What it is
George Monbiot, Guardian columnist and environmental writer, examines how the global food system can be reimagined to feed humanity without destroying the living world. Published in 2022, the book investigates soil ecology, precision fermentation, perennial grains, and why conventional agriculture is the most destructive human activity on Earth.
Why we picked this
Monbiot is one of the sharpest environmental writers working today, and this book takes on agriculture, the sector responsible for roughly 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. He is unafraid to challenge sacred cows (literally), questioning whether livestock farming of any kind can be justified at scale.
Key takeaways
- Agriculture occupies 50% of the world's habitable land but produces only 18% of global calories, making it the most land-inefficient way to feed humanity.
- Precision fermentation could produce protein at a fraction of the land, water, and emissions cost of animal agriculture within the next decade.
- Monbiot argues that even 'regenerative' livestock farming cannot scale to feed the global population without continuing to drive habitat destruction.