Received wisdom is increasingly that we all have to eat less to save the planet, but received wisdom is wrong. A Diet of Austerity argues that, just as the poor are blamed for the economic crisis, Malthusian conceptions about food and ecology are being used to hold the working class responsible for climate change and global hunger. Challenging existing dogmas about overconsumption and personal responsibility, it shows that what we need to stop climate change is system change.

Elaine Graham-Leigh is a member of Counterfire and a former member of the steering committee of the Campaign against Climate Change. She has been speaking on climate change for more than a decade, at events ranging from small public meetings to national demonstrations. She has written widely on this and other political issues, particularly for www.counterfire.org, and has articles republished by New Internationalist and in the Handbook of the Climate Movement.