In this month鈥檚 round up of new books, editor Ian Angus looks at books providing two views of food and farming; the origin of climate science denial; the high cost of living well; and a socialist who mostly disagrees with ecosocialism.
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Living Well At Others鈥 Expense: The Hidden Costs of Western Prosperity
By Stephan Lessenich
Polity, 2019
At the heart of developed societies lies an insatiable drive for wealth and prosperity, but the benefits enjoyed by the privileged few come at the expense of the many. Lessenich鈥檚 theory of 鈥渆xternalisation鈥 demonstrates how the negative consequences of our lifestyles are directly transferred onto the world鈥檚 poorest.
By Nathaniel Rich
Farrar, Straus & Girard, 2019
By 1979, we knew nearly everything we understand today about climate change 鈥 including how to stop it.聽
Losing Earth聽reveals, in previously unreported detail, how scientists fought for action, and the genesis of the fossil fuel industry鈥檚 coordinated effort to thwart climate policy through misinformation, propaganda and political influence.
By Timothy A Wise
New Press, 2019
The world already has the tools to feed itself, without expanding industrial agriculture or adopting genetically modified seeds.
Most of the world is now fed by hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers, people with few resources and simple tools but a keen understanding of what to grow and how. These farmers can show the way forward as the world warms and population increases.
By Kevin D Walker
Island Press, 2019
With industrialisation, we entered into a new relationship with food, a grand food bargain between consumers who want more food with less effort and companies whose profits depend on volume. What have we lost in the process?
By Alan Thornett
Resistance Books, 2019
Not so much 鈥渁rguments for ecosocialism鈥, as 鈥渁rguments with ecosocialists鈥. Alan Thornett, a long-time socialist leader in Britain, wants the left to be 鈥渕ore engaged with the environmental struggle鈥 鈥 a worthy objective 鈥 but most of his book consists of polemics against socialists who are聽already聽deeply engaged.
Overall, his way of being 鈥渕ore engaged鈥 involves accepting the views of liberal and lifestyle greens on population, carbon taxes, the role of lifestyle and diet, and other issues.
Thornett is a serious activist, but readers interested in ecosocialism should be aware that his views are, to say the least, contrarian. (See聽听颈苍听Resolute Reader聽for a more extended critique.)
[Inclusion of a book does not imply agreement with any, or all, of its contents.]