For great many species today, fitness means the ability to get along in a world in which humankind has become the most powerful evolutionary force.

I really try to write as an ordinary person would, not as someone who's too sophisticated about food, or too knowledgeable about things.

Much more has to be done to democratize the food movement. One of the reasons that healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food is that the government supports unhealthy food and does very little to support healthy food, whether you mean organic or grass-fed or whatever.

One of the skills of a journalist, though, is to find people who can teach him what he needs to know. So instead of taking courses, I've been very lucky in that I found teachers - scientists, especially - who were willing to teach me what I needed to know, whether it was about genetically modified crops or how photosynthesis works, and so on. I just find my teachers and don't have to pay for my education.

I try to write in the first person - the first person not of a journalist but of a carnivore, an eater, a gardener, someone trying to figure out what to feed his family.

We need to create incentives for our ranchers and farmers to manage their lands to maximize carbon sequestration.

Even people who like the kind of food on offer, are coming to recognize that eating from this food chain is not conducive to good health.