quotes by George Monbiot

"All nationhood is to some extent the artificial, the product of historical accident, the convenience of tyrants and the disengagement of colonists."
— George Monbiot (The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order)

"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

"In managing our transport systems, our governments must constantly negotiate the paradox of mass movement. They must create a system which, for the sake of speed and efficiency, treats us like a herd, constantly prodded and coralled, divided, re-formed and forced into line. At the same time it must grant us the illusion of autonomy."
— George Monbiot (Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning)

"The trouble is that people hate coaches, and for good reason. Coach travel is a dismal and humiliating experience. When I take the bus, as I sometimes must, from Oxford to Cambridge, I arrive feeling almost suicidal."
— George Monbiot (Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning)

"Confronted with the twin disasters of climate change and an impending oil peak, it is hard to see how anyone could justify the assertion that the need to drive a car which can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 4.5 seconds (the Audi S4 for example) overrides the Ethiopians' need to avoid recurrent famines, or the whole world's need to avoid the economic catastrophe we'll suffer if petroleum peaks too soon."
— George Monbiot (Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning)