George Monbiot Quotes

We ignore slow environmental changes unless they are crisis-driven, such as hurricanes in Florida.

The environmental movement, like all political processes, reacts best to disasters. But these are very slow, very gradual disasters in the making.

All we can hope for is that the thing is going to slowly and imperceptibly shift. All I can say is that 50 years ago there were no such thing as environmental policies.

The responses that environmentalists evoke - fear, anxiety, numbness, despair - are not helpful, even if they are understandable. It should be fascinating, even enthralling, to be in the milieu of environmental change.

Mother Nature comes up against reality, and the reality is that the system doesn't work.

Climate change is a terrible problem, and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge priority.

The effects of climate change are real and must be acted on.

I think the environmental problem will be the number one item on the agenda of the 21st century... This is a problem that cannot be postponed.

Climate change is destroying our path to sustainability. Ours is a world of looming challenges and increasingly limited resources. Sustainable development offers the best chance to adjust our course.

China is bearing the environmental cost for much of the world because China is the factory of the world.

Climate change is a real thing that is happening in the Maldives. It is not something in the future… We are only 1.5 meters above sea level. Fossil fuel technology is obsolete; it has been around for too long.

The current challenge facing the environmental authorities is how to properly deal with the environmental problems caused by economic development.

We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation and suffering. We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required and the less suffering there will be.

Climate change is sometimes misunderstood as being about changes in the weather. In reality it is about changes in our very way of life.

Climate change is a threat to the conditions in which our economy can function at all.

Climate change is the environmental challenge of this generation, and it is imperative that we act before it's too late.

Listen, I think we all believe that we need to take aggressive steps to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The idea that we have the capacity to change or stop the climate, I'm just skeptical.

'Being green' is commendable, but I hope that people don't take too much pride and self-adoration because they shut off the water when they brushed their teeth. The truth of the matter is, conservation alone will do little to save our planet.

Like I said, I'm more worried long term about the environmental issues then the use of arms.

Man is now in charge of the thermostat for the globe.

Pushing production out of America to nations without our environmental standards increases global environmental risks.

Yet, despite our many advances, our environment is still threatened by a range of problems, including global climate change, energy dependence on unsustainable fossil fuels, and loss of biodiversity.

My interest is that there is a disconnect between the science and the size of the threat that people mention about nature, the planet and the climate, and the emotion that this triggers. So we are supposed to be extremely frightened people, but despite that we appear to sleep pretty well.

All the conservation efforts in the world won't be enough to make a dent in the oncoming sustainability crisis our planet faces.