George Monbiot. Allen Lane. 278 pages. Hardback. £17.99
How do you like your gurus? I like mine well informed,
brilliantly visionary and humble. Veteran environmental campaigner
George Monbiot, or simply ‘George’ as he now styles himself, has the
first two attributes, but the modesty gene has passed him by. A-list
gurus Al Gore, Amory Lovins, and even Jonathon Porritt, understand that
to influence people you need charm and humility. Just being right won’t
convince anyone.
Heat‘s pages are marinated in George’s ego, which is a pity because
it’s an important book. In fact, it’s a more comprehensive strategy for
beating climate change than I have seen from any government. Has one
man and his researcher really given more thought to the world’s most
pressing crisis than governments? George, who has a voracious appetite
for technical papers and insists on peer-reviewed sources only, calls
for a 90 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. While this
seems alarming, we must take it seriously.
Heat begins by rehearsing the known facts on climate change. Much the
same information is presented by Al Gore in An inconvenient truth. But
George digs in where the film trails off by probing the potential
solutions. Along the way a number of green sacred cows – micro-wind
generators, bio-fuels and carbon offset – are rejected as
unworkable. Heat argues for electricity from a 50/50 mix of
natural gas (with carbon capture) and wind power. Homes and transport
must shift to hydrogen fuel. We will be rationed to an annual personal
allowance of 0.8 tonnes of carbon. Air travel will be
virtually eliminated and supermarkets replaced by internet shopping.
If this sounds draconian, run the numbers and come up with a better
plan. But whether Heat‘s cure can be sold to a reticent public and
spineless politicians depends on George’s ability to learn some charm
and diplomacy before it gets too hot.
Simon Propper, Context, www.econtext.co.uk
