George Monbiot: "If We Don’t Deal with Climate Change We Condemn Hundreds of Millions of People to Death"

Amy Goodman over at Democracy Now has a transcript of a great interview with George Monbiot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

Global warming is being pushed as a major issue for next month's gathering of world leaders at the G8 summit in Germany. The Washington Post reported this week the Bush administration is trying to weaken the proposed climate change declaration. U.S. negotiators want to delete a pledge to limit the global temperature rise and cut emissions of greenhouse gas to half 1990 levels. The administration also wants to strike language that designates the U.N. as the appropriate forum for negotiating action on climate change.

Our next guest has done a detailed study into what it would practically take to heed the warnings on climate change and reduce our emissions of greenhouse gas. George Monbiot is a widely read columnist for the Guardian of London and a leading British campaigner for the environment. His latest book is called “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning.”

In the interview, and, I assume, his book, he talks about the need for the World's technologically advanced nations to "lead the way" for real actions that will result in a 60% reduction in green house gasses by 2030. 2030, he says, is the tipping point in which there is no reverse if fail. The countries who need to lead the way need to reduce their own GHG emissions by 90%, something that can be done.

Monbiot describes the lack of political will, especially in the United State at the Federal Level, as the one thing that is keeping the world from achieving this goal.

One action that he says is critical that particularly disturbs me, however, that he says needs to happen is a significant reduction in air travel. Let's face it, we live globally. We are all connected. In order for us to understand each other, we have to be with one another. It is only when we understand one another will society begin to move away from violence towards one another.

This reminds me that one of the paramount rules of the world is that whatever action we take will cause a reaction (positive, neutral, or negative) to occur as well, and it is something that we need to take great care to avoid creating even greater problems.