George Monbiot Archive

  • frog

    At Copenhagen, world leaders bicker while biosphere burns



    I might as well keep featuring George Monbiot, incisive as ever, this time about the “leadership” shown at Copenhagen. Even before the farce in Copenhagen began it was looking like it might be too late to prevent two or more degrees of global warming. The nation states, pursuing their own interests, have each been passing the parcel of [...] read more
    December 19, 2009 5:04 pm - 121 Comments
  • frog

    This is bigger than climate change. It is a battle to redefine humanity



    It’s hard for a species used to ever-expanding frontiers, but survival depends on accepting we live within limits George Monbiot continues to speak bluntly of the reality humanity faces in this article on the Copenhagen climate summit. I was sorely tempted to post the whole thing as I did recently with another here, but instead a few excerpts and I [...] read more
    December 17, 2009 6:09 am - 27 Comments
  • frog

    Denying Death



    In Death Denial, George Monbiot notices that older people seem to deny anthropogenic global warming more readily than younger folk. He opens with a pessimistic view of the current state of the public discourse. There is no point in denying it: we’re losing. Climate change denial is spreading like a contagious disease. It exists in a [...] read more
    November 15, 2009 7:08 am - 70 Comments
  • frog

    Subsidising the oil burning industry



    George Monbiot has this story from the northern hemisphere about ‘the other bail out’: Last week, George Bush agreed to lend $25bn to US car manufacturers. It’s a soft loan, which will cost the government $7.5bn (1). Few people noticed; fewer fought it. The House of Representatives approved the measure by 370 votes to 58. The [...] read more
    October 14, 2008 3:21 pm - 9 Comments
  • frog

    The fish market



    The Guardian’s George Monbiot has a shocking tale of when free trade deals go wrong. The two players in the story are firstly Senegal, one of the poorest countries on the planet, where the people mostly eat fish. They get 70 percent of their protein from fish: Traditionally cheaper than other animal products, it sustains a population [...] read more
    August 26, 2008 1:07 pm - 9 Comments
  • frog

    Monbiot on meat



    George Monbiot has just taken a look at the global food crisis: Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession which is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch. You have probably seen the figures by now: the price of rice has risen by three-quarters in [...] read more
    April 16, 2008 10:01 am - 88 Comments
  • frog

    Online With George Monbiot



    I hopped along to another Arts Festival event this morning, where George Monbiot was beamed in from Wales via satellite rather than flying over for a one hour chat. How Green of him. Having waxed lyrical about Stiglitz’ support for Green policy last night, I simply fell off my lilly pad this morning when George came [...] read more
    March 15, 2008 11:32 am - 23 Comments
  • frog

    Growing populations and growing economies



    Population is always a troubling issue for green thinkers.  Just as any ecology can become plagued by unsustainable growth of one species, too many humans appearing too fast could threaten the sustainability of our planet. So it was thought provoking to read George Monbiot’s latest article on the environmental impact of population growth: If we accept [...] read more
    January 31, 2008 9:13 am - 62 Comments
  • frog

    Big money buys delay at Bali



    Guardian commenter, George Monbiot, is in a grumpy mood in the aftermath of the Bali talks on climate change.  To his way of seeing things the US has sabotaged the potential of both the Kyoto talks ten years ago and now the Bali talks by demanding terms that were unacceptable to developing nations, threatening to [...] read more
    December 18, 2007 12:24 pm - 9 Comments