Number 4 in the ‘Penguin Books – Green Ideas’ series, this book is a collection of speeches and essays by the investigative journalist and ‘professional troublemaker’ George Monbiot, a leading voice in the fight for climate justice.
This book isn’t just about the obvious changes we have to make such as removing petrol-driven cars from the roads, but whether we need to replace these cars with electric cars at all or whether a change in thinking to bring about less journeys in vehicles isn’t the better option. We have to do better very quickly otherwise climate changes will become irreversible.
Over four million acres of farmland in the UK is given over to sheep farming, providing 1% of the food of the country. This is 24 times as much land as is given over to vegetables and fruit and more land than is used to grow grain. This grazing wipes out wildlife and habitats. Even the well-intentioned movement towards pasture-fed meat doesn’t help the planet. Free-range chicken farming doesn’t help either even though it is cruelty free because all the reactive phosphate created by the chickens gets washed into nearby rivers where it causes algal blooms.
Humans have to think through all the lifestyle choices they’re making and follow the ones that do the least damage. This book will open your mind to the best ways to do this.
Julian Worker UK Blog 