Edward Humes
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Garbology
Paul Greenberg
James Beard Award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood
Photo credit: Justin Schein
The James Beard Award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Four Fish lectures widely on ocean sustainability, the culinary history of fish and shellfish and the many complex health issues surrounding seafood consumption. A TED speaker with over a million views, a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and the Writer-in-Residence at the Safina Center, Paul Greenberg has been featured on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and PBS's Frontline.
-
About Paul Greenberg
Paul Greenberg is the James Beard award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller and Notable Book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and American Catch: The Fight for our Local Seafood. His book, The Omega Principle: Seafood and the Quest for a Long Life and Healthier Planet, is an eye-opening look at how the multi-billion dollar omega-3 industry is affecting our ocean sustainability and, ultimately, our health.
A regular contributor to the New York Times’ Opinion Page, Magazine, Dining section, and Book Review, Greenberg lectures widely on seafood and ocean sustainability. He is also a weekly contributor to Medium, writing about sustainability and health. In his podcast, Fish Talk, Greenberg explores the remarkably complex world of the seafood industry, and demystifies the journey that fish take to get from our coasts to our kitchens. His 2015 TED talk has reached over a million viewers and he has also lectured for Google, the United States Senate, the United States Supreme Court, Harvard University, Brown University, Williams College, Yale University and many other educational institutions. In the for profit sphere, Mr. Greenberg leads in person events for corporate boards and officers seeking to improve their sustainability portfolios. His clients to date include Paine and Partners and Holowesko Partners.
A guest and commentator on public radio programs including Fresh Air, All Things Considered, and The Leonard Lopate Show, Greenberg is also a fiction writer. His 2002 novel, Leaving Katya, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. In the last five years, he has been a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow, and a writer-in-residence at the Bogliasco Foundation’s Liguria Study Center near Genoa, Italy.
Outside of the US Greenberg has worked extensively overseas and is fluent in Russian and French. His essays have been published internationally in The Times of London, The Observer (UK), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany) and The Globe and Mail (Canada). Four Fish has been published in nine foreign languages.
-
Speaking Topics
Four Fish: Fishing, Aquaculture and the Future of the Last Wild Food
In the next 10 years farmed seafood will overtake wild seafood in the marketplace for the first time in the history of humanity. A food revolution of this size and scope has not occurred for 10,000 years, when humans first stepped forward from their hunter-gatherer existences and began domesticating mammals. And yet, this modern seafood revolution has occurred almost entirely under the radar of most consumers. Only a small percentage of the American population know that any time Atlantic salmon appear in the marketplace, they are farmed; that domesticating the European sea bass made possible the taming of nearly all of fish-kind; that farming bluefin can require as much as 20 pounds of wild fish to produce a single pound of tuna. In this talk Paul Greenberg will delve into the ins and outs of wild fisheries and aquaculture and explain how our last wild food is in the process of changing forever.
The Future of the Oceans
Fish Cookery (optional demo included)
Urban Gardening
The Food Reform Movement
-
Video
-
Praise for Paul Greenberg
Having Paul at Fork for our Sustainable Fish Dinner gave great credence to the importance of using sustainable seafood. Guests not only enjoyed hearing his story, but also his expert testimony.
— Fork Restaurant, Philadelphia, PAPaul was really fabulous — his talk was a huge hit.
— Culinary Institute of AmericaPaul is an extraordinary speaker, and since inviting him to Williams I have recommended him to several other places. He is smart, dynamic, funny, and deeply engaged with his audience; the ease with which he speaks is all the more impressive for the wealth of data and solid information he is able to convey. Everyone who is interested in issues of sustainable fisheries should have Paul come and speak!
— Williams CollegePraise for The Climate Diet
[The Climate Diet] will help get America thinking as a new presidential administration moves in with climate change as a core concern. . . . This is no cookbook but rather an accessible pocket guide to the climate-focused lifestyle and reducing one’s carbon footprint. . . . The author drives home a salient point: Whatever the role of governments in curtailing carbon use, it’s up to each citizen to make their own sensible choices. . . . A quick and timely read. . . . A solid manifesto for the climate-focused life.
— KirkusPraise for The Omega Principle
Greenberg elucidates the mechanisms behind the incredibly popular dietary supplement, examines its impact on the ocean, and embarks on a personal experiment to get to the bottom of an array of health claims. The result is informative and fun (and yes, surprisingly perfect for the beach!)
— Civil EatsGreenberg’s narrative maneuvers the world of omega-3 fatty acids with a healthy dose of skepticism and a mission to uncover truth that lies under the waves. . . . Greenberg gives us science writing with heart.
— Sierra MagazinePopular writers often extol the benefits of omega-3s. Greenberg reviews the shaky evidence and delivers a penetrating analysis of its science, business, and future. . . . Greenberg also includes specifics of a healthy, life-extending diet; it requires omega-3s—but not in pill form. . . . An expert review of the human exploitation of marine life.
— KirkusThe angles for looking at omega-3s are many. The Omega Principle is a welcome one-stop shop, evaluating the science underlying its status as nutritional darling, the massive supplement industry behind it, and the fragile ecosystems propping that industry up. If you take fish oil, eat fish, or follow the arrow of conventional nutritional science, this is a topic you owe it to yourself to research. . . . Greenberg’s conversational writing style makes his books anything but an academic exercise.
— MediumPaul Greenberg’s book ranges widely and with great gusto—from fisheries halfway across the globe to academic conferences on metabolism and longevity—to tell the story of supplements, dietary fads, quackery, and the future of human health. This is an important, entertaining, and wonderfully crafted work.
— Siddhartha MukherjeeIt takes no small measure of writing skill to make a book about fatty acids gripping. To be honest, I have never been drawn to the subject and tend to avoid people who use the phrase “omega 3.” And yet Paul Greenberg has written a book on the subject that is engaging and important, a book that is a pleasure and should be read.
The Omega Principle encapsulates all the complexity and intricacies of our broken food system with the story of one (seemingly) simple supplement. Paul Greenberg takes us on another brilliant deep dive with an entirely new lens. This book demands our attention.
— Dan Barber -
Books by Paul Greenberg
-
Media About Paul Greenberg
Request Fees
and Availability
- 212 572-2013
- Paul Greenberg travels from New York, NY
Featured Title
The Climate Diet
“Some strong and rational suggestions for reducing your personal impact here–and when you’re eating smart, you’ll have the energy to do the movement building we need to change systems too! This book integrates the individual and the societal in a powerful way.”–Bill McKibben
Similar Speakers
Bren Smith
Restorative ocean farmer, co-founder of GreenWave, and author of Eat Like a Fish
Neil Shubin
Evolutionary biologist and discoverer of the "Missing Link," and author of Your Inner Fish and The Universe Within