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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
We Are The Weather is urgent, infuriating, terrifying, and humbling.
The thing about Jonathan Safran Foer is that he is an absolute master of the aesthetic aha! moments, the sentences that feel so true that you know you've always felt them but nobody else has put them together quite like that.
Foer's latest work of non-fiction is a fierce rebuttal of the nihilistic attitude that individual action is not effective enough to make a difference in the climate disaster that we are racing towards. He instead uses historical examples and personal experiences to reinforce the idea that while some things won't win the war, the war still can't be won without them.
The war, in this case, being human survival on this planet.
This book is not easy to read -- it's not supposed to be. It's a call to action. It's frustrating and challenging, but its fact-based earnestness and self reflective dialogue has the potential to change the way you view your role in this high-stakes battle for the future of the human race.
I feel pretty depressingly well-read on the subject and still learned a lot, including new framing of the problem in my own mind - and now feel more motivated than ever to make changes in my lifestyle. I think more people who feel educated in climate science to make personal changes in their lives that are hard and necessary. In the future, will people be able to tell the difference between those who did not believe and those who believed and did nothing?
The thing about Jonathan Safran Foer is that he is an absolute master of the aesthetic aha! moments, the sentences that feel so true that you know you've always felt them but nobody else has put them together quite like that.
Foer's latest work of non-fiction is a fierce rebuttal of the nihilistic attitude that individual action is not effective enough to make a difference in the climate disaster that we are racing towards. He instead uses historical examples and personal experiences to reinforce the idea that while some things won't win the war, the war still can't be won without them.
The war, in this case, being human survival on this planet.
This book is not easy to read -- it's not supposed to be. It's a call to action. It's frustrating and challenging, but its fact-based earnestness and self reflective dialogue has the potential to change the way you view your role in this high-stakes battle for the future of the human race.
I feel pretty depressingly well-read on the subject and still learned a lot, including new framing of the problem in my own mind - and now feel more motivated than ever to make changes in my lifestyle. I think more people who feel educated in climate science to make personal changes in their lives that are hard and necessary. In the future, will people be able to tell the difference between those who did not believe and those who believed and did nothing?
Okay so two things: I have been a vegan for 15 years and was vegetarian for at least a decade prior to that; I am a fan of Jonathan Safran Foer. Eating Animals and Here I Am are favorites of mine. I always recommend Eating Animals to people. And it’s not that I wouldn’t recommend We Are the Weather but I just didn’t like it that much. I wasn’t impressed. It’s a self-exploration of why Foer isn’t doing more or caring more. This is the book someone writes to appease guilt. It’s an existential search for why he cannot sustain a vegan diet and lifestyle. It’s well-written and researched–the book provides plenty of facts to back up the thesis that factory farming affects climate change. Foer writes: “Climate change is the greatest crisis humankind has ever faced, and it is a crisis that will always be simultaneously addressed together and faced alone. We cannot keep the kinds of meals we have known and also keep the planet we have known. We must either let some eating habits go or let the planet go. It is that straightforward, that fraught.” This book didn’t move me as much as Eating Animals moved me.
Utilizing family history, notable the Holocaust and WWII, Foer states the importance of decreasing meat consumption for the common good. Foer notes: “Ninety-six percent of American families gather for a Thanksgiving meal. That is higher than the percentage of Americans who brush their teeth every day, have read a book in the last year, or have ever left the state in which they were born. It is almost certainly the broadest collective action—the largest wave—in which Americans partake.”
I understand something is better than nothing and I’d like everyone to reduce meat, dairy, poultry and fish consumption. As someone who is first and foremost vegan for the animals, I can’t relate to the sentiment that it’s okay to sometimes eat fish or meat or sometimes have dairy ice cream if someone says they’re vegan. It isn’t a “cheat” diet. There are dire consequences. Foer writes: “According to Project Drawdown, four of the most effective strategies for mitigating global warming are reducing food waste, educating girls, providing family planning and reproductive healthcare, and collectively shifting to a plant-rich diet.”
Most people remain ignorant to the impact of their diets. They’re not morally opposed to consuming animal products. They also don’t think that an individual’s choices will affect the greater good. They’re wrong. He states: “When I first chose to become vegetarian, as a nine-year-old, my motivation was simple: do not hurt animals. Over the years, my motivations changed—because the available information changed, but more importantly, because my life changed. As I imagine the case for most people, aging has proliferated my identities. Time softens ethical binaries and fosters a greater appreciation of what might be called the messiness of life.” He makes these types of statements but by the end of the book I still don’t understand these other motivations and why it’s so hard for Foer not to be 100% vegan. If you want to be vegetarian or omnivore then that’s your choice. It’s not, however, difficult to commit to being vegan if you’re in it for the right reasons. And if you’re committed to helping the environment, then it’s critical that you make changes in your diet.
full review: https://entertainmentrealm.com/2019/10/11/book-review-we-are-the-weather/
Utilizing family history, notable the Holocaust and WWII, Foer states the importance of decreasing meat consumption for the common good. Foer notes: “Ninety-six percent of American families gather for a Thanksgiving meal. That is higher than the percentage of Americans who brush their teeth every day, have read a book in the last year, or have ever left the state in which they were born. It is almost certainly the broadest collective action—the largest wave—in which Americans partake.”
I understand something is better than nothing and I’d like everyone to reduce meat, dairy, poultry and fish consumption. As someone who is first and foremost vegan for the animals, I can’t relate to the sentiment that it’s okay to sometimes eat fish or meat or sometimes have dairy ice cream if someone says they’re vegan. It isn’t a “cheat” diet. There are dire consequences. Foer writes: “According to Project Drawdown, four of the most effective strategies for mitigating global warming are reducing food waste, educating girls, providing family planning and reproductive healthcare, and collectively shifting to a plant-rich diet.”
Most people remain ignorant to the impact of their diets. They’re not morally opposed to consuming animal products. They also don’t think that an individual’s choices will affect the greater good. They’re wrong. He states: “When I first chose to become vegetarian, as a nine-year-old, my motivation was simple: do not hurt animals. Over the years, my motivations changed—because the available information changed, but more importantly, because my life changed. As I imagine the case for most people, aging has proliferated my identities. Time softens ethical binaries and fosters a greater appreciation of what might be called the messiness of life.” He makes these types of statements but by the end of the book I still don’t understand these other motivations and why it’s so hard for Foer not to be 100% vegan. If you want to be vegetarian or omnivore then that’s your choice. It’s not, however, difficult to commit to being vegan if you’re in it for the right reasons. And if you’re committed to helping the environment, then it’s critical that you make changes in your diet.
full review: https://entertainmentrealm.com/2019/10/11/book-review-we-are-the-weather/
Of all of the books I have read on climate change this one really hit me on a visceral even physical way. As a psychologist all of the information about human change was also thought provoking. I do want to do all I can do to help with climate and the author is not sugar coating the situation we are in. Prior to the pandemic I heard HS Udaykumar speak, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-__8lPo-Qpg&t=01s and that presentation also helped me make significant changes to my diet. My family has not even noticed I no longer buy ground beef and only buy the plant based meat products. The impact of raising animals on our planet is a significant contributor to climate change. Not eating animal products for breakfast and lunch seems like a worthwhile place to start for many people. Being thoughtful about how we consume animal products is a meaningful place to start and something tangible to do on a daily basis.
Oof. This short book was still way too long. Eat less (or no) meat and dairy, because it's the most easily controlled way to reduce climate impact. But skip the long personal diary/therapy session/journal of self-loathing that make up the rest of this book.
Foer's Eating Animals changed my life more than any other book last year. I ate veganly for six months and though I've begun to eat dairy products again, and I've learned to relax with meat during certain family gatherings I wouldn't mind going back once again. So I was pleased to pick up another of Foer's books and see where else I can improve myself.
We are the Weather suggests that if everyone in the western world were to make a minor change in their diet (no meat until dinner time) it would reduce our impact on the environment immensely. I don't know the science behind it, but I can't make a t.v. work either. I assume the scientists have made their models and Foer has done his research. Here's another reason to wean oneself away from animal products.
While I wasn't as engaged as with Eating Animals that could be due to the fact that the idea isn't as new to me this time. It's full of funny phrases, upended cliches, and curious juxtapositions. I didn't like the Dispute with the Sould chapter. It came after the main content of the book and reminds me of the dialogue between Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot; a bit tedious. But the final chapter ties it all together again.
It's a fast read and I would recommend it. Especially if you care about the environment and want impetus to do something about it.
We are the Weather suggests that if everyone in the western world were to make a minor change in their diet (no meat until dinner time) it would reduce our impact on the environment immensely. I don't know the science behind it, but I can't make a t.v. work either. I assume the scientists have made their models and Foer has done his research. Here's another reason to wean oneself away from animal products.
While I wasn't as engaged as with Eating Animals that could be due to the fact that the idea isn't as new to me this time. It's full of funny phrases, upended cliches, and curious juxtapositions. I didn't like the Dispute with the Sould chapter. It came after the main content of the book and reminds me of the dialogue between Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot; a bit tedious. But the final chapter ties it all together again.
It's a fast read and I would recommend it. Especially if you care about the environment and want impetus to do something about it.
Very interesting, depressing, important call to action of a book. He reiterates and modifies some of the arguments against eating meat he uses in Eating Animals, but it's mostly new emphasis and argument in the context of climate science and how to individually minimize your impact on rising CO2 etc. levels by eating fewer animal products, including meat. Not a fun read, necessarily, but worth your time.
3,5 ster. Zeer sterke argumentatie voor een plantaardig(er) dieet die iedereen zeker tot zich moet nemen. Had wat mij betreft wel een stuk korter gekund.
Best way of putting the internal struggles of being woke and inactive I’ve read.
I wanted to love this book. As someone who was convinced to finally become vegetarian years ago due to Foer’s earlier work, ‘Eating Animals,’ and having become fully vegan soon after that, I reaaaaalllly wanted to love this book. In Eating Animals, Foer’s heartfelt storytelling combined with thorough research hit me to the core and I could no longer ignore reality. That book completely changed my life and my health and my connection to other life.
So, I really wanted to love this book. The message is urgent. But I don’t feel the delivery will resonate with all readers, which becomes diluted through philosophical meandering. I just can’t draw myself to give it a bad rating. Tones of preaching aside, all I hear is the internal struggle of someone existentially panicked about the inevitable state of our planet, fear for the future of our children and loved ones, and the crippling realization of our responsibility in it all. The challenge is massive, but without these awkward, meandering, and challenging conversations with ourselves, change is not possible. To be neutral is to be complicit in the destruction of our only home.
So, I really wanted to love this book. The message is urgent. But I don’t feel the delivery will resonate with all readers, which becomes diluted through philosophical meandering. I just can’t draw myself to give it a bad rating. Tones of preaching aside, all I hear is the internal struggle of someone existentially panicked about the inevitable state of our planet, fear for the future of our children and loved ones, and the crippling realization of our responsibility in it all. The challenge is massive, but without these awkward, meandering, and challenging conversations with ourselves, change is not possible. To be neutral is to be complicit in the destruction of our only home.