We Are the Weather

by Jonathan Safran Foer

  It has been estimated that Bolsonaro’s policy: Wallace-Wells, “One Man.”

  Animal agriculture is responsible: Margulis, “Causes of Deforestation.”

  As they digest food: United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Enteric Fermentation.”

  Livestock are the leading source of methane emissions: United States Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, 5-1.

  Nitrous oxide is emitted by livestock urine: Steinfeld et al., Livestock’s Long Shadow.

  Livestock are the leading source: Ibid.

  Animal agriculture is the leading cause: World Wildlife Fund, “Forest Conversion.”

  According to the United Nations Framework Convention: Gates, “Climate Change.”

  The Food and Agriculture Organization: Steinfeld et al., Livestock’s Long Shadow.

  “livestock (like automobiles) are”: Goodland and Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change,” 12.

  Scientists estimate that to keep: McKibben, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math.”

  According to a recent Johns Hopkins University report: Kim et al., “Mitigating Catastrophic Climate Change.”

  The most optimistic estimates suggest: Jacobson and Delucchi, “Path to Sustainable Energy,” 64.

  “The maths is brutally clear”: Harvey, “Dangerous Climate Change.”

  The four highest-impact things: Wynes and Nicholas, “Climate Mitigation Gap.”

  Eighty-five percent of Americans drive: Chase, “Car-Sharing.”

  Businesses must rely more: “U.S. Air Passengers’ Main Trip Purposes.”

  Pounds of CO2e associated with a serving: Center for Sustainable Systems, “Carbon Footprint Factsheet.”

  Not eating animal products for breakfast and lunch: Kim et al., “Country-Specific Dietary Shifts.”

  To meet the Paris accord’s two-degree goal: Girod et al., “Climate Policy.”

  While citizens of different countries: “Carbon Emissions per Person, by Country.”

  the average Frenchman’s: Ibid.

  the average Bangladeshi’s: Ibid.

  the average global citizen: Ibid.

  Not eating animal products for breakfast and lunch: This figure accounts for 235 country-specific practices, including feed composition, feed conversion ratios, and manure management techniques. It accounts for conversion to grassland from forest, but does not account for soil carbon losses from livestock management (desertification). It is backed up by a forthcoming study by Raychel Santo and Brent Kim of Johns Hopkins University.

  III. ONLY HOME

  If Mars was once inhabited: Weisman, “Earth Without People.”

  According to the cognitive psychologist: Dahl, “Why Can’t You Smell Your Own Home?”

  You have to achieve at least: Reinert, “Blue Marble Shot.”

  “Photo sessions were scheduled events”: Ibid.

  Apollo 17 was the last: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Apollo to the Moon.”

  As the Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders: New Mexico Museum of Space History, “International Space Hall of Fame.”

  Many have attributed the rise of the environmental movement: Kluger, “Earth from Above”; United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Earthrise.”

  It wasn’t when he landed on the moon: Nardo, Blue Marble, 46.

  Awe is inspired by two things: Shaw, “Overview Effect.”

  The overview effect changes people: Goldhill, “Astronauts Report an ‘Overview Effect.’”

  One, Edgar Mitchell: Institute of Noetic Sciences, “Our Story.”

  Since Yuri Gagarin: WorldSpaceFlight, “Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics.”

  According to the space engineer Isaac DeSouza: Ferreira, “Seeing Earth from Space.”

  The company’s goal: www.SpaceVR.co.

  Commenting on this possibility: Berger, “Viewing Earth from Space.”

  Describing his nonvirtual experience: Garan, Orbital Perspective.

  The earliest spectacles: Mortimer, “Mirror Effect.”

  The rise of the glass mirror: Ibid.

  When babies begin: Rochat, “Five Levels of Self-Awareness.”

  A recent addition to this list: Buehler, “Tiny Fish.”

  Cleaner wrasse live: Aton, “Earth Almost Certain to Warm.”

  George H. W. Bush: Worland, “Climate Change.”

  He pledged to: Thompson, “Timeline.”

  That year, forty-two senators: Rich, “Losing Earth.”

  According to the EPA: United States Environmental Protection Agency, “International Treaties and Cooperation.”

  About six years before: Cushman, “Climate Research Budget.”

  In his investigative article: Rich, “Losing Earth.”

  Bush promised that “[his] Administration’s climate change policy”: Office of the Press Secretary, “President’s Statement on Climate Change.”

  That same year, he established: United States Climate Change Science Program, “Climate Change Research Initiative.”

  In his speech discussing why: Office of the Press Secretary, “President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change.”

  In America, it is easier than ever: Greshko et al., “How Trump Is Changing the Environment.”

  Although his administration: Lavelle, “Obama’s Climate Legacy.”

  Recently, supposedly progressive hotbeds: McKibben, “Up Against Big Oil.”

  Abroad, the French turned out: Nossiter, “France Suspends Fuel Tax Increase.”

