George Monbiot is fun to read, and he turns out to be just as much fun to watch. He's been conducting a set of video interviews for the Guardian with key policy-makers, called 'Monbiot meets...'. In his columns and books, Monbiot has always exhibited a superb grasp of figures. When he shows up to interview his subjects he is equally well-prepared.
One of the things that makes this series interesting are the people who agreed to be interviewed. These include Shaun Spiers, the head of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (who have been opposing wind farms), Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Authority (who recently changed their line on peak oil), and Yvo de Boer, the UN's chief climate change negotiator for the Bali round.
CPRE is important to understand because it is one of the voices that most directly oppose the deployment of renewables in Britain, especially wind turbines. The IEA is significant because many governments base their energy planning on its figures. UN climate talks are important because they are currently the most credible process for securing an international agreement on greenhouse gas reduction.
What is remarkable is Monbiot's willingness to directly ask the most pertinent questions: why is CPRE opposing wind turbines and not coal mining (which is far more of a blight on the rural landscape)? Given their comprehensive new survey of oilfield decline worldwide, what date does the IEA give for the peaking of oil production? What are the UN's chief climate negotiator's thoughts on the fact that no targets were specified in the Bali round? Their answers are illuminating, if not always reassuring.
'Monbiot meets...' offers an object lesson in a simple but effective strategy for green change: pointedly asking the people who matter the questions that matter.
Front Photo: catchnary.
Thanks to Jordy Gold.
