We Are the Weather

The only way we will be able to fight climate change, Foer maintains, is if we humans are willing to sacrifice. Sacrifice, he argues, effects change; a lack of sacrifice has regrettable consequences. This idea surfaces many times throughout the work. This idea is communicated most clearly through the various stories about WWII. Foer discusses at length his grandmother’s sacrifice and what she gave up in order to survive. Americans sacrificed in WWII and contributed to the war effort. In their sacrifices, as individuals and as communities, they had an impact. On the other hand, he characterizes Karski as a man who sacrificed his life to save the Jews, but the inability of the US to sacrifice and support the Jewish community led to millions of deaths.

The ultimate sacrifice, and a more modern-day example directly relatable to the argument, is found in the self-immolation of lawyer David Buckel. Foer says that it wasn’t the act of a crazy man, but a protest of a sane man trying to call attention to climate change. His sacrifice burns the gravity of climate change into the minds of others. Such an immense sacrifice feels striking to readers, horrifying even, but it accurately communicates the seriousness of the situation. It also serves to minimize the sacrifice Foer is asking of his readers. He is not asking for self-immolation, just a change to their diets.

Foer himself questions his lack of sacrifice and his ability or desire to do so in order to help in the quest to end factory farming and save the planet. During his dispute with the soul, Foer deals with the notion of sacrifice, doubting his ability to make changes that matter. In this debate, he addresses the hesitation readers might feel. The idea of sacrifice is uncomfortable, scary, hard to accept, but as he demonstrates in his conclusion, it is not only worthwhile but necessary. With roots in the Latin sacer, or “holy,” to sacrifice is a noble, godly pursuit, and Foer vests the idea of sacrifice with a kind of reverence. 

One of the recurring themes in this narrative is the question of whether our choices matter. Making choices becomes most apparent in the chapter titled “Dispute with the Soul.” Foer argues with his soul about whether he should even bother making personal changes for the sake of the Earth. And because the problem and the solution are never obvious or agreed upon, Foer is able to cover a lot of territory, debating all the reasons why he is not willing to believe and make the choice to sacrifice.

Readers find this idea recycled among the characters in the narrative as well. For instance, if Foer’s grandmother hadn’t sacrificed all that she knew and left Poland, she’d be dead. If her husband hadn’t died by suicide, her life would have been easier. If Thomas Boyle, Jr., hadn’t lifted the car off Kyle Holtrust, Kyle Holtrust would have died. If, during World War II Americans hadn’t collectively decided to turn off their lights at sunset, the war effort would have been diminished. Throughout the narrative, Foer returns repeatedly to the idea of personal choice and the effect that the choices we make and the choices we don’t make have on larger outcomes. He calls for a collective choice against factory farming, but he also struggles with his own choice to do his part.

Foer indicates the ways in which people are empowered when they make choices to the greater good or lose something, including their lives, when they don’t. When Felix Frankfurter took no action to help the Jews, six million Jews lost their lives. Whether Frankfurter could have done anything to stop the death of so many humans is unknown, but his disbelief gave him no choice. In this regard, faith and belief, especially in terms of climate change, are important factors when it comes to making choices.

Foer doesn’t simply tell the reader that they must make a choice; he explains the impact that our choices can have. In Part 2, Chapter 6: “A Second Home,” Foer says that if we make the collective choice to change in order to save our home, the Earth, then we will reveal our true natures by that action. Implied is that it would reveal our wisdom and our goodness. Foer says, “We would make ourselves worthy of our salvation” (131).