We Are the Weather

Why does the author include examples of things that have little to do with climate change, such as stories about the Holocaust, suicide, and Thanksgiving? Does your opinion about the relevancy of these examples change by the end of the book about the value of these stories? Explain why or why not.

Examine your feelings about climate change before you read this book and after you’ve finished. How did they change? What was the most convincing argument to make a change regarding your personal habits, and which was the least convincing?

The last chapter of the book is a letter Foer writes to his sons. Write your own essay to a family member discussing your decision to change (or not change) your habits in order to help in the fight against climate change.

The third section of the book contains bulleted and indented lists that include fact after fact about climate change, all of which Foer notates in the appendix. Why did Foer include these statistics, and what role does the appendix play in this effort?

If you or members of your family have protested about climate change or have changed habits to reduce carbon emissions, what did you do? Share why you did it, how it made you feel, and any impacts your decision had on others.

Why do you think the author uses the word “home” so often in the book? How does the repetition of the word in the chapter heads and section breaks influence the way you see climate change?

Foer criticizes Gore for failing to mention factory farming in his discussion of climate change. What is an aspect of climate change that Foer avoids mentioning, and why does it matter?

What does Foer mean by “collective action?” Name two to three examples of collective action that Foer uses in his book and explain how they operate in the larger context of Foer’s argument.