How Climate-Science Is Drowned Out by Opportunists

The cover of this book is a bit painful to look at. It’s a posterization of food that includes a very bright blue globe ball in the middle. I don’t know why: but it’s just off. The colors are too bright. The title is too tiny. The globe is too swirly. Much could have been improved.
The “Foreword” opens with a puffery of the author’s award-winning restaurant. He slowly describes his inner struggles with opening a “regenerative agriculture” restaurant, without giving many specifics. He does not really explain what specifically caused him to close his Parennial restaurant in 2019. Instead of investing money into trying again, they have been profiting “since 2020” by helping “sixty-five farms… implement projects that have sequestered as much carbon as not burning about four million gallons of gas…” (13). This is the first mention of sequestering, which was not explained before. So, this intro would puzzle people trying to figure out why they should listen to this author’s experience. On page 33, it is added that trees naturally sequester carbon as they turn carbon dioxide into their bodies, and later when these trees rot, they become “soil carbon”. “Applying livestock manure and compost to fields and pastures helps sequester carbon in soil organic matter.” In other words, by just telling farmers to put manure into the ground to feed their crops (as they would do anyway) is earning these guys a lot of money, whereas selling this good-doing to restaurant-goers was unprofitable. Eleborating on this point, he argues that while sipping “a beer” he had the thought that the Had Glen Canyon dam was blocking “the riverside ecosystem’s ability to sequester carbon.” This meant he could profit from closing this dam as a “carbon mitigation” project (104). This is absolutely pointless, idiotic, and a profiteering trick that is making this guy money without taking steps to actually solve the climate-crisis. Soberer minds are needed.
There are some useful graphics and explanations throughout, like a graph of the “Carbon Footprint of Meat” that classifies categories by waste, retail & packaging, transport, processing, enteric methane, feed, and deforestation (262). But this idea (don’t eat meat) is countered by the manure-application scheme that this guy is profiting from. Stopping at a random page, I found the big question: “What can be done about these emissions?” The answer: the bad news: “it is currently unclear whether anything can be done to reduce the enteric methane that dairy animals belch from their stomachs” (310). The solution that he seems to hope for is for scientists to reduce cow-belching… Eh… The methane is produced in proportion to the food these cows eat to get big and create meat. A scientist might recommend making smaller cows… which would belch less per cow… But that’s not a serious approach. The way to stop cow-belching is to stop raising cows for human food.
I have to leave this book at this point… The reason humanity cannot solve the climate-crisis is because books like this keep clouding peoples’, academics’ and politicians’ minds regarding just what would seriously solve it, as opposed to merely profiting somebody who can manipulate doing the same thing we have been doing, but with green-washing. Instead of putting money into whatever this guy is doing, people who care about the environment should be investing into scientists whose only agenda is the solution, and not profiteering from the highest bidder’s desire to keep things as they are until this planet is cooked.
—Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fall 2024: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-fall-2024

Ever wondered what’s really on your plate—beyond the food? The Blue Plate dives into the fascinating stories behind our favorite dinner staples while shining a spotlight on their environmental impact. Ecologist Mark Easter serves up the facts with a side of wit and charm, making this an eye-opening yet surprisingly enjoyable read for food lovers and climate-conscious readers alike.

Organized like a dinner party menu, Easter takes us course by course—seafood, salad, bread, steak, and even pie with ice cream—exploring how each ingredient impacts the planet. From the soil growing your lettuce to the journey of dairy workers bringing ice cream to your bowl, this book connects the dots between the foods we love and their social and environmental footprints.

What I loved most is that Easter doesn’t guilt-trip readers or demand a complete lifestyle overhaul. Instead, he offers practical, low-carbon swaps that make eating sustainably approachable—and even tastier! Who knew saving the planet could still include steak and pie?

Packed with personal stories and thought-provoking insights, The Blue Plate isn’t just a book; it’s the perfect dinner conversation starter. If you’re curious about where your food comes from or how to make smarter choices, this book is a must-read. Bon appétit to sustainability!

This is an informative book that I enjoyed! It's well written and well put together. If you are interested in climate change, I would recommend this. Special Thank You to Mark Easter, Patagonia and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review

I am sad that I have to DNF this. It's just that the ARC epub feels - unfinished? I think that's how I want to phrase it. Photos (and their labels) in the wrong place, draft excerpts injected into paragraphs, I don't even know where the footnotes are - if there are any, missing text and things just generally not where a person thinks they should be? It was difficult enough to parse things out when the assumed knowledge threshold is pretty high on this (I am neither a horticulturist nor emissions expert) so I was hoping to have some kind of understandable introduction into what regenerative agriculture even IS. I will have to look into it through a different avenue, but thank you for introducing me to the topic.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Ideas on how to eat more sustainably and where our most loved foods come from.

