George Joshua Richard Monbiot (born January 27, 1963) is an English writer, author, and activist who works on environmental and political issues. He writes a regular column for The Guardian and has written several books.

Monbiot was born in Oxfordshire, England, into a Jewish family. He studied zoology at the University of Oxford. Afterward, he began a career in investigative journalism, publishing his first book, Poisoned Arrows, in 1989. This book discussed human rights issues in West Papua. In later years, he has worked to raise awareness about topics such as climate change, British politics, and loneliness. In his 2013 book Feral, he supported the idea of expanding rewilding efforts. Monbiot founded The Land is Ours, a campaign that promotes public access to the countryside and its resources in the United Kingdom. He received the Global 500 award in 1995 and the Orwell Prize in 2022.

Early life and education

George Monbiot was born in Kensington and grew up in Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire. His father, Raymond Monbiot, was a businessman who led a group within the Conservative Party that focused on trade and industry. His mother, Rosalie, was a member of the Conservative Party and previously served as a leader of South Oxfordshire District Council. She was also the daughter of Gresham Cooke, a member of Parliament. His uncle, Canon Hereward Cooke, held a leadership role as the deputy leader of Norwich City Council for the Liberal Democrat party.

After attending a boarding school in Elstree, Monbiot studied at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. He earned a scholarship to Brasenose College at the University of Oxford. Monbiot has said that his interest in politics began when he read the book Paolo and Panetto by Bettina Ehrlich while at his prep school. He also mentioned that he felt sorry about attending Oxford.

Career

After earning a degree in zoology, Monbiot began working at the BBC Natural History Unit as a radio producer, creating programs about nature and the environment. He later moved to the BBC's World Service, where he briefly worked as a current affairs producer and presenter before leaving to research and write his first book.

As an investigative journalist, Monbiot traveled to Indonesia, Brazil, and East Africa. His work led to being banned from seven countries and receiving a life sentence in absentia in Indonesia. In these regions, he faced dangerous situations, including being shot at, severely beaten, arrested, shipwrecked, and stung by hornets into a poisoned coma. He returned to Britain after being declared clinically dead in a hospital in Kenya due to cerebral malaria.

Monbiot joined the British roads protest movement and often gave interviews to the press. This led to being criticized by groups like Green Anarchist and Class War, who called him a "media tart." He claims he was beaten by security guards, who allegedly drove a metal spike through his foot, breaking the middle metatarsal bone. His injuries required hospital treatment. Sir Crispin Tickell, a former United Nations diplomat and Warden at Green College, Oxford, later offered Monbiot a visiting fellowship.

In November 2012, Monbiot apologized to Lord McAlpine for a tweet that incorrectly suggested the Conservative peer was a paedophile, calling his actions "stupid and thoughtless."

In 2014, Monbiot wrote an article about loneliness, which led to a collaboration with musician Ewan McLennan. Together, they released an album titled Breaking the Spell of Loneliness in October 2016, followed by a UK tour. Folk Radio described the album as "enthralling," with each song presenting a short, thoughtful essay on the loss of humanity and ways to restore it.

Monbiot narrated the video How Wolves Change Rivers, based on his 2013 TED talk about ecosystem restoration through rewilding, specifically the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. In 2019, he co-presented Nature Now, a video about natural climate solutions, with Greta Thunberg. He appeared in the documentary The Cost of Living: Does Britain Need a Basic Income?, a companion piece to The Future of Work and Death, released on Amazon Prime in 2020. He also appeared in the 2021 Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, which discusses human impact on marine life and fishing, and defended the film against critics.

In 2021, Monbiot created the live documentary Rivercide, highlighting the poor condition of UK rivers, especially the River Wye.

In early 2022, Monbiot discussed the film Don't Look Up, explaining the challenges of advocating for Earth's protection amid what he sees as widespread inaction.

In 2024, Monbiot appeared in the British documentary I Could Never Go Vegan.

Views and activism

In the early 2000s, George Monbiot wrote that global oil production "will peak before long." In an article titled "The Bottom of the Barrel," published in The Guardian on 2 December 2003, he made this prediction.

Monbiot believes that strong actions and political support are needed to address global warming. He supports adding the crime of ecocide to the International Criminal Court. He stated, "I believe [a crime of ecocide] would change everything. It would radically shift the balance of power, forcing anyone contemplating large-scale damage to ask themselves: 'Will I end up in the international criminal court for this?' It could make the difference between a habitable and an uninhabitable planet."

To reduce his environmental impact, Monbiot adopted a vegan lifestyle and encourages others to do the same.

Monbiot has criticized media coverage of climate change and environmental issues, including that of the BBC and its nature documentaries. He has also criticized the BBC for what he views as political bias.

In May 2008, Monbiot tried to perform a citizen’s arrest of John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, during a talk at the Hay Festival. Monbiot argued that Bolton was involved in starting the Iraq War, which Monbiot opposed.

After visiting the Baliem Valley and criticizing the Indonesian government’s transmigration program and other policies in occupied Western New Guinea, Indonesian authorities sentenced Monbiot in absentia to life imprisonment.

Monbiot is a critic of neoliberalism. In January 2004, he and Salma Yaqoob co-founded Respect – The Unity Coalition (later known as the Respect Party), which grew from the Stop the War Coalition. He left the group in February 2004 after disagreements with the Green Party over standing candidates in the same areas for the 2004 European Parliament election.

