Blog

Both are fact-filled, very current, and highly readable

Anyone with even a modest interest in climate change should consider checking out two recently published books with messages that merit a large audience. New books about climate change appear virtually every week but few address such important topics in such a readable manner. Both authors are talented writers. Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun, is the author of more than 20 books and a frequent contributor to The Atlantic and The New Yorker magazines. Michael Grunwald, author of We Are Eating the Earth, is a former staff writer for the Washington Post and the author of numerous essays in The New York Times.

McKibben’s message is straightforward, engaging, and an optimistic counter to much of the current Trumpian energy policy based on “drill, baby, drill”: We’re on the verge of realizing that the sun, which already provides us light and warmth and photosynthesis, is also willing to provide us the power we need to run our lives. We are on the verge of turning to the heavens for energy instead of to hell.

“The verge” McKibben describes is the transformation to a global energy system dominated by solar and wind power. While starting from a relatively low base — currently solar and wind generate only about 15 percent of the planet’s electricity — the rate of growth is stunning. In 2024, he notes, over 92 percent of new electricity globally came from sun and wind. Even more in the U.S., 96 percent. Consequently, he argues, “There’s no longer a technical or financial obstacle in the way [to the clean energy transformation].” Data recently released for India provides further support for Mckibben’s thesis: CO2 emissions from the country’s traditionally coal dependent power sector fell by 1% year-on-year in the first half of 2025 and by 0.2% over the past 12 months. Clean energy additions approached the average growth of total power additions. And China is already much further along.

While he makes a convincing case based on what’s possible, McKibben recognizes this rosy picture is far from inevitable. He tempers his enthusiasm with “hard realities both physical and political.” The first is that the transition is coming too late to stop some very damaging consequences from climate change. Extreme temperatures, rising sea levels, and more powerful storms are already a climate reality. The second is that Trump policies and the aggressive, well-funded resistance of the fossil fuel industry could slow recent momentum. Thanks to these forces “it will be a fight to turn the American page.” Consistent with McKibben’s role as an outspoken climate activist he declares “I’m ready for that fight.” (Ironically, the booming demand for electricity this year has given the solar industry continued expectations of market growth despite Trump policies.)

Grunwald’s topic is one that has received much less attention than the promise of solar and wind power within the community of energy and climate scientists and activists: the linkages between food production, land use, and climate change. The subject has been addressed in past publications (e.g., Hot Hungry Planet, by Lisa Palmer) but never as thoroughly nor inclusive of significant recent developments. Building on research initially done about the use of land to produce fuels (via corn crops to produce ethanol), Grunwald explains that it is our appetite for meat that is “obliterating jungles and boiling the planet.” Nearly 80 percent of the world’s agricultural land is used to feed livestock; pound for pound, he learned, beef generates 50 times more emissions than coal. That is the reason for his title: eating meat is “eating the earth.”

Like McKibben, Grunwald finds reason for hope. “The really good news is that remarkable people are working on the eating-the-earth problem, and their work can be antidotes to climate fatalism.” He identifies three kinds of solutions as most promising: meat and dairy substitutes, regenerative farming and grazing methods, and methods that enable increased crop and livestock yields with less land. A promising example I’ve identified in Brazil uses ear tag trackers to make the cattle supply chain more transparent to help reduce illegal deforestation. Like McKibben, Grunwald notes the political challenges created by the Trump Administration. For example, multiple red states have adopted legislation banning or restricting sale of lab grown meat — despite the absence of any commercial products. (One restaurant in San Francisco, Green Americana, has received considerable media attention for offering lab-based and other meat alternatives.) In contrast with the energy transition to solar and wind, the need for dietary changes is a choice available to individuals but arguably even more difficult to achieve.

The magnitude of threats from climate change is now increasingly described as a source of depression and hopelessness — “climate anxiety”. Reading McKibben’s and Grunwald’s books offer both a clearer understanding of the challenges we face and well-informed, actionable strategies for making a difference. Both are worthy of wide attention.

Alan Miller is a former climate change officer in the International Finance Corporation (2003–13) and climate change team leader, Global Environment Facility (1997–2003). Besides other engagements, Alan is an active editor for Climate Conscious submissions on Medium.