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13 Apr, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Very often it seems to me that other people love the land more than its "owners" do.
Why should wealth translate into greater legal and political rights over the fabric of the planet? It's a question I explore here:
The notion that we are "equal before the law" is a complete joke, when so much of the law concerns property rights. Those with property have far greater legal rights than those without. These rights include, in many cases, the right to trash what other people see as precious.
When you explore the ethical justifications for the rights granted to land "owners", you soon discover that they are not just flimsy but preposterous: monbiot.com/2019/03/18/int…

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More from @GeorgeMonbiot

George Monbiot Profile picture
14 Apr
How I became a human plague – and stumbled into one of the most astonishing scientific stories I’ve ever encountered.
My column.
Plus thread.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
1. There’s an aspect of this story that I didn’t have space for in the column. This is about how the scientific and media establishment closed ranks around bad science, defending it from legitimate questioning and criticism.
2. In 2011, the Lancet’s editor, @richardhorton1, a man I otherwise admire, was challenged about major anomalies and irregularities in the PACE Trial paper he published. He dismissed the critics as “a small but highly vocal minority”. They turned out to be right.
Read 14 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
13 Apr
We have a thriving intellectual culture in this country. But what distinguishes us from the rest of Europe - and is in fact highly unusual - is that it's scarcely represented in the media.
As a result, the *public* intellectual is an endangered species in the UK. We have a prevailing media culture of extreme anti-intellectualism. Intellectuals are derided as a pointy-headed elite. Elsewhere in Europe, they are cherished.
It's one of the reasons why so many of the heated debates here are vacuous and irrelevant. Huge, crucial issues go undebated, while we beat out each other's brains over trivia.
Read 4 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
7 Apr
We need a whole new relationship with our blue planet. This means abandoning micro-consumerist bollocks and confronting the powerful interests trashing it.
My column: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
It’s not just malpractice Seaspiracy exposes, but an entire worldview.

A worldview that describes any fish population not caught to the max as "underfished" or "underexploited".

We need to learn respect and wonder for the ecosystems we currently treat as nothing but seafood.
I've just discovered, via @Unpop_Science, that I made a mistake in this column: #Seaspiracy's figure for illegally caught fish is in fact supported in the scientific literature: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
I confused this paper for another, that has been retracted.
Read 5 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
1 Apr
Of course some of the people exposed by #Seaspiracy are going ballistic about it. What else can they do but shoot the messenger? The years of collusion, cowardice and failure have come home to roost.
As for the film's other critics: yes, there are details we could quibble over, as with all films. But, you know what? I didn't hear a word from them about the massive falsehoods and misdirections in Blue Planet 2 and Blue Planet Live. Why is it only the radical films they attack?
I don't think I've ever seen a series of such pathetic attempts to knock something down as the criticisms aimed at #Seaspiracy. They're either wrong, or so trivial/irrelevant that they just look like sour grapes. Finally, this issue is properly on the map. We should be cheering.
Read 6 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
1 Apr
I strongly relate to what Louis de Bernieres says. I was also sent to a boarding school when I was 8. Even before you consider the horrific things that happened in those places, the abuse began with the act of separation. theguardian.com/books/2021/mar…
This system of institutional abuse inflicted immense harm not only on the children put through it, but also on the country they grew up to dominate. monbiot.com/2019/11/11/the…
In my experience, the most damaged people are those who loudly proclaim "it never did me any harm" or "it made me the man I am". Processing what happened and finding peace takes years of work and brutal honesty. In some ways it's like recovering from addiction.
Read 5 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
31 Mar
Something's changed - I was allowed on the Today programme this morning!
I was challenged, among other things, on the #Seaspiracy claim that 46% of plastic in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is from fishing nets. Here's the source, in case anyone doubts it
nature.com/articles/s4159…
Many of the attacks on Seaspiracy are themselves based on false claims, or false refutations of the statements the film makes. It's a lot more rigorous than Cowspiracy, and stands up well to examination.
The segment started at 0823 this morning. The Today programme gave the subject a fair bit of time, for which I thank them:
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/li…
Read 5 tweets

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