Being a conscious consumer is about pausing to ask: What am I consuming, and what kind of world does it help create? This month, two book recommendations invite us to ask that question about both the food we eat and the tech we use.

We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate by Michael Grunwald (2025) is an engaging look at how our food choices affect land, climate, and the future of the planet. In its spirit, try a new vegetarian or vegan recipe this month—a small way to explore how simply changing what’s on our plates can help repair the Earth.

AI may not come in a shopping bag, but we consume it all the same—and our choices can help shape what kind of AI future we create. Robert Wright’s The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning (2026) considers AI’s potential to reshape humanity—and the spiritual and moral questions that come with it. Here’s an AI challenge: AI models and social media algorithms evolve by feeding on human conflict and emotional outrage. Consciously observe and tame your own tribal psychology by refusing to participate in the polarization that threatens to destabilize society.