In September 2009, Monbiot told the British political blog Third Estate that he supported the policies of Plaid Cymru, saying, "I have finally found the party that I feel very comfortable with." He also expressed support for the Green Party but felt more aligned with Plaid Cymru.

In April 2010, Monbiot signed an open letter supporting the Liberal Democrats, published in The Guardian. Before the May 2015 general election, he endorsed the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas for Parliament and supported the Green Party overall. In August 2015, he backed Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. In April 2017, he announced his intention to vote for the Labour Party in the 2017 general election. In August 2021, he endorsed Tamsin Omond and Amelia Womack in the 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election.

Monbiot has warned that Britain risks becoming a failed state. He supports Scottish independence, Welsh independence, and Irish reunification. On 11 February 2021, during an appearance on BBC Two’s Politics Live, he said, "If I lived in Scotland, I'd want to get out of this corrupt, dysfunctional, chaotic union as quickly as possible. And the same applies to Wales, the same applies to Northern Ireland. I can't see the point of staying in the United Kingdom, of being chained to the United Kingdom like a block of concrete, as the boat begins to founder."

Monbiot has criticized Noam Chomsky, arguing on Twitter in November 2017 that "Part of the problem is that a kind of cult has developed around Noam Chomsky and John Pilger, which cannot believe they could ever be wrong, and produces ever more elaborate conspiracy theories to justify their mistakes."

In June 2025, Monbiot publicly supported the protest group Palestine Action as the UK government considered banning it as a terrorist organization.

Monbiot once strongly opposed the nuclear industry. In March 2011, he changed his position, stating that he now supports nuclear power after being convinced by the limited effects of the 2011 Japan tsunami on nuclear reactors. He later criticized the anti-nuclear movement for making scientifically unsupported claims about radiation and health risks. He specifically criticized Helen Caldicott for overstating the death toll from the Chernobyl disaster by more than 140 times.

In October 2013, Monbiot criticized the selection of a generation III reactor design for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station due to high costs and long-term waste production. He suggested that generation IV reactor concepts, such as integral fast reactors and thorium reactors, could solve energy, waste, and climate challenges. Integral fast reactors could use nuclear waste to generate energy for 500 years, while thorium reactors use a material already mined in large quantities and produce little waste.

Published works

Monbiot writes a weekly column for The Guardian that discusses many topics, focusing on political ideas connected to environmental and social issues, especially in the United Kingdom.

His first book, Poisoned Arrows (1989), examined a program funded in part by the World Bank that moved people from West Papua. The book Amazon Watershed (1991) described how Brazilian farmers were forced to leave their land. His third book, No Man's Land: An Investigative Journey Through Kenya and Tanzania (1994), detailed how nomadic people in Kenya and Tanzania lost their land and cattle.

In 2000, he wrote Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, arguing that powerful companies in the United Kingdom threaten democracy. His fifth book, The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order (2003), presented a plan for positive change in the global justice movement.

In 2006, Monbiot published Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning, which focused on climate change. His 2013 book, Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding, discussed the idea of restoring nature to the planet. In this book, he criticized sheep farming. It received positive reviews in The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph and won the Society of Biology Book Award in 2014. His 2022 book, Regenesis, examined the environmental effects of farming and ways to make agriculture more sustainable.

In 2024, Monbiot and Peter Hutchison, an American filmmaker and professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, published The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life). The book was based on a film they created first.

Personal life

George Monbiot mainly lives in Oxford. From 2007 to a few years later, he lived in a low emissions house in Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, a market town. At that time, he lived with his wife, Angharad Penrhyn Jones, a writer and campaigner, and their daughter. His new partner lives in Oxford, and he returned there by 2012. Their daughter, Monbiot's second child, was born in early 2012. In December 2017, Monbiot was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He had surgery in March 2018. In 2022, he moved to South Devon.

Awards

In 1995, Nelson Mandela gave him a United Nations Global 500 Award for excellent work in protecting the environment. In 1991, he received the Sir Peter Kent Award for his book Amazon Watershed. In November 2007, his book Heat won the Premio Mazotti, an Italian book prize. However, he did not receive the prize money because he decided not to go to Venice to accept it in person, as he believed the trip was not worth the effort. In 2017, he was honored with the SEAL Environmental Journalism Award for his writing at The Guardian. In 2022, he was awarded The Orwell Prize for Journalism.

Selected works

• (1989). Poisoned Arrows: An Investigative Journey Through West Papua's Forbidden Lands. London: Abacus. ISBN 0-7181-3153-3
• (1991). Amazon Watershed: A New Environmental Investigation. London: Abacus. ISBN 0-7181-3428-1
• (1992). Mahogany Is Murder: Mahogany Extraction from Indian Reserves in Brazil. ISBN 1-85750-160-8
• (1994). No Man's Land: An Investigative Journey Through Kenya and Tanzania. Picador. ISBN 0-333-60163-7
• (2000). Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-90164-9
• (2003). The Age of Consent. Flamingo. ISBN 0-00-715042-3
• (2004). Manifesto for a New World Order. The New Press. ISBN 1-56584-908-6
• (2006). Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9923-3
• (2008). Bring on the Apocalypse: Six Arguments for Global Justice. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-84354-858-4
• (2013). Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-84614-748-7
• (2016). How Did We Get into This Mess?: Politics, Equality, Nature. London: Verso.
• (2017). Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis. London: Verso. ISBN 978-1-78663-289-0
• (2022). Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-313596-8
• (2024). The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life). ISBN 978-0-241-63590-2