Bad Idea #58 “Environmentalists Are All the Same” with George Monbiot

In this season-ending episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas, host Mark Lynas is joined by environmental journalist and author George Monbiot to explore a new framework for understanding environmentalism. George argues that what is often treated as a single movement actually contains three distinct and frequently conflicting philosophies: Green Liberationism, Green Pragmatism, and Green Social Nostalgia. The conversation traces the historical roots of each tradition, from anti-colonial activism and technocratic climate policy to rural revivalism and its relationship with fascism. Along the way, Mark and George discuss population debates, food systems, ecomodernism, the influence of religion on environmental thought, and the growing challenge of far-right infiltration into parts of the green movement. It's a wide-ranging examination of the ideas and tensions that shape environmentalism.

🧠 Topics Discussed

🌱 Why environmentalism may be better understood as three competing philosophies rather than a single movement

✊ What George calls "Green Liberationism" and how it draws on civil rights, anti-colonial struggles, feminism, and social justice movements

⚙️ What "Green Pragmatism" looks like in practice, from clean energy deployment to technocratic climate governance

🌾 What George means by "Green Social Nostalgia" and why he sees it as a powerful but problematic force within environmentalism

📜 Why George argues that rural revivalism became a foundational component of twentieth-century fascist movements

🌳 How post-war environmentalism inherited ideas from both progressive and deeply conservative traditions

🍽️ Why George believes many nostalgic visions of agriculture struggle to answer basic questions about feeding large populations

👶 How population anxiety became embedded in parts of environmental thought and why George sees it as politically unhelpful

⛪ How Christian traditions, pastoral imagery, and millenarian thinking continue to shape environmental narratives

🧘 How wellness culture, alternative health movements, and environmental politics can become vulnerable to far-right influence

🌍 What figures like RFK Jr., Vandana Shiva, and other controversial environmental voices reveal about ideological drift within green movements

🍔 How precision fermentation, microbial protein, and cultivated foods could transform debates about meat, land use, and sustainability

🤝 Why successful environmental politics requires combining technological innovation with democratic participation and social legitimacy

🚨 Why the environmental movement may be underestimating the challenge posed by far-right actors adopting green rhetoric

👤 Guest Bio

George Monbiot is an environmental journalist, author, and campaigner known for his work on ecology, politics, land use, food systems, and climate change. A longtime columnist and public intellectual, he has written extensively on environmental justice, rewilding, democracy, and the social forces shaping ecological crises.

📚 Recommended Reading & Resources

📖 Feral — George Monbiot

📖 Regenesis — George Monbiot

📖 The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert Paxton

📖 Works by Wendell Berry

📖 Writings and debates surrounding Paul Kingsnorth and the Dark Mountain Project

💬 Quote Highlights

💬 “You can have rural revivalism without fascism, but you can’t have fascism without rural revivalism.”

— George Monbiot

💬 “Power and politics don't disappear when you push people out of the way.”

— George Monbiot

💬 “You needed the technologies in order to realise the more political liberationist vision.”

— George Monbiot

💬 “We’ve been far too unprepared for the takeover of aspects of our movement by the far right.”

— George Monbiot

🌐 About WePlanet

WePlanet is an international movement campaigning for science-based solutions to the climate, nature and development crises.

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