“I felt when I watched Al Gore’s PowerPoint that it was the clearest explanation of what global warming was,” says Ms. David. “And it was the same thing with Prince Charles. It was the clarity with which he explained the problems with our food system and why we have to do something about it. It was such a beautifully thought-out manifesto.”
     Many of the arguments in the booklet are by now commonly understood — the dependency of meat and dairy products on fossil fuels and the effects of unpredictable rainfall patterns on global food prices — though it’s likely that the prince would have taken greater care to more clearly attribute his information had he set out to write a book from scratch. To his credit, he does cite important studies in some sections and provides his words in those cases with the authority needed to counter the heated opposition that has emerged in response to efforts at bringing change.
     The backlash against improving our growing and eating habits has been confounding at times for many sustainability advocates. Consider how bans on trans fats are met with outrage. An innocuous campaign led by the first lady to promote healthy eating and exercise among young people is attacked as radical social engineering. Meanwhile, bake sale brownies become symbols of personal liberty. Consuming foods that are low in nutrition and high on resource depletion or health consequences is for many, it seems, not a problem to be solved but a freedom to be defended along with rights to free speech and worship.