  Almost fifty years after the Apollo 17 astronauts: Matthews, “Climate Change Skepticism.”

  “I am convinced that humans need to leave Earth”: Knapton, “Human Race Is Doomed.”

  If the 7.5 billion people on the planet: McDonald, “How Many Earths Do We Need?”

  The GFN estimates: Coren, “Earth’s Natural Resources.”

  Seventy-three percent of American consumers: Calfas, “Americans Have So Much Debt.”

  Humanity has a DTI ratio: McDonald, “How Many Earths Do We Need?”

  In fact, twenty-one youth plaintiffs: Our Children’s Trust, “Juliana v. U.S.-Climate Lawsuit”; Conca, “Children Change the Climate.”

  Many economists argue: Allison, “Financial Health of Young America.”

  We may figure out how: Dunn, “1,000 Passenger Ships.”

  minus eighty degrees Fahrenheit: NASA, “Mars Facts.”

  Responding to techno-interventions: National Research Council, Climate Intervention, 9.

  According to Project Drawdown: Project Drawdown, “Solutions.”

  Membership in the NAACP: Virginia Museum of History and Culture, “Turning Point.”

  many referred to the war as a “Double V”: Delmont, “African-Americans Fighting Fascism and Racism.”

  The exodus of men: PBS, “Civil Rights”; Hartmann, Home Front and Beyond.

  Jobs opened for Mexican Americans: Norton et al., People and a Nation, 746.

  When a couple suffers a betrayal: Schwartz, “Esther Perel.”

  was ground too shallow: NASA, “Hubble Space Telescope.”

  When they emerged the next morning: “Theft That Made the ‘Mona Lisa’ a Masterpiece.”

  At the time, the Mona Lisa: Zug, “Stolen.”

  But once it drew the attention: “‘LA GIOCONDA’ IS STOLEN IN PARIS.”

  When the Louvre reopened: Kuper, “Who Stole the Mona Lisa?”

  Franz Kafka paid the empty wall: Gekoski, “Fact-Check Fears.”

  The following year, perhaps inspired: Bernofsky, “On Translating Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis.’”

  The Louvre estimates: Riding, “New Room with View of ‘Mona Lisa.’”

  It now resides behind: McKinney, “Mona Lisa Is Protected by a Fence.”

  Among the few survivors: Firestone, “Busting the Myths About Suicide.”

  If we were to lose our planet: Herbst, “Kevin Hines.”

  “The biggest problem climate change poses”: Scranton, “Learning How
to Die.”

  And I’m quite sure someone: Parker, “Climate Migrants.”

  “Listen to me,” implores the soul: “Dialogue of a Man with His Soul.”

  IV. DISPUTE WITH THE SOUL

  Climate change is a problem on the scale: Griffin, “Carbon Majors Database.”

  Just one hundred companies: CDP, “100 Companies.”

  He infiltrated a Nazi death camp: Power, “Problem from Hell.”

  Only 14 percent of Americans: Leiserowitz et al., “Climate Change in the American Mind.”

  significantly lower percentage: Masci, “6 Facts About the Evolution Debate.”

  the earth orbits the sun: Neuman, “1 in 4 Americans.”

  Sixty-nine percent of American voters: Marlon et al., “Participation in the Paris Agreement.”

  The richest 10 percent: Oxfam, “Extreme Carbon Inequality.”

  An estimated six million Bangladeshis: Displacement Solutions, Climate Displacement in Bangladesh.

  Anticipated sea-level rises: United Nations, “Statement by His Excellency Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed.”

  In 2018, it ranked Finland, Norway, and Denmark: Helliwell et al., World Happiness Report 2018.

  The combined population of Finland: Mapes, “Population of Nordic Countries.”

  The average Bangladeshi is responsible: “Carbon Emissions per Person, by Country.”

  Bangladesh also happens to be: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Annual Meat Consumption.”

  In 2018, the average Finn: Natural Resources Institute Finland, “What Was Eaten in Finland in 2016.”

  Worldwide, more than 800 million: World Food Program, “World Hunger Again on the Rise.”

  More than 150 million: Hunger Project, “Know Your World.”

  One and a half million children: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Children During the Holocaust.”

  Land that could feed: Koneswaran and Nierenberg, “Global Farm Animal Production and Global Warming.”

  The UN’s former special rapporteur: Ziegler, “Burning Food Crops.”

  Twenty-three and a half million Americans live: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, “Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food.”

  It is true that a healthy traditional diet: Caba, “Eating Healthy.”

  But a healthy vegetarian diet: Flynn and Schiff, “Economical Healthy Diets.”

  For perspective, the median income: FRED Economic Data, “Real Median Personal Income.”

  There are fewer American farmers: American Farm Bureau Federation, “Fast Facts About Agriculture”; “Farm Population Lowest Since 1850’s”; United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employment Projections Program.”

  Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems: Steinfeld et al., Livestock’s Long Shadow.

  In China, coal generates: United States Energy Information Administration, “Chinese Coal-Fired Electricity Generation.”

  How do we consider the fact: Fischer and Keating, “How Eco-friendly Are Electric Cars?”

  And what about the other forms: Wade, “Tesla’s Electric Cars.”

  The average U.S. and U.K. citizen: Springmann et al., “Food System”; Carrington, “Reduction in Meat-Eating.”

  Because of the fact that: “Amazon Rainforest Deforestation ‘Worst in 10 Years.’”

  Because American CO2e emissions: Plumer, “U.S. Carbon Emissions.”

  Because of the 2017 discovery: Wolf et al., “Global Livestock.”

  and the 2018 discovery: Pierre-Louis, “Ocean Warming.”

  Because in the next thirty years: Carrington, “Reduction in Meat-Eating.”

  V. MORE LIFE

  When Kevin Hines jumped: Glionna, “Golden Gate’s Suicide Lure.”

  Armed conflicts will erupt: Eckstein et al., “Global Climate Risk Index 2019.”

  As one of the documents: Shapiro and Epsztein, “Warsaw Ghetto Oyneg Shabes.”

  Carved into the rock: Croptrust, “Svalbard Global Seed Vault.”

  Because the vault is kept: Carrington, “Arctic Stronghold of World’s Seeds.”

  Another effort, called: Frozen Ark Project, https://www.frozenark.org. Accessed February 1, 2019.

  It is written that “Noah”: Genesis 9:13, https://biblehub.com/genesis/9-13.htm.

  Globally, more people die of suicide: Dokoupil, “Why Suicide Has Become an Epidemic”; Lisa Schein, “More People Die from Suicide.”

  A second note: Parisienne et al., “Gay Rights Lawyer.”

  Three months later: Scranton, “Raising My Child.”

  As David Wallace-Wells observes: Wallace-Wells, “Uninhabitable Earth.”

  He is referring to a paper: Wynes and Nicholas, “Climate Mitigation Gap.”

  In their book Connected: Christakis and Fowler, Connected.

  “In a surprising regularity that”: Christakis and Fowler, Connected.

  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, “March on Washington.”

  “I can’t protect my daughter”: Scranton, “Raising My Child.”

  A few months ago, a man: Wilson, “His Body Was Behind the Wheel.”

  “The birds chirped”: Pilon, “I Found a Dead Body.”

  When Stephen Hawking presided: Low, “Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness.”

  More than one hundred billion: Kaneda and Haub, “How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?”

  While Armstrong prepared: Safire, Before the Fall, 146.

  “In Event of Moon Disaster”: A scanned image of the memo can be found at https://www.archives.gov/files/presidential-libraries/events/centennials/nixon/images/exhibit/rn100-6-1-2.pdf.

  The art curator João Ribas: Paglen, Last Pictures Project.

  In Flannery O’Connor’s story: O’Connor, Complete Stories, 133.

  APPENDIX: 14.5 PERCENT / 51 PERCENT

  “If this argument is right”: Goodland and Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change,” 11.

  They recommend a 25 percent reduction: Goodland and Anhang, “Response to ‘Livestock and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.’”

  Those eager to challenge: Lehmkuhl, “Livestock and Climate.”

  After he retired: Dr. Robert Goodland’s personal website, accessed February 1, 2019, https://goodlandrobert.com; Goodland, “Robert Goodland Obituary.”

  In a 2012 piece he wrote: Goodland, “Meat Industry Pressure.”

  “The FAO counts emissions”: Goodland and Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change,” 13.

  In their 2010 follow-up: Goodland and Anhang, “‘Livestock and Climate Change’: Critical Comments and Responses,” 8.

  In addition, the FAO fails: Goodland and Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change,” 14.

  The FAO also “uses citations”: Ibid.

  “Emissions from livestock respiration”: Steinfeld and Wassenaar, “Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles.”

  “Today,” Goodland and Anhang state: Goodland and Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change,” 12.

  Goodland and Anhang add that: Goodland and Anhang, “‘Livestock and Climate Change’: Critical Comments and Responses,” 7.

  “Growth in markets”: Goodland and Anhang, “Livestock and Climate Change,” 13.

  “I emailed Mario”: Lehmkuhl, “Livestock and Climate.”

  Then, in 2012: Goodland, “Meat Industry Pressure.”

  Their stated objective: Ibid.

  Goodland claims that this new partnership: Steinfeld and Gerber, “Livestock Production.”

  whereas the World Bank urges: Goodland, “Meat Industry Pressure.”

  Sure enough, in 2013: Gerber et al., Tackling Climate Change.

  A 2014 UN General Assembly report: Human Rights Council, “Report of the Special Rapporteur.”

  The UNESCO authors write that: Kanaly et al., “Meat Production,” 10.

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