We are now running out of time, and the question now is not what is happening to the climate, but how bad will it be before the world starts doing enough?
Jonathon PorrittWe're never going to scare people into living more sustainably! We have to be able to demonstrate just how dynamic and aspirational such a world could be
Jonathon PorrittWe need to move away from crass, consumption-driven materialism by de-materialising status
Jonathon PorrittThe collapse of the world's banking system and the impending disaster of accelerating climate change are not separate phenomena. They are simply the most visible symptoms of a particular model of capitalism that will bring civilisation to its knees. But those symptoms will not get sorted unless and until we commit to a radical transformation of the way we create and distribute wealth in the world today
Jonathon PorrittMany ideas have struggled over the centuries to dominate the planet. Fascism. Communism. Democracy. Religion. But only one has achieved total supremacy. Its compulsive attractions rob its followers of reason and good sense. It has created unsustainable inequalities and threatened to tear apart the very fabric of society. More powerful than any religion, it has reached into every corner of the globe. It is consumerism
Jonathon Porritt"The ultimate recession": a recession caused not by failed regulation and bankers' greed, but by very high oil prices, food and water shortages, disappearing forests, accelerating climate change, forced migration and mass civil disruption...The long and the short of it, unfortunately, is this: more politicians still believe that economic recovery depends on continuing to live beyond our means (financially and ecologically) than on learning to live within our means. And that's why the ultimate "Perfect Storm" recession still looms on the horizon
Jonathon Porritt