George Monbiot

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George Monbiot : biography

27 January 1963 – DD –> January YYYY

Monbiot says the campaign against climate change is ‘unlike almost all the public protests’ that came before it: It is a campaign not for abundance but for austerity. It is a campaign not for more freedom but for less. Strangest of all, it is a campaign not just against other people, but against ourselves.Heat, London, Allen Lane, 2006, p. 215

Monbiot also thinks that economic recession can be a good thing for the planet: "Is it not time to recognise that we have reached the promised land, and should seek to stay there? Why would we want to leave this place in order to explore the blackened waste of consumer frenzy followed by ecological collapse? Surely the rational policy for the governments of the rich world is now to keep growth rates as close to zero as possible?" While he does recognize that recession can cause hardship, he points out that economic growth can cause hardship as well. For example, the increase in sales of jet skis would count as economic growth, but they would also cause hardships such as water pollution and noise pollution.

Monbiot purchased a used diesel Renault Clio after moving to Machynlleth in 2007., The Times, 3 June 2007 He has travelled through Canada and the United States, campaigning on climate change and promoting his book. He contends that this travel was justifiable as it sought to boost the case for much greater carbon cuts there., www.monbiot.com November 2006, www.treehugger.com 23 November 2006

He is the patron of the UK student campaign network People & Planet and appears in the film The Age of Stupid in animated form, in which he says "The very fact that the crisis is taking place within our generation, it’s happening right now, means that we are tremendously powerful people. So this position of despair and "I can’t do anything" and "there’s no point" is completely illogical, it’s exactly the opposite".

Monbiot attended the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen.

Monbiot once expressed deep antipathy to the nuclear industry.George Monbiot , The Guardian, 30 March 2000 He finally rejected his later neutral position regarding nuclear power in March 2011. Although he "still loathe[s] the liars who run the nuclear industry", Monbiot now advocates its use, having been convinced of its relative safety by what he considers the limited effects of the 2011 Japan tsunami on nuclear reactors in the region. Subsequently, he has harshly condemned the anti-nuclear movement, writing that it "has misled the world about the impacts of radiation on human health … made [claims] ungrounded in science, unsupportable when challenged and wildly wrong." He singled out Helen Caldicott for, he wrote, making unsourced and inaccurate claims, dismissing contrary evidence as part of a cover-up, and overstating the death toll from the Chernobyl disaster by a factor of more than 140.

In 2012, Monbiot claimed that there was more than enough oil for "industry and consumer capitalism" to "deep-fry the lot of us" (citing a report of 110 million barrels per day in 2020Maugeri, Leonardo. , Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, June 2012. Retrieved: 13 July 2012.).Monbiot, George. , The Guardian, 2 July 2012. Retrieved: 13 July 2012.

Debate with Ian Plimer

Monbiot harshly criticised the book Heaven and Earth by climate change skeptic Ian Plimer, saying that "Since its publication in Australia it has been ridiculed for a hilarious series of schoolboy errors, and its fudging and manipulation of the data".Monbiot, George. . The Guardian. 9 July 2009 Plimer challenged Monbiot to a public debate on the issues covered in the book. Monbiot agreed on the condition that Plimer first answer a series of written questions for publication on the website of The Guardian, so there would be a factual basis to the discussion. Plimer refused and Monbiot labeled Plimer a "grandstander" with a "broad yellow streak" who has nowhere answered the accusations of serious errors in his Heaven and Earth book, and accused him of trying to "drown out the precise refutations published by his book’s reviewers". Plimer then reversed his decision, and agreed to answer written questions in return for a live debate. Monbiot’s response on receiving Plimer’s contribution was one of disappointment, on the grounds that Plimer’s response "so far consists not of answers, but of questions addressed to me.", George Monbiot, The Guardian, August 12, 2009 Monbiot told Plimer that he is not qualified to answer Plimer’s questions (although Gavin Schmidt of NASA did answer them). On September 2, 2009, Monbiot published another column in The Guardian asking: "Is Ian Plimer ever going to answer my questions?" and suggested that Plimer was evading the questions by using the Chewbacca defense. A debate was subsequently held on 15 December, while Monbiot was in Copenhagen, on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Lateline programme, moderated by Tony Jones.

Attempted arrest of John Bolton

Monbiot made an unsuccessful attempt to carry out a citizen’s arrest of John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, when the latter attended the Hay Festival to give a talk on international relations in May 2008. Monbiot argued that Bolton was one of the instigators of the Iraq War, of which Monbiot was an opponent.Adams, Stephen. , The Daily Telegraph, May 28, 2008.

Political parties

He was involved initially with the Respect political party, but he broke with the organisation when it chose to run candidates against the Green Party in the 2004 election to the European Parliament. The Guardian, 17 February 2004. Accessed 10 November 2006 In an interview with the British political blog Third Estate in September 2009, Monbiot expressed his support for the policies of Plaid Cymru, saying "I have finally found the party that I feel very comfortable with. That’s not to say I feel uncomfortable with the Green Party, on the whole I support it, but I feel even more comfortable with Plaid.”

In April 2010, he was a signatory to an open letter of support for the Liberal Democrats, published in The Guardian.. The Guardian. 28 April 2010

Indigenous rights

Monbiot has been associated with the cause of indigenous rights, and has sought to denounce threats to tribal people, at the face of corporate interests. He contributed to the 2009 book We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, which explores the culture of peoples around the world, portraying both its diversity and the threats it faces.