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What can we do to help stop global warming, feed the hungry, prevent  cruelty to animals, avoid genetically modified foods, be healthier and  live longer?Noting the massive changes in the environment, food-production methods,  and technology over the last two decades, he lambastes (in a manner less  tough-mindedly restrained than Frances Moore Lapp’s classic Diet for a  Small Planet) contemporary factory-farming methods and demonstrates that  individual dietary choices can be both empowering and have a broader impact. Robbins, heir to the Baskin-Robbins ice-cream empire (he  rejected it to live according to his values), takes on fad diets, the  meat industry, food irradiation, hormone and antibiotic use in animals,  cruel animal husbandry practices, the economics of meat consumption,  biotechnology and the prevalence of salmonella and E. Coli. Some details  are downright revolting (euthanized dogs and cats often are made into  cattle feed), horrific (some 90% of cows, pigs and poultry are still  conscious when butchered) and mind-boggling (it takes 5,214 gallons of  water to produce one pound of beef). Despite all this and more  distressing information, Robbins ends on a hopeful note, detailing  growth in organic farming, public awareness and consumer activism worldwide, as well as policy changes, especially in Europe. Well  researched and lucidly written, this book is sure to spark discussion  and incite readers to examine their food choices.