{"id":11039,"date":"2019-10-10T09:13:12","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T08:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11039"},"modified":"2019-10-10T09:13:12","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T08:13:12","slug":"mlf-2019-take-1-jonathan-safran-foer-at-the-cosmo-rodewald-81019-reviewed-by-joss-arete-kelvin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11039","title":{"rendered":"MLF 2019: Take 1, Jonathan Safran Foer at the Cosmo Rodewald, 8\/10\/19, reviewed by Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Safran Foer, Literature Live at the Martin Harris Centre, Centre for New Writing, 8\/10\/19, reviewed by Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acclaimed novelist and non-fiction writer Jonathan Safran Foer is sharing his own vulnerabilities in an effort to get his audience to question our own. His new book, We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Starts at Breakfast<\/em>, investigates the ethical concerns of our planet\u2019s climate crisis, framed as a dialogue with both the reader and himself, an interrogation of the actions we are and aren\u2019t taking. Last night, in an interview with the illustrious Erica Wagner (herself a writer, contributing literary editor for Harper\u2019s Bazaar, and Goldsmiths\u2019 professor) at the Centre for New Writing as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, Foer asked us to change our habits by discussing his own action–and inaction–in regards to the disaster facing our planet.<\/p>\n

Foer and Wagner were warm with one another, allowing the audience into what felt like a conversation between two old friends–and indeed, Foer remarked on the joy of getting to check in together every few years over the past fifteen. \u201cWe still look as young as ever!\u201d Wagner joked, in the first of many moments of levity that made a night with a heavy subject feel light and inviting. She opened by asking–if changing the world begins at breakfast, what did you have for breakfast? Foer\u2019s response, that his potatoes were \u201cdense like a black hole is dense,\u201d was characteristically evocative, and from this the two jumped into the\u2026meat of the matter (if you\u2019ll pardon the pun).<\/p>\n

When Wagner asked Foer to describe the central thesis of the book, he relayed the simple fact that climate change exists and is the result of human activity. According to scientists, he explained, there are four main activities that contribute: flying, driving, having children, and eating meat–the last being the most important. In fact, the UK & US would have to consume 90% less meat and 60% less dairy over the next ten years to meet the Paris Agreement and avoid catastrophic collapse.<\/p>\n

Yet, he expressed, these facts can feel vague, distant. Foer believes that for us to create new habits, we need to shift the story we are telling about climate change. His intention with this book is to create a microcosmic \u201coverview effect,\u201d a term coined by astronauts to describe the emotional impact of understanding that we live on a planet floating in space. In writing, he is trying to become \u201csomeone who doesn\u2019t steal from the planet or the future,\u201d to question his own ability to care<\/em>, by which he means to engage on a continuous basis. He remarked on his failure to do this even having authored the book, and likened this moment to 1942, when Polish Jew Jan Karski relayed the atrocities of the Nazis–only to be confronted with Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter\u2019s response that, while not implying that Karski was lying, he didn\u2019t believe him.<\/p>\n

In order to choose to believe and change our actions, Foer suggests we change our orientation–by focusing on achievements rather than shortcomings. He commented: \u201cWe\u2019ve been in the habit of measuring people\u2019s ethical distance from perfection we can\u2019t obtain, rather than our distance from not doing anything at all.\u201d Wagner expressed her tendency to look at the obstacles first, such as horror at giving up milk in her morning coffee–a feeling echoed by the audience during the Q&A. Foer\u2019s advice: \u201cWe\u2019re all oriented towards the same goal, but we don\u2019t have to have the same plan\u2026Apply the thoughtfulness to the places it is easiest–there\u2019s so much low-hanging fruit\u201d : rather than starting with the end, he suggested we make whatever changes are simplest, and look at change as a process, rather than a binary choice of all or nothing.<\/p>\n

We Are the Weather<\/em> grew out of the alienation and depression Foer experienced due to his own inactivity, and he shared that committing to change has increased his happiness. His wish is that the strongest voices in the climate crisis, such as Greta Thunberg and Al Gore, will use their microphones to transform energy into action. He turned the conversation towards the audience, asking if we believed in climate change, and if we care–and everyone raised their hands. Then he asked if we had a plan–and only one or two hands raised. He called upon us to risk accusations of hypocrisy and make one, admitting his own action-inspiring shame, when, two weeks ago at a reading, an couple came asking him to sign witness to their plan, and he realized he hadn\u2019t written one of his own. So he did: no flying on vacations, volunteer one day a week at 350.org or NYC public school, only 3 cabs per week, eat vegan for breakfast and lunch and vegetarian for dinner. After writing this review, I\u2019ve made my own plan. What\u2019s yours?<\/p>\n

Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Safran Foer, Literature Live at the Martin Harris Centre, Centre for New Writing, 8\/10\/19, reviewed by Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin Acclaimed novelist and non-fiction writer Jonathan Safran Foer is sharing his own vulnerabilities in an effort to get his audience to question our own. His new book, We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Starts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[16,283,18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMLF 2019: Take 1, Jonathan Safran Foer at the Cosmo Rodewald, 8\/10\/19, reviewed by Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11039\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MLF 2019: Take 1, Jonathan Safran Foer at the Cosmo Rodewald, 8\/10\/19, reviewed by Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jonathan Safran Foer, Literature Live at the Martin Harris Centre, Centre for New Writing, 8\/10\/19, reviewed by Joss Aret\u00e9 Kelvin Acclaimed novelist and non-fiction writer Jonathan Safran Foer is sharing his own vulnerabilities in an effort to get his audience to question our own. 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