Tweet

More from @GeorgeMonbiot

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

21 Oct

When ministers slap down effective environmental laws, when they cross their fingers instead of taking the action needed to stop Covid from spreading, it’s because they believe in fairytales: the “invisible hand of the market” will somehow sort it all out.
Thread/

Why do they believe in magic? Because throughout their lives they’ve been surrounded by it. Food magically appears in front of them. When they throw their clothes on the floor, they reappear in the wardrobe, washed and ironed. Houses clean themselves. They live in a fairytale.

They are surrounded by invisible hands, the unseen, unappreciated work of mothers, nannies, wives, servants and underlings, making things happen, while they strut and posture and build their castles in the air.

Read 4 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

21 Oct

@frannyarmstrong

The magnificent @frannyarmstrong has been hard at work editing the world's first live investigative documentary, #Rivercide, down to 60 crisp and compelling minutes. You can watch it any time for free at Here's a glimpse, prangs, filth and all.

@NatResWales

Here's the shocking pollution event we covered on the River Llynfi. Disgracefully, no one from @NatResWales turned up for 13 hours, by which time the pulse of poison had passed, making it much harder to identify the culprit. Watch the whole movie here:

Here's the moment at which two citizen scientists, *doing the work our governments should have done*, reveal the major cause of death of one of the UK's most treasured and protected rivers, the Wye. See the rest on

Read 5 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

15 Oct

I'm very glad the BBC has made this.
But it distresses me that in 2014, after a team of us had spent months developing a very similar series, it was instantly dismissed by a BBC channel controller, with three words:
"Monbiot? Fuck off!"

It's easy to forget that, until a couple of years ago, the BBC was fiercely hostile to any but the most muted and anodyne discussion of environmental issues. Senior bosses remain hostile to those who challenge the status quo. Yet our survival depends on doing so.

It wasn't until Greta broke through that the BBC twigged that one of the reasons it had lost so many young people was its disgraceful neglect - actually, not just neglect but active dismissal - of the only issue that ultimately counts: the survival of our life support systems.

Read 8 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

14 Oct

Current climate plans are based on a mistaken belief:
That, through incremental change, we can stop a complex system from crashing. But complex systems don’t work like this. They steadily absorb stress, then suddenly flip. We don’t know how close the tipping points might be.

By 2050 it might be all over. And I mean all.
It's possible that we could see cascading environmental collapse, flipping Earth systems into an uninhabitable state. What is needed now is sudden and drastic action to stabilise our life support systems.

Can it be done? Of course! The US switched its economy from civilian to military in a couple of months, following the attack on Pearl Harbour. And that was before digitisation made everything faster.
What's lacking is not money or technology. It's political will.

Read 10 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

13 Oct

Every winter, parts of the countryside succumb to mob rule, as bloodsports enthusiasts run riot, and intimidate and attack those who object. In some cases, their attacks amount to terrorism.
Yet the government of "law and order" does nothing.
My column.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

I contrast the complete impunity with which these thugs are allowed to operate with the government's response to Insulate Britain, including draconian new laws against protest. I argue that it's less interested in public order than in creating an uncontested space for power.

I understand why Insulate Britain's protests are controversial. But whether you agree with them or not, they are trying to act in the public interest. Whereas the people running riot in the countryside are seeking nothing but their own grim pleasure.

Read 6 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

11 Oct

https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1447481777514287105

Here's an idea Dan: try paying a visit to your local food bank and explaining to the people in the queue that they're not in the middle of a crisis. You might get some informative responses.

https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1447481777514287105

A few times over the past year, I've been talking to people at the local foodbank and hearing their stories. They are devastating. While prosperous people can ask, "crisis? what crisis?", the costs of austerity and chaos being felt by people at the sharp end are off the scale.

But we are now so economically divided that people like Dan, and me, are scarcely affected by what the Tories have done to this country, and can't see it unless we cross the chasm.
It's all too easy to wave it away, in total ignorance of what other people are facing.

Read 4 tweets

Share this page!

George Monbiot

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @GeorgeMonbiot

George Monbiot

George Monbiot

George Monbiot

George Monbiot

George Monbiot

George Monbiot

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?