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Michael Grunwald is a best-selling author, award-winning journalist, and a contributing writer for The New York Times opinion section. He has written three critically acclaimed books, all published by Simon & Schuster: The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise; The New New Deal: The Hidden History of Change in the Obama Era; and We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save our Climate. He was previously a staff writer at The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and Politico Magazine; he has won the George Polk Award for national reporting and many other journalism honors. Mike lives in Miami with his wife, Cristina Dominguez, their two awesome teenagers, and their three deranged dogs.
In what ways does nature inspire or inform your work?
I’m more of a policy guy than a nature guy, but the main point of We Are Eating the Earth is that our natural planet is becoming an agricultural planet. And that’s not sustainable – for forests, critters, or us. Look, I love hiking, I wrote a book about the Everglades, but my main interest in protecting nature is that humanity’s future on this planet depends on it, and this is the only planet with pizza, reliable wi-fi, and my kids.
What does it mean to you to be part of a thriving ecosystem?
The Swamp was about humanity’s abusive relationship with nature, and our belated efforts to make amends. Our species has had a brutal impact on other species and the ecosystems they depend on; our species has also done some very cool stuff. I don’t think of ecosystems or the earth as thriving or non-thriving; there’s just better or worse, and I think it’s good during our brief time on the blue marble to try to make it better.
