What will I learn about: why the narrative of climate change is so difficult to engage with emotionally due to its lack of specific victims, clear timelines, and recognizable villains?

Discover why the narrative of climate change is so difficult to engage with emotionally due to its lack of specific victims, clear timelines, and recognizable villains.

What will I learn about: how our evolutionary wiring makes us highly responsive to immediate physical dangers but terribly unequipped to react to abstract, future threats?

Understand how our evolutionary wiring makes us highly responsive to immediate physical dangers but terribly unequipped to react to abstract, future threats.

What will I learn about: Learn how modern environmental campaigns often provide an incomplete picture by focusing exclusively on fossil fuels while ignoring other massive sources of global pollution?

Learn how modern environmental campaigns often provide an incomplete picture by focusing exclusively on fossil fuels while ignoring other massive sources of global pollution.

What will I learn about: Uncover the reality that industrial animal farming causes nearly as many greenhouse gas emissions as fossil fuels, a fact often omitted by prominent climate activists?

Uncover the reality that industrial animal farming causes nearly as many greenhouse gas emissions as fossil fuels, a fact often omitted by prominent climate activists.

What will I learn about: why reducing your consumption of animal products is a significantly more effective way to combat climate change than popular, low-impact habits like recycling or driving a hybrid car?

Find out why reducing your consumption of animal products is a significantly more effective way to combat climate change than popular, low-impact habits like recycling or driving a hybrid car.

Theme Song

We Are the Weather

Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast

Jonathan Safran Foer

★ 4.3 / 5(240 ratings)

Start ListeningDownload QR code that opens AudiobookHub on the App Store

Try free on iPhoneScan to start in 5 seconds

Categories:

Nature & the Environment

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡Have you ever wondered why our brains struggle to treat climate change like a real emergency, and what it would take to finally spark collective action?
💡What if you could significantly reduce your carbon footprint without a total lifestyle overhaul, simply by changing how you approach two of your daily meals?
💡Are you curious about the surprising link between your breakfast plate and the future of the planet?

Listen to We Are the Weather — Free Audiobook

Loading player...

Key Takeaways from We Are the Weather

✓Discover why the narrative of climate change is so difficult to engage with emotionally due to its lack of specific victims, clear timelines, and recognizable villains.
✓Understand how our evolutionary wiring makes us highly responsive to immediate physical dangers but terribly unequipped to react to abstract, future threats.
✓Learn how modern environmental campaigns often provide an incomplete picture by focusing exclusively on fossil fuels while ignoring other massive sources of global pollution.
✓Uncover the reality that industrial animal farming causes nearly as many greenhouse gas emissions as fossil fuels, a fact often omitted by prominent climate activists.
✓Find out why reducing your consumption of animal products is a significantly more effective way to combat climate change than popular, low-impact habits like recycling or driving a hybrid car.

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from We Are the Weather

Mind Map

We Are the Weather

Psychological Barriers+

Misinformation & Misplaced Focus+

The Hidden Culprit: Animal Farming+

The Dietary Solution+

Activism & Ethical Duty+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8

Why do people find the story of climate change difficult to emotionally engage with compared to historical movements like the civil rights movement?

A. It is presented with too much scientific jargon that the general public cannot understand.
B. It lacks a clear timeline, specific victims to visualize, and distinct heroes or villains.
C. The media refuses to report on the most devastating effects of climate change.
D. People believe that the government is already handling the problem effectively.

Question 2 of 8

According to a UCLA study mentioned in the text, why are humans poorly equipped to respond to future threats like climate change?

A. Our brains release stress hormones that paralyze our long-term decision-making abilities.
B. We possess an inherent optimism bias that makes us believe future problems will solve themselves.
C. When we imagine our future selves, our brain activity resembles how we think about complete strangers.
D. We are genetically predisposed to prioritize community needs over individual survival.

Question 3 of 8

Why do prominent environmental campaigns, such as Al Gore’s documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth', often exclude industrial animal farming from their discussions?

