Summary of Kevin Bales's Blood and Earth

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The German tombstone shortage is because the government controls death and funerals, and they require embalming before burial. This leads to a darkly humorous saying: If you feel unwell, take a vacation—you can’t afford to die in Germany.

#2 Slavery is a great way to keep your costs down, but there is another reason why the granite is so cheap: the quarries are illegal, paying no mining permits or taxes.

#3 The industry of tombstones is built on the idea that stone can come from as close as California and South Dakota or as far away as China and India. In reality, it comes from India, where slave-produced granite is cheap.

#4 Cellphones have become electronic umbilical cords that connect us with our children, partners, and parents. But just as each of us is deeper than our surface, so are the tools and toys and food and rings that tie us together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822518483

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Kevin Bales's Blood and Earth

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The German tombstone shortage is because the government controls death and funerals, and they require embalming before burial. This leads to a darkly humorous saying: If you feel unwell, take a vacation—you can’t afford to die in Germany.

#2

Slavery is a great way to keep your costs down, but there is another reason why the granite is so cheap: the quarries are illegal, paying no mining permits or taxes.

#3

The industry of tombstones is built on the idea that stone can come from as close as California and South Dakota or as far away as China and India. In reality, it comes from India, where slave-produced granite is cheap.

#4

Cellphones have become electronic umbilical cords that connect us with our children, partners, and parents. But just as each of us is deeper than our surface, so are the tools and toys and food and rings that tie us together.

#5

The consumer economy is fueled by resource extraction, which in turn is fueled by slavery and environmental destruction. The profits generated when we go shopping flow back down the chain and fuel more assaults on the natural world, which in turn forces people to turn to even more dangerous forms of employment.

#6

Slavery, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas producers, is hidden from us. Environmentalists have long called for laws and treaties that will apply to the community of nations, but that is not enough. We also have to end slavery.

#7

The link between environmental destruction and slavery is real. If we can pin down how this vicious cycle of human misery and environmental destruction works, we can discover how to stop it.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The helicopter dropped like an elevator to dodge any rebel-fired rocket from the surrounding forest. We landed inside a tight circle of UN soldiers on a small soccer field. The soldiers stood with their backs to us, aiming their automatic weapons at the tree line.

#2

I had been searching for a way to reach a rebel-controlled mine in the chaos of Eastern Congo. The only way in was on a UN forces helicopter, since rebels control all the roads. I thought about how I couldn’t live