Michael Grunwald’s latest book about climate change and food systems is a pleasure to read (though I feel deeply conflicted using the terms “pleasure” and “climate change” in the same sentence).

Bottom Line Up Front: we are (h)eating the earth, feeding the globe’s growing population by converting would-be emissions sinks (nature) into sources (farms…even, and maybe especially the kinds of farms we imagine to be eco-friendly). Without a global look at emissions from land-use and attendant coordinated solutions to feed ourselves, well-intentioned policies may do worse than miss the mark—they may supercharge climate change.

The writing: As with The Swamp, Grunwald has told a coherent and irreverent story that lulls the reader into believing this is leisure, with an environmental policy seminar kicker. The book elicits audible chuckles, visible smirks, and a desire to know more. While themes and even phrases are repeated, it doesn't feel repetitious. The distillation and allegory of technical concepts in a grounded way is both helpful and at times illuminates the (dark) comedy of errors we have wrought upon the planet. It does so in a way that feels resolvable, if herculean. Throughout, Grunwald parallels the ways in which power-sector and transportation emissions once felt insurmountable too, which gives the reader a sense of collective agency. It isn’t all intrepid protagonist wins, either. For example, to avoid climate-induced wildfire and escape Big Oil’s clutches, Grunwald details a catastrophic climate detour, where we’ve torched whole trees on the altar of biofuel instead.

Who should read this book? Don’t be put off by the length (384 pages, but a good chunk of those are citations for reference materials) or subject matter just because you have limited reading bandwidth. Start it. It is a quick read, but importantly, one that can be returned to and read in spurts. As a parent of youngsters, I put this down and picked it back up over the course of a month during spring sports season without losing my place. That’s saying something. Because Grunwald has consulted so many sources, I did find myself forgetting a name or ten. Detailed enough to keep this environmental lawyer and policy professional’s interest, the book was also accessible. I’ll recommend it to both my professional contacts and social friends without a second thought. Environmental and climate policy wonks, regenerative agriculture aficionados take note: this book may challenge your assumptions, and that’s a good thing. I can’t say I wholly adopt all of its perspectives as my own. For example, I remain deeply concerned about the water quality implications of chemically-moderated monoculture, notwithstanding attendant higher yields. I would guess I’m not the only one, and that perhaps even Grunwald and the prominently featured water lawyer turned land use and climate expert Tim Searchinger are similarly concerned. But it made me confront my own biases and fire up some self-directed “further reading.” And let’s not let anti-regulatory forces misquote the book as a tome in support of corn, soy, and Roundup. It isn’t that. If you read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, give this a read too—not because it is similar but because it is different. Same topic, different tradeoffs, and approaching two decades of perspective since.

Get it: The release date is July 1, 2025. Who says a climate book can’t be an Independence Day beach read? It might even change your meal plan for the 4th. Signed copies(!) can be preordered from Books & Books. For DC beltway folks, Politics and Prose and Kramers have preorder links too.