Recommended Reading: Books about eating, breathing and blankets of coal dust

I was pedalling hard on the exercise bike when I reached Chapter 15 of The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

After several complicated mathematical calculations I discovered I was two-thirds of the way through the book, an excellent read and education to that point.

From page 268:

"These days farmed salmon are being fed like feedlot cattle, on grain, with the predictable result that their omega-3 levels fall well below those of wild fish. If the steer is fattened on grass and the salmon on grain, we might actually be better off eating the beef. The species of animal you eat may matter less than what the animal you’re eating has itself eaten."

Ch. 15 is entitled The Forager. Is that what he’s recommending I become? I’ll find out tomorrow.

And in another 16 years I’ll discover if I can still breathe the air.

In Heat, the second book I’m reading while trying to burn calories, I read that "in 2025, according to the US government’s Energy Information Admin., the United States will burn 40 per cent more coal than it does today." (Hack, hack. I live just north of several Ohio Valley coal-fired hydro-producing plants.)

"China intends to treble the electricity it produces from coal by 2020." (pg. 82)

And why we ask? Because natural gas supplies in North America (used in the production of hydro) have already peaked and are going to decline and 90 per cent of the remaining energy reserves in the US are coal. So get used to that black cloud hanging over your head.


Or should I say ‘clouds’?

The third book I’m reading, The Little Green Handbook, said the following:

"The process of global warming is faster than previously thought. In the 20th century, the mean global temperature increased by 0.6 degrees C, and it is projected to increase by up to 6.0 degrees C by the end of this century."

So, if we’ve experienced some climate instability because of a 0.6 degree change, how many clouds will hang over our heads as the temperature changes ten times as much? I’m not sure but I think we’re going to find out because a business as usual philosophy rules the day.

Where’s the Lorax when we really need him? (Calling Dr. Suess!)

[Link to the above three books in right panel, under Recommended Reading]