It does not matter whether we burn fossil fuels with malice or with love. As far as the atmosphere is concerned, it is not concerned. It is a collection of gases. George Monbiot More Quotes by George Monbiot More Quotes From George Monbiot Governments are deemed to succeed or fail by how well they make money go round, regardless of whether it serves any useful purpose. They regard it as a sacred duty to encourage the country’s most revolting spectacle: the annual feeding frenzy in which shoppers queue all night, then stampede into the shops, elbow, trample and sometimes fight to be the first to carry off some designer junk which will go into landfill before the sales next year. The madder the orgy, the greater the triumph of economic management. George Monbiot fighting night country There is enough oil in the ground to deep-fry the lot of us, and no obvious means to prevail upon governments and industry to leave it in the ground. George Monbiot oil government mean 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. George Monbiot austerity campaigns people War and pestilence might kill large numbers of people, but in most cases the population recovers. But lose the soil and everything goes with it. George Monbiot numbers war people All the money, all the prestige in the world will never make up for the loss of your freedom. George Monbiot prestige loss world Nobody ever rioted for austerity. George Monbiot austerity The schedules are crammed with shows urging us to travel further, drive faster, build bigger, buy more, yet none of them are deemed to offend the rules, which really means that they don't offend the interests of business or the pampered sensibilities of the Aga class. The media, driven by fear and advertising, are hopelessly biased towards the consumer economy and against the biosphere. George Monbiot media class mean Almost everywhere, climate change denial now looks as stupid and as unacceptable as Holocaust denial. George Monbiot holocaust climate stupid Deregulation is a transfer of power from the trodden to the treading. It is unsurprising that all conservative parties claim to hate big government. George Monbiot party government hate Those who consume far more resources than they require destroy the life chances of those whose survival depends upon consuming more. George Monbiot resources survival chance People believe Loose Change because it proposes a closed world: comprehensible, controllable, small. Despite the great evil which runs it, it is more companionable than the chaos which really governs our lives, a world without destination or purpose. George Monbiot running believe people The institutions founded 'to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war' have failed. Since the end of WW2, some thirty million people have been killed in armed conflict. Most of them were civilians. George Monbiot generations war people Until now I believed that the nation that has done most to sabotage a new climate change agreement was the United States. I was wrong. The real villain is Canada. Unless we can stop it, the harm done by Canada in December 2009 will outweigh a century of good works. George Monbiot environmental real agreement Why is it so easy to save the banks - but so hard to save the biosphere? George Monbiot biosphere hard easy Every time someone dies as a result of floods in Bangladesh, an airline executive should be dragged out of his office and drowned. George Monbiot office energy science Is the divine presence a Republican? Or is He/She/It running an inter-galactic fossil fuel conglomerate?...whatever the explanation may be, the Paraclete appears to be as determined as any terrestrial corporate frontman to prevent a successful conclusion to the climate talks. How I know? Because every time anyone gets together to try to prevent global climate breakdown, He swaths the rich, densely habited parts of the world with snow and ice, while leaving obscurer places to cook. George Monbiot ice successful running The problem is compounded by the fact that the connection between cause and effect seems so improbable. By turning on the lights, filling the kettle, taking the children to school, driving to the shops, we are condemning other people to death. We never chose to do this. We do not see ourselves as killers. We perform these acts without passion or intent. George Monbiot passion children school Like other lifeforms, we [humans] exist only to replicate ourselves. George Monbiot replicate humans nihilism Soil is an almost magical substance, a living system that transforms the materials it encounters. George Monbiot soil encounters substance