“A landmark book of this decade. I have already read it twice” Ben. 

Monbiot is so conversant with global systems, countries and societies and how they impact the natural world that it is a wonder he is not a household name.

Regenesis shows that farming poses the greatest environmental challenge, with the current food system on a precarious timeline. Regenesis is Monbiot’s answer. 

Regenesis describes the current production of food around the world and the system and global companies behind it. Monbiot looks in depth at the impacts, players and drivers of food production and how critical it is to our future. This sounds deep, technical and moving toward hard reading, except that Monbiot interviews people and provides stories to illustrate how damaged things are making the book an enjoyable read. He does take a hard stand on meat production, and provides clear facts to illustrate why. Whilst we ourselves are not against producing beef and lamb in a sustainable system, most of the meat production around the world is not produced this way. And Monbiot puts out a big statement – backed by fact – that if everyone stopped eating meat tomorrow and the land put to re-wilding, climate change and many other world environment problems would be solved. No it is not as simple as this, but the first stage as consumers, farmers and home owners is to understand the food system, it’s flaws and change our behaviours toward it to ensure our future. 

The book is not at all about problems without solutions. He looks at different solutions, their ability to really fix things, and how they might be applied to farms, shops and homes. I especially liked the chapter on Iain Tolhurst ‘Tolly’, a characterful farmer with high ideals producing an astonishing amount of food on a small area with no annual inputs and very little machinery (120 tons of food off 7 hectares). 

One of the best books on climate change and the world’s problems with feasible solutions we can apply. 

Monbiot G., Regenesis, 2022, Allen Lane Publishing UK.