Pushback

This is a book about the gap between what we know and what we do. It’s about why so many of us struggle to be more healthy or leave our car at home – despite knowing that doing so would be better for us and our planet. It is also about how the world around us shapes what we do – shops, workplaces, screens, streets – designed for our convenience and to gratify our immediate desires, while serving the interests of four industries: tobacco, ultra-processed food, alcohol and fossil fuels. Between them they contribute to at least one in four deaths worldwide each year and to 75% of the greenhouse gas emissions heating our planet. And it is also about power, and why those elected to protect us so often protect corporate interests instead. Key to protecting our health and the health of our planet is not individual willpower but redesigning the environments around us. We have strong evidence on how to do this. So why do we keep failing to act? Polluted air claims eight million lives each year, and by 2035 four billion people are projected to live with obesity in a warming world. These interconnected crises can feel insurmountable. But transformative change is already happening. Drawing on global case studies, from Australia to Mexico, France to Colombia, Taiwan to the USA, Marteau shows what works: making healthier, more sustainable options easier, cheaper and more attractive. From restricting advertising to redesigning transport systems to electing more women to office, she shows how societies can push back against corporate power. Clear-eyed and grounded in robust evidence, this is an inspiring blueprint for a healthier future for us all.