50 George Monbiot Quotes for You to Enjoy

George Monbiot

British Writer

Born: Jan 27, 1963

Life Natural Own People World You

Wildlife film-makers I know tell me that the effort to portray what looks like an untouched ecosystem becomes harder every year. They have to choose their camera angles ever more carefully to exclude the evidence of destruction, travel further to find the Edens they depict. George Monbiot

Me Travel Destruction Year Every Carefully Wildlife Evidence Further Tell Find Angles More Exclude Like Ecosystem Know Untouched Looks Becomes Camera Effort Depict Choose Ever Harder Portray Film-Makers

As some of us can testify, the viciousness of the lobby groups funded by the fossil fuel industry, and the publications that amplify their message, knows no limits. As we have already seen, they treat even children as fair game. George Monbiot

Defending the planet means changing the world. George Monbiot

World Changing Changing The World Planet Means Defending

Farmfree production promises a far more stable and reliable food supply that can be grown anywhere, even in countries without farmland. It could be crucial to ending world hunger. George Monbiot

Representative democracy is a remarkably blunt instrument. Hundreds of issues are bundled together at every election, yet the vote tends to swing on just one or two of them. George Monbiot

Democracy Vote Together Election Every Hundreds One Or Two Remarkably Tends Instrument Issues Representative Just Blunt Just One Them Swing Two

I have tried to keep my eco-anxiety at bay, to box it into my working life. But every month this becomes more difficult. The rising sense of panic I feel is entirely rational; we should all be feeling it. But we can't live with it through every hour of every day. George Monbiot

Life Day Every Day Feeling Sense Live Difficult Every Panic Month Bay Tried I Feel Entirely Rising More Rational Through Feel Hour Box Becomes Should Working Working Life Keep

What I love about natural climate solutions is that we should be doing all these things anyway. Instead of making painful choices and deploying miserable means to a desirable end, we can defend ourselves from disaster by enhancing our world of wonders. George Monbiot

Love Natural World Miserable Our Our World Ourselves I Love Solutions About Instead Disaster Making Climate Doing End Wonders Deploying Anyway Choices Should Means Painful Enhancing Things Desirable Defend

Only one of the many life support systems on which we depend - soils, aquifers, rainfall, ice, the pattern of winds and currents, pollinators, biological abundance and diversity - need fail for everything to slide. George Monbiot

Life Diversity Depend Everything Slide Systems Winds Only Fail Support Abundance Currents Which Ice Pattern Many Biological Need

If you construct political narratives around the psychodramas of politicians, even when they don't invite it, you open the way for those who can play this game more effectively. George Monbiot

You Game Political Politicians Way Those More Construct Open Invite Around Narratives Effectively Who Even Play

The people of each generation perceive the state of the ecosystems they encountered in their childhood as normal and natural. When wildlife is depleted, we might notice the loss, but we are unaware that the baseline by which we judge the decline is in fact a state of extreme depletion. George Monbiot

Generation Natural People Judge State Extreme Wildlife Unaware Perceive Fact Ecosystems Loss Encountered Normal Childhood In Fact Depleted Which Might Decline Notice Each Each Generation

While arguments rage about plant- versus meat-based diets, new technologies will soon make them irrelevant. Before long, most of our food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from unicellular life. George Monbiot

Life Food Plant Plants Will Long Animals Argument Before Rage Our Neither About Soon New Come Most Make Nor Versus New Technologies Irrelevant Diets While Them Technologies

We should continue to mobilise against the destruction of the world's great habitats, and its terrifying implications. But the most persuasive argument we can make is to show we mean it, by restoring our own lost wonders. George Monbiot

Everyone should be free to learn; knowledge should be disseminated as widely as possible. George Monbiot

Knowledge Free Everyone Possible Learn Should Widely

When expressions of emotion are dangerous, and when you are constantly told that this terrible thing is being done for your own good, you quickly learn to hide your true feelings, even from yourself. George Monbiot

The justification for early boarding is based on a massive but common misconception. Because physical hardship in childhood makes you physically tough, the founders of the system believed that emotional hardship must make you emotionally tough. It does the opposite. George Monbiot

You Tough System Must Physical Physically Misconception Emotional Emotionally Massive Make Because Makes Does Opposite Childhood Common Justification Boarding Believed Based Founders Hardship Early

Regardless of what we consume, the sheer volume of consumption is overwhelming the Earth's living systems. George Monbiot

Overwhelming Living Earth Systems Consume Volume Consumption Sheer Regardless

If you or I had lived 500 years ago, our worldview, and the decisions we made as a result, would have been utterly different. Our minds are shaped by our social environment, in particular the belief systems projected by those in power: monarchs, aristocrats and theologians then; corporations, billionaires and the media today. George Monbiot

Today You Result Worldview Made Power Our Minds Projected Corporations Those Systems Would Shaped Had Environment Aristocrat Particular Been Years Years Ago Different Decisions Social Then Theologians Billionaires Belief Lived Media Monarchs Utterly

Immense wealth translates automatically into immense environmental impacts, regardless of the intentions of those who possess it. George Monbiot

Environmental Wealth Possess Those Immense Impacts Intentions Automatically Regardless Who

We are often told that curtailing the freedom of business is coercive and undemocratic. But by what democratic principle should corporations and billionaires decide the fate of current and future generations? When a government releases them from regulation, it allows them to determine whether other people live or die. George Monbiot

Future Government Freedom Business People Fate Live Other Corporations Release Future Generations Determine Generations Democratic Principle Die Current Often Decide Whether Them Should Regulation Billionaires Coercive

The age-old mistake, which has stunted countless lives, is the assumption that because physical hardship in childhood makes you physically tough, emotional hardship must make you emotionally tough. George Monbiot

You Mistake Tough Assumption Must Physical Physically Emotional Emotionally Countless Stunted Make Because Makes Childhood Which Age-Old Lives Hardship

There is plenty of housing - for the rich. But a series of outrageous policies ensure that it remains inaccessible to the poor. George Monbiot

Rich Ensure Plenty Remains Outrageous Policies Housing Inaccessible Poor Series

There are, I believe, three steps to overcoming fear: name it, normalise it, socialise it. George Monbiot

Fear Three Believe I Believe Steps Name Overcoming