The Omnivore’s Dilemma
By Michael Pollan (Penguin Press / $26.95)
For those among us who do not own large tracts of land, conservation is often about everyday decisions. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan suggests that our choices about what to eat can make a meaningful difference to the future of biodiversity. Playing detective, Pollan traces four meals back to their origins in a sobering yet entertaining look at the impact that industrial farming, organic farming, and hunting and foraging have on the natural world. He argues convincingly that the more our decisions about what to eat factor in the true costs of food to ourselves and the ecosystems that sustain us, the more pleasurable eating can become.
—Josh Knights
