Farmbrarian

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“Ultimately, nearly every single major disease affecting modern human populations–whether bacterial, viral, parasitic, or noncommunicable–has its roots in the mismatch between our biology and the world we have created since the advent of agriculture.”

10,000 years ago, people began growing food instead of foraging. This method of feeding populations seems like an obvious way to improve food security. (Although evidence does not suggest that hunter-gatherers had trouble obtaining sufficient food.) But as Spencer Wells states in the quote above, the affects of our decision to begin controlling nature through agriculture have been far reaching (90). He discusses the idea at length in his new book Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization (2010).

Exploring all of the results of the onset of agriculture is a daunting task, indeed. By design, the book covers many topics ranging from chronic disease to global warming. Wells includes great lessons on human evolution and traces an understandable path from the days of hunter-gatherers to current times–where we face decreasing natural resources and increasing mental illness, among many other challenges.

In the final section of the book, Wells presents his solution to these problems. If the human race wants to halt its move down a path of destruction, “want less,” he says. Noble and necessary, to be sure, but lacking in detail nonetheless.

Given the breadth of the text, some segments lack thorough discussion. But readers who aren’t searching for detailed science, will find the anthropological discussion enjoyable and informative.

Click to find at a library near you!

Anna Lappé carries on the family tradition by examining the effects of modern agriculture on our planet in her new book Diet For A Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis At the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It. Lappé aims to answer three primary questions: What affect does our diet have on global warming? Why are people ignoring agriculture’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions? And finally, what should we do (or perhaps, eat)?

Lappé echoes her mother Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet (1971), by advocating for reduced consumption of meat and animal products. Included is a lengthy analysis of the greenhouse gas contributions of farm animals. Her arguments are persuasive, but ultimately I see a valid argument against animal factory farming—not animal foods in general.

Lappé looks at how the industrial food system affects climate change from start to finish. She first analyzes farming (including tilling, fertilizers, carbon sequestering, etc.); then moves on to transportation, storage, and processing; and finally discusses food waste (hint – landfills deserve real blame on this issue). All too often companies squirm their way out of culpability somewhere along the line. For example, as you’ll learn in the book, palm oil is in many processed food products; and major agribusinesses like Archer Daniels Midland have destroyed frightening amounts of rainforest (without anyone really knowing) to produce it.

In the interest of time, but to the detriment of her conclusions, Lappé often relies on limited supporting science, even when additional information exists. This is not to say her conclusions are wrong, but rather that nearly every topic covered could be examined in greater depth. For example, when countering a poorly supported claim that organic farming reduces yield, she relies on only two studies that assigned higher yields to organic farming when compared to conventional. Though I agree with her argument, more data would be useful for drawing significant conclusions.

Readers will walk away with an improved understanding of how food choices affect climate change, as well as with pre-formulated rebuttals to common arguments presented by doubters of wide scale organic, climate-friendly agriculture. Though it is no game changer, the book will certainly play a role as one piece of the puzzle in the movement towards sustainability in agriculture.