This is  a summary of a book titled “We are eating the Earth: the race to fix our food system and save our climate” written by Michael Grunwald and published by Simon and Schuster in 2025.

In “We are eating the Earth: the race to fix our food system and save our climate,” Michael Grunwald embarks on a compelling journey through the tangled web of food production, land use, and climate change. The book opens with a stark warning: humanity stands at a crossroads, and the choices we make about how we produce and consume food will determine whether we avert or accelerate a climate disaster. For years, the global conversation about climate mitigation has centered on replacing fossil fuels with cleaner energy sources. Yet, as Grunwald reveals, this focus overlooks a critical truth—our current methods of land use and food production account for a full third of the climate burden. The story unfolds as a true-life drama, populated by scientists, policymakers, and activists, each wrestling with the complexities of science and politics, and each striving to find solutions before it’s too late.

Grunwald’s narrative draws readers into the heart of the problem: the way we produce food and use land must change. He explores the paradoxes and unintended consequences of well-intentioned climate policies. For example, the idea of using crops to replace fossil fuels—once hailed as a climate-friendly innovation—proves to be counterproductive. The production of ethanol from corn, which gained popularity in the 1970s and surged again in the early 2000s, was promoted as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil and lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, as former Environmental Defense Fund attorney Tim Searchinger discovered, the reality is far more complex. Ethanol production not only fails to deliver the promised climate benefits, but also increases demand for farmland, leading to deforestation and the loss of natural carbon sinks. The research that supported biofuels often neglected the fact that natural vegetation absorbs more carbon than farmland, and the push for biofuels has threatened rainforests and contributed to food insecurity.

The book also examines the environmental harm caused by burning wood for fuel. Policies in the European Union and elsewhere encouraged the use of biomass, primarily wood, to generate electricity, under the mistaken belief that it was climate-friendly. In reality, burning wood releases carbon and diminishes the land’s future capacity to absorb it. The way carbon loss is accounted for—at the site of tree cutting rather than where the wood is burned—has led to flawed policies that exacerbate climate change rather than mitigate it. Even as the US Environmental Protection Agency initially rejected the climate benefits of biomass, political shifts reversed this stance, further complicating efforts to address the crisis.

Grunwald’s exploration of food production reveals a host of challenges. Meeting the world’s growing demand for food without increasing greenhouse gases or destroying forests is no easy task. Raising animals for meat and dairy requires far more cropland than growing plants, and animal products account for half of agriculture’s climate footprint. Searchinger’s message—“Produce, Reduce, Protect, and Restore”—serves as a guiding principle for climate-friendly strategies. These include making animal agriculture more efficient, improving crop productivity, enhancing soil health, reducing emissions, and curbing population growth. The book highlights the importance of reducing methane from rice cultivation, boosting beef yields while cutting consumption, restoring peat bogs, minimizing land use for bioenergy, cutting food waste, and developing plant-based meat substitutes.

The narrative delves into the promise and pitfalls of meat alternatives. While companies have invested heavily in alternative proteins, the path to scalable, affordable, and palatable meat replacements has been fraught with difficulty. The rise and fall of fake meat products follow the Gartner Hype Cycle, with initial excitement giving way to disappointment and skepticism about their environmental benefits. For many, meat replacements serve as a transitional product, but the future of the industry remains uncertain, as scaling up remains a significant hurdle.

Regenerative agriculture, once seen as a panacea, is scrutinized for its limitations. Practices such as reduced chemical use, less tilling, and managed grazing do help store carbon and provide social and economic benefits. However, Searchinger argues that regenerative agriculture alone cannot solve the climate crisis, as much of its benefit comes from taking land out of production, which can inadvertently increase pressure to convert more open land into farms.

Grunwald also explores technological innovations that could help increase crop yields and reduce the land needed for food production. Artificial fertilizers have boosted yields but are costly pollutants. New approaches, such as introducing nitrogen-fixing microbes, offer hope for more sustainable agriculture. Advances in animal agriculture, including high-tech farming techniques and gene editing, show promise for increasing efficiency and reducing emissions, though resistance to these innovations persists. Aquaculture, too, presents opportunities and challenges, as fish are more efficient than land animals but raising them in captivity introduces new problems.

Gene editing emerges as a beacon of hope, with scientists experimenting to enhance crop yields, combat pests, and improve food quality. The development of drought- and flood-resistant trees like pongamia, and the investment in biofuels and animal feed, illustrate the potential of biotechnology, even as skepticism and financial barriers remain.

Throughout the book, Grunwald emphasizes the difficulty of changing agriculture. Precision farming and other tech advances have made megafarms more productive and environmentally friendly, but these gains are not enough to meet global food demands, especially as climate change complicates implementation. Vertical farms and greenhouses offer solutions for some crops, but scaling these innovations is slow and challenging.

Grunwald’s narrative is one of cautious optimism. He points to Denmark as an example of how climate-friendly policies—taxing agricultural emissions, restoring natural lands, and encouraging less meat consumption—can make a difference. The ongoing struggle between food production and climate damage is complex, with trade-offs involving animal welfare, plastic use, and political opposition to climate action. Yet, Grunwald insists that even imperfect solutions can move us in the right direction. More funding for research, ramping up existing technologies, and linking subsidies to forest protection are among the measures that could help. In the end, innovation, grounded in reality and supported by sound policy, remains humanity’s best hope for saving both our food system and our climate.