"The Blue Plate" takes readers on a journey to understand the complex world of the food we eat - and the sustainability struggles that are only growing in severity and frequency.

Conservation and environmentalism are at the forefront of many people's minds these days. Choosing sustainable and ethical products is a priority. Often the solution for food is touted as being simple: Go vegan. But this sustainability is not as simple as that, especially as you learn more about agriculture methods/impacts, as "The Blue Plate" informs. Mark Easter does a phenomenal job shedding light on the climate crisis link with agriculture. Not only does he touch on the meat and dairy industry but also grains and fruits. He evokes compassion throughout the book, but doesn't hold back with his criticism. While Mark does encourage readers to make personal changes to their plates to help the planet, he holds the most weight against the systemic issues plaguing the industry and changes that can be made to the way we farm to help the environment.

An aspect of the book I was particularly grateful for was the information on dams - the common misconception as the sustainability of dams and how dam removal is restoration and beneficial to the planet and against climate change.

This book is a must read for folks concerned about the climate crisis and better understanding the role agriculture plays. And if this book, or the topic, interests you, I recommend you watch the 2016 documentary, "Sustainable."

I found this to be a very eye-opening read. I knew a little bit about the environmental impact the food we eat has but I didn't understand how much of an impact. This book was very informative and gave me a more in-depth background that actually made me think about the food I eat, where it comes from, and the impact it has. Overall, it is an impactful read that I would recommend.

A wonderfully illustrated, deeply fascinating deep dive into our food and where in comes from in relation to climate change and what we can do about it. There was a lot of really incredible information about where food in the US come from, it's impact on our climate interspersed with the authors own thoughts in a memoir format. I really enjoyed this book and it would be ideal for anyone to read to know more about our food. 4.5/5

Es stimmt nachdenklich. Was kann ich mit gutem Gewissen essen, erst überlegen, dann kaufen. Brauch ich im Winter Erdbeeren? ISS regional und saisonal. Denk an das Wasser…
Es ist nicht so schwer gut zu essen und trotzdem mitzuhelfen „ die Welt zu retten“

A fascinating book committing time to the comparison of ideals to better manage food resources in a warming climate.

I highly recommend this to scientists studying the planet and our food system for analysis and consideration for the future. Also recommended to people interested in learning about promoting a better world and for those seeking to understand.

Great book, I will order a physical copy for my library.

***Thank you to Netgalley, Patagonia and to Mark Easter for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Blue Plate.

I requested this book for the wrong reasons; I misinterpreted the premise, thinking the author was going to discuss how modern farming methods has negatively and harshly impacted our planet and our environment.

Then, I thought the author would offer sustainable and healthy recipes on how to live and eat a more healthy lifestyle.

Instead, The Blue Plate was far more science-y than I liked.

There's no doubt the author, who is an ecologist, did his research. Each chapter is organized by ingredients, like milk and corn, seafood and bread, vital foodstuffs you would find on anyone's dinner table.

Each chapter discusses the heinous causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and how the planet and the humans are suffering because of it.

He does offers lifestyle tips to reduce our carbon footprint and life a healthier lifestyle, eat local, reduce meat consumption, buy less, produce less waste.

Part memoir and part textbook, the author takes us on an amazing, and yes, frightful journey to show us how our food gets to our table. And the destruction that comes with it.

This was too science-y and read too much like a textbook for me to enjoy.

Some readers might like it, but not me.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions is created by growing, processing, and transporting food and disposing the waste. Ecologist Mark Easter asked the question “Can we cultivate from the Earth meals that nourish us, a Blue Plate of sorts, rather than the Earth being the meal itself?” Can we “eat our way out of the climate crisis”?

Easter’s book takes us across the country as he shows how modern farming methods negatively impacts the environment and how returning to pre-industrial farming methods maintains the soil and reduces carbon emissions. His broad study includes all aspects of food: vegetable farming, raising cattle and dairy farms, fishing, and animal and food waste management.

He offers suggestions of what we should have on our plate at meals. Eat local. Eat vegetables. Enjoy shellfish. Don’t throw food waste into the trash but compost it. But the book’s emphasis is not on the consumer end, but on the practises that can be changed to reduce carbon output and store it in the soil.

The book has aspects of memoir and travelogue as well as science facts while reporting his findings as Easter delved into how we get our food and the environmental costs of what we put on our plates.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.