George Monbiot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Monbiot
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Monbiot in 2013
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| Born | 27 January 1963 London, England
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| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouse(s) |
Angharad Penrhyn Jones
(m. 2006; div. 2010) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | United Nations Global 500 Award (1995) |
George Monbiot (born 27 January 1963) is a British journalist and author. He is also a well-known activist for environmental and political causes. He writes a regular column for The Guardian newspaper and has written several books.
Monbiot grew up in Oxfordshire and studied zoology at the University of Oxford. He started his career as an investigative journalist. This means he researched and reported on important issues. His first book, Poisoned Arrows (1989), was about human rights in West Papua. Later, he became involved in activism. He worked on issues like climate change, British politics, and even loneliness. In his book Feral (2013), he supported the idea of rewilding. This means bringing natural landscapes back to their wild state. He also started The Land is Ours, a group that fights for public access to the countryside in the UK. Monbiot has won several awards, including the Global 500 in 1995.
Contents
Early Life and Education
George Monbiot was born in Kensington, London. He grew up in Rotherfield Peppard, which is in Oxfordshire. His father, Raymond Monbiot, was a businessman. His mother, Rosalie, was a local politician.
Monbiot went to Elstree School and then Stowe School. He earned a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford, part of the University of Oxford. He has said that reading a book called Paolo and Panetto made him interested in politics.
Career as a Journalist and Activist
After studying zoology, Monbiot worked for the BBC Natural History Unit. He produced radio shows about nature and the environment. He then moved to the BBC's World Service. He worked there briefly before leaving to write his first book.
Monbiot became an investigative journalist. He traveled to places like Indonesia, Brazil, and East Africa. His work sometimes put him in dangerous situations. He was even banned from seven countries. He also faced threats and injuries during his travels. He returned to Britain after getting very sick with cerebral malaria in Kenya.
In Britain, he joined protests against new roads. He was often asked to speak to the press. He claims he was attacked and injured by security guards during these protests. After this, a former United Nations diplomat, Sir Crispin Tickell, invited him to be a visiting fellow at Green College, Oxford.
In 2014, Monbiot wrote about loneliness. This led him to work with musician Ewan McLennan. They released an album together in 2016 called Breaking the Spell of Loneliness. They also went on a tour across the UK.
Monbiot narrated a video called How Wolves Change Rivers. This video was based on his 2013 TED talk. It explained how bringing wolves back to Yellowstone Park helped restore the ecosystem. In 2019, he worked with Greta Thunberg on a video about natural ways to fight climate change. He also appeared in the 2021 Netflix film Seaspiracy. This documentary looks at how fishing affects ocean life.
In 2021, Monbiot created a live documentary called Rivercide. It showed the poor condition of rivers in the UK. In 2024, he appeared in the British documentary film I Could Never Go Vegan.
Views and Activism
Fighting Climate Change
George Monbiot believes that strong action is needed to stop global warming. To reduce his own impact on the environment, he became a vegan. He also encourages others to try a vegan lifestyle.
Media and News Coverage
Monbiot has criticized how the media covers climate change. He has especially pointed out the BBC and its nature documentaries. He also believes the BBC has a political bias.
Politics and Beliefs
Monbiot is critical of neoliberalism, which is an economic idea about free markets. In 2004, he helped start a political group called Respect – The Unity Coalition. He left the group later because they couldn't agree with the Green Party on election plans.
He has expressed support for different political parties over the years. In 2009, he said he felt comfortable with the policies of Plaid Cymru, a Welsh political party. In 2010, he signed a letter supporting the Liberal Democrats. Before the 2015 UK general election, he supported Caroline Lucas of the Green Party. In 2015, he supported Jeremy Corbyn for leader of the Labour Party (UK). In 2017, he said he would vote for the Labour Party.
Monbiot believes that Britain is at risk of becoming a "failed state." He supports Scottish independence, Welsh independence, and Irish reunification. In 2021, he said he would want to leave the UK if he lived in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. He called the UK a "corrupt, dysfunctional, chaotic union."
Nuclear Energy Views
Monbiot used to be against the nuclear industry. However, he changed his mind in 2011 after the Japan tsunami. He saw that the nuclear reactors in the area were not as dangerous as he had thought. He now believes nuclear power can be a safe way to get energy. He has criticized those who he feels have spread wrong information about nuclear power.
He has also suggested that newer types of nuclear reactors could solve many problems. These reactors could use existing nuclear waste to create energy for hundreds of years. They would also produce much less new waste.
Published Books
George Monbiot has written many important books.
- His first book, Poisoned Arrows (1989), looked at how a development program affected people in West Papua.
- Amazon Watershed (1991) was about farmers being forced off their land in Brazil.
- No Man's Land: An Investigative Journey Through Kenya and Tanzania (1994) described land being taken from nomadic people in Kenya and Tanzania.
- In Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain (2000), Monbiot argued that big companies threaten democracy in the UK.
- The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order (2003) offered ideas for positive global change.
- Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning (2006) focused on climate change.
- Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding (2013) explored the idea of rewilding the planet. This book won an award for general biology.
- His 2022 book Regenesis discusses how farming affects the environment. It also suggests sustainable ways to grow food.
- The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life) (2024) was co-written with Peter Hutchison.
Monbiot's weekly column in The Guardian covers many topics. He often writes about how politics, nature, and society are connected in the UK.
Personal Life
George Monbiot has mostly lived in Oxford. For a few years, he lived in a low emissions house in Machynlleth, Wales. He lived there with his then-wife, Angharad Penrhyn Jones, and their daughter. He moved back to Oxford by 2012 because his new partner lived there. His second daughter was born in early 2012. In 2017, Monbiot was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery in 2018. In 2022, he moved to South Devon.
Awards and Recognition
- In 1995, Nelson Mandela gave him a United Nations Global 500 Award. This award is for great environmental work.
- He won the Sir Peter Kent award in 1991 for his book Amazon Watershed.
- In 2007, his book Heat won an Italian book prize called Premio Mazotti. He did not collect the money because he didn't want to fly to Venice just for the award.
- In 2017, he received the SEAL Environmental Journalism Award for his writing in The Guardian.
- In 2022, Monbiot won The Orwell Prize for Journalism.
Images for kids
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Monbiot at a Make Poverty History rally in Edinburgh, July 2005
