Our meeting on Wednesday 15 February 2023 had a virtual speaker, courtesy of George Monbiot’s address to the London TED Talks, given in October 2022.
Before we got to that however, there was some planning for future events that the club is involved in, and an update on our Quiz Night coming on 4 March 2023 – tickets are still available if you are quick. Please contact our Events Team.
George Monbiot comes from farming stock (Oxfordshire?) but asserts that farming is doing more damage to the planet than any other human activity. His theory, in brief terms, is that moving food production from fields to factories could solve the current climate crisis. He produces many statistics in his talk, and for some there comes a moment of number blindness when yet another statistic is asserted.
The problem with his solution is where we are today, and the problems of getting where he thinks we should be. He also appears to exclude the human practice of using food as a weapon of war.
Being able to solve the climate crisis by re configuring farming sounds attractive, but it will take a long time to implement, and ignores that power that food can exert over populations.
