Environmentalism: diversity and hypocrisy

08Aug08

‘Environmentalism is the most politically diverse movement in history… I have met anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, conservatives and, mostly, pragmatists. I remember sitting in a campaign meeting during the Newbury bypass protests and marvelling at the weirdness of our coalition… [Everyone] disagreed about every other subject under the sun… but everyone there recognised that our quality of life depends on the quality of our surroundings… The environment is inseparable from social justice. ‘

 

‘Sure, we are hypocrites. Every one of us, almost by definition. Hypocrisy is the gap between your aspirations and your actions. Greens have high aspirations – they want to live more ethically – and they will always fall short. But the alternative to hypocrisy isn’t moral purity (no one manages that), but cynicism. Give me hypocrisy any day.’

- George Monbiot, The Guardian (6 Aug 2008).

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