We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate

人類已經開墾了一片相當於亞洲加上歐洲總面積的土地來種植糧食，而我們的糧食系統產生了全球三分之一的碳排放。

到了2050年，地球上將近有100億張嘴需要餵飽，我們需要大量熱量來供應，但如果繼續每六秒就砍掉一英畝雨林來耕種，就無法在不「煎炸地球」的情況下餵飽全球。換句話說，我們正在「吃掉地球」，而擺在人類面前最嚴峻的挑戰，就是如何減緩對自然土地無止境的侵占。即使我們停止使用化石燃料，若不解決糧食與土地問題，仍將無可避免地邁向氣候災難。

在這本節奏明快、令人震驚的敘事作品中，葛倫沃（Michael Grunwald）揭示了世界長期忽視盤中氣候問題之後，竟轉而採取了讓情況更惡化的行動——那些表面上看似永續的解方，實際上可能讓我們更難以用更少的土地生產更多的糧食。但書中同時也講述了一些富有動力的科學家與創業家所追求的真正解決方案：從一種堅韌如叢林植物的神奇作物「朋加米亞」（pongamia），到經基因編輯的牛胚胎；從不可能的漢堡（Impossible Whopper），到使用COVID疫苗技術製成、能讓甲蟲便秘致死的無污染殺蟲劑。

這是一段令人憤怒的故事，涉及遊說者、政客，甚至科學界本身如何因農業利益的巨大影響而做出對人類有害的錯誤選擇。但這同時也是一本充滿希望的書，描寫那些已經看清問題所在並努力尋求解方的人們。

本書作者是《The Swamp》和《The New New Deal》的暢銷作家麥可．葛倫沃，他以一位名為提姆．瑟奇辛格（Tim Searchinger）的傑出土地與糧食專家為主軸，描述他如何在錯誤的科學與政治中奮戰突圍。書中也描繪出一條可能拯救地球家園的路徑——透過更完善的政策、科技與行為改變，並建立一種新的「土地倫理觀」，理解每一畝土地都至關重要。

Humanity has cleared a land mass the size of Asia plus Europe to grow food, and our food system generates a third of our carbon emissions. By 2050, we’re going to need a lot more calories to fill nearly 10 billion bellies, but we can’t feed the world without frying it if we keep tearing down an acre of rainforest every six seconds. We are eating the earth, and the greatest challenge facing our species will be to slow our relentless expansion of farmland into nature. Even if we quit fossil fuels, we’ll keep hurtling towards climate chaos if we don’t solve our food and land problems.

In this rollicking, shocking narrative, Grunwald shows how the world, after decades of ignoring the climate problem at the center of our plates, has pivoted to making it worse, embracing solutions that sound sustainable but could make it even harder to grow more food with less land. But he also tells the stories of the dynamic scientists and entrepreneurs pursuing real solutions, from a jungle-tough miracle crop called pongamia to genetically-edited cattle embryos, from Impossible Whoppers to a non-polluting pesticide that uses the technology behind the COVID vaccines to constipate beetles to death. It’s an often infuriating saga of lobbyists, politicians, and even the scientific establishment making terrible choices for humanity, but it’s also a hopeful account of the people figuring out what needs to be done—and trying to do it.

Michael Grunwald, bestselling author of The Swamp and The New New Deal, builds his narrative around a brilliant, relentless, unforgettable food and land expert named Tim Searchinger. He chronicles Searchinger’s uphill battles against bad science and bad politics, both driven by the overwhelming influence of agricultural interests. And he illuminates a path that could save our planetary home for ourselves and future generations—through better policy, technology, and behavior, as well as a new land ethic recognizing that every acre matters.