A. Activists fear that suggesting people eat less meat is so controversial it will completely alienate the public from the movement.
B. Fossil fuels account for over 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, making agriculture statistically insignificant.
C. There is insufficient scientific data to prove that animal farming contributes to global warming.
D. The agricultural lobby heavily funds these environmental documentaries to keep the focus strictly on fossil fuels.

Question 4 of 8

What historical event does the author use to illustrate the necessity of combining 'top-down' structural support with 'bottom-up' grassroots action?

A. The abolition of apartheid in South Africa.
B. The global employee strikes at Google regarding corporate policies.
C. The success of the Montgomery bus boycott during the civil rights movement.
D. The near-eradication of polio through government funding and millions of citizen volunteers.

Question 5 of 8

Why is the destruction of forests to create land for animal grazing and feed particularly devastating for carbon dioxide levels?

A. Deforestation removes the only natural barrier against rising global sea levels.
B. Trees are composed of 50 percent carbon, which is released as massive amounts of CO2 when they are burned.
C. The heavy machinery used to clear the forests runs on highly polluting, unregulated diesel fuel.
D. The exposed soil releases toxic underground methane reserves directly into the atmosphere.

Question 6 of 8

According to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, why is eating vegan for breakfast and lunch more environmentally effective than a standard vegetarian diet?

A. Standard vegetarian diets often rely heavily on imported, out-of-season vegetables that require high transportation emissions.
B. A standard vegetarian diet still includes environmentally destructive animal products like milk, cheese, and eggs.
C. Eating vegan for two meals entirely eliminates the need for complex carbohydrate consumption.
D. People who eat vegan for two meals are statistically more likely to engage in other forms of climate activism.

Question 7 of 8

How does the author counter the argument that eating a partly vegan diet is an 'elitist' luxury?

A. By pointing out that vegan meat substitutes are now heavily subsidized by local governments.
B. By arguing that the long-term healthcare savings from a vegan diet offset the higher grocery store prices.
C. By showing that animal agriculture consumes massive amounts of grain and drinkable water that could otherwise feed starving populations.
D. By proving that global fast-food chains now offer vegan options at the exact same price as meat options.

Question 8 of 8

What is an example of a 'positive feedback loop' in runaway climate change described in the text?

A. Increased carbon taxes leading to faster development of green technologies.
B. Melting polar ice exposing dark sea water, which absorbs more heat and causes even more ice to melt.
C. Higher temperatures causing more air conditioner usage, which in turn requires more fossil fuels.
D. Deforestation leading to a decrease in global meat consumption as grazing land becomes scarce.

We Are the Weather — Full Chapter Overview

1Recommendation
2Climate change isn’t a compelling or believable story, so people aren’t driven to fight it.
3We aren’t wired to react to abstract threats like climate change.
4We’re given confusing and misleading advice about how to prevent climate change.
5Fighting climate change will take both “top-down” and “bottom-up” activism.
6Industrial animal farming is a major cause of climate change.
7The best way to help save the planet is to stop eating animal products for breakfast and lunch.
8It’s already too late to avoid climate-related disasters — but that doesn’t mean we should give up.
9Final summary

We Are the Weather Summary & Overview

We Are the Weather (2019) is a rigorous investigation of climate change, what it means and why humans seem so powerless to tackle it. Jonathan Safran Foer argues that while climate change is terrifying and hard to understand, there is a very simple action that we can take: By leaving out meat and animal products for breakfast and lunch, we can make a huge contribution to the health of the planet.

Who Should Listen to We Are the Weather?

People who want to save the planet, but feel paralyzed by what first step to take
Psychology buffs who are interested in group dynamics, and what motivates people to act
Would-be vegans who need a bit more persuasion to take the plunge

About the Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer is an American novelist and nonfiction writer. His previous nonfiction book Eating Animals became a New York Times bestseller, and was turned into a documentary which won the Environmental Media Association Award in 2019. Safran Foer is a board member for Farm Forward – a non-profit organization promoting sustainable eating.