meat industry. Lots of info about where our food comes from, big business, chemical companies, GMO's, buying organic, etc. No recipes however.
October 13, 2019
I read this book a few years too late as I have already implemented many of its teachings into my daily eating habits and found little new info to further reduce my carbon footprint as an eater. I would, however, be interested in an update on how the US has progressed (or not) in producing food in a less climate-intensive way.
December 13, 2019
Some good facts but unfortunately my copy seemed dated (DC hadn't yet levied its plastic bag tax, for example). More background on the full effect of modern agriculture (e.g. fertilizers, transportation, negative effects of distributed gen even on a cattle farm) than just diet.
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