Eating Our Way to Extinction Review From a Food-Climate Researcher and Author
Last Friday was Earth Day. The one day each year we “dedicate” to “protecting Earth.“
That’s when I first learned about the documentary: Eating Our Way to Extinction.
I watched it on Amazon Prime video. I had tears in my eyes throughout most of it. Not because of the stark reality this documentary presents if we continue down this path of animal-product consumption that we are already on; I am ALREADY well aware of this truth. Rather, I cried because I felt a sense of relief that there is a group that understands the dangers we face and is willing and HIGHLY ABLE to show these realities. I felt a sense of belonging, a shared commitment to doing everything we can to disseminate this information.
I am a Registered Dietitian who has studied the necessity of a whole-food, plant-based diet for human health. But, I am also a professor of public health who is dedicated to educating my students (and anyone else who will listen) about the environmental impacts of our diet.
My doctoral (PhD) research focused on these exact topics: Climate change, food security, climate migration, and health.
My book: Recipe For Survival: What You Can Do to Live a Healthier and More Environmentally Friendly Life with Cambridge University Press (2022) — like the documentary — describes, in detail, the research on animal agriculture, human health, environmental degradation, and what it means for US if we have global-ecological collapse, a tragedy that is becoming more likely every day as we burn down rainforest to feed animals, warm and acidify the oceans — bleaching and killing coral reefs — and run the risk of losing the habitability of Earth for ourselves and other species.
Which is why I was elated to view this documentary: Eating Our Way to Extinction.
What took me 250 pages to describe in my book, they presented — evocatively — in 80 minutes. They provided the images we NEED to see that will resonate with people.
I hope it wins every award there is, and gets the recognition it deserves.
This documentary reinvigorated and re-inspired my advocacy and my drive. It helps so much to know that you’re not alone in your understanding of the relationships between animal agriculture and a dying biosphere. It also helps to know that there are others who are equally invested in showing the truth to people to push them towards changes that both improve our own health and the planet that sustains us.
As the film and my book describe, the single most important ACTION you take on a daily basis for the environment and for your health, is the choice you make in the foods you eat.
I have spent the better part of the last decade doing my best to describe these incredibly important relationships, and have tried to explain how a plant-based diet will save rainforests, ocean habitat, the polar ice caps, and our own health.
I urge everyone to not just relegate Earth Day to one day out of 365 every year.
I urge everyone to make every day Earth Day. I encourage everyone to eat healthier and keep the planet safe for our children today, tomorrow, and every day moving forward. We only have this Earth, and we must make it a priority to protect it. And we absolutely can protect it, starting with our very next bite.
Dana Ellis Hunnes is a senior dietitian at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, an assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and the author of Recipe For Survival: What You Can Do to Live a Healthier and More Environmentally Friendly Life. Cambridge University Press (2022).
Twitter: @danaellishunnes
Instagram: @danaellishunnes
Facebook: @recipeforsurvival
Publicist: megan@meganbeatie.com
