Jonathon Porritt with Nick Campion: Climate Breakdown: Getting Real? Opting Out? Still on the Fence?

Jonathon Porritt has spent decades at the forefront of environmental thinking and public debate. In this urgent and provocative talk, he asks why the gap between what Nature is telling us about a rapidly changing climate and what politicians, pundits and much of the mainstream media are saying, seems wider than it was in the 1990s.

Beyond the familiar explanations – fossil fuel interests, short-term political thinking, the cost-of-living crisis and hostility to climate action, Porritt argues that we need to look more deeply at the assumptions shaping our society.

He identifies three powerful ideas holding us back: our obsession with economic growth at any cost; the belief that humans stand apart from the rest of life on Earth; and a narrow definition of progress based on competition and self-interest.

Drawing on a lifetime of experience in policy, activism and systems thinking, Porritt challenges us to rethink what progress means. Can we build prosperity for all within the Earth’s limits and rediscover a more hopeful understanding of human nature, grounded in cooperation, empathy and responsibility to future generations?