We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast

Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming due to human activities. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe in it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act, to make sacrifices now to prevent calamity in the future. How are we, ordinary civilians, supposed to do anything about a crisis for which we can barely sustain concern, of which our understanding is so incomplete, and from which we cannot imagine an escape? Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of climate change and those who said they accepted the science but didn’t act?

In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central dilemma of our time in a surprising, creative, and urgent new way. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for growing meat, and the consequences are catastrophic. With the future of our home at stake, the time has come to consider how our descendants will judge our actions at this crucial moment. Collective action is needed. We might be able to pull it off—and it all starts with what we eat, and don’t eat, for breakfast and lunch.